Stop Judging, Keep Walking: The Yoga of Instrumentality

 It would be a real struggle

if there was no deeper purpose to Life.

What a drag it would be
if it was just eating, sleeping,
going to the toilet.

Thankfully, there is more.
The Yogis keep pointing us back.
Not out there,
but in here.

Everything you are looking for
is already here.
Peel back.
Drop in.

It takes a kind of reversal.
Because the senses are trained to rush outward,
to search for what feels lost.

But the irony is —
nothing essential can ever be lost.
Our true nature can’t go anywhere.
It is always the case.
Sat Chit Ananda —
Truth, Consciousness, Bliss.

And yet,
when we don’t look within,
we are propelled to search outside.
This is the state of humanity —
looking for the lost pearl.

Looking for joy, meaning, security, love.
And the Yogis say:
“Yes, look for these things.
But look in the right place.”

We are blessed.
Karmically graced, really.
We’ve come across tools to dig with.

Whether a teaspoon, a spade, or a digger —
eventually, everyone finds their way.
But the yogic system is so refined,
so time-tested,
a way to dig efficiently
for the inner treasure.

How fortunate are we?

And you —
you have found your path.
It goes straight home.
Don’t doubt it.
Walk it.

But don’t measure it.
That’s a trap.

Every time we stumble,
every time we fall short
of what we know inside to be true,
how quick we are
to punish ourselves.

We say,
“I’m so far away from it.”
But you don’t know.
You could be right at the door.
So stop the nonsense.
Just keep walking.

Most of our energy is wasted in our heads,
judging progress,
imagining how far along we are.
If we just got on with it —
what time and energy we would save.

After all,
are we not just explorers of Life?

And yet,
how easily ideas get in the way.

“My practice must look this way.”
“It must be this long.”
None of that is true.

Yoga is always already the case.
You cannot be apart from Life.
One moment of remembrance is enough.
One breath takes you home.

The whole point is simply
to be easily reminded.
So the body and mind know the way back.
Until the mind surrenders,
and abides in the heart of being.

This is where sharanam is so helpful —
surrender.

Because for the ego,
becoming nothing
feels intimidating.

So the Yogis offered the idea of instrumentality.
You don’t vanish,
you become an instrument.
Like a flute — hollow,
and because of that,
Life can play its music through you.

Life lives itself through you.
Enjoys itself,
serves itself,
loves itself,
knows itself through you.

Each of us
utterly unique,
so Life can know itself
in countless unique ways.

The great energy we call Life
is everything.

It is the instrument,
the music,
the player,
and the listener.
There is nothing outside of it.

And perhaps
the greatest fulfillment of all
is simply this:

Not living for me.
Not even for you.
But for Life itself —
the totality.

Because our nature is not partial.
Our nature is whole.
Our nature is total.