February 2, 2021

What, if anything, is constant in this ever changing world? This is the question to be reflected upon with this week’s attribute. Nityā is translated as “the constant one” or “eternally abiding reality.” The translation itself answers the posed question; there is something eternal, abiding and constant. Recognizing this and coming to rest in that unchanging aspect is the call of this attribute this.

If we consider our life to date, what has not changed? This non-dual lineage answers this question with: the inherent capacity to be aware of what is happening. We are always able to witness, experience, to be present with that which is unfolding, evolving, arising and dissolving. This ever-present awareness allows us to know how we slept even while in the unconscious depths of sleep.

The teachings and practices of this lineage then invite us to tap into the constant presence that becomes the ground onto which we settle. From this centred seat, we are unperturbed by the emotions, thoughts and sensory experiences that come and go. Impermanence is manageable and even enjoyed when we are anchored in the consistent ground of being. This is the equanimity at the core of the yoga view.

The technique by which we become grounded in this inner equanimous stance is meditation. All the various meditative tools from this lineage invite contact with and a deepening into that which is constant. Individuals are given various options to find a technique that is compelling and to keep the practice ever-fresh by shifting techniques as necessary.

Meditation and the connection to the awareness that is unchanging is not, however, the complete detachment from the rich experience of life. We are not being asked to separate from our emotions, our thoughts, the various flavours of our lived experience. We are being asked to stay resolute in our capacity to witness, to remember that thoughts, emotions and experiences arise, stay and then dissolve in a natural rhythm that needs nothing from us. We can stay with the totality that embodiment offers, rejecting nothing, clinging to nothing, simply being with what is as it is. Wrapped full circle back to our first activity of the One, we rest in the wide expanse of experience, anchored in the constant awareness that has been present since before our birth and will be present after our death. Unborn and undying. Constant awareness. Everything and nothing.