Yoga and the Vision of the Heart

Have you ever experienced that sudden jolt of realizing you missed something in your blind spot while driving? You’re carefully watching the road, but there’s a whole piece of reality you just can’t see. In life, too, we move through the world with blind spots—mental, emotional, and spiritual. We might think we’re seeing the full picture, but in truth, our perception is shaped and limited by our personal stories, upbringing, culture, and conditioning.

The Bhagavad Gita offers a striking example of this limitation and what lies beyond it. Arjuna, the warrior prince, is overcome with doubt and sorrow on the battlefield. In response, Krishna doesn’t just give him advice—he gives him new eyes. Krishna grants Arjuna divine sight, allowing him to see Krishna’s true cosmic form. It wasn’t that Krishna had suddenly become something else—he had always been that. Arjuna simply couldn’t see it until his vision was expanded.

Our everyday awareness often keeps us trapped in the details—what's sometimes called “not seeing the forest for the trees.” We’re so focused on our individual problems or goals that we miss the larger truths surrounding us. Spiritual practice, especially yoga, helps us zoom out. As B.K.S. Iyengar said, “Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.”

At the heart of yogic philosophy is the idea that our greatest blind spot is avidya—a fundamental ignorance of who we truly are. We spend much of our lives identifying with our roles, bodies, and thoughts, but who we truly are isn’t visible in a mirror. Who we really are is beyond name and form, beyond language and thought. Our true nature must be perceived with the heart.

This is where the role of the guru or teacher comes in. In many traditions, the guru is said to cleanse the “mirror of the heart,” clearing away the dust of anger, fear, guilt, and attachments. Krishna Das puts it beautifully:“The heart is like a mirror. When we dust it off, we are able to see ourselves. The dust is all our stuff—guilt, anger—this stuff is reflected back to us. Practice removes the dust from the mirror of our hearts.”

Neem Karoli Baba, affectionately known as Maharajji, reminded his devotees of this deeper connection when he said, “Anyone who comes before my photograph is seen by me.” There’s a mystical suggestion here: that true vision—darshan—is not just about what we see, but it’s also about being seen. It’s a moment of grace when we are truly seen, as well as when we truly see.

The sixth chakra, often called the Third Eye, represents this kind of sight—not just physical vision but insight, clarity, and intuition. When this chakra is balanced, we begin to perceive not just with the eyes, but with wisdom, discernment, and fewer blind spots. It’s the ability to hold both the forest and the trees in view at once.

Yoga, in its fullest expression, isn’t just about better posture or flexibility. It’s about cultivating this inner vision—learning to see ourselves and the world more clearly, compassionately, and truthfully. When the dust is cleared from the mirror, we don’t just see more—we are more. Not because we’ve added anything, but because we’ve finally removed what was obscuring the view all along.

Inspired by the May Jivamukti Yoga Focus-of-the-Month essay written by Rima Rabbath.