Yoga practice is looking after our minds particularly through observing certain observation and restriction of mental and physical activities to purify our thinking patterns, actions and speech in everyday life, besides performing some forms of physical and breathing exercises (Yoga Asana and Pranayama) to assist and support concentration and meditation practice (Dharana and Dhyana), to know the truth and be free from being determined or disturbed by the world of impermanent names and forms.
If our minds are highly sensitive towards all the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, and easily be affected by the pleasant and unpleasant qualities of name and form, and being restless being influenced and disturbed by the perceptions of names and forms, then we need to have certain degrees of limitation, or restriction, or filtration of what types of input that come in contact with the mind.
When the mind develops a strong foundation of non-attachment and non-identification, then all kinds of observation are unnecessary, and there's no need of limitation, or restriction, or filtration of what types of input that come in contact with the mind.
The practice of disassociation and non-identification with any names and forms is our basic yoga practice.
The worldly minded minds will want to avoid this type of yoga practice, and criticize this type of practice as anti-social and 'unhuman'. The worldly minded minds identify with the name and form of 'human beings' - "I am a human being. I am a good human being. Good human beings should have such and such qualities, should behave in such and such ways, or else we are bad human beings." We don't just expect ourselves as human beings we should behave in certain ways, but we also expect other 'human beings' also conform to our own projection and expectation, constantly generate separateness, conflicts, arguments, discrimination and hatred in oneself and others.
Yoga and meditation practice is not about strengthening or securing the worldly identification with certain qualities of name and form as this or that, but it's to drop off any identifications with any names and forms, realize non-separateness, or oneness beyond all the qualities of name and form.
It's the same as when we identify ourselves with a particular type of 'origin', 'nation', 'culture', 'religion', 'ethnic', 'personality', 'behavior', 'gender', 'sexual orientation', 'political group', 'professionalism', 'social group', 'yoga practitioner', 'yoga teacher', 'yoga lineage', or 'yoga group', we are not free.
Even by identifying oneself as a 'divine being' or 'spiritual being' is also not free from identification with qualities of name and form, and separateness.
Fear, discrimination (including discrimination of friends or not friends, human beings or non-human beings), pride and arrogance derive from separateness due to the identification with name and form. Unless we are free from fear, discrimination, pride and arrogance, there's no discrimination of friends or not friends, human beings or non-human beings, or else we can't be truly compassionate even though we would like to be a compassionate being.
Om shanti.
If our minds are highly sensitive towards all the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, and easily be affected by the pleasant and unpleasant qualities of name and form, and being restless being influenced and disturbed by the perceptions of names and forms, then we need to have certain degrees of limitation, or restriction, or filtration of what types of input that come in contact with the mind.
When the mind develops a strong foundation of non-attachment and non-identification, then all kinds of observation are unnecessary, and there's no need of limitation, or restriction, or filtration of what types of input that come in contact with the mind.
The practice of disassociation and non-identification with any names and forms is our basic yoga practice.
The worldly minded minds will want to avoid this type of yoga practice, and criticize this type of practice as anti-social and 'unhuman'. The worldly minded minds identify with the name and form of 'human beings' - "I am a human being. I am a good human being. Good human beings should have such and such qualities, should behave in such and such ways, or else we are bad human beings." We don't just expect ourselves as human beings we should behave in certain ways, but we also expect other 'human beings' also conform to our own projection and expectation, constantly generate separateness, conflicts, arguments, discrimination and hatred in oneself and others.
Yoga and meditation practice is not about strengthening or securing the worldly identification with certain qualities of name and form as this or that, but it's to drop off any identifications with any names and forms, realize non-separateness, or oneness beyond all the qualities of name and form.
It's the same as when we identify ourselves with a particular type of 'origin', 'nation', 'culture', 'religion', 'ethnic', 'personality', 'behavior', 'gender', 'sexual orientation', 'political group', 'professionalism', 'social group', 'yoga practitioner', 'yoga teacher', 'yoga lineage', or 'yoga group', we are not free.
Even by identifying oneself as a 'divine being' or 'spiritual being' is also not free from identification with qualities of name and form, and separateness.
Fear, discrimination (including discrimination of friends or not friends, human beings or non-human beings), pride and arrogance derive from separateness due to the identification with name and form. Unless we are free from fear, discrimination, pride and arrogance, there's no discrimination of friends or not friends, human beings or non-human beings, or else we can't be truly compassionate even though we would like to be a compassionate being.
Om shanti.
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