Life brought me to Malta in 2001. One cycle of my life was over and in my 28th year I was ready for the new cycle. Beginning my new chapter on that island, the tiny spot in the middle of the sea, ignited many questions within about the Self, the 'I' and desire to learn meditation and yoga.
My days were filled with reading of spiritual literature, search for texts on yoga and meditation and practice of meditation. One day by the sea, the brightness of the sea and sound of the waves, I read one line of the Yoga Sutras (1:2) Yogaschitta vritti nirodhah — 'To block the patterns of consciousness is yoga.' Those words went deep inside me.
Until that day my understanding of yoga was limited mainly to hatha yoga and asanas. That scripture, the commentaries and verses went deep into my self and awoke a strong urge for self-enquiry and self-discovery. The comparison of the restless mind with the sea, the description of the waves and the clear bottom of the sea, made a powerful impact on me, and I could not leave the book for quite some time.
I went to yoga and visual meditation classes. I realized that yoga was my path. The feeling of deep inner contentment, happiness and fulfilment after doing asanas, pranayamas or reading yogic literature, was unique and unknown to me before. That was love.
One day I found the book Prana Pranayama Prana Vidya of Swami Niranjanananda. On the cover page was a photo of Swami Niranjan and my eyes stayed fixed on it. That was the moment of recognition of my guru.
Soon I discovered the book Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha and the following months I dedicated myself to the practices and study of the techniques. Apart from that, mantras became my focus of interest, as well as study of other yogic scriptures and singing kirtans.
After a few years I returned to Serbia where I joined the Bihar School of Yoga group. In 2006 I met my guru for the first time and received initiation. Today I do my sadhana regularly along with my duties towards my family and work. I try to maintain the feeling of peace and inner contentment that develops through the sadhana in all my day-to-day activities.
The feeling of love that karma, bhakti and hatha yoga generate in me are priceless experiences I have in this life as a yoga disciple.
Hari Om Tat Sat