For an Ishaya, devotion is neither an abstract concept nor a feeling that comes and goes depending on circumstances. It is a living state of conscious surrender

For a few blissful hours or days, I’d find reprieve from my mind’s endless loop of worry, frustration, and anxiety about outcomes or what others thought.

Imagine a large bowl filled with millions of ice cubes in various shapes-circles, stars, squares, and more. We notice countless distinct shapes if we focus on the bowl’s contents. Yet, each ice cube is made of the same substance: water. When they melt, nothing remains but water.

Have you, like me, been looking for happiness, love and contentment? Have you, like me, tried dating apps and new hobbies, moved and changed jobs to feel fulfilled, to find love and happiness?

I started on this journey of seeking inner peace about twenty years ago. At that time, I stumbled upon the Ishayas’ Ascension meditation practice. Its simplicity, its purity, its quick results and the radiance that emanated from the teachers, spoke to my heart.

“Commitment” can seem like a scary word sometimes. In my younger days, I would rebel against the concept, rejecting it as the end of my individual freedom of choice.

The Ishayas’ Teaching is that experiencing peace, love and oneness with the world is our natural state. That we are beings with unlimited creative potential – we are luminous and Divine.

I didn’t know why it was so difficult for people to be kind to one another or why we treated nature with such disregard. I also noticed friends and adults around me were often sad or struggling.

At the core of conscious growth lies the ability to live in the present moment. For most people, this requires practice. If we have lived a whole life away from this moment, paying attention to “right now” takes some practice.

The words  “waking up”, “enlightenment”, and “consciousness” are used so often in meditation or spiritual conversations, yet, they can seem so unreachable to us. For most of our lives, we believe they are experiences just for special people – those chosen by God, not for us.

For me, there was always a what if?. It was never enough; I used to compare myself with people. I wanted to change the world, but it was almost impossible because, apparently, no one was doing their part. First, they all had to change before I could do something, no matter how beautiful, magical and perfect it could be.

Okay, let’s first define devotion. The dictionary speaks of “Religious love, veneration, and fervour.” Chat GPT says devotion “…may refer to a passionate and persistent commitment to a person, cause, or activity.”
However, I want to give you a slightly different perspective on devotion. Through my journey, I would like to share with you what I experience devotion as and what I experience devotion towards.