First Light
How First Light worksTuesday 27 October·
- Sunrise
- 07:55
- Quiet hour
- 06:19–07:07
- Brahma Muhurta
- Moon
- Waning gibbous
- Next full moon: Tue 24 Nov
Autumn
The quiet hour (Brahma Muhurta) is the traditional time for practice, just before sunrise.
मूर्धज्योतिषि सिद्धदर्शनम्
mūrdha-jyotiṣi siddha-darśanam
Through saṁyama on the light at the crown of the head comes the vision of perfected beings.
Yoga Sutras 3.33 · verse 139 of 196
Unfolding the thread
Meditators describe a light felt at the top of the head. Resting there, Patanjali says, one perceives the siddhas, perfected beings. Whether you understand them literally or as the great examples who inspire us, the practice turns us toward the best of what humans can become.
Try today
Think of someone you consider truly wise, living or not. Spend a minute in their imagined company.
The Echo
The same truth, heard in another tradition
“I entered even into my inward self, Thou being my Guide: and able I was, for Thou wert become my Helper. And I entered and beheld with the eye of my soul (such as it was), above the same eye of my soul, above my mind, the Light Unchangeable.”
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