When I began to practice meditation, I read about Samadhi. Samadhi is the eighth and final limb of yoga and it means ‘single pointed attention’. It is when the observer, the observed, and the process of observation meld into the one that they are. It is the state of unification and the goal of yoga.

That was, and still is, something worth realizing. It is a state of bliss, and it is where peace, as I know it, exists.

It is not easy, the yogic path. And there are many steps along the way. It is perhaps obnoxious of me to even suggest that I’ve experienced anything close to Samadhi, after all, that is a state which very few ever realize. The absorption is so transcendental though, it is a natural high that one attains through discipline and inner work, as opposed to an external substance.

The path of yoga has many steps. There are many types of yoga. Although I did practice the path of knowledge, also called jnana, I also practiced bhakti – the path of love and devotion.

Jnana can be called the way of the mind where as bhakti is the way of the heart. Bhakti is devotion directed towards a god or goddess and requires very little intellect. It is more like a child yearning, longing, calling for their parent. The practices are simple: reading about god, chanting the name of god, singing about god.

One of my favourite practices is to imagine the lotus feet of Krishna, the particular god to whom I would chant. Just that simple visual can overwhelm me with deep love, adoration and gratitude.

God is understood as immanent and transcendent in a threefold manifestation. In one sense god is the infinite effulgence. All-encompassing and all pervading. In another sense god lives within the heart of each living entity: human being, cow, and ant. And in the third manifestation god exists as a personality, in this case Krishna.

The path of bhakti focuses all spiritual practice on developing your relationship to the personality of god. God as the perfect person, as the one worthy of the name Lord. The scriptures describe this perfect person as Bhagavan, or sat-cit-ananada. An English approximation being all consciousness, all existence, all bliss. Purification of thought, feeling and emotion.

What I came to understand is that as I continually offered my love and life to the Lord, I would invite the Lord into my heart, into my mind. I would fill myself with this love. As I invite the Lord into my heart, I am filled with the spirit and the presence of the Lord. The distinction between yourself and the object of your worship decreases and all that love that you feel, dwells within you. It is a process by which you fill yourself with love and begin to embody the consciousness of god.

Another wonderful benefit of practicing devotion in this way is learning how to work without attachment to the fruit of my works. Especially as an artist, I can be very critical of my productions. Often times I hear my inner dialogue judging my attempts to bring my imaginings into the world. It can be very difficult for the self-esteem. But the bhaktis, they offer all of their work to god. No matter what they have to offer, it is accepted because the spirit that is behind the offering is more important than the offering itself. And so I do my best to work from that place, and keep that in mind. My artworks, be them songs, or pictures, or writings, I offer not for my own critical acclaim but to bring god consciousness to the planet. So that beings may once again revere life, and live lives of love and appreciation. And by remembering this, I become less critical of my offerings. I am compelled to continue creating for the benefit of the whole.

This practice of bhakti was the perfect companion to the strict Buddhist meditation. Using both of these practices I began to live a life of meaning and experienced deeper states of love and peace.

Another spiritual tradition I really enjoy is Taoism and the teachings of Lao Tzu. I remember reading in the Hua Hu Ching that eventually even the idea of a saviour needs to be abandoned. If one is to truly transcend the limitations of the discerning mind, then all ideation must be let go. And in that realization I was able to move past the distinction of myself and the Lord as separate, and embrace the consciousness that the Lord presents, which is not separate and isolated from existence, but the entirety of existence.

Even now, because I do not live in that Samadhi, in that constant unity, I can use the image of the Lord to inspire deep love and devotion within. It is a thought, but also a feeling. My body fills with an electric current that cannot be explained by words. It is a state which is in itself meaningful and induces bliss.