Dear Friends,

There is a technical term, in Sanskrit, for the still point between two phases of movement, called Madhya.

The is the moment of pause, whether between the rise and fall of an axe, the movement of the breath, the back and forth movement of a pendulum, or the flow of thoughts.

The great Christian mystic, Julian of Norwich has referred to God as the “midpoint between all things.”

T.S. Eliot writes about this type of reality in the poem “Burnt Norton” from his Four Quartets:

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement
          from nor forwards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance,
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

When we meditate, there is always an opportunity to notice these points, these little samadhis, or gaps – fleeting moments of stillness – moments, tended to, which might open into a manifest universe so lovely it would leave us breathless.

Because this great Heart, this Mind, this beautiful silence, this is the Self.

This is the still point of God. Madhya.

Meditate with awareness. With intention. Pay attention. Because you never know when the miracle will happen, and you won’t want to miss it.

Love, Gopita