Kabir’s famous verse is an apt metaphor for Yoga. When we practice Yoga, we dissolve the layers of world-weariness and grief that veil our heart. (There’s a reason backbends are called heart-openers; they facilitate this deep opening of the heart center.)

We dissolve samskaras, the subtle impressions of past experiences that are stored in our body. Over time, we recover the tenderness of an open, awake heart.

While reading Joseph Campbell, I was reminded that these deeply transformational practices of Yoga, especially the core practice, meditation, are pathways to bliss.

In Campbell’s words, hell is our own “egoic obstructions.”

In Yoga we dissolve the egoic obstructions that prevent us from being free, from knowing and being our truest Self. That Self is sat, being that is eternal, cit, pure consciousness, and ananda, bliss.

For those who regard “bliss” as aspirational rather than real, note that one definition of bliss is “utter contentment” and that resting your mind where it finds contentment is a recommended practice.