For a good part of my life, I saw yoga only as a physical practice, a way to exercise, relieve stress, or be flexible. As I started to explore the deeper teachings of yoga, especially to go into more depth with the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Yoga Sutras, I realized that it was more than just fitness, it became a path towards universal love.
This love is not the same affection we describe in everyday life. It is not cousinly love, familial love, or friendship love. It is love beyond them all. It’s a soft, all-inclusive kind of love, emotions of love and compassion for everyone and everything, all at the same time. It is experiential realization that, deep down, at a fundamental level, everything is connected – a realization that can only be defined by lived experience as a human. For me, yoga is the door to that possibility.
The Understanding of Oneness
I can clearly recall the initial realisation that the word “yoga” means union. When I noticed the union of my individual self with the universal consciousness, that was the first thing that broke my old belief that everything was separate. I enjoyed practicing the asanas, mediation and pranayama. I began to feel that the boundaries of “me” and “others” were made up. Breathing and heartbeats were all rhythmically together with the universe.
Ahimsa: More Than Non-Violence
I used to think that non-violence just meant not harming others. That said, when achieving ahimsa, as Patanjali described, it is a much deeper commitment as it is not a commitment to stop being hostile, it is a commitment to stop being hostile at all. The more I focused on my thoughts and feelings, the more I recognized the internal violence I was imposing on myself with criticism, comparisons and judgments.
Cooperating with these tendencies allowed me to soften my self-criticism and by doing so, I softened the way I related to others. I noticed I was reacting less and being more patient and kinder. Not because I was trying to be nice, but because love was becoming my new normal.
Loving me first
Yoga has taught me that universal love comes from self-love. For a long time, this idea evaded me. It felt selfish. However, slowly but surely, through daily practice I began to accept my imperfections, my body, my emotions, my mistakes. That peace was not only beneficial to my inner peace, but it allowed me to hold a stronger level of compassion for myself, and ultimately toward others.
As the Bhagavad Gita states, “One who sees Me in all beings, and all beings in Me, is never separated from Me.”
When I was able to see divinity within me, I could more easily see it in all beings
The Practice of Compassion
I came across Metta Bhavana (loving-kindness meditation) first in a silent retreat. At first, I felt a bit silly with repeating phrases like, “May all beings be happy.” As time went on, it changed me. To visualise people, friends, strangers, even people I had not been seeing eye to eye with, being bathed, in love and kindness, was something that shifted within me at a deep level.
This practice, along with the Karuna (compassion) of the Yoga Sutras opened my heart in ways I had even realized was possible. I was not just tolerating differences or forgiving wrongs, but I was learning to care.
Karma Yoga: Love in Action
Maybe the biggest change for me, was that I started to grasp Karma Yoga, which is the yoga of selfless action, and I began little things in volunteering. At first it happened to be a service for others; soon I realized it was just a service to myself and to my growth. The more I helped others the more my capabilities to function on a variety of situations and tasks increased. The learning was a lot easier since I was implementing solutions. It all seemed almost subliminal, since in helping someone else, it was my way of preparing myself when the challenge of facing it in my own life became a reality. Engaging in things without waste need to acknowledge for an outcome.
Bhakti Yoga: The Deepest Surrender
I accidentally found my way into Bhakti Yoga at some point on this journey. It began as chanting. Then it turned into prayer. Then it turned into a deep longing for something beyond me. Bhakti for me is the surrender of the ego—the turning of “I” into “Thou”.
I experience the divine in Krishna, in nature, reflected in the eyes of others, and it always feels the same—it is a flow of unexplainable, unconditional love.
The Gita is clear again: “One who is free of pride and ego, one who is not disturbed by pain and pleasure, and one who is single mindedly devoted to Me, who am equally devoted, they are Bhakt of Me.”
From Self to All
My yoga journey started as a personal seeking, a means to manage stress, and to simply feel better in my body. But it has led me somewhere unexpected. The love I was seeking turned out to be the love I had to become. And that love inhibits no borders. It sees no caste, no colour, no nation, no creed. It is universal.
And I am yet to reach the end of this journey. I am continually learning, making mistakes, and growing every single day. And that is because I am willing to connect and communicate with people in a state of unconditional love, which provides me new perspectives. With each breath on the mat, each act of kindness, each moment of stillness within, I get closer to what the sages called Moksha and that liberation that surfaces from knowing we are all One.
Yoga has been my mirror, my teacher, and my path. And love, I now know, is not the destination. It is the way.
The writer, choosing to remain anonymous, is a humble seeker on the path of self-discovery, walking gently toward inner clarity and peace, guided by yoga as both compass and companion. With each breath, each asana, and each moment of silence, he feels immense gratitude for the ancient wisdom that continues to illuminate his journey. Through these reflections, he shares not as a teacher, but as a fellow traveller, inviting others to rediscover their own inner light and connection to the whole.
