Let us now move on to the second part of another practice.
This is about wideness.
Remember the mountain,
The majestic mountain,
Stillness of the mountain.
They are also wide and vast.
So is the inner being within us.
One of its characteristic nature is stillness.
Other is an infinite wideness.
Though we tend to identify ourselves within the body,
The truth is our being is a vast space in which the body exists.
So today we will be exploring the vastness,
The wideness of our being which is also the stillness within.
So that's the second movement from stillness moving to vastness,
Wideness.
Just as we used breath as a way to go inward into the inner depths to touch and become the stillness.
So in order to widen we can use the ambient sounds,
Hearing the soundscape.
Whatsoever be the sounds that are present in your landscape,
In your environment.
So sit comfortably,
Ensuring your posture can last without discomfort and you can deeply relax into it.
Close your eyes with a gentle smile so that you can feel the smiling energy.
Let that smiling energy fill your whole face and spread all over your body.
Feel the feet,
Both the legs,
The torso,
Your shoulders,
Your arms,
Your face,
Back of the head,
Top of the head.
And now behold your entire body in a loving gaze and feel the movement of breath rising and falling.
And observe the breath lovingly and move with it observing the outgoing breath to arrive at the stillness.
It is easy without going breath to trace all the way to its vanishing point where it will drop you into stillness.
Don't push or pull the breath.
Just go with it till you feel the ending of breath in deep stillness of your being.
Stay there till the breath returns on its own.
Observe how the breath is rising from stillness and returning to stillness.
So connect to that sensation of stillness in your body.
Feel its profound depth.
And now shift your attention to hearing whatsoever be the sounds that are around.
It doesn't matter what sound they are all on the surface.
Important thing is to listen far and wide.
The wider you reach out to listen,
The wider your consciousness become.
Sound is a way of expanding,
Spatially widening.
Listen to the faintest and farthest sounds.
The more distant the sound is,
The more faint the sound is.
Easier it is to reach out and expand.
There are no good sounds and bad sounds.
It is just texture of the soundscape.
It could be birds,
It could be traffic,
It could be some machines,
It could be people.
It doesn't matter whatsoever be the sound.
Reach far and wide so that you can feel your stillness is expanding.
It not only has depth,
It has an infinite wideness.
Reach out and feel the distance and relax into that wideness.
Trusting completely,
Surrendering completely to the wideness so that you become the wideness.
You are the wideness retaining stillness,
Simultaneously expanding into wideness by listening to the farthest sounds.
Don't listen to the thoughts,
Whatsoever they are saying.
Listen to the sounds that are outside you,
Far away.
That will help you to expand,
Enlarge,
Embrace,
Wideness.
Enjoy the wideness.
Settle in that stillness and wideness.
It is more of an letting go and surrender to stillness and wideness.
Relaxing into it and allowing it to permeate your whole being so that your inner being expands and you become that.
Feel the body in that vastness.
It's a small center.
Important thing is the vastness of your being.
Body being a small condensation,
Small concentration,
Small density in which the breath is happening.
Connect to the body.
Feel your face,
Feel your eyes.
Gently open your eyes and see if you can retain the wideness and stillness with your open eyes.
This is the second gateway.
First,
Was the stillness going inward,
Dropped in by your breath.
Second is expansion,
Widening using the farthest and faintest sounds and then relaxing into it,
Merging into the wideness,
Into the stillness so that these qualities can develop within you.
Whatsoever you surrender to,
You become that.
So remember to practice this second aspect together with the first in your coming days till you are able to remember it,
Internalize it and practice it anytime,
Anywhere.
Just stand anytime,
Anywhere and listen to the landscape,
Soundscape instantly will connect with the wideness and then remember the bookmark of stillness,
Recall it,
Feel it.
The more you are able to break the routines and take a dip into stillness and become wide,
It will begin to get cultivated inside you.
It will get easier to connect,
To become still and wide.
So enjoy your practice.
See you next time for the third step.
Thank you.
