Within each of us lies an entire universe – a vast Cosmos with myriads of galaxies. Yet a human being continues to live in a small, enclosed room, seeing the world only through slits in the walls, which we call windows.
A human being spends their entire life in such a room, observing the changing scenery beyond the windows. Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch – these are the names of the windows of perception. They shape our picture of the world, allowing to pass only what falls within their narrow view. This limitation is nearly fatal and inevitable for anyone embodied. Most of us never even consider that the world we perceive through our windows could be different, that it might not be as it appears. The world we perceive is a truncated version of something greater: we do not perceive it as a whole, only in fragments.
Yet there are moments in life when something is experienced and felt in a way that transcends ordinary understanding. Each person experiences these moments uniquely, yet the common thread is the sensation – as if secret doors have opened, and one has slipped into a completely different perception. In such moments, windows are no longer needed, for the doors have connected us with what lies beyond the window.
Yoga is a door connecting two worlds – the small room and the vast Cosmos with its myriads of galaxies. Yoga is connection and unity: the union of our limited nature with the Infinite; the connection between author and reader, viewer, or listener through the work itself; the union of lovers; and any connection that leads to wholeness is the true essence of Yoga. Therefore, Yoga is the art of connecting. And art, in turn, is that through which such a connection becomes possible. The perception of a work of art opens the door to a world of myriads of galaxies, a world in which the boundaries between I and You dissolve, where author and reader, viewer or listener become one whole – they become Divine.