Unconditional peace and happiness beyond good conditions of life and worldly knowledge...

It doesn't matter what is the condition and ability of this physical body and the state of this mind, as long as we are still attached to this body and this mind, and being conditioned and influenced by the selfish egoistic mind with all the impurities like attachment towards sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations and thinking, being over-powered by likes and dislikes, craving and aversion, desires, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, pride, arrogance, fear, worry, depression, agitation, restlessness, judgment, expectation, doubts, ignorance and etc, we are not free...

How could we be truly "happy and peaceful" when we are being over-powered by all these impurities even though we try to attain "peace and happiness" through practicing yoga and meditation, and learning about the anatomy and physiology about this physical body, and learning about the techniques to perform the asana poses and breathing exercises, and knowing the benefits of performing the asana poses and breathing exercises?

There is no doubt that by attaining what we like and want to attain, we will feel (momentary) good, excited and happy. But these good and happy feelings and excitement don't last long, it will change and disappear, and non-satisfying...

There is no doubt that by having a healthy, strong and flexible physical body and being knowledgeable will bring us towards a better quality of life and for us to be able to make good use of this good condition of the physical body and the knowledge that we have to serve ourselves and other beings in the world to improve. But even by having a healthy, strong and flexible physical body, and worldly knowledge cannot guarantee us peace and happiness if we are identified with the selfish egoistic impure mind, if we didn't try to let go of the ego... We will be disturbed and affected all the time by the reactions of the mind towards whatever it sees, hears, smells, tastes, touches and thinks, and be conditioned by the craving and aversion coming from the egoistic mind towards what it likes and dislikes, agrees and disagrees with...

If we know how to not identify with the body and the mind, if we know how to observe the reactions of the mind without associating with it, and let go of the craving and aversion coming from the ego, undisturbed and unconditioned by whatever the body and the mind is experiencing from moment to moment, we will know what is unconditional peace and happiness that is not conditioned by any impermanent qualities of names and forms...

Through sincere and consistent practice of yoga and meditation with the right effort and attitude, it can help us to develop non-attachment or non-identification towards the body, the egoistic mind and whatever the mind perceives through the senses, rendering it pure and calm to be free from impurities and restlessness, to be able to observe the reality of thing as it is...

When a being is free from the ego, there is no argument or justification or criticism towards anything that seems to be "different" from what it is, or what it thinks and believes, as all the dualities and qualities had disappeared from the mind perception of names and forms... There is no "agreement" nor "disagreement". Everything is just being what it is. They are not something good or bad. They are not something positive or negative. They are not something happy or suffering. They have no power or intention to be good or bad, to be positive or negative, to make us happy or suffer.

This is compassion. This compassion is nothing to do with the impermanent conditions, qualities and abilities of this physical body, whether we are being "good" or "not good", "healthy" or "not healthy", "perfect" or "imperfect", performing many "actions" or not performing any "actions", whether being "vegetarian" or "non-vegetarian", being able to perform the asana poses or not, being knowledgeable or not, knowing anatomy and physiology or not, knowing all the names and terms in Sanskrit or not, knowing all the Scriptures, Sutras, chanting and prayers or not...

As by being "good" or "healthy" or "perfect", or performing many "actions", or being "vegetarian", or being able to perform the asana poses, or being knowledgeable, or knowing anatomy and physiology, or knowing all the names and terms in Sanskrit, or knowing all the Scriptures, Sutras, chanting and prayers, is not a guarantee of peace and happiness...

And by being "not good" or "not healthy" or "not perfect", or not performing any "actions", or not being "vegetarian", or being unable to perform the asana poses, or not being knowledgeable, or not knowing anatomy and physiology, or not knowing all the names and terms in Sanskrit, or not knowing all the Scriptures, Sutras, chanting and prayers, it doesn't mean that there will be no peace and happiness...

Even an "uneducated" or "unintelligent" or "physically disabled" person can attain peace and happiness if this person know what is non-attachment, dispassion and egolessness... It is through purifying the impure restless mind, and through this pure and calm mind, realizing the truth of thing as it is, that allows us to be free...

By knowing, hearing, seeing, reading, understanding the words about "peace and happiness" won't guarantee us peace and happiness. It is by realizing it through realizing the truth...

By knowing or having a lot of things and worldly knowledge won't guarantee us peace and happiness, but knowing the truth of things will bring us to peace and happiness.

Having the best doctor and best medicine to cure the most difficult physical illness also will not remove ignorance and suffering, nor give us peace and happiness. That's why Swami Sivananda let go of being a medical doctor and plunged into Yogic Sadhana and meditation to attain the wisdom to be a "mind doctor" to help other beings to be free from ignorance and suffering.

Throw away all our relationships and material belongings also won't guarantee us peace and happiness.

It is by realizing selflessness or compassion, being free from the attachment towards the perception of names and forms, qualities and dualities, being free from ignorance and impurities, that allow us to be in peace and happiness.

We need to "heal" ourselves when there is something that need to be "healed" as we experience "hurt" and "painful sorrow" due to ignorance and wrong identification with the body and mind. When we are free from ignorance, there is nothing that need to be "healed" as there is no "hurt" and "painful sorrow"...

The physical body and the mind will experience "suffering", restlessness and dissatisfaction from time to time, due to ignorance, desires, craving and aversion, impurities and impermanence, but there is no "I" being there to experience any "suffering"... Suffering exists when we think that we are this physical body and this thinking mind, there is "I" being here experiencing suffering. Suffering doesn't exist when we realize the truth about there is no "I" nor "me" nor "mine".

Even though when we think we know a lot about this and that, believe in what we think is "right" and "good", but as long as we are still being disturbed and affected by anger and hatred towards something that our mind couldn't accept or couldn't agree with, still want to argue and hating towards something that is different from what we think we know and believe, then we are not free yet... It means that the ego, pride and arrogance are still very strong... Then we still need to observe many rules and observations, and keep practice until we realize what is compassion, selflessness, beyond the ego, beyond the perception of names and forms, non-attachment, desire-less, dispassion, non-duality, non-separateness, unconditional peace, and end of suffering...

Realize this, and be free.

Om shanti.