Teaching yoga is not about trying to convince other people to believe
in the teachings of yoga, or to persuade other people to like yoga and
practice yoga, or recruiting many people to be our yoga students and
joining our yoga classes, or to set as an example for others to imitate
us, or to build a yoga empire. The students shouldn’t follow or imitate
the teacher, or blind-believe in the teachings of yoga or what the
teacher taught them. It’s guiding the students to be free from egoism,
and allowing them to be free from attachment and identification towards
any thinking and beliefs including the teachings of yoga, but to
investigate into the truth of everything, to attain self-realization.
Everyone may or may not need some guidance, but it’s up to everyone’s
free will to change their own thinking and behavior by developing
self-control and self-discipline over their own thinking, actions and
speech, and attain self-realization be free from ignorance, and realize
unconditional love and peace, and stopped hurting themselves and others.
The teacher doesn’t and can’t control or change the students, but can
only give them guidance and encouragement. The teacher and the student
will meet at the right time and the right place naturally when the time
has come, without the influence of egoistic selfish desires.
There’s nothing wrong when people think that when they feel unhappy or angry, feel hurt and disappointed, it’s nothing to do with their own ignorance and egoism, but instead, it’s everyone and everything out there that are bad and wrong that give them unhappiness and suffering. There’s nothing wrong when people believe in God or disbelieve in God. It is everyone’s freedom of thought, actions and speech. But when people start to have strong attachment and identification towards what they think and believe, there arise separateness, discrimination, prejudice, hatred, violence, fear and unrest in their minds towards others who are different from them. Some people even enjoy being angry and violent. They won’t feel good unless they get angry and violent.
If people don’t like to practice yoga about letting go of the ego, attachment and identification, no one can force them. The teachings of yoga teach about everyone purifying their own thinking, actions and speech, but respecting others' freedom of thinking, actions and speech, for what they want to do with themselves, their lives, their bodies and minds. Everyone takes the responsibility for the consequences of their own actions and inactions, for what they believe and disbelieve, for what they want and don’t want. No one can control or purify other’s mind. It is up to each one’s effort and free will to control and purify one’s mind. There's no condemn in Yoga towards anyone who doesn’t like the teachings of yoga, or who doesn’t want to practice yoga as it is, or who misunderstands about yoga, or who criticizes yoga. Anyone can take up any yoga practice and practice anyway that they like, or do whatever they like with yoga, or they can stop practicing yoga for any reasons. There’s no condemn, or sin, or punishment.
Those who practice yoga, they don’t condemn nor criticize. Vice versa, those who condemn and criticize, they don’t practice yoga. We share yoga out of compassion, not out of egoism thinking that “Yoga is good for everyone. Everyone should practice yoga, and practice properly in a particular way, or else they are insulting the sacredness and purity of yoga.” One type of medicine may cure a person’s illness but may not necessarily has the same effect on another with the same illness, or would it cure some other form of illnesses. People react differently towards the same medicine and have different tolerance towards certain side-effects of that medicine which appear differently on different people. Some people may be a good friend for many others, but may not be a good partner or good parent.
There’s nothing wrong when people think that when they feel unhappy or angry, feel hurt and disappointed, it’s nothing to do with their own ignorance and egoism, but instead, it’s everyone and everything out there that are bad and wrong that give them unhappiness and suffering. There’s nothing wrong when people believe in God or disbelieve in God. It is everyone’s freedom of thought, actions and speech. But when people start to have strong attachment and identification towards what they think and believe, there arise separateness, discrimination, prejudice, hatred, violence, fear and unrest in their minds towards others who are different from them. Some people even enjoy being angry and violent. They won’t feel good unless they get angry and violent.
If people don’t like to practice yoga about letting go of the ego, attachment and identification, no one can force them. The teachings of yoga teach about everyone purifying their own thinking, actions and speech, but respecting others' freedom of thinking, actions and speech, for what they want to do with themselves, their lives, their bodies and minds. Everyone takes the responsibility for the consequences of their own actions and inactions, for what they believe and disbelieve, for what they want and don’t want. No one can control or purify other’s mind. It is up to each one’s effort and free will to control and purify one’s mind. There's no condemn in Yoga towards anyone who doesn’t like the teachings of yoga, or who doesn’t want to practice yoga as it is, or who misunderstands about yoga, or who criticizes yoga. Anyone can take up any yoga practice and practice anyway that they like, or do whatever they like with yoga, or they can stop practicing yoga for any reasons. There’s no condemn, or sin, or punishment.
Those who practice yoga, they don’t condemn nor criticize. Vice versa, those who condemn and criticize, they don’t practice yoga. We share yoga out of compassion, not out of egoism thinking that “Yoga is good for everyone. Everyone should practice yoga, and practice properly in a particular way, or else they are insulting the sacredness and purity of yoga.” One type of medicine may cure a person’s illness but may not necessarily has the same effect on another with the same illness, or would it cure some other form of illnesses. People react differently towards the same medicine and have different tolerance towards certain side-effects of that medicine which appear differently on different people. Some people may be a good friend for many others, but may not be a good partner or good parent.
There are people dislike and disagree
with the teaching and practice of yoga. That is their freedom. We can’t
expect or force everyone to like yoga and practice yoga as it is. There
are people who never heard about the teachings of yoga and don’t do any
yoga practice in a particular name and form, but they are selfless,
compassionate and peaceful beings. And if yoga is something sacred and
pure, how can it be insulted or contaminated by anything at all?
Some people kept modifying the traditional yoga practices into many different new styles and versions to suit the preferences of what people like and don't like, what they want and don't want. Though there's nothing wrong with that in terms of business marketing strategy and customer service and value, but then the yoga teachers are not really teaching yoga, and the students are not really practicing yoga. Instead it is empowering the egoism, attachment, identification, worldly thinking, ideas and habits, and empowering the desires of craving and aversion of the egoistic mind.
Some people kept modifying the traditional yoga practices into many different new styles and versions to suit the preferences of what people like and don't like, what they want and don't want. Though there's nothing wrong with that in terms of business marketing strategy and customer service and value, but then the yoga teachers are not really teaching yoga, and the students are not really practicing yoga. Instead it is empowering the egoism, attachment, identification, worldly thinking, ideas and habits, and empowering the desires of craving and aversion of the egoistic mind.
When we practice yoga, we stop giving the
egoistic mind what it likes and wants. No doubt that sharing yoga is
about sharing love and happiness. Yoga teachers are there to guide the
yoga students on how to attain unconditional love and happiness by
letting go of the egoistic desires of craving and aversion. It's not about
giving them what they like and want, or don't give them what they don't
like and don't want, to gratified their desires of craving and aversion,
to make them feel loved and happy. They feel loved and happy is because they are
getting something that they like and want, and/or are not getting anything that
they don't like and don't want. It doesn't help them to be free from
the desires of craving and aversion, to realize unconditional love and
happiness. When they are not getting what they like and want, and
are getting something that they don't like and don't want, they will feel
dissatisfied, disappointed, angry, resent, unhappy or miserable. This is moving away
from what yoga is about.
Though there is a very significant teaching of yoga about seeing God in all and everything, that God exists in all and everything, but one doesn’t need to believe in God or spirituality to practice the teachings of yoga. For those who don’t believe in God, this teaching can be taught as seeing the one same universal consciousness of all and everything, which is the truth of impermanence and selflessness, that there’s no ‘I’ or individual existence exists in everything or in all the impermanent changes. For those who don’t believe in God or the one same universal consciousness, this teaching can be taught as seeing the element of teacher in all and everything to teach us something for realizing higher understanding about worldly life existence, and be grateful and thankful for all kinds of good and bad experiences. Those who truly implement this teaching in everyday life wouldn’t be disturbed or determined by all the pleasant and unpleasant experiences, and wouldn’t generate anger or hatred towards anyone or anything, but they would respect the law of impermanence in all the different qualities of names and forms, and respect all the different types of thinking, beliefs and behaviors that exist in the worldly community as they are. This teaching leads us to peace and harmony in ourselves and not generating violence, anger and hatred in ourselves and into the world. But if our minds are over-powered by strong egoism and have pride and arrogance about ourselves and our thinking and belief, we would find this practice impossible or very difficult, unless we are ready to let go of our ego, pride and arrogance.
Peacelessness and disharmony manifest and exist in our minds are deriving from the strong egoism, pride and arrogance, attachment and identification, desire of craving and aversion, greed and discontentment, fear and worry, and all kinds of impurities empowered by ignorance or corrupted thinking and belief in the mind. One also generates unrest and disharmony into the surrounding environment when one isn’t peaceful and harmony.
Though there is a very significant teaching of yoga about seeing God in all and everything, that God exists in all and everything, but one doesn’t need to believe in God or spirituality to practice the teachings of yoga. For those who don’t believe in God, this teaching can be taught as seeing the one same universal consciousness of all and everything, which is the truth of impermanence and selflessness, that there’s no ‘I’ or individual existence exists in everything or in all the impermanent changes. For those who don’t believe in God or the one same universal consciousness, this teaching can be taught as seeing the element of teacher in all and everything to teach us something for realizing higher understanding about worldly life existence, and be grateful and thankful for all kinds of good and bad experiences. Those who truly implement this teaching in everyday life wouldn’t be disturbed or determined by all the pleasant and unpleasant experiences, and wouldn’t generate anger or hatred towards anyone or anything, but they would respect the law of impermanence in all the different qualities of names and forms, and respect all the different types of thinking, beliefs and behaviors that exist in the worldly community as they are. This teaching leads us to peace and harmony in ourselves and not generating violence, anger and hatred in ourselves and into the world. But if our minds are over-powered by strong egoism and have pride and arrogance about ourselves and our thinking and belief, we would find this practice impossible or very difficult, unless we are ready to let go of our ego, pride and arrogance.
Peacelessness and disharmony manifest and exist in our minds are deriving from the strong egoism, pride and arrogance, attachment and identification, desire of craving and aversion, greed and discontentment, fear and worry, and all kinds of impurities empowered by ignorance or corrupted thinking and belief in the mind. One also generates unrest and disharmony into the surrounding environment when one isn’t peaceful and harmony.
If
every being is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, naturally the
society will be free from separateness, discrimination, prejudice,
hatred, violence, fear and unrest. If we want peace in the world, we
must have peace in ourselves. Having peace and harmony in oneself is the
only effective way to help the world to be in peace and harmony among
all the different qualities and diversities. By being violent, angry and
hating others and happenings that we don’t like and disagree with, and
provoke anger and hatred in other people to also be angry and hate those
whom we think they are bad and wrong, it wouldn’t help the world to be
peaceful and harmony as how we would like it to be, but instead, we
contribute so much unrest and disharmony into the world, it
doesn’t matter how good and right we think we are.
When we know what is yoga, we will know that teaching yoga has very little to do with qualification and certification coming from attending 'internationally recognized' yoga teachers training courses. Yoga teachers training courses are for people to learn to become their own teacher. When one realizes the teacher within oneself, one will know that everything and everyone are teachers to teach everyone something. One will be free from discrimination and hatred towards anyone and anything, and will respect everyone and everything as they are. And naturally, one can also guide other people to become their own teachers out of self-realized unconditional love and peace, without the need of any certifications or acknowledgement from anyone or any 'internationally recognized' organizations.
It doesn’t matter whether we know the names of the yoga poses in English or Sanskrit, or not, or what are the benefits of the yoga exercises, or what particular type of yoga that we practice, because yoga practice is not about gaining the benefits from the yoga exercises at all, and by knowing the names of the yoga poses and performing what particular type of yoga have nothing to do with the realization of unconditional love and peace. It’s about letting go of attachment, identification, expectation, craving and aversion towards all our actions and the fruit of actions, or towards the yoga practice and the result of the yoga practice.
Yoga is about realizing compassion and selflessness through the practice of dispassion and renunciation towards worldly objects, values and ideas, discrimination of what is real and unreal, eliminating the ego and quieting one's restless modification of the mind, and be free from all kinds of attachments, identifications, desires of craving and aversion, and impurities. And all these practices have nothing to do with the impermanent condition and ability of the physical body to perform the yoga poses, or how many years we have been doing yoga exercises, or how much yoga exercises we had done, or how many yoga poses we can perform and whether we can perform the yoga poses in perfect alignment, or not. It’s also nothing to do with all the physical health and fitness benefits that come along as side-effects from the yoga practice. All these names and forms cannot guarantee or determine whether we know about yoga or not, whether we are practicing yoga or not, whether we can teach yoga or not, and whether we are free from ignorance and egoism, and be liberated from suffering, or not.
Many people including many yoga enthusiasts don’t like to hear about the practice of dispassion and renunciation. They give themselves many reasons to justify themselves that they don’t need to be dispassionate, instead they promote passionate way of thinking and living. They said follow all our desires and live passionately. There’s nothing wrong with having desires and being passionate towards worldly life existence, self-image, ideas, ambitions and social activities, and everyone has the freedom to choose what they want to do with their life existence, but then it isn’t what yoga practice is about.
Dispassion towards worldly objects, ideas and activities helps to render the mind calm and quiet to be able to perform self-inquiry to know the truth of 'I', or what the mind thinks and believes as 'who I am'. Passion invigorates strong attachment and identification towards worldly life existence, the function and ability of the body and mind, and passionate desires of craving and aversion. Instead of quieting the mind, annihilating the worldly ideas, and eliminating the ego, it is stimulating the mind, strengthening the worldly ideas and empowering the ego. Passion hinders the mind to see the truth of things as they are. But if people enjoy being passionate and don’t mind being restless constantly swaying between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, that’s their freedom.
Dispassion doesn’t mean that we have no love or feelings. It is respecting and loving the world and everyone as they are, without selfish desires or expectations, discrimination of likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, without attachment, identification, craving and aversion, where the world and everyone are not necessarily the way that 'I' would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be.
Passion is loving the world and everyone with selfish desires and expectations, discrimination of likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, attachment, identification, craving and aversion. It’s 'I' love my world to be the way that 'I' would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be.
When one is free from ignorance and egoism, then there’s no difference between passion and dispassion. One can live and perform actions passionately in the world, but is undisturbed and undetermined by one’s actions and the fruit of actions.
The realization of selflessness will allow us to be undisturbed or undetermined by whatever the mind perceives through the senses, and remain equanimous and be at peace unconditionally. When one has realized unconditional love and peace, one won’t be intentionally generating thoughts, actions and speech that will hurt oneself and others under any circumstances, which is compassion. And the realization of unconditional love and peace has nothing to do with the knowledge about anatomy and physiology, or the physical condition and ability and alignment to do the yoga poses.
Everyone can practice yoga and share the wisdom of yoga and its practice with anybody, when they are free from ignorance and egoism and have realized unconditional love and peace through their own persist and sincere practice. They don’t need a piece of commercialized paper to allow them to share love and peace with others. Those who haven’t realized unconditional love and peace in themselves, they can’t share love and peace with others even if they have been attending many yoga courses and possess many pieces of 'internationally recognized' certifications. Those who think and believe that they need to attend professional yoga courses and acquire a few pieces of paper to accumulate credits to allow them to share love and peace with other people, then they don’t really know what is yoga, where their minds are still being influenced very much by the worldly egoistic objects, values and ideas, and being determined by the qualities of names and forms.
May all be happy, be peaceful, be free.
Om shanti.
When we know what is yoga, we will know that teaching yoga has very little to do with qualification and certification coming from attending 'internationally recognized' yoga teachers training courses. Yoga teachers training courses are for people to learn to become their own teacher. When one realizes the teacher within oneself, one will know that everything and everyone are teachers to teach everyone something. One will be free from discrimination and hatred towards anyone and anything, and will respect everyone and everything as they are. And naturally, one can also guide other people to become their own teachers out of self-realized unconditional love and peace, without the need of any certifications or acknowledgement from anyone or any 'internationally recognized' organizations.
It doesn’t matter whether we know the names of the yoga poses in English or Sanskrit, or not, or what are the benefits of the yoga exercises, or what particular type of yoga that we practice, because yoga practice is not about gaining the benefits from the yoga exercises at all, and by knowing the names of the yoga poses and performing what particular type of yoga have nothing to do with the realization of unconditional love and peace. It’s about letting go of attachment, identification, expectation, craving and aversion towards all our actions and the fruit of actions, or towards the yoga practice and the result of the yoga practice.
Yoga is about realizing compassion and selflessness through the practice of dispassion and renunciation towards worldly objects, values and ideas, discrimination of what is real and unreal, eliminating the ego and quieting one's restless modification of the mind, and be free from all kinds of attachments, identifications, desires of craving and aversion, and impurities. And all these practices have nothing to do with the impermanent condition and ability of the physical body to perform the yoga poses, or how many years we have been doing yoga exercises, or how much yoga exercises we had done, or how many yoga poses we can perform and whether we can perform the yoga poses in perfect alignment, or not. It’s also nothing to do with all the physical health and fitness benefits that come along as side-effects from the yoga practice. All these names and forms cannot guarantee or determine whether we know about yoga or not, whether we are practicing yoga or not, whether we can teach yoga or not, and whether we are free from ignorance and egoism, and be liberated from suffering, or not.
Many people including many yoga enthusiasts don’t like to hear about the practice of dispassion and renunciation. They give themselves many reasons to justify themselves that they don’t need to be dispassionate, instead they promote passionate way of thinking and living. They said follow all our desires and live passionately. There’s nothing wrong with having desires and being passionate towards worldly life existence, self-image, ideas, ambitions and social activities, and everyone has the freedom to choose what they want to do with their life existence, but then it isn’t what yoga practice is about.
Dispassion towards worldly objects, ideas and activities helps to render the mind calm and quiet to be able to perform self-inquiry to know the truth of 'I', or what the mind thinks and believes as 'who I am'. Passion invigorates strong attachment and identification towards worldly life existence, the function and ability of the body and mind, and passionate desires of craving and aversion. Instead of quieting the mind, annihilating the worldly ideas, and eliminating the ego, it is stimulating the mind, strengthening the worldly ideas and empowering the ego. Passion hinders the mind to see the truth of things as they are. But if people enjoy being passionate and don’t mind being restless constantly swaying between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, that’s their freedom.
Dispassion doesn’t mean that we have no love or feelings. It is respecting and loving the world and everyone as they are, without selfish desires or expectations, discrimination of likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, without attachment, identification, craving and aversion, where the world and everyone are not necessarily the way that 'I' would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be.
Passion is loving the world and everyone with selfish desires and expectations, discrimination of likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, attachment, identification, craving and aversion. It’s 'I' love my world to be the way that 'I' would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be.
When one is free from ignorance and egoism, then there’s no difference between passion and dispassion. One can live and perform actions passionately in the world, but is undisturbed and undetermined by one’s actions and the fruit of actions.
The realization of selflessness will allow us to be undisturbed or undetermined by whatever the mind perceives through the senses, and remain equanimous and be at peace unconditionally. When one has realized unconditional love and peace, one won’t be intentionally generating thoughts, actions and speech that will hurt oneself and others under any circumstances, which is compassion. And the realization of unconditional love and peace has nothing to do with the knowledge about anatomy and physiology, or the physical condition and ability and alignment to do the yoga poses.
Everyone can practice yoga and share the wisdom of yoga and its practice with anybody, when they are free from ignorance and egoism and have realized unconditional love and peace through their own persist and sincere practice. They don’t need a piece of commercialized paper to allow them to share love and peace with others. Those who haven’t realized unconditional love and peace in themselves, they can’t share love and peace with others even if they have been attending many yoga courses and possess many pieces of 'internationally recognized' certifications. Those who think and believe that they need to attend professional yoga courses and acquire a few pieces of paper to accumulate credits to allow them to share love and peace with other people, then they don’t really know what is yoga, where their minds are still being influenced very much by the worldly egoistic objects, values and ideas, and being determined by the qualities of names and forms.
May all be happy, be peaceful, be free.
Om shanti.
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