Perform
all the actions that can be done and need to be done for the well-being
of ourselves and for other beings in the world, without intention,
without expectation, not attached to our actions and the fruit of our
actions, go beyond success and failure, good and bad, praise and
censure, effectiveness and non-effectiveness. These actions are being
performed out of compassion, selflessness. These actions are free from
the influence from the mind and the ego, the likes and dislikes, craving
and aversion. These actions do not come from "I".
These actions are pure and untainted by good or bad karma.
Just like the sun, the water, the air, the earth and the space. They have no intentions to give anything to anybody, but without all these things to provide heat, oxygen, water, earth and space, nothing can exist. We depend on these providers to give us all the supports for our life existence. And they perform actions unceasingly to give, provide and support all and everything in the universe to exist. They have no expectation from the actions of contributing. They have no discrimination of good or bad beings, happy or unhappy beings, ignorant or wise beings, ancient or modern beings. They have no anger, hatred, disappointment, frustration, dissatisfaction, fear and worry, likes or dislikes, craving or aversion. Why? Because they don't have a thinking mind with the function of the selfish ego. But naturally, unselfishly, they give and perform the action of giving unlimitedly, unconditionally, inexhaustibly, without discrimination, without any intentions and expectations. Without the identification as the doer of the actions, without the identification that these actions are for a purpose to benefit anyone, without the identification that someone will be benefited from these actions. That is selflessness. That is compassion. That is yoga.
It doesn't matter if the beings ruin the world and the environment. It doesn't matter when beings condemn about them for being too much or too little. It doesn't matter if beings like them or dislike them, want them or don't want them, whether beings appreciate them or not, be grateful and thankful or not, it doesn't matter if beings take advantage of these providers to fulfill their own selfish ambitions, these providers still perform the action of giving without attach to the action and the fruit of action.
The water has no intention to provide water for anyone or anything to consume it for existence, and everyone and everything consume water and continue to exist. The water also has no intention to have cleansing or purifying effects, and everyone and everything get the cleansing and purifying effect from water. The water has no intention to drown anybody or to take away any lives, and beings do drown themselves in water and lost their lives. The water has no expectation that anyone or anything will be benefited from it, nor expecting any compliment or praise, thankfulness or gratefulness, nor expecting someone will show appreciation or love for it. It doesn't matter if anyone condemning the water for being too much or too little, or if anyone is polluting the water. The water has no discrimination of good or bad beings, ignorant or wise beings, or any preferences. The water has no intention to be good or bad, to give or to take. But the water continues to be exist for the others to be exist. There is no "action" - it is action-less, behind all these actions with names and forms.
The sun has no intention to give heat and light for us to have warmth, food and energy, and everything and everyone still get the warmth, food and energy from it. It has no intention to burn anyone or to give skin cancer to anyone, and someone still get sunburn or skin cancer through it. It has no intention to support anything to have life or to take away any lives. The sun has no expectation that anyone or anything will be benefited from it, nor expecting any compliment or praise, thankfulness or gratefulness, nor expecting someone will show appreciation or love for it. It doesn't matter if anyone condemning the sun for being too much or too little. The sun has no discrimination of good or bad beings, ignorant or wise beings, or any preferences. The sun has no intention to be good or bad, to give or to take. But the sun continues to be exist for the others to be exist. There is no "action" - it is action-less, behind all these actions with names and forms.
There is no success nor failure. There is no good nor bad intention. There is no performing any actions nor not performing any actions. There is no "I-ness". There is no gain nor loss. There is no craving nor aversion. There is no giving nor receiving.
That selflessness and unconditional compassion is who we really are. But we were separated from this selfless true nature of us by the initial thought of craving and clinging (the beginning existence of names and forms (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and thoughts) which have a beginning and an ending, existence and non-existence, forming and deforming, arising and passing away), which gave birth to the mortal physical body with the function of a thinking mind with the function of the limited intellect and the selfish ego.
This craving gave birth to all the "side effects" that came along with the mortal physical body with the functions of all the sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and thinking faculty) and all other life support organs which is subject to impermanence, birth, growth, changes, decaying, old age, illness, pain and death.
This mortal physical body came along with the thinking mind (projector for thoughts, feelings, emotions and sensations) to perceive names and forms through the senses in the body, with the limited intellect that can only perceive things that are with names and forms but cannot perceive namelessness and formlessness that are beyond names and forms, and the selfish ego which asserts what it agrees or disagrees with, likes and dislikes, wants and doesn't wants, craving and aversion, and came along with all the impurities or ignorance - anger, hatred, jealousy, attachment, dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, irritation, greed, lustful desire, anxiety, agitation, depression, fear, worry, doubt, and all sorts of ill-wills.
All these impurities further more generate never ending reactions of attachment, clinging, craving and aversion that create the repeated cycles of birth and death for us to reap the karma of cause and effect from our past actions and reactions. And all these are the cause of suffering that exists with the body and the mind - hunger, thirst, growth, changes, illness, pain, old age, death, fear, worry, doubt, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, lustful desires, ignorance, dissatisfaction, emptiness, being with the objects that we don't like, not being with the objects that we like, being separated from our loved ones, craving and clinging, impurities of the physical body (remove the layer of our skin and see what is so "beautiful" about our body. It is nothing but flesh, nerves, blood, glands, organs, intestines, bones, muscles, cells, fermentation of food, gas, urine, shit, pus, phlegm, membranes, germs, bacteria and etc).
Even so, this physical body is just being what it is. It is not something clean nor dirty. It is not something beautiful nor disgusting. It has no intention for us to be healthy or not healthy. It is just there for us to have life existence that is subject to impermanence, birth and death.
We were and are still lost in the attachment towards the duality of different qualities of all the names and forms (good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, success and failure, praise and censure, heat and cold, superiority and inferiority, birth and death). We were and are still clinging onto this physical body with the function of the mind, the intellect and the ego, with all the ignorance and impurities that constantly generate more and more reactions of craving and aversion and the consequences of the reactions - karma of cause and effect.
We were and are still lost in the wrong identification with the body and the mind, likes and dislikes, wants and doesn't wants. Thinking that we are the body, this impermanent body is us. Thinking that we are the mind, these thoughts, feelings and sensations are us. And this wrong identification makes us think that "we are good", "we are bad", "we are happy", "we are sad", "we are strong and healthy", "we are weak and sick", "we are suffering", "we are free from suffering"....
But our true Self is beyond all these attributes that are subject to changes and impermanence, which is not real. All these impermanent names and forms are just momentary illusions that are forming and deforming due to the craving and clinging that come from the thinking mind with the selfish ego with the big "I-ness" and "Mine-ness".
Our true Self is beyond existence and non-existence. Existence and non-existence only occur to names and forms that have attributes or qualities. The true Self is attribute-less. It has no beginning and no ending. It is not tainted by ignorance, or the impurities of the body, the mind, the thoughts, actions and speech (both positive and negative, good and evil). It is beyond pure and impure. It is beyond happiness and unhappiness. It is beyond what the mind can perceive through the limited intellect. It is beyond all the elements. It is pure existence, pure knowledge and pure bliss.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no end of suffering, no free from suffering.
Keep purifying our mind, have self-control over our thoughts, actions and speech. Limit any unnecessary inputs. Conserve our energy and effort for the quest for self-realization and to perform selfless service for the welfare of our own self and for other beings and the world. Practice concentration and awareness at the present moment. Develop all the divine qualities that will lead us to purity, non-attachment, firmness and fearlessness which will lead us back to our true nature - selflessness, love, peace, compassion and wisdom.
Contemplate on this selflessness. Try to practice selflessness and perform all the actions for ourselves or for all other beings, out of compassion, selflessly and be free from the influence that comes from the mind, the intellect and the ego (good and bad qualities, positive and negative, pleasant and unpleasant, agrees and disagrees, likes and dislikes, wants and doesn't wants, craving and aversion).
Rise above the body, the mind and the ego. Let go of the wrong identification with the body, the mind and the ego.
Let go of the attachment, clinging and craving for the momentary state of calmness and peacefulness that comes from the mind after doing some yoga practices or meditation. Go beyond all the states of the mind. We practice yoga not just because we like to do it because it gives us a momentary satisfaction, good feelings, lightness and calmness for the mind and other benefits for the physical body. But go deeper in our practice to realize the truth of things, of who we really are, by purifying and stilling the mind, by non-attachment towards all the good or bad feelings that come from doing yoga or not doing yoga, by not having craving towards the pleasant sensations and not having aversion towards the unpleasant sensations that arise while we perform any yoga asana practice, pranayama practice, meditation, karma yoga, chanting and etc.
Go beyond success and failure, compliments and condemnations, good and not good, like and dislike, want and don't want, pleasant and unpleasant, positive and negative, happiness and unhappiness. Go beyond all the qualities, all the names and forms.
Perform all our actions of doing the yoga practices and meditation without intention to perform anything, without expectation of going to attain anything, without the attachment towards the actions and the fruit of actions. All the actions are being performed naturally out of compassion and selflessness. There is no discrimination of us and everyone else. All actions are being performed without preferences or weighings of superiority and inferiority, likes and dislikes, what is dear to "me" or not dear to "me". All beings who are kind to me or are unkind to me, are all equal and have no differences.
All beings who act selfishly and ignorantly are because of ignorance, or lack of wisdom. All these beings who are performing wrong and evil doings are because they are under the influence of the impurities. They are not happy, not satisfied and not peaceful. If we are truly compassionate, we will not be angry with all these beings and their ignorant actions, but we will be compassionate towards them, forgive and accept them as they are, because we can see or are aware of what they are suffering and will be continue to suffer due to all the selfish ignorant wrong and evil doings that they had performed unto themselves and other beings.
How could we possibly be angry with them or hate them. We will show sympathy for all these beings who don't know their true Self, who they really are, and they are ignorant of their actions are bringing them more suffering in return.
And within all ignorant beings including our own self, after purifying or removing all the names and forms with the qualities of good and evil, is the true Self that is not any different from everyone else, which is selflessness, love, peace, compassion and wisdom. We ourselves are ignorant too, before we attain self-realization. And so, who are we to judge and criticize all other beings that are impure and imperfect like us? And if we have truly attained self-realization, and are identified with our true Self, which is selflessness, love, peace, compassion and wisdom, we won't be angry with anything or hating any beings who are suffering due to ignorance.
If we are angry or hating anything or any beings, then that anger and hatred is coming from the mind and the ego being disagree with, dislike, doesn't want and averse towards all these ignorant actions and beings that exist due to the ignorance in the mind. But know that the mind itself is not ignorant nor something bad. Once the impurities are removed or eliminated from the mind, the mind is still the same mind, but are free from impurities. And this pure mind will act as a reflector for us to reflect on everything to know the truth of things and to know who we really are.
We don't have to agree with, or to like, or to support any wrong and evil doings, but we don't need to be angry and upset about it either. We can perform any actions that can be done and need to be done to help the world, to help other beings to realize the consequences of their actions but we cannot change the world nor change any beings to become what we want them to be. The world or the beings have to change themselves by having the awareness to reflect on themselves for their actions and make the effort to change.
May all be happy and be free.
Om shanti.
These actions are pure and untainted by good or bad karma.
Just like the sun, the water, the air, the earth and the space. They have no intentions to give anything to anybody, but without all these things to provide heat, oxygen, water, earth and space, nothing can exist. We depend on these providers to give us all the supports for our life existence. And they perform actions unceasingly to give, provide and support all and everything in the universe to exist. They have no expectation from the actions of contributing. They have no discrimination of good or bad beings, happy or unhappy beings, ignorant or wise beings, ancient or modern beings. They have no anger, hatred, disappointment, frustration, dissatisfaction, fear and worry, likes or dislikes, craving or aversion. Why? Because they don't have a thinking mind with the function of the selfish ego. But naturally, unselfishly, they give and perform the action of giving unlimitedly, unconditionally, inexhaustibly, without discrimination, without any intentions and expectations. Without the identification as the doer of the actions, without the identification that these actions are for a purpose to benefit anyone, without the identification that someone will be benefited from these actions. That is selflessness. That is compassion. That is yoga.
It doesn't matter if the beings ruin the world and the environment. It doesn't matter when beings condemn about them for being too much or too little. It doesn't matter if beings like them or dislike them, want them or don't want them, whether beings appreciate them or not, be grateful and thankful or not, it doesn't matter if beings take advantage of these providers to fulfill their own selfish ambitions, these providers still perform the action of giving without attach to the action and the fruit of action.
The water has no intention to provide water for anyone or anything to consume it for existence, and everyone and everything consume water and continue to exist. The water also has no intention to have cleansing or purifying effects, and everyone and everything get the cleansing and purifying effect from water. The water has no intention to drown anybody or to take away any lives, and beings do drown themselves in water and lost their lives. The water has no expectation that anyone or anything will be benefited from it, nor expecting any compliment or praise, thankfulness or gratefulness, nor expecting someone will show appreciation or love for it. It doesn't matter if anyone condemning the water for being too much or too little, or if anyone is polluting the water. The water has no discrimination of good or bad beings, ignorant or wise beings, or any preferences. The water has no intention to be good or bad, to give or to take. But the water continues to be exist for the others to be exist. There is no "action" - it is action-less, behind all these actions with names and forms.
The sun has no intention to give heat and light for us to have warmth, food and energy, and everything and everyone still get the warmth, food and energy from it. It has no intention to burn anyone or to give skin cancer to anyone, and someone still get sunburn or skin cancer through it. It has no intention to support anything to have life or to take away any lives. The sun has no expectation that anyone or anything will be benefited from it, nor expecting any compliment or praise, thankfulness or gratefulness, nor expecting someone will show appreciation or love for it. It doesn't matter if anyone condemning the sun for being too much or too little. The sun has no discrimination of good or bad beings, ignorant or wise beings, or any preferences. The sun has no intention to be good or bad, to give or to take. But the sun continues to be exist for the others to be exist. There is no "action" - it is action-less, behind all these actions with names and forms.
There is no success nor failure. There is no good nor bad intention. There is no performing any actions nor not performing any actions. There is no "I-ness". There is no gain nor loss. There is no craving nor aversion. There is no giving nor receiving.
That selflessness and unconditional compassion is who we really are. But we were separated from this selfless true nature of us by the initial thought of craving and clinging (the beginning existence of names and forms (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and thoughts) which have a beginning and an ending, existence and non-existence, forming and deforming, arising and passing away), which gave birth to the mortal physical body with the function of a thinking mind with the function of the limited intellect and the selfish ego.
This craving gave birth to all the "side effects" that came along with the mortal physical body with the functions of all the sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and thinking faculty) and all other life support organs which is subject to impermanence, birth, growth, changes, decaying, old age, illness, pain and death.
This mortal physical body came along with the thinking mind (projector for thoughts, feelings, emotions and sensations) to perceive names and forms through the senses in the body, with the limited intellect that can only perceive things that are with names and forms but cannot perceive namelessness and formlessness that are beyond names and forms, and the selfish ego which asserts what it agrees or disagrees with, likes and dislikes, wants and doesn't wants, craving and aversion, and came along with all the impurities or ignorance - anger, hatred, jealousy, attachment, dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, irritation, greed, lustful desire, anxiety, agitation, depression, fear, worry, doubt, and all sorts of ill-wills.
All these impurities further more generate never ending reactions of attachment, clinging, craving and aversion that create the repeated cycles of birth and death for us to reap the karma of cause and effect from our past actions and reactions. And all these are the cause of suffering that exists with the body and the mind - hunger, thirst, growth, changes, illness, pain, old age, death, fear, worry, doubt, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, lustful desires, ignorance, dissatisfaction, emptiness, being with the objects that we don't like, not being with the objects that we like, being separated from our loved ones, craving and clinging, impurities of the physical body (remove the layer of our skin and see what is so "beautiful" about our body. It is nothing but flesh, nerves, blood, glands, organs, intestines, bones, muscles, cells, fermentation of food, gas, urine, shit, pus, phlegm, membranes, germs, bacteria and etc).
Even so, this physical body is just being what it is. It is not something clean nor dirty. It is not something beautiful nor disgusting. It has no intention for us to be healthy or not healthy. It is just there for us to have life existence that is subject to impermanence, birth and death.
We were and are still lost in the attachment towards the duality of different qualities of all the names and forms (good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, success and failure, praise and censure, heat and cold, superiority and inferiority, birth and death). We were and are still clinging onto this physical body with the function of the mind, the intellect and the ego, with all the ignorance and impurities that constantly generate more and more reactions of craving and aversion and the consequences of the reactions - karma of cause and effect.
We were and are still lost in the wrong identification with the body and the mind, likes and dislikes, wants and doesn't wants. Thinking that we are the body, this impermanent body is us. Thinking that we are the mind, these thoughts, feelings and sensations are us. And this wrong identification makes us think that "we are good", "we are bad", "we are happy", "we are sad", "we are strong and healthy", "we are weak and sick", "we are suffering", "we are free from suffering"....
But our true Self is beyond all these attributes that are subject to changes and impermanence, which is not real. All these impermanent names and forms are just momentary illusions that are forming and deforming due to the craving and clinging that come from the thinking mind with the selfish ego with the big "I-ness" and "Mine-ness".
Our true Self is beyond existence and non-existence. Existence and non-existence only occur to names and forms that have attributes or qualities. The true Self is attribute-less. It has no beginning and no ending. It is not tainted by ignorance, or the impurities of the body, the mind, the thoughts, actions and speech (both positive and negative, good and evil). It is beyond pure and impure. It is beyond happiness and unhappiness. It is beyond what the mind can perceive through the limited intellect. It is beyond all the elements. It is pure existence, pure knowledge and pure bliss.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no end of suffering, no free from suffering.
Keep purifying our mind, have self-control over our thoughts, actions and speech. Limit any unnecessary inputs. Conserve our energy and effort for the quest for self-realization and to perform selfless service for the welfare of our own self and for other beings and the world. Practice concentration and awareness at the present moment. Develop all the divine qualities that will lead us to purity, non-attachment, firmness and fearlessness which will lead us back to our true nature - selflessness, love, peace, compassion and wisdom.
Contemplate on this selflessness. Try to practice selflessness and perform all the actions for ourselves or for all other beings, out of compassion, selflessly and be free from the influence that comes from the mind, the intellect and the ego (good and bad qualities, positive and negative, pleasant and unpleasant, agrees and disagrees, likes and dislikes, wants and doesn't wants, craving and aversion).
Rise above the body, the mind and the ego. Let go of the wrong identification with the body, the mind and the ego.
Let go of the attachment, clinging and craving for the momentary state of calmness and peacefulness that comes from the mind after doing some yoga practices or meditation. Go beyond all the states of the mind. We practice yoga not just because we like to do it because it gives us a momentary satisfaction, good feelings, lightness and calmness for the mind and other benefits for the physical body. But go deeper in our practice to realize the truth of things, of who we really are, by purifying and stilling the mind, by non-attachment towards all the good or bad feelings that come from doing yoga or not doing yoga, by not having craving towards the pleasant sensations and not having aversion towards the unpleasant sensations that arise while we perform any yoga asana practice, pranayama practice, meditation, karma yoga, chanting and etc.
Go beyond success and failure, compliments and condemnations, good and not good, like and dislike, want and don't want, pleasant and unpleasant, positive and negative, happiness and unhappiness. Go beyond all the qualities, all the names and forms.
Perform all our actions of doing the yoga practices and meditation without intention to perform anything, without expectation of going to attain anything, without the attachment towards the actions and the fruit of actions. All the actions are being performed naturally out of compassion and selflessness. There is no discrimination of us and everyone else. All actions are being performed without preferences or weighings of superiority and inferiority, likes and dislikes, what is dear to "me" or not dear to "me". All beings who are kind to me or are unkind to me, are all equal and have no differences.
All beings who act selfishly and ignorantly are because of ignorance, or lack of wisdom. All these beings who are performing wrong and evil doings are because they are under the influence of the impurities. They are not happy, not satisfied and not peaceful. If we are truly compassionate, we will not be angry with all these beings and their ignorant actions, but we will be compassionate towards them, forgive and accept them as they are, because we can see or are aware of what they are suffering and will be continue to suffer due to all the selfish ignorant wrong and evil doings that they had performed unto themselves and other beings.
How could we possibly be angry with them or hate them. We will show sympathy for all these beings who don't know their true Self, who they really are, and they are ignorant of their actions are bringing them more suffering in return.
And within all ignorant beings including our own self, after purifying or removing all the names and forms with the qualities of good and evil, is the true Self that is not any different from everyone else, which is selflessness, love, peace, compassion and wisdom. We ourselves are ignorant too, before we attain self-realization. And so, who are we to judge and criticize all other beings that are impure and imperfect like us? And if we have truly attained self-realization, and are identified with our true Self, which is selflessness, love, peace, compassion and wisdom, we won't be angry with anything or hating any beings who are suffering due to ignorance.
If we are angry or hating anything or any beings, then that anger and hatred is coming from the mind and the ego being disagree with, dislike, doesn't want and averse towards all these ignorant actions and beings that exist due to the ignorance in the mind. But know that the mind itself is not ignorant nor something bad. Once the impurities are removed or eliminated from the mind, the mind is still the same mind, but are free from impurities. And this pure mind will act as a reflector for us to reflect on everything to know the truth of things and to know who we really are.
We don't have to agree with, or to like, or to support any wrong and evil doings, but we don't need to be angry and upset about it either. We can perform any actions that can be done and need to be done to help the world, to help other beings to realize the consequences of their actions but we cannot change the world nor change any beings to become what we want them to be. The world or the beings have to change themselves by having the awareness to reflect on themselves for their actions and make the effort to change.
May all be happy and be free.
Om shanti.
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