In his embrace, there was a smile on her lips. Time, place, situation nothing mattered anymore. She held him tightly in her arms and mumbled "Father! Now I have found my attainment. Now I have only one emotion in my heart."
About 15 years before:
In City of Singrauli,
A father was walking while holding the hand of his 8-year-old daughter. It seemed like the father was teaching the girl the things around them. This street was busy even before the sunrise because this street leads to a small hill where a temple is built on top of the hill. Temple is dedicated to the God Shiva.
Many people are going toward temple or coming back from the temple. Many parents are holding the hands of their kids. As a Spiritual capital city, it is a custom in Singrauli that parents need to be responsible to lead their children to correct development path.
Singrauli is known as spiritual capital because the leader of the spiritual group Prajapati lived there. Prajapati and his followers were forced to leave protected city Jabalpur about 5 years back due to their different views from ruling science faction.
After he came here, many people were already living in this region but this place was kind of abandoned and very far from any of the protected cities. This place was a great industrious place few hundred years back due to coal mines and power plants. But due to the need of controlling pollution thermal power stations were stopped in favor of renewable energy and thus this region lost its glory.
When Prajapati and his hundreds of followers moved and settled in this region with their families, this region started developing spiritually. The thought process and lifestyle of people started changing. Prajapati by himself developed a system to burn coal without causing any pollution to the environment and got it patented and thus few power plants also started in this place which helped the region greatly.
This place changed greatly just in last 5 years and it happened due to a spiritual leader and people started believing him like a god and it almost turned the area of Singrauli and hundreds of villages around it toward the path of spiritual living. If people worshipped anyone other than God, then It must be their leader Prajapati. Leader Prajapati is also a spiritual practitioner of high level.
Father who was going toward temple holding the hands of his little girl said "Gauri! tell me, what is God? And how can we say that God is inside us?" His voice was very peaceful and yet gave a very ethereal feeling.
The girl looked at his father and smiled. She said "Father! This nature and divine cosmic energy which is spread in the whole universe is the God. A part of God lives inside us keeping our body alive, which is the soul. Thus we can say that God is within us."
Many people who were following them or around were silent and listening to the talk of father and daughter. Many small shops on the roadside were selling incense sticks, flowers or fruits etc. Many shopkeepers and even some customer looked back and did their greeting toward father and daughter.
Father continued asking the girl while responding to the greetings of people with light nods of his head "You said our body. Does it mean this body is mine but it is not me? Then who am I?"
Gauri said seriously "The soul which resides in the body is real me. I can be born in a body and leave the body when it is useless. I can never die because I am a part of the God itself. I can only make myself strong or weak based on the way I act using my body. The spiritual powers we attain using body will ultimately strengthen us and help us achieve the greater good."
Father felt happy and smiled. He patted the head of the small girl and said "What about Abhay? He is also a body which you like, So how can you be so infatuated with it? Remember who we are? We are the souls and souls have no restrains of the physical world."
Some nearby people smiled seeing the girl pouting due to her father's question. Abhay is the son of Bhadra, one of the followers of her father who takes care of his business and is one year older than her. She likes him and as a small child, she simply does not care about reasons. She knows her father is trying to tease and teach her at the same time.
The girl looked at her father and said annoyingly "When we are born as a human, of course, we have to follow some things of the physical world and also experience those emotions. And I don't believe emotions can become restrictions in our spiritual path. I feel that they are more like encouragement and also work as catalyst sometime. Having no emotion is also a kind of emotion itself. Didn't you tell me once that state of no emotion is called indifference, nonchalance, unconcern? Isn't it an emotion itself?"
Now some people laughed. One person said while smiling "Fruits really don't fall far from the tree. Leader and his daughter, no one is any less of the other. She is already so knowledgeable at this age, she will surpass every human being in future."
This discussion between father and daughter truly amazes everyone. This morning walk of father and daughter to the temple is simply a live lecture for many people. This father is precisely the spiritual leader Prajapati.
While talking they reached the bottom of the hill and one of the shopkeepers was there ready with the prayer related stuff in a basket and greeted the leader. The leader nodded at him and extended his hand to take the basket and basket flew slowly from few meters away and came in his hands.
Moving objects is not a difficult thing for spiritual or mind practitioners and there are many people who have these powers nowadays. So this thing is nothing new to the shopkeeper.
Father and daughter started climbing the stairs to temple. The girl looked at her father and smiled "Father! you say that show off of spiritual powers is not allowed. Why do you always take the basket from shopkeeper this way? Are you trying to tell him who is the boss?"
Leader Prajapati who was having a nonchalant expression on his face suddenly laughed and asked "Where did you learn that. Haha. Who is the boss? That sentence is really funny."
The girl looked at her father innocently and asked: "Are you trying to go around my question without answering it?"
After he stopped laughing, he smiled at his daughter and said "We don't want young ones to show off because it originates from the feeling of pride and arrogance. We don't want people to feel that they have reached at peak and stop improving. On the path of spirituality, we always need to keep improving and never stop. When father took the basket, it has just become a habit of the father, he did not wish to get distracted from the beautiful conversation he was having with his lovely daughter."
Gauri pouted and said "You should not use beautiful and lovely. It seems we are being attached to the body too much." A blush was present on her face, yet she was showing that she didn't feel happy.
Leader Prajapati looked at her daughter lovingly and said "There is no harm in getting attached to the body. But as a spiritual practitioner, we need to remember that this body is to do the good work and never forget that this body is also mortal. Death of the body is the biggest truth of this world, remembering this and acting accordingly is enough."
He was a silent for a bit and said to his daughter lovingly "Dear! remember that being detached from world or indifference is also an emotion. So, if you are on the path of spirituality, you need to control your emotions in such a way that there is only one emotion left. And then you will truly move from mind to soul related stages of Yoga."
Other people who were climbing together also nodded. They almost reached the top of the hill and front gate of the temple was visible in front.
Father and daughter with her hand in her father's walked and entered the temple. The environment inside the temple was serene and peaceful. Many people were sitting in front of Statue of Rudra (God Shiva) and meditating.
Leader Prajapati saw his friend Bhadra sitting in the first row with his son Abhay. He saw her his daughter who has already found the Abhay. He nudged her softly and said in her ears "If you wish to go sit with them, go ahead."
The small girl shook her head and said "No, I can't go. He would think that even in the temple I am only thinking about following him. I don't wish to make him feel like I'm childish."
He gently stroked the hairs of his daughter and smiled at her. He guided her at a corner and they sat there folding their legs in a meditative state. He saw his daughter who was immersed in meditation and there was no emotion on her face. Her eyes were closed and her breathing almost nil. She was very close to attaining the perfection in Retraction stage of Yoga. The glow of her face gives the feeling of divinity. There was no look of the infatuated girl on her face which was there before.
There are eight steps in Yoga which are called Restrain, Regulate, Asanas, Life control, Retraction, Conception, Cognizance, and Abstraction. The one reaching the stage of Abstraction becomes one with nature and can be like Gods.
A person who can reach the top level of Yoga can be in control of his own body and soul. All five elements Earth, sky, water, Fire, and Air work according to his wishes. He can see, hear or reach the things which are separated by distance, time or dimension. Can take birth, rebirth on his own will and can retain his memories in the process.
Restrain, Regulate and Asana stages are about taming your body and sensual senses. Stage Life Control deals with the internal part of the body. Stage Retraction and conception are related with mind. Last two stages are related with Soul.
So the path of spirituality can be said to consist of mainly three type of stages Physical, Mental and Spiritual. Spiritual level is related to your soul.
Anyone can practice all the steps together but any step can only be perfected if the practitioner has already perfected the step before.
Many people can feel the unique type of peacefulness and serenity in the surrounding of Gauri while she is meditating. Many looked at her with the gaze of admiration and wished she was their daughter. Leader Prajapati couldn't stop feeling proud in his heart.