Your ‘purpose’ in life is never outside of yourself….(Science of Soul week 1)

A new, fresh year was met at the Yoga Sanctuary tonight with a sense of an equally fresh new spark in our ‘Bhaktis’. A New Year always seems to bring with it a warming feeling of excitement, of wonder, of new beginnings…and chance to re-write our own script. What a wonderful place to be and Sangha to be in, to inspire our intentions, as we begin the next course of our Living Wisdom sessions.

For the next 10 weeks we’ll be delving into the text “Science of Soul”, by Steve’s own teacher… Swami Yogeshwaranand Paramhansa. (A little bit of a mouthful isn’t it? We’re so lucky we just have plain ‘Steve’! Haha :) )

As we begin tonight, we start off for the first week just by dipping our toes into what lies in the journey ahead. We find out a little about our author and his journey in life, who unusually knew from a very young age his purpose. In fact, he came into his life, and arrived fully knowing why he was there. Of course, some may think, “lucky guy!”, as it could take the rest of us a lifetime…or even a few lifetimes to figure what we’re here ‘for’. But we all have our unique paths that are perfectly designed for us and no one else. And of course, figuring out our ‘purpose’ is never a waste of time. The ‘not knowing,’ and even the moments where we feel we’ve ‘got it’, only to figure out we don’t….is a GOOD use of our time, Steve reassures us.

Tonight, we explored the idea of ‘purpose’, which in turn completely softened my view. It’s not really a surprise that a lot of us are trying to ‘be something’, or ‘someone’ these days. We seem to have it drilled into us that we must have ‘purpose’ in our lives and we idolise or worry about those who seem to have it all figured out. We should apparently strive to be successful, or rich or have some sort of status it seems. I remember making up different job titles each week when people used to ask me what I was going to do after I finished University, because honestly… I just didn’t know. And I felt guilty about it. We ask kids as soon as they can talk, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, and from there we’re always questioning, “What’s next? What are you going to do with yourself now?” I would totally love to hear a little 2 year old turn around and answer back with, “Mummy, I just want to be connected to my authentic nature and live from my truth. Then I’ll see how it goes from there”. And maybe that’s how it went with Swami Yogeshwaranand.

Swami Yogeshwaranand Paramhansa

Formally known as Vyas Devji as a child, Swami Yogeshwaranand figured out at a young age that our ‘purpose’ in life is never far too away. As Steve puts it into words…

“Our purpose for being here is not outside of ourselves. It is not for anything ‘out there’. Your true purpose is to be connected, established in your authentic nature and authentically connected to your own truth.”

See, if I make my career or even other people my purpose, I will most definitely get lost in that. But if I maintain my purpose only to connect to my authentic self, any action that may come out of that will inevitably be resonating with my truth. Whatever jobs, hobbies, relationships or circumstances that happen from that place is secondary to what we are already here for. And that is to sync up with life and our true Self. Furthermore, if we manage to keep that connection as our primary focus….our life will unfold quite naturally all by itself.

At a tender age of just fourteen, Swami Yogeshwaranand left home alone. His parents were very much on his case, and didn’t approve of him meditating the days away under their garden tree whilst the other kids played cricket. Young Vyas Devji didn’t care, but the parents really weren’t working for him. Eventually, the momentum inside him to go deeper was the clarity in his intention, which drove him to leave his family behind and venture into the jungle. Now most definitely none of us need to run off to the jungle these days, but it does still require a lot of strength sometimes to stick to your truth. It’s not always an easy path – in fact, it’s almost always challenging. Which is good, of course. Sometimes we may have to fight our way out of the bondages we’ve created from our inauthentic behaviour. When we’re ‘trying’ to be someone we’re not, we can tangle ourselves up in things that don’t fit with us. And once we feel, really feel, who we really are, we might realise the stuff we’ve been doing has been for the wrong reasons. The beauty is, the more and more we find out what we’re about, genuinely…the less we’re willing to do anything that is not in line with that. That’s a really powerful thing. And yes, it may tumble some walls down, and saying ‘no’ might become a new thing….but, as Steve says;

“There is nothing singularly more important, or empowering, than checking in with yourself and asking, “Is this my truth?”, “Is this really me?” And without a doubt, or a thought…your energy will speak to you.

And for tonight, we close with sweet anticipation to learn of Swami Yogeshwaranand's discoveries in the coming weeks, and with a new and empowering way of looking at ‘purpose’ in our lives. Turning purpose ‘inside-out’, means that living our true and authentic purpose is always within our own hands. Phew...Pressure off.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year overflowing with the most authentic, beautiful you.

Love,

Adéle x