Yoga is about eliminating the ego to realize selflessness, but how?

Teaching yoga, not about teaching some yoga asana poses or exercises as fitness exercise class, but teaching and guiding the minds on how to develop non-attachment, non-identification, letting go of the ego, and how to transcend the mind and the body, transcend “suffering”, “restlessness”, “dissatisfaction”, “unhappiness”, “fear”, “worry”, and etc, via yoga practice (not limited to yoga asana and pranayama practice), to realize the one same nature of all beings – selflessness, that also lead to the realization of real peace that is unconditional, is not like doing a business selling a “product” or “service” to the people such like in the fitness, health and beauty industry, or in the modern “yoga” industry where there are so many varieties of “yoga classes” and “yoga accessories” on the “yoga market” to satisfy the different interests or desires of the mind… But yoga is only one…

It is not a religion that trying to convert other people to believe and to follow its teachings, or else “God” will punish anyone who does not believe in its teachings and does not follow the practice accordingly… Every beings has the choice or freedom whether to follow the path and take up the practice, or not… Some people take up the complete practice, but many people only want to take up certain parts of the teachings and practice that they like and agree with… And there is nothing wrong with that…

It is our freedom whether we want to be egoistic and ignorant, or if we want to realize selflessness, and be free from ignorance… It is our freedom whether we want to be in peace, or we don’t mind at all if we are not in peace…

We cannot make anyone to understand, or to practice, or to realize according to what we understand and practice and realized.. It is everyone’s freedom…

If someone doesn’t enjoy the food that is not the taste that he likes, then even if somebody want to be nice to him and give him “very good” food for free everyday, it is not going to make him satisfied and happy… Because it is not something that he wants and likes… Some people like to live in restlessness, or else they’ll feel like fish out of water… That's their freedom.

Yoga (selflessness) is not a thing that we can “pay” with some “money” to buy and possess… But it is realizing the Truth of the 'I', by letting go of the ego (giving up pride, arrogance, desires, identities, attachments, likes and dislikes, craving and aversion, and etc). The truth is always here, in this present moment… We don’t need to “buy” it from somebody or from some organizations who claim that they can “make” us “become” anything that we want to be… We are what we are, why do we need somebody else to make us to become “us”?

No doubts that by practicing yoga asana exercises everyday will make our mind feels good, make our body strong and healthy, and be able to enjoy a higher quality of life, but there is no guarantee that all minds that are learning and practicing “yoga” will be liberated, and be free from ignorance, impurities, unhappiness or “suffering”, and is peaceful being undisturbed or undetermined by the impermanent qualities of names and forms… It depends on the presence and absence of non-attachment towards the modifications of the mind, or whatever the mind is perceiving and experiencing from moment to moment, or towards any names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, that will lead us to peace, or not…

It is just the body and mind experiencing some momentary conditional good feelings and good condition as part of the effects of the yoga exercises, but we are not the body, we are not the mind… The body is not “I”, the mind is not “I”. As long as there is still an identity in the mind identifying with the body and mind as 'I', which are impermanent and constantly changing and are subject to conditional circumstances to feel good and happy, or not, being over-powered by the craving towards “good condition” and the aversion towards “bad condition”, then we will never be free… Our sense of well-being swaying up and down according to the conditional changes of qualities… Forever restless… Maybe some people just want to keep working on satisfying the cravings of the body and mind, and enjoying that momentary satisfaction or sense of achievement when they get what they want, and are not interested to go beyond that, it is nothing wrong. Be happy.

It doesn’t guaranteed that we will be free from ignorance after how long and how much we had performed the “yoga practice”… But it doesn’t matter, because regardless of whether we’ll realize the one nature of all beings, or not, it doesn’t change the Truth about what we think we are… Even if we don’t know or realize that the nature of all beings is selflessness, the embodiment of unconditional peace, and even if we are not peaceful in the present moment now, this nature of selfless unconditional peace is always there…

Some beings never done any “yoga practice” before but they are liberated and are free from ignorance… Some people do not practice “yoga” at all, but they are selfless, peaceful and compassionate… Some people did a lot of yoga practice everyday for years but still are not free from ignorance yet… Even if they are learning yoga from some “famous” yoga gurus or teachers… It is not the responsibility of the teachers for anyone’s liberation… Teachers are just being there to show the way (either the right way or the wrong way)… Liberation is coming from the minds themselves, and through their own effort (how much they are ready to give up or let go of attachment towards worldly attachments, identities, possessions, passion, desires, craving and aversion)…

The real yoga practice is about purifying and quieting the mind, where many impurities will arise to the surface of the mind during the process of mind purification, it is not a “nice” and “comfortable” experience in the journey towards true freedom… We’ll start to see the “ugly” side of our personality, or thinking, or behavior, or reaction, when we don't get what we want and are getting what we don’t want… The ego doesn’t like to know or admit about its own selfishness and foolishness… Most “minds” will try to runaway or avoid this uncomfortable purification process, and give in to the desires of craving and aversion (always looking for pleasant experiences, and rejecting unpleasant experiences, to gratified all its desires of likes and dislikes, wants and don’t wants)…

There is nothing wrong if a real yogi who knows the Truth and what is yoga, but does not “interested” or “desire” to “teach” yoga to the public. That doesn’t mean that they are selfish and don't want to share the greatness of yoga with other beings… They don’t “have to” share yoga with other beings intentionally, but that won’t stop them from radiate peace, wisdom and compassion into the universe… Even if they are interested to share and “teach” yoga to the public out of compassion, it is really depending on the minds themselves whether they will be willingly to let go of their ego and egoism, desires, pride and arrogance, and letting go of the identification with the body and mind and worldly self-image, to be open-minded to inquire the truth of everything, and be really humble to practice “yoga” sincerely, or not, and realize yoga by themselves…

There might be many so called "yoga practitioners" and "yoga teachers" in the world nowadays on the yoga "market" or "industry", but how many of us are really a "yogi"? Many who call ourselves "yogis", "yoga practitioners", "yoga teachers" and talk about the teachings and practice of yoga and teach other people to perform the yoga poses, but how many of us are sincerely practicing non-identification with the body and mind, letting go of the ego, practicing non-attachment towards all the qualities of names and forms, realizing the Truth of non-duality, and are desire-less and selfless? How many are truly practicing "yoga" or are just doing some "yoga exercises" for many hours everyday, but not knowing how to be free from being conditioned by the qualities of names and forms, craving and aversion, egoism and ignorance? How many are so called "in love" with "yoga" but continue to indulge in worldly passionate desires, gossiping, slandering, boasting, self-glorifying, telling lies, hypocrisy, mocking, back-biting, complaining, and condemning the yoga teachings that they don't agree with? Some people only fell in love with certain parts of the yoga practice that they like, but criticizing the other practices or teachings that their "ego" doesn't agree with and doesn't like...

Not all of the "experienced" yoga practitioners have already transcended names and forms, and many are still being over-powered by the ego and egoism, still have attachment towards spiritual achievement, physical and mental achievements, attached towards their actions and inactions, and the fruit of their actions and inactions, not to say, those who are still struggling in the ocean of ignorance... Even a well-trained great mind like Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita was once deluded by ignorance, and needed the guidance of Krishna...

A sincere "yoga seeker" who is interested in looking for a yoga teacher to learn and practicing yoga will come to a "teacher" with a humble heart and opened mind, to learn and "serve" under the teacher for purifying the mind and eliminating the ego... During the time of living closely to the teacher and learning from the teacher, the students of yoga will be asked to do a lot of Karma Yoga - selfless service, performing all duties and responsibilities without attaching towards the actions and the fruit of the actions... This will help the students to let go of the ego and egoism of attachment, identification, desire, judgment, expectation, or intention... And when the student's mind is matured enough, when the mind is free from egoism, impurities, desires and restlessness, when the ego is eliminated through performing selfless service without attaching towards the actions and the fruit of the actions, without expecting anything in return for all his actions, allowing the fruit of actions being there as it is, the teachings or the Truth will arise in the pure and serene mind naturally.

The teacher doesn't need to say anything or teach the students anything, but only guides them in daily life performing selfless service for many years to purify the mind and eliminating the ego. As the truth is already there in everyone "waiting" to be realized, it is not coming from or attaining from the outside. All the mind needs to do is removing all impurities and eliminating the ego... Yoga practice like Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana and Dhyana, or so called a glance of stillness in Samadhi, don't lead to "freedom" when the mind is still full of passionate desires and attachments... If the mind of the yoga students is full of impurities and desires and being over-powered by the ego, then no matter how much yoga practice and teachings that the teacher tries to teach to the yoga students, it is useless... It is like a dirty bowl, and we want to put the best clean and tasty food inside it... The food will be contaminated by the dirtiness or impurities...

The basic qualities in a yoga "seeker" are -

1.) Viveka (discrimination of real and unreal)

2.) Vairagya (dispassion or detachment)

3.) Mumukshutva (intense yearning for liberation)

4.) Shat-sampat (consists of the six virtues as below)

   a.) Sama - tranquility of the mind

   b.) Dama - self-restraint or control of the senses

   c.) Uparati - cessation from worldly activities

   d.) Titiksha - forbearance or power of endurance

   e.) Sraddha - faith in God, Scripture and the selfless Self, or the selfless universal consciousness

   f.) Samadhana - concentration or one-pointedness of mind

If a being doesn't have or doesn't develop all these qualities while performing the yoga practice, then by performing the yoga practice doesn't really bring them to peace, but instead it will be empowering the ego, pride and arrogance, desires of craving and aversion, which will lead to more restlessness (the opposite of peace) - Such like "I am a 'lovely princess' after I practiced yoga and everything is the way as I desire, and I am an 'evil monster' when I didn't practice yoga and everything is not the way as I desire..." That is the state of mind changing according to the momentary conditional influence from performing the yoga practice. It is not the unconditional real peace...

When the yoga students perform selfless service in the Ashram, nobody will come and tell them, "Hey, you did a good job," or "Thank you," or "You are a good yogi," or "Well done, keep it up," and etc... This is to starve the ego, not feeding the ego with what it wants... As the one who is longing for or depending on all these response or reaction of appreciation, acknowledgment, compliment, thankfulness, encouragement, agreement, and etc, to make the mind feels good about what it had done, and to motivate itself to perform actions, is the ego... The ego will grow stronger and stronger, if we keep feeding the ego with what it wants...

Without anyone showing appreciation and thankfulness in names and forms, or even, if there is criticism or condemn for their efforts and contributions, it doesn't mean that all efforts and actions are "meaningless"... The sun is always there shining ceaselessly providing light, heat and energy to the universe, whether the beings acknowledge or don't acknowledge about the contribution of the sun... Same as water, air, earth and space... It doesn't matter human beings are being grateful or ungrateful towards their intention-less selfless contribution to the universe, they are always there providing and supporting all and everything to be existing in the universe... They exist for all and everything to be existing without the intention to be there, to exist and to give. Neither there is expectation towards everything will be existing and be grateful because of their existence for all and everything to be existing... And they don't need to be existing at all if nothing exist...

The real appreciation and gratefulness is nameless and formless beyond thoughts, speech and actions... When someone knows how to perform all actions selflessly and compassionately without attaching to the actions or the fruit of the actions, without expecting any response of appreciation, acknowledgment, compliment, thankfulness, or encouragement coming from anybody to feel good about what he had done and to be motivated to perform actions, then this person is free from being conditioned by the ego... This mind is living in the present moment, and radiates peace and compassion without any intentions, and will not be disturbed by the impermanent qualities of names and forms perceived in the mind through the senses...

This practice of renouncing from the fruit of action is being practiced when we are performing all the yoga practice such like yama, niyama, yoga asana, pranayama, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation, chanting, studying the scriptures, and etc.. We do not expect any benefits or rewards in return from our efforts and actions... But we allow all the benefits to be there naturally as it is, not because we expect the benefits to be there the way that we want it to be... There is no identification as the doer of the actions and the enjoyer of the fruit of the actions... The ego needs some kind of benefits or rewards to motivate it to perform actions, but the selfless nature of all beings doesn't need any motivations to be what it is...

When the ego is eliminated, there is neither good or bad, happiness or suffering, positive or negative, success or failure, praise or condemn, appropriateness or inappropriateness, auspiciousness or inauspiciousness, pleasantness or unpleasantness, action or inaction, birth or death, gain or loss...

When the mind is free from the ego, there is no hypocrisy in this mind... Pretentiousness and untruthfulness is completely vanished and absent in this...

Although there are not many real yogis are interested in "teaching" yoga to the public, this doesn't mean that there are no real yogis sharing the wisdom of peace and compassion in the world... Real yogis are not necessarily to be recognized through "fit and strong and flexible" physical body, nor being determined by the skill in performing some yoga asana and meditation poses, or teaching some "yoga classes", nor being determined by how much charity works under certain names and forms that they had performed... They might not be doing any yoga poses or talk about anything about "yoga"... But they are not separated from yoga and meditation every moment... They are meditating beyond names and forms, ceaselessly from moment to moment, and are already identical with the selfless universal consciousness - Selflessness, or Yoga... And without intention, they radiate love and peace to all beings unlimited by names and forms, time and space, without discrimination, judgment or expectation...

Anyone who is completely selfless and compassionate is a real yogi... They do not need to perform "yoga practice" under certain names and forms to purifying and calming the mind, as their mind is already pure and calmed... Anyone who can perform a lot of yoga asana poses beautifully, but is not free from the ego yet, is still being over-powered by impurities, desires, craving, aversion, pride, arrogance, attachments, identifications, judgment and expectation, and has not realized the real nature of selflessness, unconditional peace and compassion, is not necessary a yogi... They are just striving to be a "yogi"... And real yogis don't need to call or tag themselves as "yogis"... There is no identification with any qualities of names and forms...

Selflessness and compassion is nothing to do with physical appearances or the physical and mental conditions and abilities to perform the asana poses. It is not defined by actions and inactions. A real yogi is beyond actions and inactions... A perfected Yogi is also a Jnani, there's no distinction between a yogi and a Jnani, they both are selfless, peaceful, wise and compassionate, and they both can be having certain illness, like chronic disease or cancer, or they might be short-lived, but they are not touched or determined by the sickness/weakness/imperfection of the physical body or the impermanent states of the mind, neither are they perceiving suffering due to the impermanent conditions of the physical body that is inevitably decaying from moment to moment...

Once the mind realized selflessness from performing Karma Yoga - renouncing the fruit of actions, naturally this mind is also devoting to the selfless universal consciousness (Bhakti Yoga), it is radiating wisdom (Jnana Yoga), it is the master of its own modification of the mind (Raja Yoga)... All these paths are not separated from each other when a mind realized selflessness...

In fact, there are plenty of these "yogis" out there disseminating love and peace into the world without posing as "Jnani", "yogis" or "yoga teachers"... They don't make "noise" or "advertise". They don't intentionally show an "image" of "Jnani" or "yogis" or "yoga practitioners" or "yoga teachers" to the world. They might not mix with the "yoga community" or the "yoga association" or the "yoga affiliation" or the "yoga organization" or the "yoga movement"... They might not announce themselves as "yogis". They might not announce themselves as "yoga teachers". They might not give "yoga classes". They might not take "yoga students"... They might not possess recognized "certifications" and "qualifications"... But they are the ego-less liberated compassionate wise beings who transmit the vibration of unconditional love and peace into the universe every moment unceasingly, just by being presence, without any intention or expectation to benefit the world, or try to change the world to be a "better" place, or try to control anyone to behave "accordingly", or "hope" and "expect" the world will change into the way that they want it to be...

In the traditional lineage of yoga, the teacher doesn't really "give" the students what they "want" or "desire" or "expect", but will give them what they need to be free from the ego and ignorance, allowing them to deal with their egos whenever they are not getting what they want or desire or expect... Even if they'll get angry or frustrated because the teacher does not "please" them by giving them what their egos want to see, or hear, or experience, but those are the great moments for them to recognize and root out their egos and to free themselves from the ego... Until their ego is eliminated, their mind is tamed, and is free from the desires of craving and aversion... Meanwhile, the selfless universe will provide all and everything with what they need, without their expectation or "wanting" anything...

In the traditional yoga lineage, the teacher seems like is being "very hard" on the students (more precisely - hard on their egos), but it is all out of compassion... At the end, without the teacher showing us anything in names and forms, our ego melts away. Upon the absence of the veil of ignorance, the Truth reveals itself to us... It is not easy to be a real yoga teacher... But the real yoga teacher doesn't mind. The "yoga teachers" who mind, they are not free from the ego yet...

Om shanti.