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One should elevate the self-conscious state  

by Self-knowledge;  

one should not be sorrowful or depressed;  

for the Self alone can be a friend  

of the self-conscious state  

and the Self alone can be an enemy  

of the self-conscious state

 

—Bhagavad Gita 6:5

T

here is a time in my life as a young adult that 

stands out in my memory as the “before” snap-

shot. Before I found the spiritual path of yoga, 

before I learned how to meditate. In this snapshot, I 

am looking out the window of my home and thinking 

“something is missing.” I had all of the ingredients for a 

happy, fulfilled life. Yet I experienced a kind of sorrow that 

nothing seemed to change. Fast forward a few years to 

finding my spiritual teacher, the teachings of Kriya Yoga, 

and beginning a meditation practice. My intuition had 

been correct; something was missing. What was missing 

was my Self. Or, more accurately, the conscious awareness 

of my essential Self was missing. 

The sorrow I felt was the result of not knowing how to 

access the higher Self. It was there all along but it was 

like another room that I had not yet entered. Without 

the conscious connection to this higher Self, its innate 

sufficiency and wisdom to guide my life were not avail-

able to me.  Instead, I experienced the self-conscious state 

where awareness is confined to the ego. It was as if I lived 

in the beautiful mansion of the soul but was confined to 

a single room. Just beyond the boundaries of that room—

the limits of the self-conscious state—my boundless Self 

waited. Discovering the true Self required learning how 

to move my awareness beyond the limits of the self-

conscious state.