“The Upanishads were born nearly five thousand years ago. They are a secret communion, a transmission beyond scriptures, beyond words, between an individual and existence. The seven steps to samadhi or enlightenment that the Akshi Upanishad describes are a like a seeker’s map or guide to the inner journey. The first three steps are the waking state of the mind, the surface of our personalities; the fourth and the fifth steps go deeper as we enter into our subjectivity; the sixth stage is still deeper, where there are no longer any objects or subject, and the seventh is not a step at all, it is our very nature, our being. Like Osho, the Upanishads don’t teach renunciation. Instead, Upanishadic wisdom encourages us to live in the world, play in the world, rejoice in life, and to experience the unchanging and eternal as we journey on these seven steps.”