Observe silence to quiet the restless modification of the mind

When someone is performing yoga practice or meditation practice (self-practice), one is observing silence as much as possible practically, regardless of whether the mind is still processing some random thought activities, or not. One doesn't talk, or grumble, or groan, or argue, or debate, or criticize, or inspire, or aspire, or communicate/interact with anyone not even so called 'spiritual connection' with 'God' or 'higher spirits'. One doesn't read any material, or ask questions, or looking at and listening to anyone or anything (teacher/other practitioners/scenery/video/music/podcast/conversation), or expect certain feedback/evaluation towards one's practice, or expect particular result/effect/benefit/pleasure from the practice.

The senses are being withdrawn/restricted from chasing after the objects of the senses, and the outgoing mind is being channeled inward to be resting in the present moment, or to be aware of the practice/the breath/the pulse/the sensation/the flow of energy/prana/heat in the body, without attachment/identification with the selfless impermanent function of the physical body and the state of the mind, while allowing any result/effect/benefit/pleasantness/unpleasantness/ability/disability to be existing or non-existing, to be what it is, as it is, allowing any existing sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations and thoughts being there as they are, without analyzing/asserting/projecting/craving/aversion, without association with or attachment towards all these names and forms, to be quieting the restless modification of the mind effectively.

This is not really possible in a 'yoga class' where there is a teacher giving instructions/explanation teaching/leading a group of people performing the practice, while the group of people have to be looking at the teacher or other people in the group, and listening to while analyzing/understanding/following the teacher's instructions to perform the practice, and expecting feedback/evaluation from the teacher and/or others towards one's performance/practice, as well as expecting particular result/effect/benefit from the practice. "How well/correct am I doing the practice?"

Meanwhile some people's minds are being 'disturbed' or 'offended' very much by certain teachings of yoga being taught in the 'yoga class' that are different from their thinking and belief, or be 'disturbed' or 'intimidated' by how the teacher teach/conduct the 'yoga class', or be 'dissatisfied' with the 'yoga class' is not being the way that they would like it to be (either too intense, or too gentle, or too crowded, or too quiet, too much or not enough attention, too challenging or not challenging enough, or not the kind of practice that they would enjoy).

For people who don't know the practice yet, of course they need to learn from someone who knows the practice, such like attending 'yoga classes' for some time to be following instructions from a teacher to learn about the practice and how to perform the practice. Attending 'yoga classes' is mostly about 'learning'. After 'learning' and 'knowing' the practice, one must develop self-discipline to perform self-practice in solitude and silence, truly immersing into the practice.

That's why 'yoga practice' is always more 'practical' when performing self-practice in solitude and silence in terms of quieting the restless modification of the mind, where the modification of mind inputs and outputs are being limited to the maximum efficiently. Those who already developed their own regular self-practice don't need to attend 'yoga classes' to be following instructions to be performing their practice, though there's nothing wrong if they attend 'yoga classes' once in a while for some reasons.

There are some 'silent self-practice yoga classes' are about providing a specific practice time and space for yoga practitioners to be sharing a practice space at a specific time to be performing their own self-practice. Even though there are other practitioners being in the same space, everyone is observing silence to the maximum, focusing on their own practice. There shouldn't be any social interactions during the practice.

'Yoga teachers' need to teach 'yoga classes' in the way that would allow the students to develop the essential understanding of the teaching and practice, as well as self-reliance and self-discipline, and be able to perform self-practice without supervision/instruction from other people, and this will allow the mind be trained to turn inward to be quiet and be able to process and solve most problems in life by itself.

There's nothing wrong with 'asking and receiving help and support from others' when someone encounters 'problems' in life, especially in terms of some physical and mental illnesses that require special care and specific medical treatment, or some technical problems where everyone has their own limited knowledge and experience to be doing something, and people need to be helped and supported by other people who have the knowledge and experience that oneself doesn't have. While for most non-technical and non-medical care/treatment related problems, such like 'thinking/decision making/relationship/emotional problems', the best solution or the best answer to one's doubt, is coming from within of a calmed and quiet mind.

One just needs to learn to be by oneself and be quiet, be away from all kinds of advice, opinion or suggestion from different people who 'would like' to give 'advice, suggestion, help and support' in the way that they think it's best from their own point of view, and observe/watch what is going on in the mind, seeing the nature and the root cause of what the mind perceives/recognizes as 'problems/doubts/unhappiness/hurts', to allow the mind to go beyond and be undisturbed by these 'problems/doubts/unhappiness/hurts'. Once the mind sees the truth, all kinds of 'problems/doubts/unhappiness/hurts' will eventually cease existing. One doesn't need to talk to anyone about anything to release tension/unhappiness, or hoping someone is there to be listening to and sharing one's 'problems', to be receiving advice, love, care, help or support from other people, to feel better, or to influence oneself making certain decision.

Although there's nothing wrong when most people would see this thinking and emotional independence of 'self-reliant thinking/decision making/relationship/emotional problem solving' as 'unacceptable', 'inappropriate', 'wrong' or 'unhealthy' social behavior, as most people in the society practice and encourage all human beings need to be 'reaching out to other people', 'talking to other people' and 'receiving advice, help, support from other people', and most people do 'need' to reach out to other people to get help and suggestion, as they are being conditioned by the society to be emotionally interdependent, that they don't know how to deal with 'the problems' they have and making decision independently by themselves, or else, when they think and feel that their 'problems' are too much for them, when they think they are alone and have no one being there to be helping and supporting them, they might hurt themselves and/or others, whether wittingly or unwittingly. People think and believe that 'all human beings' need to hold onto 'something' physically/mentally/emotionally to live life, whether it's family, friends, relationship, children, pets, hobby, interest, work, religion, spirituality, 'God', or anything that give/feed the sense of existence and meaningfulness. When something falls apart or during the most difficult moments, at least they think they have something that they can lean or hang onto. And that's their freedom of choice.

People would think and believe, "Oh, what a pitiful meaningless life without family/friends/somebody being there to share, to talk to, to play with, to support one another, to enjoy life." This saying doesn't valid/apply to the minds that practice yoga, that are free from being conditioned by worldly social/cultural/religious/political thinking and belief, that are aware of what is going on in the mind and be unattached towards/undetermined by the selfless impermanent qualities of names and forms, that are free from desire of craving and aversion.

In yoga, this ability of 'self-reliant thinking/decision making/relationship/emotional problem solving' is true liberation for the mind, being undisturbed or being okay under any difficult moments and challenging condition and situation in life that one has to deal with by oneself, where one has clear thinking and self-control without hurting oneself and/or others. It doesn't mean that one doesn't have any family/friends in life, but one doesn't need to rely on the existence of family/friends/somebody being present as supporter, or receiving help/support from anyone to deal with any difficult moments under challenging condition and situation. When 'family/friends/somebody' or external help and support from other people/teacher/Guru/'God' appear to be absent or not available for some reasons, it's fine. One doesn't need to hurt oneself and/or others, as one is peaceful as one is, being undetermined by any 'difficult moments' or 'existing problems' that one is going through, repairing what can be repaired and letting go what has to be let go, making decisions without doubt/fear/guilt/regret, and taking full responsibility towards one's actions and the consequences of the actions.

"You came alone and you will go alone." - Swami Sivananda

Approaching a teacher asking to be accepted as student of yoga

Traditionally, when someone is interested in finding a teacher to learn, study and practice yoga and meditation under the guidance of this person (the teacher), one needs to approach the teacher humbly asking to be accepted as a student of yoga under this teacher, serving the teacher without asking/expecting "What am I getting from learning yoga under you?" or "What can you (the teacher) give me in return for offering fees/donations to you to be learning and practicing yoga from you and serving you?"

The teacher will then observe and test this person to see whether this person is fit to be a student of yoga. Once the person is accepted to be a student of yoga, this person will live closely to the teacher for many years, where in the first few years are merely doing some random 'work/service' in daily life, such like housekeeping/cooking/gardening/cleaning/washing serving the teacher (very important/efficient initial purification to eliminate worldly habits of egoism and impurities) before being initiated into the practice. There's high degree of segregation/non-physical contact among the teacher and the student. It's not like nowadays, most people are looking forward to be touching and hugging as the way to show friendliness, love and care.

The teacher doesn't advertise/boast about "I am a certified/qualified/experienced/internationally recognized/affiliated yoga teacher" and "What kind of benefits/certification/qualification/result/achievement you will get if you attend my classes/courses learning yoga from me." but instead, "It's a hard-work. There will be lots of unpleasantness/pain and hardships/obstacles that you need to deal with by yourself. You have to walk the path alone by yourself. You need to be determined, persevered and vigilant to discipline your own mind until you attain self-realization." And the students of yoga will be determined to finish their learning under the teacher no matter how much difficulties and obstacles arise during the physical/mental/emotional purification process, while developing discipline and independence in their own practice, as one day, they will have to leave the teacher, or the teacher will leave.

It's not about to be 'qualified' as 'yoga teachers/masters', be 'affiliated' with 'yoga alliance' to be 'conducting yoga classes' to teach 'yoga classes' or 'conducting yoga courses' to be 'training yoga teachers to teach yoga or conduct yoga classes/yoga courses to other people'. As a 'yogi' who knows yoga doesn't need to be 'trained' to be 'qualified' to be 'certified yoga teacher' and 'affiliated with' such and such 'yoga organization/alliance' to be 'recognized/authorized' to teach yoga to anyone. It's neither about 'correct/proper physical alignments', 'teaching techniques', 'effects/benefits of the yoga practice', 'healing', 'connecting', 'sharing', 'hugging' and 'touching'.

Nowadays, this tradition is no longer be seen/practiced/appreciated. One of the reason would be the existence of 'sincere teacher of yoga' and 'sincere student of yoga' is very rare now.

In this modern commercialized world of 'higher education and higher quality of life with worldly social values and practice', the 'yoga teachers' have to 'advertise' or 'boast' about their 'certification/qualification/recognition/affiliation/experiences/achievements' and 'to be presenting' something 'unique, enjoyable, innovative and attractive' to attract people to be interested to come to attend the 'yoga classes' or 'yoga courses' conducted by them, while gratifying the people's desire of craving and aversion, by giving them what they want/like and don't give them what they don't want/like, to make them feel treasured, appreciated, valued, pampered, satisfied and empowered. Both the teacher and the students also want to develop and maintain an inter-dependent 'connection/relationship' where the students ceaselessly need to receive attention, love, care, support, acknowledgement, advice or feedback from the teacher, while the teacher wants to 'be close' to the students, 'be there' for the students, 'be connecting' with the students, or 'be loved/needed/glorified/supported/respected' by the students.

Because most egoistic impure minds are being conditioned deeply by the worldly thinking behavior pattern, almost all of the 'yoga enthusiasts' or the 'prospect/potential students/clients' of the 'yoga school/yoga studio/yoga centre' will have some kind of 'request' or 'expectation' towards the 'yoga school', 'yoga studio', 'yoga center', 'yoga classes', 'yoga courses' or 'yoga teachers' to meet up their 'requests' and 'expectation' in terms of the 'quality' of the 'professional profile/image', 'qualification', 'certification', 'recognition', 'affiliation', 'organization', 'experience', 'achievement', or 'result orientation', and above all, "How much and what do I get from paying this amount of 'fees'/'donation' to the 'yoga school'/'yoga studio'/'yoga centre'/'yoga teacher' for attending the 'yoga classes'/'yoga courses'."

Many of the untrained worldly egoistic impure minds will have doubt/insecurity towards their own 'determination' being determined by whether they will like/enjoy 'the teacher's over-all presentation/image/charm/professionalism/credibility/teaching style' or 'the classes' or 'the practice', or not, where they are unsure/unwilling to pay fees in advance which might be 'non-refundable' if they want to 'give up' when they experience discomfort or difficulty, or when they 'don't like/enjoy' the 'teacher/classes/practice', while the truth of the purification process deriving from performing 'serious/intense/persevered yoga and meditation practice to eliminate ignorance/egoism/impurities/restlessness' is inevitably 'unpleasant' and 'painful' physically/mentally/emotionally for all egoistic impure minds. Even before the students come to the 'yoga school/yoga studio/yoga centre' to begin learning and practicing yoga under the teacher, the test/obstacle derived from the purification process already started. All kinds of obstacles manifest in the form of physical/mental/emotional discomfort and doubt.

Unfortunately, there are quite many stories of 'impure yoga teachers' existing in the world 'taking advantage' of the attention/love seeking 'yoga students', where people looking forward to be 'touched', creating many forms of 'corruption', and then there are 'impure yoga students' who didn't get what they like and want from the teachers and they criticized and bitched about the teachers with the intention to hurt/damage the teacher's reputation, that makes it even harder and more challenging for 'yoga enthusiasts' to 'surrender' all doubts/insecurity, to be opened to approach a teacher to ask to be accepted as 'student of yoga' and to 'serve' the teacher without attachment, identification and expectation, to be effectively purifying and eliminating egoism and impurities, to free the mind from restlessness and the veil of ignorance.

There's neither right nor wrong, neither good nor bad. It's just how things are in this world.

Anyway, 'sincere teachers of yoga' and 'sincere students of yoga' will meet each other in due time and due cause. There's no 'attachment', 'identification' or 'expectation' towards each other. The students/practitioners 'serve' the teacher humbly for years, surrendering the ego and worldly passionate desire/ambition/thinking/belief/social behavior pattern, and developing self-discipline. After learning/receiving the teachings from the teachers, the students retreat into seclusion and solitude, working diligently and independently towards purifying and silencing the modification of the mind, to perform self-inquiry upon the truth of everything, to attain self-realization and total annihilation of the mind or the mind perception of an impermanent and selfless worldly life existence of countless 'births' and 'deaths' of names and forms (thoughts/feelings/emotions/relationships) arising and passing away, of ignorance, egoism, impurities, restlessness and suffering.

 "You are left alone now." - Swami Sivananda

Long Residential Yoga Holiday in Langkawi at Yoga Now Malaysia

 The view in front Yoga Now Malaysia during rainy season

Long Residential Yoga Holiday at Yoga Now Malaysia

If you are looking for a calm and peaceful environment to practice and learn yoga and meditation Yoga Now offers exactly that. We are a very small-scale operation and will run retreats even just for one person. Better still, you don't need to choose from a list of fixed dates - you can start your yoga retreat whenever you choose, any day of the week, any time of the year (subject to availability). We keep our retreats and workshops deliberately small to ensure you receive individual attention. All retreats are suitable for all including complete beginners.

Yoga Now Malaysia in Langkawi has been running ongoing flexible dates retreats for the past ten years for those who only have a few days of short holiday to be participating in a short concentrated retreat to be learning and practicing yoga and meditation as much as possible within a few days that enable them to develop the basic understanding towards the teachings and practice of yoga, which also allows many of them to develop self-discipline and self-reliance that is very important in developing self-practice wherever they are.

From time to time, we also get some requests for longer retreat with moderate daily yoga and meditation practice over a few weeks time.

Some people would like to have some quiet solitude time for themselves over a period of time to be kind to themselves, to look after their mind, to be quiet, to have some space for oneself, to be contemplating, or to be able to see things in different perspective.

Some people might want to learn and practice yoga under a teacher's guidance, but at the same time, they would also like to have the free time and energy to perform their own self-practice making use of the time and space staying at the accommodation at Yoga Now for a few weeks.

Some people might have some physical health/fitness limitation that doesn't allow them to be attending the standard full day retreat practice sessions, but they are very keen to join a yoga retreat to be learning and practicing yoga at Yoga Now Malaysia.

Some people would like to participate in a yoga retreat to learn and practice yoga with us, but they would prefer just joining one yoga/meditation/pranayama practice session everyday over a few weeks time, such as a few weeks long 'free and easy' yoga holiday where they can do some yoga and meditation practice everyday while be able to have more resting/personal time, or have some free time and energy to enjoy some other activities that they would like to do, or to enjoy and explore all that Langkawi has to offer.

Some people would like to take a few weeks time off from the hustle-bustle in everyday life to have some quiet solitude time for themselves away from social affairs, interactions and activities, to stay at the one and only accommodation at Yoga Now Malaysia, to do some guided yoga and meditation practice under the teachers everyday, but without the need of joining the standard full day retreat sessions.

Some people would like to spend a few weeks in a quiet secluded environment with as little distraction as possible, to be doing things that require certain degrees of focus and solitude, such as to do some writing, while also be able to do some guided yoga and meditation practice everyday that could help in terms of being attentive towards what they want to do under a calmed and focused mind.

And hence, a free and easy yoga retreat program - Long Residential Yoga Holiday is now being introduced by Yoga Now Malaysia to meet such requests, where the duration of the retreat can be ranging from 11 days/10 nights up to 21 days/20 nights.

For more details please visit our website -  http://www.yoganowmalaysia.com/yogaholiday.html

A short video of Yoga Now Malaysia in Langkawi -



*Most people join our yoga retreats for calm and quiet introspection. Please note that despite the relaxed and friendly atmosphere at Yoga Now our retreats are not suitable for people expecting lots of social interaction and activity.

Retreat and quieting the restless outgoing pleasure/stimulation seeking mind

Some people asked us, "What are the fun holiday activities we can do during the free time between the yoga and meditation practice sessions in the yoga retreat?"

Many people might be unaware of the yoga practice are being carried out in every moment whether during the yoga practice 'sessions' and outside the yoga practice 'sessions' during a yoga retreat, or in everyday life.

Not that 'doing/enjoying some fun holiday activities' are wrong or bad, but the yoga practice is all about changing the worldly behavior pattern/habitual action and reaction of the mind, filtering/reducing/restricting/limiting the physical and mental activities, to withdraw the outgoing tendency of the mind, to be quieting the restless pleasure/stimulation seeking mind, while freeing the mind from egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation, to prepare the mind for meditation, to see the truth of things as it is, be free from ignorance and suffering that derived from ignorance.

In a 'retreat', this yoga practice of restricting the activities of the body and the mind and quieting the restless modification of the mind is being put into practice, seizing the opportunity of participating in a 'retreat' for an extended period of time, to be retreating from all kinds of worldly physical and mental activities that gratify the desire of craving for pleasurable actions, adventures, thrills, achievements, enjoyment and stimulation. Retreat participants should make use of the free time in between the yoga practice 'sessions' or other than performing daily task such like tidying/cleaning the living space, taking meals and shower, to 'take rest' and 'be quiet' physically and mentally, as well as observing the habitual action and reaction and the desire of gross/subtle craving of the mind especially during the time 'not doing anything particular physically or mentally' not even doing some kind of physical or mental yoga practice to occupy the mind, or when 'boredom' and 'the sense of meaninglessness' starts to manifest in the mind urging the mind to go out there to be doing something to get rid of the 'boredom' and 'the sense of meaninglessness'.

The untrained mind usually doesn't like to 'be quiet physically and mentally' being in the present moment reducing/limiting/restricting the physical and mental activities or 'doing nothing particular' not even some kind of 'spiritual practice' or 'healthy/meaningful activities' to be occupying the mind with 'something', as the mind will get bored and feel meaningless, and hence, it needs to be constantly seeking actions/adventures/thrills/achievements, enjoyment and stimulation. And hence, the restlessness. And yoga practice is to free the mind from this worldly thinking/belief/practice/habit of 'constantly need to occupy the mind with something to keep it busy/restless so that it doesn't get bored or feel meaningless'.

We don't just reduce/restrict/limit/retreat from worldly physical and mental activities during a 'retreat' for a few days or weeks, we also practice partial or maximum retreat from worldly social affairs, activities and interactions as much as possible in our everyday life to stop feeding the desire and the outgoing pleasure/stimulation seeking tendency of the mind.

Contemplate on this, and find out whether oneself is practicing yoga to free the mind from the habitual worldly behavior pattern, to quiet/silent the restless modification of the mind, by renouncing/retreating from worldly egoistic physical and mental activities that empower egoism and restlessness, or just doing some kinds of 'yoga practice' a few hours a day regularly to be gaining some impermanent/momentary physical and mental benefits to gratify the desire of craving and aversion of the mind, to feel good, healthy and meaningful. And there's nothing wrong either if oneself is not practicing yoga to change the habitual worldly behavior habit of the mind, to free the mind from ignorance and egoism, to quiet/silent the modification of the mind. But for those who sincerely want to practice yoga, they can contemplate on this.

Go beyond the fight for legal recognition or approval for being who/what you are

Before the existence of 'authority' and 'laws' being introduced into the world, everyone is free being who/what they are, what they want to think and believe or not thinking and disbelieving, and be able to live/travel/wander/migrate anywhere and everywhere, unrestricted by so called 'authority' and 'laws'.

None need to be labelled as 'such and such nationality/gender/race/class'. None need to be fighting for attaining 'legal' recognition or approval for being who they are/what they want to be. None need to fight for 'equality', or 'equal treatment', or 'respect', or 'approval'. 'Human rights' and all kinds of 'rights' shouldn't be existing at all. There needn't be an 'authority' and 'laws' existing to 'authorize/sanction/judge/criminalize/punish who and what have/don't have 'such and such rights', or have more/less 'rights' than one another. Human beings just need to respect one another and be kind/thoughtful/tolerant/accommodating towards one another.

Somehow, somewhere, some people, with the excuse/aspiration of 'protecting the welfare of the world/society and keeping the world/society in order', certain people self-proclaimed ownership and authority towards lands, areas, space and the society/community, set up boundaries, labels, laws and punishments to limit/control all and everyone have to comply to certain rules and regulations based on particular thinking/belief/disbelief/ideas/values/practice/behavior/way of life under certain ethnicity/culture/religion/spirituality, and using the name of humanity for developing/protecting 'goodness and righteousness' and fighting/eliminating 'badness and wrongfulness', to uphold peace and harmony/social stability and prosperity in the world/society, and to keep the society in a 'particular order' that complying to a particular thinking/belief/ideas/values/practice, either by force, or by conversion, or by temptation, to be recruiting or building a majority of the society/community that support, empower and comply to such 'system' that gives power to certain people being 'the authority' to 'control' all the others who are ignorantly and wittingly supporting that 'system' to be 'controlled legally' by an 'authority' and be restricted/controlled by 'legally' binding laws.

 

From some 'simple rules and regulations for keeping order in the society and to benefit all humanity' but then gradually being evolved into many 'selfish and ridiculous corrupted rules and regulations for propagating certain agendas and protecting the benefits of certain people', that gives rise to all kinds of discrimination, prejudice, unjust, corruption, oppression, intimidation, offense, punishment, restriction, intrusion, unrest, hatred, fear and violence.

A world/society that needs to be 'governed'/'supported'/'protected' by 'human rights' and all kinds of 'rights' being 'controlled/legalized/criminalized' by 'an authority' and 'laws' to be in a 'particular order' will never going to be 'healthy'.

A healthy world/society comes from correct education/understanding that allows people to be open-minded, to allow and respect all and everyone being different from one another without discrimination/prejudice/unjust/hatred/intrusion/interference/hostility or trying to over-powered one another, without the sense of superiority and inferiority, where people have the correct understanding/matured mentality to be thinking properly/calmly/clearly, for being who/what they are, while respecting others for being who/what they are, without the need of 'authorization', or 'recognition', or 'legality', or 'approval', or 'acknowledgement' from such and such 'authority' and 'laws', without anyone/authority claiming ownership/possessiveness/authorization over anything to approve/disapprove and legalized/criminalized anyone for being here or anywhere in this space of the universe that doesn't belong to anyone or any 'authority'.

 

People are being free to inquire the truth of things, to agree and disagree, and having the freedom of thinking/action/expression/belief/disbelief/opinion, but also having awareness and self-control over one's actions and be responsible for one's actions and the consequences of one's actions, not so much about being selfless and compassionate, but just by being thoughtful, forgiving and accommodating, where all kinds of discrimination/corruption/oppression/intrusion/unjust/hatred/hostility/violence have no reason to be existing in the world/society.

Unfortunately, due to deep ignorance and human's survival instinct, not everyone could have the correct understanding or proper/calm/clear thinking to be open-minded to accept and respect one another, to respect everyone being what they are, as they are, being different in many ways and have their own thinking/belief/disbelief/way of life/behavior/action and reaction.

Out of survival instinct and pride, most people will be selfish to protect their lives, livelihood, home, family, tribe, community, lands/areas, privilege and supremacy. Even the self-proclaimed 'good and righteous human beings' would want to protect what they think and believe is 'goodness' and 'righteousness', and fight against what they think and believe is 'badness' and 'wrongfulness'.

When people try to fight for 'certain rights', 'equal treatment', 'legal approval for doing something, or going somewhere, or living somewhere' and 'legal recognition towards particular identity, or belief/disbelief , or way of life, or sexual orientation' from an 'authority', people are unaware of they are actually acknowledging, supporting, approving and empowering the 'system', unwittingly being part of the game of the 'system'. Most people think and believe that, "We all live in the system and are part of the system. We have to comply to the system controlled by 'the authority' and 'laws' to keep everything in the 'correct' order. If we want to be 'who we are/what we want to be', we need approval and recognition from the system. We need to support the system to keep the society in order and to keep the economy alive for us to have a livelihood to survive." That's their freedom of thinking/belief.

While in Yoga/Buddhism/Science, all and everything live in one of the solar systems and are part of this particular solar system being determined by the law of nature to be surviving and existing, or not, and all are subject to the law of impermanence and selflessness and the law of cause and effect, which is nothing to do with the discriminative and oppressive system of 'human authority' and 'human regulated rules and regulations' that give power to certain people to keep everyone under their control to think/believe/behave/live life in certain ways.

"Retreat from the society, renounce the world, stay away from politics/debates/gossips/vain talks." This is the common teaching/advice from many teachers in the past.

Siddhartha Gautama Buddha taught, "Dharma will disappear from the world." He didn't teach, "Save Dharma from disappearance at all cost, don't let it disappears from the world."

Swami Sivananda taught, "Even if all the leaders are taken out of the world now, the world will run on smoothly, probably more smoothly. Even if all the people retire into the forest, the world will go on."

If people truly wish for everyone being non-discriminated in this world, it's not about fighting for everyone to be given 'equal rights' by 'the authority' that created 'a system of discrimination and oppression', but it's by abandoning all the 'rights' and 'privilege' that generates all kinds of discrimination being given by 'the authority' that were not given to some other people due to 'the system of discrimination' or 'the laws created by humans say so'. But in reality, not many people want 'everyone' to be treated equally or be given 'equal rights', because they want to enjoy the benefits from the 'rights' and 'privilege' that they have, but others don't have, and most people won't give up all the 'rights' and 'privilege' that were given to them to fully support those who were not given any rights or have less rights than others being discriminated by 'the system of discrimination'. Because of 'the system', people are afraid of having 'no rights' or 'legal documentation', as one who has no rights or legal documentation cannot be here or anywhere on earth 'legally', and naturally one is a 'criminal against the law who would be punished under the law written by human beings' for the sake of keeping the world in a particular order the way that they think how it should be. How absurd is that.

Before the realization of selflessness, you are who you are/what you want to be, regardless of whether it's being recognized/approved/acknowledged/authorized/legalized by an 'authority' and 'laws', or not.

Upon the realization of selflessness, there's no 'I' being there that needs to be identifying as 'somebody with a particular identity of a quality of name and form' longing to be recognized/accepted/approved/acknowledged/authorized/legalized by oneself, or anyone, or anything.

Be free.

Changing the conditioned thinking pattern of the mind

The thinking pattern of the untrained minds is unwittingly being conditioned by certain worldly social cultural or religious/spiritual thinking/belief/disbelief/ideas/values/practice, including the minds that think and believe that they are 'good minds' or 'good beings' with 'good ideas', 'good merits', 'good virtues', 'good belief', 'good conduct', 'good personality', or 'good characteristic', that identify themselves as 'good people' with 'good and righteous behavior' in the world, or the minds that think and believe that they are not 'good enough' and they aspire to be 'good enough' to be identified/recognized/acknowledged as 'good minds', 'good beings', or 'good people with good and righteous behavior'.

Not that 'being good' or 'doing good' or 'good behavior' is something bad or wrong, but the minds that are free from ignorance and egoism, are free from such identification/recognition/acknowledgement attached onto any quality of names and forms complying to certain worldly/social/cultural or religious/spiritual thinking/belief/disbelief/ideas/values/practice about what is good and bad, right and wrong, positive and negative, or meaningfulness and meaninglessness.

Those who sincerely want to transcend the modification of the mind, who are determined to free the mind from ignorance and all kinds of suffering that derived from ignorance, need to work diligently on changing the thinking pattern of the mind, freeing the mind from such conditioned thinking/belief/values/practice/identification.

Those who just want to do some yoga practice regularly to attain some impermanent physical and mental health and fitness benefits, as well as those who just want to be good and do good to accumulate good karma/virtues/merits as much as possible hoping to have a better next life 'transition/incarnation' or entering 'blissful heaven', they don't need to inquire into this basic yet important teaching and practice of yoga.

The untrained ignorant egoistic minds are like a 'sponge' that absorbs everything that is possible whether wittingly or unwittingly, while thinking and believing and identifying itself as 'the sponge that filled with whatever it absorbs/contains/holds', such like, 'I am a good sponge that absorbs/contains/holds all the good elements' or 'I am a bad sponge that absorbs/contains/holds all the bad elements'.

The selfless minds are free from such thinking/belief/identification.

Contemplate on this, and be free.

Appreciating what matter to us in life without attachment

Most of the time we don't really know what matter to us in life until the moment we lost something that we didn't realize it matters to us very much, or at the moment 'death' is approaching.

If we know what matter to us in life, and what doesn't matter, we can have a clear direction of life and make all decisions without any doubt or regret.

We can put aside or go beyond many difficulties/challenges/fear because what matter to us in life is more important than anything else, but it also could lead us to the biggest fear/aversion towards losing what matters most to us.

That biggest fear towards losing what matters most to us in life can be overcome by being able to appreciate everything that matter to us in life in this present moment without attachment/clinging, which allows us to be able to let go what matter to us in peace, when impermanence strikes.

Many people would say that 'appreciation without attachment' is easy to say but difficult to do.

That's why we need 'practice'/'training' and certain degrees of 'patience'/'perseverance'/'determination'/'non-judgment'/'non-comparison'/'non-expectation'.

It takes time for the mind to be 'trained' to be unattached towards all the names and forms, and be undetermined/undisturbed by the truth of impermanence and selflessness, and things that are not necessarily the way that we would like it to be, and be able to let go everything in peace.

'Non-attachment' manifest as it is, naturally/effortlessly/intentionlessly, when the mind is free from ignorance, knowing the truth of impermanence and selflessness.

It's okay that there are things that matter to us more than some other things and there are things that don't matter at all to us, despite that we would more likely hearing many people say that everything matters. As surviving life is already challenging enough for many people. Sometimes we need to let go certain things to allow the mind/the thinking faculty to maintain certain degrees of sanity and clarity.

In the end, everything is equally matters and doesn't matter at the same time upon realization of selflessness.

It's good that human beings have the loving kindness for helping and supporting one another, but it's okay that there are times we can't help, or we can't help as much as we would like it to be. We also need to allow everyone to learn how to look after themselves and take responsibility for their desires/actions and the consequences of their desires/actions.

Meanwhile some people don't mind being attached strongly onto everything and suffering for the loss of what matter to them very much, or suffering for the things that are not necessarily the way that they would like it to be, as they think and believe that "That's life and life should be like that." And that's their freedom of thinking/feeling/action/reaction.

Looking after one's mind living in the present embracing silence

In the path of yoga, looking after one's mind, through observing maximum silence and seclusion, renouncing 'worldly connections/relationships', retreating from 'worldly affairs/activities', to be focusing on freeing one's mind from ignorance, egoism, restlessness and impurities of pride, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, hurts, regret, guilt, desire, longing, craving, offensiveness, defensiveness, intimidation, hostility, agitation, depression, bitterness, misery, fear and worry, to be developing and maintaining the sanity, clarity and serenity of the thinking faculty, living in the present as it is, being at peace unconditionally, undetermined/undisturbed by the impermanent and selfless quality of names and forms, without violating/interfering/intruding all the different people/communities with different kinds of thinking/belief/disbelief/ideas/values/practice/way of life/behavior/action and reaction, without claiming ownership towards the world expecting 'my world' or 'our world' has to be in certain ways that the mind would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be, is the greatest form of selfless/unconditional love towards 'the world'.

Many people including 'yoga enthusiasts' might disagree with this, where they perceive 'silence'/'renunciation'/'non-association'/'dispassion' as a form of 'selfishness'/'irresponsibility'/'wrongfulness', as they believe everyone's duty of humanity is to be actively/passionately engaging in the worldly/social affairs/activities performing actions to 'create' a world/society the way that they like/desire/aspire, to 'make'/'control'/'influence' the world/society to be the way that they think how it should be, to be all 'good' and 'right' according to what they think and believe is 'good' and 'right', to be empowering/protecting/propagating their own particular ideas/visions/values, while either intentionally or unintentionally, condemning/interfering/intruding/oppressing/intimidating/eliminating/fighting/declaring war against others who are different from them, who don't embrace the similar ideas/visions/values, who might be obstructing 'my desire/aspiration towards 'having' a world that I think how it should be'. And that's their freedom of thinking, action and reaction.

Looking after one's mind embracing silence being at peace unconditionally free from ignorance, egoism, restlessness and all kinds of impurity, it's the purest selfless/intentionless form of 'karma yoga' contributing to the society, even without much contact/involvement/association with the society and allowing the society being what it is.

Actions that arise/come from intention/desire/aspiration to 'influence'/'change'/'control'/'create' a world/society to be the way that 'I' desire it to be, that 'I' think and believe how it should be, are nothing to do with 'karma yoga', even if it's out of what the mind thinks and believes as 'good' and 'rightful' intention/aspiration.

All and everything being here forming 'the world' being what it is, where the mind perceives 'a world of names and forms through the senses', but the world doesn't belong to anyone or the mind. Once the mind generates attachment and claims possession/ownership towards the world, taking the perception of a worldly existence/manifestation of impermanent and selfless names and forms as 'my world' or 'our world', there will be intention/desire/expectation/aspiration/protectiveness to 'make'/'influence'/'control'/'limit' the world to be the way that the mind would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be, which unwittingly lead to the existence of all kinds of discrimination, interference, intrusion, intimidation, oppression, clash, conflict, violence, and etc.

Once the mind is free from ignorance and egoism, transcending all the different qualities of names and forms, being unattached towards or undetermined by 'goodness' and 'badness', 'rightfulness' and 'wrongfulness', 'positiveness' and 'negativeness', 'meaningfulness' and 'meaninglessness', this mind could be performing selfless/intentionless 'actions' in the world that promote peace and harmony effectively among the different names and forms, while allowing the world to be what it is, being impermanent and selfless, without possessiveness towards the world, without expectation/aspiration towards the world has to be in certain ways that 'I' like/desire/aspire, that 'I' think and believe how it should be, is truly 'loving' the world.

Peace manifest as it is when the mind transcends 'goodness' and 'badness', 'rightfulness' and 'wrongfulness', 'positiveness' and 'negativeness', 'meaningfulness' and 'meaninglessness', 'action' and 'inaction'. But for that to happen, the mind needs to know how to look after itself that would free the mind from ignorance, egoism, restlessness and all kinds of impurity. Or else, the mind thinks and believes that everyone needs to perform actions to achieve 'goodness', 'rightfulness', 'positiveness' and 'meaningfulness' and getting rid of 'badness', 'wrongfulness', 'negativeness' and 'meaninglessness', in order to have peace and harmony in the world/society.

Beware of the hidden/subtle 'ambition'/'desire'/'aspiration'/'intention' that feed ignorance and egoism, that pulls the mind further away from yoga, while thinking and believing that "I am a good yogi performing lots of karma yoga to help the world to be a better place."

Look into the world, where most countries need to have 'authority' and 'law enforcement' to 'control' the society to behave and not behaving in certain ways, to 'create' a world/society that conform to certain ideas/values/visions/beliefs/practice. Peace cannot be achieved by 'controlling' people to behave and not behaving in certain ways, or to think and not thinking in certain ways.

Peace is there as it is, when everyone has self-control out of own free-will, minding their own mind and have peace in themselves, without interference/intimidation/intrusion towards others who are being different from one another, and there's no need the existence of 'authority' or 'law enforcement' to 'control' people should and shouldn't behave or think in certain ways, that leads to further ignorant actions and reactions, violence, unrest and disharmony.

Be free.