How Yoga and Meditation Can Get You Your Heart’s Desire

The desire of the heart. The deep, internal one. That singular longing that sometimes nudges us awake in the middle of the night. Or that we find ourselves contemplating while gazing at a beautiful sunset. The desire that propels us to search for that perfect someone.

What is this desire? There may be many desires of the heart, but the most core desire is to achieve union with a beloved. To be so in tune with another individual, or grand experience, that we feel complete, in love, in oneness, safe and full.

 

So how do we achieve this? If you already practice yoga, check yourself the next time you sit deeply in meditation, or breathe into the zone in Natarajasana. In this state, if very still, we can begin to discover our heart’s desire. We begin to hear that quiet, small voice within, which actually is the voice of God.

The great yogic text, The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Song of God, lays a path for achieving this deep desire of the heart for a beloved through meditation and yoga.

 

“And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me – he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.” (The Bhagavad-gita As It Is, p. 6:47)”

Sometimes I call the state I am blessed with through practicing yogic meditation, “The Zone”. Have you ever been in “the zone”? Of course you have. Where mental trappings soften, where senses are heightened, and the light connecting us all abounds, pulsing throughout the living beings in your vicinity.

The zone can be an experience of God. Of loving God. Of being loved by God and all His children in their pure state. I found this through yoga and meditation. Practicing yoga poses with Hatha yoga brought me to yogic breathing, or pranayama, which brought me to dhyana, or focus, which led me to bhakti, which is loving devotion to the Supreme.

For what does one meditate upon? After stilling our bodies and minds through successful asana, do we seek to become nothing, or to merge into the white light of the Brahman effulgence?

 

The ultimate Vedic text of devotion, the Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, states:

“If brahmananda, the bliss of merging in the Brahman effulgence, were multiplied one hundred trillion times, it would still not equal even an atomic fragment of the ocean of transcendental bliss felt in devotional service (1:1:38). (Goswami, mid 1500’s)”

 

Yoga is service. To maintain the gift of our bodies, to equilibrate our often restless minds, and to open the heart to begin the journey of union with the Supreme. Directing our devotion to a higher path, to a noble path, can lay down tracks that take you to a future brighter than we may be able to currently imagine.

I encourage you to walk the yoga path. My practice continues to fulfill my heart’s desire, ever deepening and gaining in nuanced richness, as I gain increasing access to the love residing in my heart for the Supreme and for all living beings.

To truly fulfill your heart’s desire, you may want to ask prayerfully in meditation, while relaxing in shavasana, at the foot of a waterfall, or wherever you feel safe, in a place that allows you to focus within. Ask to be shown the path to this love. If you listen very carefully you will hear that soft, soothing voice from within that is directing the wanderings of the living entities from time immemorial (A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, 1972, 18:61). Through this yoga practice, if sincere, you will be guided to fulfill your heart’s desire.