Love?

The minds that haven't realize unconditional desireless dispassionate love or compassion of selflessness/oneness/non-separateness, would keep hurting oneself and others, whether wittingly or unwittingly, even when everyone thinks and believes that one loves oneself/others and others love oneself, or everyone desires/hopes for a loving community where everyone would be loving and kind to one another.

The 'problems' that people relate to 'insufficient of love/touch/hug', or 'loveless', or 'unloved', or 'loneliness' has nothing to do with the absence/non-existence/insufficiency of 'I love you', 'You love me', 'We love each other', 'Developing a loving community', or 'I love myself'.

It's whether the mind realizing unconditional desireless dispassionate love or compassion, beyond quality of names and forms, of selflessness/oneness/non-separateness/namelessness/formlessness/attributelessness, free from desire and passion, free from ignorance, egoism, impurities, restlessness and suffering, or not.

'I love you', 'You love me', 'We love each other', 'Developing a loving community', or 'I love myself' present/exist only in duality or separateness under the veil of ignorance. They don't mean anything and don't exist in selflessness/oneness/non-separateness/namelessness/formlessness/attributelessness.

The presence/existence/acknowledgement of 'I love you', 'You love me', 'We love each other', 'Developing a loving community', or 'I love myself' without realizing unconditional love or compassion of selflessness/oneness/non-separateness doesn't guarantee that one doesn't hurt oneself or others out of ungratified desires/expectations, dissatisfaction, disappointment, defensiveness, offensiveness, pride, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, hurt, guilt, regret, grief, sorrow, fear and worry deriving from ignorance and egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, expectation, judgment/action/reaction based on certain worldly social/cultural/religious/spiritual thinking/belief/values/practice.

Even without the presence/existence/acknowledgement of 'I love you', 'You love me', 'We love each other', 'Developing a loving community', or 'I love myself', but one doesn't hurt oneself and others if the mind realizes selfless/nameless/formless/attributeless/desireless unconditional love or compassion, being free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance - Egoism, impurities, restlessness and suffering.

Neither there is the idea/identification/acknowledgement/presence/existence/attribute of 'I am compassionate', or 'I love you unconditionally', or 'I love all compassionately', or 'Developing a compassionate community', or 'I am being kind and compassionate towards myself' in oneness/non-separateness/selflessness.

'Building/developing a loving community' is unnecessary when the minds are free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance, realizing compassion of selflessness/oneness/non-separateness, where none would hurt oneself or others, where there's absence of the desire to give love and receive love, to attain/feel love, goodness, righteousness, positiveness and meaningfulness, to avoid lovelessness, badness, wrongfulness, negativeness and meaninglessness.

Just like drugs/medicines are useless/needless if there's absence of sickness/injury. But still, some people hang onto drugs/medicines using them as a pleasurable enjoyment.

Desireless and dispassion leads to the realization of selfless compassion is LIBERATION in yoga/Buddhism, but it would be perceived by most passionate minds that are under the influence of ignorance and egoism as 'lovelessness', or 'meaninglessness', or 'joylessness', or 'selfishness', or 'inhuman', or 'wrong and negative'. And hence, the idea of "Everyone needs love/Everyone needs to love one another/Everyone needs to give love and receive love/Without love, life is meaningless" is widely propagated in the world and empowering the passionate desire for love in everyone that directly/indirectly bring along the consequences of all kinds of suffering/'problems of humanity' deriving from ungratified desires (lack of love, loveless, not enough love, unloved, not the love the way that it should be). That's their freedom of thinking, belief, action and reaction. Out of love towards what they love, people would hurt anyone/anything that would hurt what they love. Out of desire/aspiration/intention/expectation for achieving/building/developing a world that they desire, that complies to their certain ideal of a world of 'all good/positive/happiness and nothing bad/negative/unhappiness', people would strive to achieve what they want to achieve and eliminate any obstructions/obstacles in their way to achieve their 'desire', at all costs.

The sun doesn't think and feel 'I love you' or 'I am compassionate' and hence it gives light and heat and energy to the world ceaselessly.

The immune system in the body doesn't think and feel 'I love you' or 'I am compassionate' and hence it protects the physical body from potential health risks until it breaks down.

The heart and the lungs don't think and feel 'I love you' or 'I am compassionate' and hence they keep working all day all night giving life to and maintaining life of this physical body until they ceased functioning.

The plants don't think and feel 'I love you' or 'I am compassionate' and hence they turn into food or nutrients or energy for the physical body to consume to be surviving.

'Bondage of desire and passionate love' is being perceived as something 'meaningful, right, good and positive' while 'Liberation of desireless and dispassion' is being perceived as something 'meaningless, wrong, bad and negative' for the worldly minded society, including many 'yoga enthusiasts'.

Opening the mind by freeing the mind from being conditioned by certain worldly social/cultural/religious/spiritual thinking/belief/values/practice to allow the mind to inquire the truth of everything, to see the root cause of all kinds of suffering or 'problems of humanity' - Ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, is what yoga and meditation practice is about.

There's nothing wrong with the idea of 'I love you', 'You love me', 'We love each other', 'Developing a loving community', or 'I love myself' existing in the world, and there's nothing wrong either without any of these ideas present/existing under the manifestation of compassion, or selfless unconditional love.

If the mind insists on thinking and believing that "Without the idea/presence/existence/acknowledgement/propagation of 'I love you', 'You love me', 'We love each other', 'Developing a loving community', or 'I love myself' in the world in life, it would be so bad, wrong, negative, terrible, sad, piteous, meaningless and joyless," then this mind is being ignorant towards itself is being conditioned by worldly social/cultural/religious/spiritual thinking/belief/values/practice, even if one has been 'learning'/'studying'/'practicing'/'teaching' yoga for some time or a long time.

"We need to give and show love to people and tell people 'I love you' so that they'll know they are loved (by others/by so many people), so that they will feel love and have love, so that we can build/develop a loving community that love one another." That's widely propagated in the world, for the sake of love.

In yoga or Buddhism, that's not freedom at all.

In yoga, the greatest gift is giving dhamma/wisdom that allow people to reflect/inquire the truth of everything and realize selflessness and compassion, be free from ignorance and egoism, be free from the suffering from endless passionate desire for love, or craving/longing for love and clinging onto love.

Do not blind-believing, blind-following, blind-practicing, blind-propagating, or blind-agreeing/disagreeing.

Be opened. Inquire. Reflect. Contemplate. Realize.

Realize unconditional selfless intentionless desireless dispassionate compassion.

Yearning for liberation / Longing for freedom / Survival instinct

Longing for freedom or yearning for liberation is a basic instinct that exists in all beings of different names and forms that are subject to impermanence and selflessness. It's related to survival instinct of to be free from, or to be protected from, or to avoid hunger, thirst, injury, illness, weakness, loneliness, meaninglessness, pain, unpleasantness, sorrow, suffering, aging, decaying, death, the unknown, lacking, ceased existing, extinction or non-existence, as much as possible. Survival instinct gives rise to the desire of grasping/holding onto life and relationships as well as the desire to procreate/reproduce/multiply, which also give rise to fear, worry, dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, anger, jealousy, painful sorrow and so on, where the mind is unwittingly restless and peaceless, or 'not free', which also leads to the longing for freedom/liberation from restlessness/peacelessness.

All minds (the projector/perceiver of a worldly life existence that is subject to impermanence and selflessness) that are under the influence of ignorance are longing for freedom or liberation (from the 'undesirable/unwanted experiences' of a worldly life of uncertainty that the minds perceive/recognize as unpleasantness, bad, wrong, unhappiness, negativity, poverty, difficulty, hardship, failure, ungratified desire, painful suffering, meaninglessness, aloneness, separation from the loved ones, or coming in contact with the hated ones), where most minds acknowledging but not knowing why the sense of 'being not free' or 'being limited/restricted/bound by something' is always there, either consciously or subconsciously, even when all kinds of worldly desire are being gratified, or everything in life seems to be 'all good and nothing bad'.

Most minds aren't interested to 'know thyself' or to 'be free from ignorance' even though they might be fighting for freedom of thinking, belief, practice, living, way of life, education, movement, rights, action and speech in the world, as either they are ignorant towards ignorance, or they don't feel the need/importance for that until great suffering/disappointment/painful sorrow arise, while some minds are initiated and be determined to 'know thyself', to 'be free from ignorance', as they are aware of ignorance and the by-products of ignorance.

Yoga of self-inquiry and self-realization is to free the mind from such ignorance. Ignorance is the root cause of all suffering/doubt/fear/limitation/bondage, and hence, there's the 'need' or 'longing' for freedom/liberation, to be free/liberated from ignorance. Ignorance is the source of all kinds of 'bondage'. Ignorance is not what most people think as 'lack of knowledge' or 'unintelligent' or 'lazy/unwilling to learn'. Ignorance exists even in the highly knowledgeable or intelligent or righteous minds/people/beings where the minds are determined and influenced by impurities and egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, expectation, agreements/disagreements based on certain cultural/religious teachings, beliefs, values and practice.

The mind that is free from ignorance, is void of 'bondage' being free from attachment, or grasping, or longing. It doesn't need to be free or be liberated from anything, as it is free, as what it is. It's ignorance that gives rise to attachment/grasping/longing that give rise to all kinds of suffering/disappointment/painful sorrow and the sense of 'being not free' (bondage), which give rise to the longing for freedom or the yearning for liberation.

As long as the mind is functioning under the influence of ignorance and perceives/experiences 'suffering' due to ignorance, there's the 'need', or 'urgency', or 'importance' to free or liberate the mind from ignorance, as the mind keeps generating actions that would 'hurt' oneself and others, whether wittingly or unwittingly, due to ignorance and the by-product of ignorance. Upon the annihilation of ignorance, there's neither suffering nor the end of suffering. There's neither 'hurts' nor 'the need to be healed from hurts'. That's compassion and freedom.

Those who are interested to free the mind from ignorance can contemplate on this -

Whatever the mind believes or disbelieves, desires or doesn't desire, agrees or disagrees with, it's all part of the modification of the mind.

There are all kinds of different culture having their own teachings, beliefs, values and practice, that are different from one another among all the different cultures in the world.

Just like all the different religions also have their own way of teachings, beliefs, values and practice.

It isn't about which one is true/false or better than the others, and it doesn't matter whether the mind believes or disbelieves in 'God existence' or 'self-existence', but it's about going beyond all kinds of teachings, beliefs, values and practice, to allow the mind to see the truth of 'the mind perception of a worldly life existence of uncertainty that is subject to impermanence and selflessness'.

All kinds of teachings, beliefs, values and practice have their own purpose serving the many minds of different temperament and characteristic to 'live life and behave in certain way' and 'have certain goal/direction in a worldly life of uncertainty', that allows most minds to continuously living/existing under certain 'purpose/meaning' by constantly striving to perform actions and reaping the fruit of actions, to attain the sense of purpose, well-being, love, accomplishment and satisfaction in personal and universal achievements, that would produce constant improvements/innovations which give rise to the sense of motivation, liveliness and meaningfulness to 'life existence'. Just like most people need to live life 'passionately and actively', continuously, or else, life would appear to be 'meaningless, empty and lifeless' for them.

There's neither good nor bad in all these different kinds of worldly cultural/religious teachings, beliefs, values and practice, just that the minds are not free, being conditioned/limited/bound to think, expect, judge, act and react in certain way. The mind is 'limited' or 'not free', being bound by the modification of the mind under the influence of ignorance, being bound by all kinds of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, expectation, judgment, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements based on certain cultural/religious teachings, beliefs, values and practice. And there's great aversion and fear towards 'going beyond' or 'letting go' all those teachings, beliefs, values and practice.

Whatever being perceived by the mind as 'positive' or 'negative', 'good' or 'bad', 'right' or 'wrong', 'meaningful' or 'meaningless', 'belief' or 'disbelief', 'agreeable' or 'disagreeable', 'pleasurable enjoyment' or 'painful suffering' and so on, is in the mind, from the mind. Suffering arise and pass away in the mind, from the mind. Countless births and deaths of countless thoughts of different states arise and pass away in the mind, from the mind. And there's nothing wrong with different minds perceive/judge things differently based on different teachings, beliefs, values and practice, just that it's not the truth of names and forms. There's nothing wrong with whether the mind thinks and believes "Be positive. Be optimistic. Everything is good. Nothing is bad." or "This is positive/good/right/meaningful. That is negative/bad/wrong/meaningless." or "I have so much love and support from so many people/beings. (My) Life is so good and meaningful." or "I don't have any love and support from anyone. (My) Life is so sad and meaningless." or "Life is wonderful/painful. The world is good/bad." Just that it's not the truth.

Do not blind-believing, blind-following, blind-practicing, blind-propagating, blind-agreeing/disagreeing about anything.

Those who know, they don't need to think positive, or be optimistic, or feel meaningful, or receive love, or fight for freedom, or attain peace. They are free as it is.

Contemplate, reflect, inquire, and realize.

The mind is being bound by endless desires

Endless desires constantly arising and passing away in the impure egoistic mind, where there's an acting self cognition in the mind generates attachment or grasps onto these desires, and ceaseless actions are being performed to gratify/materialize all these desires, unwittingly being bound by or being the slave of endless desires and the ceaseless effort to be chasing after the gratification of all desires.

When one is alive, "I want to be this and that."
"I want to do this and that."
"I want to be happy."
"I want to be successful."
"I want to be positive and strong."
"I want to be healthy."
"I want to be somebody. I don't want to be nobody."
"I want to be a man. I don't want to be a woman."
"I want to be a woman. I don't want to be a man."
"I want to be famous."
And then,
When one dies,
"I want to be this or that."
"I want to be an angel."
"I want to be in heaven."
"I want to be a star."
"I want to be a tree."
"I want to be a cat/dog/fish/bird."
"I want to be a man. I don't want to be in a woman's body."
"I want to be a woman. I don't want to be in a man's body."
"I want to be remembered."

There's never ending of desire to be 'somebody' or 'something' that one is not.

And everybody are being brought up in the society being encouraged or empowered to be 'somebody' that is not what one is. Very few just be, without attaching onto any names and forms to be 'somebody'. From all those identifications as 'somebody with certain names and forms', one identifies strongly as this is 'I'/'who I am'.

One doesn't need to be 'somebody' or 'anybody' or 'nobody'. One doesn't even need to be 'me' whom one thinks and believes that is 'who/what I am'.

One is just what one is. And whatever one is, it's mere manifestation of the impermanent and selfless modification of the mind born out of ignorance, influenced by cause and effect and powered by Prana/energy and fed by endless desires. One could be very/less successful and might be 'wearing' many 'name tags' of different 'names and forms' in this life existence of a selfless body and thinking mind, but none of these names and forms is 'I'. There's no 'I' existing to be identifying as 'somebody', of this or that, of good or bad.

Go beyond the manifestation of the mind perception of a selfless worldly life existence of names and forms that is subject to impermanence, and realize oneness, selflessness, namelessness, formlessness, attributelessness, birthlessness, deathlessness.

There's no distinction or separateness of this consciousness and that consciousness, or lower consciousness and higher consciousness, or pure and impure consciousness, or individual consciousness and universal consciousness. One doesn't become that. All is that.

One who realizes this, is desireless/fearless/worryless/lonelyless. Desireless is the way to cut off delivering the 'fuel' that feeds the wheel of birth and death.

Want to learn and practice yoga?

Yoga practice is preparing the mind for self-inquiry, inquire towards "What is yoga?", or "The truth of names and forms.", "What is life/worldly life existence?", "What is suffering/the cause of suffering?", or "Who am 'I', or who/what is this 'I' or self cognition/self-existence/self-identity/individual being?"

People could be talking about yoga according to what the Yoga Scripture stated about yoga - "Yoga is the union of the individual consciousness and the universal consciousness." or, "Yoga is the suspension of the modification of the mind." but without direct experience of knowing Thyself, or knowing Yoga.

When people identify and introduce themselves as "I am an experienced yoga practitioner/yoga teacher", or "I have learned/studied/practiced yoga for how many years under such and such Guru/teacher/school", or "I am 200/500 hours certified yoga teacher." it only shows that they don't really know what is 'yoga'. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with being ignorant towards many things under the influence of ignorance. If human beings can be free from ignorance easily, there won't be so much ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in this world.

The realization of selflessness/'I'-lessness/egolessness, or non-duality/oneness/non-separateness/namelessness/formlessness/attributelessness/birthlessness/deathlessness, has nothing to do with whether one had been practicing 'yoga' for how long and how much, or whether one had attended 'yoga teacher training courses' and attained certain 'Internationally recognized/affiliated yoga teacher certification/qualification', or whether one is educated and can converse, read and write in certain language, or not.

Most of the time, when people talk about 'yoga', that they are practicing yoga, that they love yoga, they are talking about the 'yoga' as a form of exercise consists of positions/movements/breath control/concentration/relaxation that gives many physical and mental health benefits, that can help to improve physical and mental health and fitness condition, or talking about some kinds of 'energy channels/centres cleansing technique', or 'sound/vibration/mystical/mantra/energy healing' practice or 'energy exchange', or 'love sharing and hugging', or 'yogic diet', or 'clean eating', or 'organic living', or 'yogic lifestyle', or 'yogic attires and accessories', or 'yoga mats/blocks/straps/cushions/etc'.

When people visualize 'someone practicing yoga', most people would think of someone on a 'yoga mat' wearing certain brand of 'yoga attire' holding a particular 'yoga posture' or doing a set of yoga movements consist of different 'yoga postures' or 'stretches' with or without some yoga accessories such as block and strap, or doing some 'breathing exercises', 'chanting/praying/clapping/dancing/singing with music', or 'meditating in a cross-legged sitting posture holding a particular hand gesture' with incense burning or meditative music background in an out of the world beautiful and peaceful environment, or a group of people happily chatting, cooking and eating 'organic produce', or something to do with 'positive thinking/empowerment'/'relaxation and de-stress methods'/'healthy lifestyle'/'the sense of happiness or meaningfulness', or even, visualizing people with certain appearance such like 'tattooed body', 'dreadlocks' and 'smoking pot'. Just like what people see in the 'yoga videos'/'TV documentary on yoga or yogi'/'yoga posters/advertisements/arts', or in the 'yoga classes' in the 'yoga centres', or on the streets of certain famous 'cities of yoga' in India.

We often hear many 'yoga practitioners' say, "I didn't practice yoga for some time because life was too busy in the past few years/months/weeks/days and I didn't have enough space for the yoga practice. Now that I have more free time and free space, I want to start practicing yoga again." It shows that they have no idea what is yoga and yoga practice even though they might have been doing some 'yoga practice' either by themselves or attending 'yoga classes' for some time.

Yoga and yoga practice is unlimited by name and form, time, space and causation.

Then there are also many 'yoga competitions' that are about 'how good/well one performs some 'yoga postures' or 'yoga movements'. "This person performs the postures/movements better than the others, this person endowed with the strength/the flexibility/the techniques/the artistic/the creativity/the grace/the flow/the endurance/the focus/the effort, and so, this person is the best 'yogi' and the champion/winner of this 'yoga competition'." There are also many 'yoga events', 'yoga festivals', 'yoga shows/performances/demonstrations', or 'yoga international day', and etc.

All these 'names and forms' don't determined that one is practicing yoga, or one knows yoga, or one is a yogi. Those who truly practice yoga, or who know yoga, there's no such idea/identification of "I know yoga", "I practice yoga for how long for how regular", "I meditate for how many years for how many hours/times per day", "I can hold my breath for how long", "I am a yogi", "I am a yoga teacher", "I am a 200/500 hours certified yoga teacher", "I participate in such and such yoga events/festivals/courses/yoga competitions", "I am celebrating yoga international day", "I am a champion of yoga", "I am the best yogi", "This is how a yogi looks like", "Yoga is so good", or "I love yoga."

If someone thinks one knows something about yoga but doesn't really know what is yoga, and wants to approach a teacher asking to be learning and practicing yoga under this teacher, one must 'empty' thyself of what one thinks who/what one is, of what one thinks one had learned/practiced/experienced/known/achieved. Actually, just by 'emptying' thyself, or abandoning the 'self-identification with such and such quality of names and forms', one has already opened the 'door' of yoga, even without a teacher's guidance.

Life is uncertain and Death is certain

Life is uncertain, but death is certain.

Death is a great teacher of life existence. The healthiest, the strongest, the happiest, the wealthiest, the kindest, the greatest, the most intelligent and knowledgeable, the most talented, successful and famous, or the most loved and respected, will also have to bow down to DEATH.

There's no guarantee about anything in this worldly life existence of uncertainty, but for sure, death will come one day, sooner or later, regardless of whether it's natural cause or unnatural cause, intentional or unintentional, expected or unexpected, slowly or instantly, wittingly or unwittingly, having none/few/many friends, having an easy life or difficult life, being ignorant or wise, have done none/few/many good actions or bad actions, have been good or bad/right or wrong/positive or negative/happy or unhappy/healthy or unhealthy. Everyone is dying immediately following the moment of birth, but most people either don't realize this or they trying to be positive and hope for the best. Death is not a bad or negative thing at all.

"Tribute to my big brother who had lived a difficult but great honest life, who was content and generous, who was forbearing and forgiving, who had been smiling through all the hardships, who had delivered all his duties and responsibilities as a great son, a great brother, a great husband and a great friend to many beings, who had been sacrificed greatly to be looking after our family during the difficult time, and looking after our beloved bedridden father unconditionally for many years until he left the world. And now, my big brother had left this world without any painful suffering but with a smile on his face on the 30th of June 2019. Thank you brother."