Want to learn and practice yoga? (19)

Many minds are being disturbed by all kinds of ceaselessly growing 'wrongfulness' and 'suffering that derived from wrongfulness' in the world, while getting anxious and worried towards the world is getting more and more damaged, and hence, they perform certain actions with the intention, desire or aspiration to help the world to become a better place, to save the world from being further damaged by the many 'wrongfulness' of the selfish greedy minds, however, at the same time, they are being determined, disturbed, influenced, frustrated, disappointed, angered, exhausted, intimidated, broken and hurt by the condition and situation in the world that seems like not getting any better, but is getting worse, after they have tried to perform certain actions with the expectation towards the condition and situation in the world has to be and not to be in certain way, as these minds are not free from the influence of egoism, even if they might be practicing some kind of yoga practice, where they don't know what is non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment and non-expectation, and there is passionate intention/desire/aspiration towards creating a world that has more goodness or positivity, and less badness or negativity.

It's good to have people who want the world to be free from all kinds of 'wrongfulness', however, 'wrongfulness' might mean differently in the many different worldly thinking, belief, values and practice.

Disturbed, angered, worried and disappointed minds are easily be manipulated by the selfish greedy minds to be unwittingly helping them to achieve their greedy desires or ambitions. The more anxious of the minds trying to make things right, the easier the minds are being manipulated in certain way that don't really help to make things right.

On one side, it seems like those who are practicing yoga of dispassion and renunciation, of silence and solitude, are being at peace and quietness, by renouncing worldly actions, not going against anything, being unconcerned, or being care-less towards all kinds of worldly egoistic affairs, and hence, it is highly welcoming by the selfish world of discrimination, power and greed, as if more people retreat from the society to go into seclusion, closing the eyes and ears, and staying away from getting involved with the worldly selfish political agendas, there will be less obstacles for the selfish greedy minds to do whatever they want, to gratify all their greedy desires and ambitions.

On another side, those who know what is yoga, who are truly dispassionate and renouncing the world, are the ones who know how to be performing many selfless actions that would bring certain uplifting improvement in the world that is full of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, but at the same time, they are not being determined, disturbed, influenced, frustrated, disappointed, angered, exhausted, intimidated, broken, or hurt by all kinds of ignorant thinking and behavior in the world, of worsening condition and situation in the world, without passionate intention, desire or aspiration to make the world to become a better place, without expectation towards the condition and situation in the world has to be and not to be in certain way, and without the need of receiving any attention, support, acknowledgement, acceptance, agreement, accreditation, appreciation or thankfulness from the world. There's no attachment or identification towards the sense of goodness, righteousness, positiveness or meaningfulness that based on any particular worldly egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice.

These minds won't be manipulated by the selfish greedy minds to be unwittingly helping them to achieve their greedy desires or ambitions that inflict suffering onto many others in the world in many ways.

Learning and practicing yoga of dispassion and renunciation, of silence and solitude, is indeed about performing selfless actions that are intentionless, that are free from passionate egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, aspiration or expectation.

Detached, unattached, renouncing the world, freeing the mind from being influenced by any particular worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice, and then come back into the world (or not).

It's not about fighting against the ignorance in all the other minds in the world, it's about freeing this mind from ignorance and egoism, and it will know what to do with the world that is full of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, at peace.

Most people want peace for all, some want peace but not for all, some don't want peace at all, while some want to gain more power and wealth from inflicting unrest in the world.

Above all, it's not about right or wrong, but for those who really want to free one's mind from ignorance, should try to avoid consuming any kind of intoxicants that influence the state of the mind and behavior, where one might be loosing self-control over one's behavior being over-powered by the effect of intoxicants, that might cause unnecessary damage to oneself and others during those few moments under the influence of intoxicants. There's nothing wrong and it's everyone's freedom if people want to enjoy certain intoxicants to momentarily escape from certain frustrations and difficulties in life, especially those who think they are not being over-powered by the intoxicants that they consume without loosing the clarity of the mind or self-control over their behavior.

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Want to learn and practice yoga? (18)

Does it mean that if everyone in the world are practicing yoga, then the world will be free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance?

Not really.

The total amount of people who are 'practicing yoga' in the world is not related to whether the world is or will be free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

If more minds are free from the influence of ignorance and egoism, regardless of whether they are practicing yoga, or not, then the world will have less ignorant behaviors, actions and reactions, and less the consequences of ignorance.

If all minds are void of ignorance in this moment, then the world is void of ignorant behaviors, actions and reactions and the consequences of ignorance being generated in this moment. And every moment is changing.

The enthusiasm and action of practicing yoga regardless of the total amount of time and effort that one has been engaging in certain type of yoga practice regularly, especially if without knowing what is dispassion and renouncing the action and the fruit of action, it doesn't determine that the mind is or will be free from ignorance. The world is and will still be full of ignorant behaviors, actions and reactions, and the consequences of ignorance, even when all and everyone in the world are engaging in some kind of yoga practice regularly.

Ignorance and egoism also exists in the world of yoga.

That's why the aspiration of celebrating 'International Yoga Day' to bring people to come together and to create certain awareness into the world, with the intention of promoting yoga in the world by motivating more people to develop enthusiasm into practicing different types of yoga practice, to bring more people into the yoga community, to build a bigger yoga community of the similar interest and like-minded, it doesn't necessarily mean that the world is having or will be having less ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

A selfless yogi doesn't even need to be celebrating one's birthday or any kind of 'celebration day', not to say, to be promoting, supporting and celebrating so called 'International Yoga Day' being introduced and inaugurated by 'an organization leads by a mind who claimed oneself as a yogi as well as representing a particular religion and nation to be claiming ownership and authorization over yoga' with the aspiration of 'promoting yoga' into the world for 'humanity and peace', while at the same time, being responsible for discriminating, oppressing and generating disturbing and hurtful behaviors towards some other religion, culture, nation and human race.

All kinds of 'celebration day' representing and propagating certain qualities of names and forms, either intentionally or unintentionally promoting and empowering particular passionate egoistic attachment and identification towards certain qualities of names and forms, in which promotes separateness among the different names and forms, as well as wittingly or unwittingly empowering discrimination and resentment towards certain qualities of names and forms that a particular individual or one particular community disagrees with, are all born out of ignorance and egoism. It's completely moving away from yoga of Selflessness, Oneness, or non-separateness and non-discrimination.

Above all, all kinds of 'celebration day' or 'festival' that invite and require as many people to come together to be 'doing' something, to celebrate a personal or community cause, are the creation of the world of commercialism to be 'boosting' business sales of certain commercial products and services related to all those different types of activity, celebration and festival.

Meanwhile, certain festivals are about remembering, acknowledging and empowering something good or bad that had happened in the past, to never forget the good or bad things that had happened upon us, our family, or our fellow community, either empowering craving/clinging towards 'something that was good' or empowering aversion/hatred towards 'something that was bad', as well as passing down all those 'aspirations' onto the next generations so that they also 'know' and 'never forget', which don't really help the minds to be free from ignorance and egoism.

Just as many people are being conditioned to feel bad, guilty and left out, or being criticized or condemned, if they don't or can't go back home, to be with their family members, relatives, friends, or their particular community, to be performing certain actions or gestures on specific celebration day or festival day, which is not at all what yoga practice is about. One who loves their family and friends will always be loving their family and friends, even when being absent most of the time, or all the time. One who couldn't be present on certain funerals, doesn't mean that one doesn't love, or respect, or care for those who passed away.

Think again, if this mind still feels being disturbed, disappointed, unloved, left out or upset by someone whom it knows, but didn't or don't acknowledge anything and not being physically or mentally present on it's birthday or some other's birthday, or be physically or mentally participating in any kind of personal and community celebration or festival day of certain names and forms in this world. Where most of these actions/activities are about empowering passionate egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, and expectation, towards the qualities of names and forms.

There's neither right nor wrong, as all kinds of celebration and festival day are good for promoting the economy and people's livelihood, while 'connecting' and 'comforting' the minds that are under the influence of ignorance and egoism, that are being interdependent on the physical/mental presence and support of one another to feel good and meaningful about oneself and the world, by encouraging people to come together at certain time and for certain cause, but then, it's moving the minds away from the means of yoga.

The yoga practitioners that don't celebrate their own birthdays, or some other's birthday, or their parents/siblings/friends/teachers/guru's birthday/funeral day, or don't participating in any kind of rituals/festivals related to the yoga community, doesn't determine that they are not practicing yoga, or are being ungrateful or disrespectful, and vice versa.

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Want to learn and practice yoga? (17)

There's a difference between practicing yoga and doing some form of yoga practice.

Doing some form of yoga practice regularly might give certain physical and mental health and fitness benefits to the practitioners, but the minds are not necessarily be free from ignorance and suffering, if they are not practicing yoga.

From the appearance, one might seem to be practicing yoga by doing some form of yoga practices regularly, but one is not necessarily practicing yoga if the mind is performing the yoga practice or any kind of actions in everyday life under the influence of passionate egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, intention, aspiration and expectation.

Practicing yoga is beyond doing some form of yoga practice regularly, where it is unlimited or undetermined by whether one is doing some form of yoga practice, or not.

One can be practicing yoga even though from the appearance, one might seem to be not doing any form of yoga practice.

Regardless of whether one is performing some form of yoga practice regularly, or not, all kind of actions (both motion and motionless) are being performed without passionate egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, intention, aspiration and expectation, renouncing the actions and the fruit of actions.

Such minds don't need to be receiving any positive words or gestures of encouragement and acknowledgement to be motivated for performing all kinds of actions. They are not being determined by the action or the fruit of action. They don't need to be recognized as 'yoga practitioners', or 'yogis', or 'yoga teachers', not to say, 'experienced', 'advanced', 'qualified', 'certified', or 'good, kind and loving' yoga practitioners, yogis, or yoga teachers.

Regardless of how long one has been practicing yoga or doing some form of yoga practice regularly, and what the body and mind can do and cannot do, or achieve and doesn't achieve, there is no beginner, or intermediate, or advanced level yoga practitioner or yoga teacher.

It's just whether one is practicing yoga, or not. It's just whether the body and mind has the sufficient physical and mental strength, flexibility and skill to be doing certain yoga poses and other practices, or not, which doesn't determine whether one is practicing yoga, or not.

One might not be perfected in the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, where there might still be certain degrees of ignorance/cloudiness/doubt/disturb in the modification of the mind, but there's no attachment towards what it is now, knowing that it's not 'I', but just the body and mind being what it is, and it's impermanent. And if there's attachment arise in the mind towards certain names and forms, it will pass away or subside effortlessly, without further identification, judgment or expectation towards the presence of attachment.

It's the same as whether one is teaching yoga or merely teaching some form of yoga practice, or both.

Everyone takes their own pace to realize whether one is practicing and teaching yoga, or merely doing some form of yoga practice and teaching some form of yoga practice. It's neither right nor wrong. It's just whether the mind is free from ignorance, or not, and whether one is practicing and teaching yoga, or not. However, if one is teaching some form of yoga practice under the influence of ignorance and egoism, it might be empowering the ignorance and egoism in the yoga students and in oneself, unwittingly, instead of leading towards the elimination of ignorance and egoism.

Similarly, when there's attachment, there's unrest, disturb, hurt or suffering. Void of attachment, there's no unrest, disturb, hurt or suffering. There's no beginner, intermediate or advance level in terms of letting go any form of attachment. It's either let go, or don't want to let go.

Either intentionally or unintentionally, upon the hand coming in contact with the fire that is there selflessly, there's painful burning sensation on the hand, and one can either move the hand completely away from the fire immediately to stop continuously burning and damaging the hand, or for certain reasons, one can be intentionally continuously keeping the hand in contact with the fire, causing deeper burns and damages to the hand, but one cannot blame the fire for the painful sensation and damages in the hand as the fire is just being what it is. It has no intention to be useful for something or causing painful sensation and damages to something. If people don't want the suffering of painful burning sensation or damages from being burnt, the simple way is don't touch the fire. One can still enjoy the usefulness of fire to be cooking something or for many other utilization, without touching the fire, and not burning oneself in painful sensation or damaging anything.

However, the passionate egoistic positive thinking minds are aspiring to challenge the fire, as they believe in "Being positive and optimistic will make the impossible become possible. Nothing is impossible," hoping that either they can change the hot burning fire to become non-hot non-burning 'fire' but still can do what it supposed to do (to be hot and burning), or they will try using many different scientific methods and endurance trainings to become 'superhuman' where they want to be able to come in contact with extremely hot burning fire as long as they want, but without getting any burn, painful sensation and damages. Just because they like fire so much, or that is what they want to do and achieve, or they want to prove that "You can do and achieve anything as you desire," and "Nothing is impossible."

When they feel hurt from coming in contact with fire wittingly and deliberately, they blame the fire for being hot and burning, and expect to be receiving sympathy, love and comfort from others. And they will continuously repeatedly coming in contact with fire and get burnt and injured, and expect more sympathy, love and comfort from others. And they will feel very disappointed and meaningless if they don't receive the expected sympathy, love and comfort from some others, and they might do something that hurt oneself and others out of great disappointment and meaninglessness for not receiving the sympathy, love and comfort that they expect to be receiving. And the passionate sympathetic minds will blame themselves or other people for not giving enough sympathy, love and comfort to those who 'need' or 'deserve' to be receiving sympathy, love and comfort, that 'cause' them to be hurting themselves and others out of disappointment and meaninglessness. Just because they believe that the world should be full of such sympathetic loving kindness. What the world needs is compassion, not sympathetic loving kindness that is under the influence of ignorance and egoism.

All minds just need to stop hurting themselves wittingly or unwittingly, by freeing itself from ignorance. That is compassion.

There are also disturbed minds that might 'hurt' others either intentionally or randomly, as healthy minds won't hurt themselves or hurt anyone intentionally, if so, one can do one's best to stay away from such sicked minds. If it's not possible to avoid being 'hurt' by some sicked minds, one can do one's best to be recovered from any injury, and let it go, as none can undo what had happened, and the sicked minds that intentionally inflict hurtful damages onto others and the surrounding environment, are under the influence of intense ignorance. None can remove the ignorance in the minds but the mind itself.

It's upmost important to look after this mind by freeing itself from ignorance, before it's too late to do anything, when the mind is completely being over-powered by deep ignorance, it would hurt itself and others intentionally or randomly.

Suffering is the reflection of ignorance. Void of ignorance, void of suffering.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (16)

Learning and practicing yoga is not about enhancing one's physical and mental condition and ability to be able to perform the yoga asana poses and exercises or some other kinds of physical and mental activities in life, to be empowering or boosting the sense of self-esteem, self-worth, confidence, achievement, goodness or meaningfulness, being motivated and encouraged by the yoga teachers to keep practicing regardless of failures/challenges/difficulties, in order to experience the physical and mental transformation from being not strong and flexible or bold enough to perform certain yoga poses/practices until they are strong and flexible or bold enough to be performing those yoga poses/practices, to let them know that it's possible for them to do and achieve anything that they want, if they are being determined and persevered, and never give up.

There's nothing wrong with that, in fact it's a very good motivational training workshop just like many other motivational workshops in the world for people to develop certain degrees of physical and mental strength, flexibility and stamina, as well as the skill, in order to be doing something and achieving certain results, however, yoga and its practice, which is the elimination of ignorance and egoism, the annihilation of the modification of the mind, as well as the realization of Selflessness, is nothing to do with the enhanced physical and mental condition and ability to be doing and achieving something either in everyday life or in the yoga practice.

It's very good for the motivational teacher/trainer to give positive encouragement and acknowledgement towards the students/trainees in any kind of motivational workshops, by cheering, "Well done!", "Yes! You can do it!", "Keep it up!", "Very good!", "Believe in yourself!", "Never give up!", "Yeah! You done it!", and so on, but again, the continuous improvement of the physical and mental ability and achievement of the students of yoga doesn't determine the elimination of ignorance and egoism, the annihilation of the modification of the mind, or the realization of Selflessness. In fact all these motivational workshops are only strengthening the idea of 'I' and empowering egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment and expectation towards the qualities of names and forms.

Even if the yoga students are unable to perform many kinds of physical or mental activities, not to say, any of the yoga asana poses or breathing exercises, due to some physical and mental limitation and disability or environmental restriction, they still can practice yoga to be eliminating ignorance and egoism, disciplining the outgoing tendency of the mind, quieting the restless state of the mind, purifying the intellect, performing self-inquiry, realizing the truth of selflessness and impermanence, be free from ignorance and suffering, and resting in unconditional peace, if they know how to eliminate ignorance and egoism.

It's not about "Nothing is impossible," but "Non-attachment towards both possibility and impossibility."

By developing strong determination and perseverance to be performing many different kinds of actions or yoga practices, with the great aspiration, positive thinking and optimism to be 'achieving' something, but without knowing how to let go attachment, identification and the desire of craving and aversion towards goodness/badness, positiveness/negativeness, meaningfulness/meaninglessness, righteousness/wrongfulness, and etc, it doesn't lead the mind towards Selflessness, or liberation from ignorance and suffering.

That's why there were/are many great competitive sports persons, or world champions, or scientists, or geniuses, or creative artists, in the past or in the present, were/are not necessarily be free from ignorance and egoism or painful sorrow and suffering with their superhuman physical and mental ability and achievement, unless they realized Selflessness, knowing what is 'I', and be able to let go or unattached towards whatever the mind perceived through the senses.

Because yoga is not about how many actions that the body and mind can perform, or how many things that the body and mind can achieve through developing and enhancing physical and mental condition and ability, it's about letting go the attachment, identification and desire of craving and aversion towards what the body and mind can do and cannot do, achieve and doesn't achieve, as well as all kinds of impermanent qualities of names and forms.

Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, or any serious selfless yoga teachers that teach about yoga as it is that leads the mind towards the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, couldn't/didn't/don't say to the practitioners, "Very good! Keep it up! You can do it! I can, so can you! Believe in yourself! You are incredible superhuman!" when they were/are performing or not performing any kind of actions/practices, regardless of whether they were/are doing it right and improving, or not, or "Yeah! Well done! You are liberated now! Great job! I'm so proud of you! You should be so proud of yourself! And your country and all your family and friends will be very proud of you!" or issued them an 'internationally recognized certification' sanctioned by and affiliated to '..xxx..', when they attained/attain certain realization.

And why?

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (15)

The power of ignorance.

Being ignorant towards ignorance.

Ignorance isn't only existing in the minds that wittingly or unwittingly think, behave, act and react ignorantly in the way that inflict unrest, painful sorrow and suffering to oneself and/or others and the surrounding environment.

It's also being reflected in the minds that wittingly and intentionally want to be good and do good, while unwittingly attaching onto and identifying with 'purity', 'goodness', 'righteousness', 'positiveness', 'kindness', 'love', or 'meaningfulness', passionately attaching towards the actions of 'good, kind and loving' and the fruit of actions, and identifying as 'I am a good, kind and loving being', while being aspired to also 'influence' or 'motivate' other minds to also be good and do good, as well as attaching onto and identifying with 'purity', 'goodness', 'righteousness', 'positiveness', 'kindness', 'love', or 'meaningfulness'.

It's neither right nor wrong. It's just the power of ignorance.

That is what most people who are interested in yoga are learning and practicing when they learn and practice yoga under the many 'yoga teachers' who are teaching 'yoga' classes in such way, as that is what these 'yoga teachers' have been learning and practicing from their 'yoga teachers' who also teach 'yoga classes, yoga workshops, yoga courses or yoga retreats' in such way, where yoga is not about silence, oneness or non-separateness, but it's about empowering interaction, relationship and connection (the reflection of separateness), where yoga practice is not about developing dispassion and renunciation to eliminate egoism, but it's about developing mental and emotional dependency among one another and empowering egoism, where self-inquiry is not about inquiring towards Selflessness of the impermanent life existence of the selfless body and mind, but it's about being inspired to be attaching onto and identifying with "I am pure, good, righteous, positive, kind, loving and meaningful," as well as, "My actions are pure, good, righteous, positive, kind, loving and meaningful that benefiting other beings and bringing goodness and meaningfulness into the world, and together we are making the world a better place."

The 'yoga students' are being encouraged to be attached towards their 'yoga teachers' and all the others in the community, as the 'yoga teachers' are also being encouraged to be attached towards their 'yoga teachers' and all the others in the community. That's why the importance of renunciation, dispassion, seclusion and solitude for those who sincerely want to free the mind from ignorance, by moving away from the minds that are being conditioned by passionate egoistic worldly thinking, belief, values and practice.

The passionate egoistic minds, including many yoga practitioners and yoga teachers, attached towards what they perceived as 'goodness and positiveness', and propagating staying away from what they perceived as 'badness and negativeness', in order to be staying positive and be aspired for developing and attracting goodness and positiveness. As they think that is the goal of the yoga practice. That's their freedom.

The yoga teachings and practice is about transcending all kinds of dualism, freeing the mind from ignorance and egoism via the practice of dispassion, renunciation, seclusion and solitude by staying away from the worldly passionate minds and their conditioned worldly thinking, belief, values and practice which is about chasing after and attaching towards what they believed and valued as 'goodness' and 'positiveness', in order to allow the mind to go beyond and transcend 'goodness and badness' or 'positiveness and negativeness'. As it's too difficult for the mind to go beyond all kinds of worldly egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice, while being constantly mingling among the passionate egoistic minds. Once the mind is free from being conditioned by such worldly passionate egoistic thinking and belief, the mind can mix freely among the worldly passionate minds without being influenced by all those worldly passionate egoistic thinking and belief.

It doesn't mean that everyone shouldn't be good and do good, or shouldn't be motivated to be good and do good. However, minds that are not aware of the subtle attachment and identification in the minds towards all kinds of 'goodness' and 'positiveness', are not free from ignorance and egoism, even after many years of yoga and meditation practice, as well as teaching 'yoga' classes that is under the influence of worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice. Thinking that "I feel good and positive. I am good and positive. I will only attract goodness and positiveness. Everything is good and positive," is an important practice and meaningful achievement on the path of yoga.

When so called 'badness' is absent and 'goodness' is present, the minds are pleased and celebrating 'goodness', but when so called 'goodness' is absent while 'badness' is present, the minds are displeased and condemning 'badness' for all kinds of painful sorrow and suffering.

All kinds of 'war', 'discrimination', 'hatred', 'oppression' and 'violence' that are still happening in this era of advanced science and technology, are deriving from what the passionate egoistic prideful minds think and believe as carrying out duty and responsibility to be punishing and eliminating what they think and believe as 'badness' and 'wrongfulness', while empowering and protecting what they think and believe as 'goodness' and 'righteousness', where they are being recognized and glorified as 'Heroes' by their 'followers' and 'admirers'. They don't see it as 'ignorance' and 'actions under the influence of ignorance'. So as the minds that have passionate attachment and identification towards what the minds think and believe as 'goodness', 'positiveness' and 'righteousness'.

Think again, if the mind still have the idea of thinking and believing that oneself is "I am a good and unselfish being. I am not a bad and selfish being. I want myself and others to be good and do good. I don't want myself and others to be bad and do bad," and "I am a selfless being and I am performing selfless actions that benefit the world. I feel so positive and meaningful to see others are being benefited by my selfless actions," where performing all kinds of 'good' actions, including the yoga practice, and attaining the desired fruit of 'good' actions, is about developing and boosting the sense of goodness, meaningfulness, self-esteem, confidence, positiveness, worthiness and righteousness, which are the reflections of egoism.

Inquire towards the truth of everything. 

Everything is just what it is. All are selfless and impermanent. Be free from passionate aspiration to 'influence' or 'change' the world to be in certain way in order to boost the sense of goodness and meaningfulness in oneself and/or others.

Perform all kinds of actions void of attachment and identification, and free from the desire of craving towards goodness/positiveness and aversion towards badness/negativeness, and renounce the fruit of action.

There's no 'I'.

There's no "I am, or I want to be selfless, pure, good, positive, meaningful, kind and loving." Not to say, "I want to influence and motivate others to also be selfless, pure, good, positive, meaningful, kind and loving."

The selfless mind being free from the idea of 'I' and egoism doesn't need to be developing and boosting the sense of goodness, meaningfulness, self-esteem, confidence, positiveness, worthiness and righteousness.

The one that needs to be motivated to be doing and achieving something by constantly receiving positive words of encouragement and acknowledgement, in order to be developing and boosting the sense of goodness, meaningfulness, self-esteem, confidence, positiveness, worthiness and righteousness, is the mind that is under the influence of the idea of 'I' and egoism.

The passionate egoistic minds strongly think and believe that these are the upmost important values and practice in life, including yoga teachers whom themselves are not free from the idea of 'I' and egoism, while acting and reacting under the influence of worldly egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice, where they teach yoga classes that emphasized on developing and boosting the sense of goodness, meaningfulness, self-esteem, confidence, positiveness, worthiness and righteousness by constantly giving positive words of encouragement and acknowledgement to the yoga students while they are performing certain actions, experiencing certain obstacles/failures and achieving certain results/improvement/success, which is indeed empowering the idea of 'I' and egoism of the yoga students, as well as the yoga teachers themselves, who feel good and meaningful towards themselves, boosting the sense of self-esteem and confidence, for being good, kind and loving yoga teachers. It's completely moving away from the means of yoga practice to be starving and eliminating the idea of 'I' and egoism.

Yoga teachers are those that allow the students of yoga to be developing mental and emotional independence via the practice of renunciation, dispassion, seclusion and solitude, and to inquire towards selflessness and impermanence in all the names and forms, including the existence and function of the body and mind, to free the mind from ignorance and egoism. Somehow, many 'yoga teachers' nowadays are practicing and propagating the opposite of all that, where 'mingling' is highly important to develop connection and relationship, as well as mental and emotional dependence among one another, where 'yoga retreats' are not about being in solitude and silence to perform self-inquiry, but it's about mingling among the community and building connection and doing activities that boost the sense of goodness, positiveness and meaningfulness.

Swami Sivananda - "You are left alone now. Live alone. Walk alone. Eat alone. Meditate alone."

Buddha - "You come alone. You go alone."

That is compassion.

However, for the passionate minds, including many 'yoga teachers', "This is too 'harsh' and very 'wrong'," and "How can any beings be left alone? They will be suffering from loneliness. They are in painful suffering. They might hurt themselves or others. Everyone needs love, support, comfort and encouragement from one another, to stop hurting themselves or others." The sympathetic mind thinks and believes in such way. These minds don't reflect, "Ah! Ignorance. All minds need to be free from ignorance, and they will be free from suffering. And hence, they won't hurt themselves or others, upon liberation from suffering and ignorance."

"As yoga teachers, we need to constantly give encouragements and positive words of acknowledgement to the yoga students, as they need such ongoing encouragement and positive words of acknowledgement to be practicing yoga and progress," say the 'yoga teachers'.

Actually, from the beginning of teaching yoga, regardless of the degrees of ignorance in the student's mind, especially the minds that felt disturbed or hurt, and still feeling disturbed or hurt by something, the yoga teachers just need to guide the students to look into their own minds to see the play of ignorance and egoism in the mind, and find out the truth of 'disturbs' and 'hurt', and how to free their own minds from ignorance and egoism through self-inquiry, telling the students of yoga that they don't need to receive encouragement or positive words of acknowledgement to motivate them to perform their yoga practice and progress, and become independent mentally and emotionally. The 'yoga teachers' argue that, "We need to give some sorts of sweets to the students to motivate them to practice yoga, or give them some comforts to ease their suffering." And hence, keep giving them sweets and comforts with the intention of encouraging these minds to keep practicing yoga, but somehow, these minds will never be free from the root cause of suffering after years and years of practicing yoga under these yoga teachers who believe in giving sweets and comforts is 'loving kindness' and the best way of teaching yoga. And once they don't receive such sweets and comforts anymore, they won't have the motivation to be practicing yoga that is not so sweet or comfortable, but will free them from the addiction towards sweets and comforts that give them momentary relief, but doesn't stop them from perceiving/experiencing all kinds of disturbs and hurts due to ignorance.

It's like the 'loving and caring' parents who hold their children hands tightly 'all the time, day and night' afraid of their children might somehow fall and hurt themselves, while thinking and believing that the children need their 'loving and caring' guidance and encouragements 'all the time, until they die' in order for them to grow and prosper, and never want to let go their hands to allow the children to experience falls and hurts, learning how to stand up by themselves, and not to fall and hurt themselves anymore, and become independent as well as moving away from their parents or their home, to live an independent life without the need of their parents holding their hands all the time. The parents tell the children, "Make sure you let me know if you are hurt. I am always here for you. I will condemn and punish those who hurt you. I will protect you from hurt. I will look after your wounds with love and care, and I will heal you from any hurts." If the children never learn how to be independent to look after themselves, they will be suffering a lot when the 'loving and caring' parents are gone. "Oh! Mammy/daddy, someone/something is hurting me. I am hurt. Where are you, my loving and caring mammy/daddy? I need you. I am in suffering, and I think I want to hurt myself or maybe also hurt others because I am in painful suffering."

Does this mind see what is the play of ignorance? Most minds that are in painful suffering or unhappiness have the tendency of want to 'hurt' themselves, as well as hurt others or the surrounding environment out of painful suffering or unhappiness in oneself? How ignorant is that. "You are bad and wrong, and your badness and wrongfulness is hurting me. And because I think I am hurt by you and your badness and wrongfulness, I am now hurting myself and others." Why such thinking and behavior? Ignorance. Being hurt by what the mind thinks and believes as 'other people's badness and wrongfulness', is ignorance. And then, out of the perception of "I am hurt by what I think and believe as 'other people's badness and wrongfulness'," and hence, I want to hurt myself and others, is deeper ignorance.

And more ignorant is that, those who are 'loving and caring' think and believe that providing support of 'healing' and 'protection' to the suffering minds is the solution to prevent the suffering minds from hurting themselves and others, instead of guiding the mind to free itself from the root cause of suffering, where it cannot be hurt by anything and it won't hurt oneself or others, and it doesn't need any healing or protection at all?

There's nothing wrong with the mind that reacts towards the teachings here as, "This is so negative. I don't want this type of yoga," but then, that is the opportunity to look into this mind, to see why this mind reacts in such way, instead of pushing away, "Nope. I don't want to hear this negativity. I need to stay away from negativity like this."

Whenever the mind reacts towards something and judges, "This is right, positive and meaningful," and "This is wrong, negative and meaningless," that's the moment for contemplation towards the reactions of this mind. Just as many minds think and believe that 'non-attachment', 'renunciation', 'aloneness' or 'solitude' is something 'negative' or 'wrong', being conditioned deeply by worldly egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice. There's nothing wrong, and it's the freedom of the mind for what it thinks and believes, or doesn't think and doesn't believe, but that is what ignorance is about.

The truth of selflessness and impermanence, is just what things are. It is not a belief or value. It is neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong, neither positive nor negative, neither meaningful nor meaningless. Whenever the mind reacts with this is good or bad, right or wrong, positive or negative, meaningful or meaningless, while chasing after and attaching (clinging and craving) towards goodness, righteousness, positiveness and meaningfulness, know that it's ignorance.

The minds that know this, that are working on eliminating ignorance and egoism from the mind, don't need to receive any encouragement or hearing 'positive words of acknowledgement' to be practicing yoga and progress. Neither will they be discouraged if there's no encouragement or 'positive words of acknowledgement' from anyone at all or if hearing some 'negative words' from somewhere. These minds won't be disturbed or hurt by anything. They don't need to receive 'healing' from anyone or anywhere, as they don't need to be 'healed', as there's no hurt. They don't need to practice yoga asana, breathing exercises or relaxation in order to influence and calming the restless state of the mind, as the mind is undisturbed by all the perceived names and forms regardless of what the worldly egoistic minds perceived as goodness or badness, positiveness or negativeness.

The practice of non-attachment and non-identification, or dispassion and renunciation, doesn't mean that everyone should stop being kind, helpful, loving and caring towards one another, especially those who are in need of certain kind of physical/mental assistance for doing something, but the mind is okay if one is alone, when there's no others being there to provide mental or emotional support, or the specific help that is needed.

It's everyone's freedom for what they want to practice or don't practice and teach or don't teach, how they want to act and react, and what they realize and don't realize. There's neither right nor wrong. It's just whether the mind is free from ignorance, or not.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (14)

What people want to do or don't do with their body, their living space or their spiritual practice space, is everyone's freedom.

Just as some yoga practitioners and yoga teachers want to wear certain type of 'yoga' attires and accessories, as well as tattooing or painting their body with certain words, sentences, images or symbols, where all these names and forms are related to yoga or some other forms of spirituality, either out of their own personal interest and styling, and/or maybe to be reflecting certain yogi image, or as a form of 'mystical protection' protecting oneself from some kind of 'negativity', or for any reasons, that's their freedom.

There's neither right nor wrong with all kinds of symbolical names and forms that reflect certain values, meanings or self-image for certain minds, just that, it has nothing to do with the teachings of yoga and/or the yoga practice.

Regardless of with or without certain names and forms, of particular shape, colour, pattern, or symbolization, reflecting particular values, meanings and images, being displayed on the body, or in the personal space for practicing yoga and meditation, or in the yoga hall or classroom as well as the inside and outside area of the yoga studio, the yoga centre, or the yoga school, it doesn't determine whether one is practicing yoga, or not.

It's about whether the minds are free from attachment and identification towards all these names and forms, or not.

It's about whether the minds are free from the desire of craving and aversion towards the presence and absence of all these names and forms to be identified as "This is who/what I am and what I do", or not.

One is free to be wearing certain yoga attires and accessories, as well as having certain yogic or Hinduism related words, sentences, images or symbols, being tattooed or painted on specific parts of the body, or being decorated/displayed in the personal space for practicing yoga and meditation, or in the common yoga hall or classroom of the yoga studio, the yoga centre, or the yoga school, or not at all, but one isn't practicing yoga, if the mind is attaching and identifying towards the presence or absence of all these names and forms to be 'I', or 'I am a yogi', or 'This is a yogic space', or not.

More importantly is that, the mind is void of attachment, identification and desire of craving and aversion towards the presence and absence of all these names and forms being displayed on the physical body or in the surrounding environment, where the mind knows that either the presence or absence of all these names and forms, doesn't determine what yoga is about, or not.

One might not be decorating the body, or the living space and the yoga practice space with any kinds of yoga related products and symbolization, or some other forms of spiritual/non-spiritual symbolization, which also doesn't determine whether one is practicing yoga, or not, depending on whether the mind is free from attachment, identification and desire of craving and aversion towards the presence and absence of all kinds of names and forms carrying various types of values and meanings for different minds. Such as some minds of certain spirituality are rejecting certain symbolical objects of some other spirituality in their surrounding environment.

Freeing the mind from any kinds of superstitious belief and practice, while respecting others for their freedom of having or not having any kinds of superstitious belief and practice, is part of the yoga practice.

One can be chanting 'OM', or any kind of sound waves or vibrations continuously for years and years, or not at all, but still, it doesn't determine whether one is practicing yoga, or not, depending on whether there's presence of attachment, identification and desire of craving and aversion towards the action/inaction of reciting 'OM' and/or other sound waves/vibrations mentally and/or verbally, as well as towards the presence and absence of the physical and mental effects of it.

It's the same as all kinds of action and inaction in this impermanent life existence of the selfless body and mind, regardless of what one does and doesn't do, what one can do and cannot do, what one eats and doesn't eat, what one thinks and doesn't think, or what one knows and doesn't know, also cannot determine whether one is practicing yoga, or not, but it's about the presence and absence of attachment, identification and desire of craving and aversion towards any names and forms, including the different types of yoga practices and their respective effects onto the body and mind.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (13)

Everything and any experiences, regardless of pleasant or unpleasant, agreeable or disagreeable, that allows the mind to reflect upon the truth of selflessness and impermanence, is Dhamma, is the teachings, is the teacher.

If one keeps looking out for an enlightened guru or a spiritual being to be receiving some sorts of blessing or miraculous touch of mystical healing power, and/or attaining certain kind of transcendental power through some 'prayers, mantras or rituals', with the expectation of hoping the enlightened guru, the spiritual being, or the prayers, mantras or rituals can remove all the doubts, ignorance, badness, hurts and suffering in oneself and in the world, one will never be free.

If one, or a few, or many enlightened/spiritual beings can remove all the doubts, ignorance, badness, hurts and suffering in anyone and in the world through some sorts of blessings and mystical power, there wouldn't/won't be any ignorant beings, ignorant consequences, or suffering in the world.

If one, or a few, or many minds/people can generate some sorts of 'positive mind power or vibration into the surrounding environment or the world' to change the undesirable and unpleasant conditions and situations in the world, there wouldn't/won't be any bad conditions and situations in the world.

If one, or a few, or many kinds of 'prayers, mantras or rituals' can remove all kinds of badness, wrongfulness, selfishness, cruelty, violence, discrimination, hatred, greed or suffering in the world, there wouldn't/won't be such things existing in the world.

None can remove the ignorance in other beings or in the world. None can remove all kinds of suffering in other beings or in the world sprung from ignorance and governed by the nature law of cause and effect.

One can definitely contribute to positive changes/improvements in oneself and into the world, by freeing one's mind from ignorance and egoism. There will be less an ignorant mind/human being generating ignorant consequences into the world, without any intention or aspiration to change or make the world to become a better place. That's all.

None can discipline/purify/conquer/liberate any other minds but the mind itself.

It's not that there's any superpower in any particular kind of 'prayers, mantras or rituals' or 'vibrations'. The purpose of performing any kinds of 'prayers, mantras or rituals', generating certain way of 'vibrations', breathing exercises, yoga asana practice, concentration exercises or meditation practice, and/or just by focusing the mind in any particular type of mental/physical activity, might can act as a tool to help gathering the wavering/distracted thought currents into the state of one-pointedness, and/or bringing the attention of the mind into the present moment, void of wandering into the past memories or future imaginations that don't exist in NOW, where the restless mind gets some momentary relief from restlessness of thinking, judgment, actions/reactions, disturbs, desire of craving and aversion, or fear and worry, void of the idea of 'I', without any intention/aspiration of controlling the perceived names and forms to be in certain way or changing the perceived reality into something else that it is not, without any expectation of silencing the modification of the mind, but spontaneously, the modification of the mind is subdued, resting/dissolving in selflessness/oneness/attributelessness/namelessness/formlessness/birthlessness/deathlessness. There's no 'I' being there to be identifying as "I am meditating. I am in silence. I am selfless. I am ONE. I am nameless, formless, birthless, deathless. I am whole." Not to say, the idea of "I am right or wrong," or "I am good or bad," or "I am deserving or don't deserving."

If all those mental and physical practices/activities requiring certain degrees of focus/attention over certain duration that gather the wavering/distracted thought currents, are not free from the idea of 'I', 'the performer of action' and 'the receiver of the fruit of action', with the intention/aspiration/expectation to be controlling the perceived names and forms to be in certain way or changing the perceived reality into somethings else that it is not, and/or silencing the modification of the mind, then it doesn't serve the purpose of leading the mind towards SILENCE (void of 'I' and all kinds of thought activities or desires that sprung from the idea of 'I'). Just as paying maximum attention into doing any kinds of mental/physical activities in daily life under the idea of 'I', regardless of wholesome or unwholesome activities, it doesn't free the mind from ignorance and restlessness, except, maybe during certain 'precious' moments, upon the absence of the idea of 'I' and 'I-ness'.

What is 'good' or 'bad', 'deserving' or 'don't deserving', 'positive' or 'negative, 'meaningful' or 'meaningless', 'pleasing' or 'displeasing', 'superiority' or 'inferiority', 'love' or 'loveless', 'enjoyment' or 'suffering', upon the absence of 'I', or in the state of 'I'lessness?

Still want to debate or argue? 

Still in doubt? 

Still being disturbed, hurt, angered or disappointed by this or that? 

Still trying to look for someone to answer/clear one's doubt? 

Still longing to receive blessing, or comfort, or healing from someone or something? 

Still emphasizing on what are the benefits/effects of doing the yoga and meditation practices? 

Still think that 'yoga practitioners, especially yoga teachers' should be super healthy, super fit, super strong and flexible, superhuman, super youthful, and never getting old, weak, stiff and sick? 

Still trying to defy the nature law of selfless impermanence changes, of decaying, illness, weakness, immobility, limitation, or old age? 

Still trying to do and achieve something for pleasing someone or everyone to attain love and acceptance, understanding and agreement, interaction and connection, friendship and companionship, acknowledgement and appreciation, praise and compliment?

Still wishing/praying everything will only be good and nothing bad? 

Still thinking and believing that people should behave like this and shouldn't behave like that? 

Still think that 'yoga teachers' should know and be able to perform many different yoga asana poses and their variations, and possess certain 'internationally recognized yoga teacher certification' being 'authorized by and affiliated to certain yoga alliance' to be 'qualified' for teaching yoga? 

Still think that if one didn't manage to do and achieve what one would like to do do and achieve before one dies, one will be regret and won't be peaceful?

Still think that if one didn't manage to see and be with one's family and friends for a prolonged period of time, especially before someone dies, then one is a bad person, and one would feel terrible, guilty and regret, and have no peace?

Still think that birth is something good, positive and joyful to be celebrated, while death is something bad, negative and sorrowful to be mourned?

It's normal and nothing wrong. That's what ignorance and egoism is about. Just keep practicing.

Wishing the world to be immaculate void of rubbish?

One can restrict oneself to stop generating rubbish while maybe also being a good and helpful person trying to clean up other people's rubbish, utilizing higher technologies and scientific methods to collect and treating rubbish, but that doesn't make the world 'rubbish-free', as all others are continuously generating rubbish unwittingly and endlessly.

Letting go the world of endless rubbish, without trying to control or make the world to be 'rubbish-free', but one may just do one's best to help minimize generating rubbish into the world.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (12)

One of the common egoistic behaviors of the mind is discontentment, or greed, or craving. One may be being contented with certain things while being discontented with some other things, depending on the degrees of attachment towards different things.

Either contentment or discontentment is neither good nor bad. It depends on the degrees of understanding and self-control of not doing anything that would be hurting oneself, and/or others and the surrounding environment, out of discontentment or greed. Just as many other things are neither good nor bad, but then why are yoga practitioners being taught to practice contentment and be free from discontentment?

Contentment might be seen as a form of negativity or regression under the worldly thinking, belief, values and practice, as certain 'contented' people being 'contented' with what and how things are, might not be motivated to perform actions that could lead towards certain improvements in oneself, and particularly, to be contributing and supporting the world of capitalism and commercialism, but actually, that's the state of idleness/laziness/disappointment/meaninglessness being misunderstood as contentment.

More and more people are being highly disappointed by the messiness in the world due to corruptions and failed leadership, and feel that it's useless and meaningless to perform actions that might or might not bring certain improvement in the world of ignorance and egoism, as they think and believe that it's not possible or too difficult for the world to change for better, being pushed by the current of ignorance and egoism.

Discontentment towards 'what and how things are' and 'what is available now' is being seen by the worldly passionate minds as a good and motivational thing that can lead towards ongoing improvement in many things in life, endlessly, until one stops living, or dies. Especially it's good for the world of capitalism and commercialism that needs and welcomes ceaseless 'discontentment' in many people in order to sustain and prosper.

Contentment in yoga and Buddhism doesn't mean that one stops performing actions that could lead towards certain improvement in oneself, or in one's life existence and in the world. The contented minds that are being contented with 'what and how things are, without being determined by the impermanent changes in the quality of names and forms', can be making use of this life existence to be performing actions that would benefit the over-all well-being of oneself and/or others, without attachment, identification and expectation, and void of greedy ambition/aspiration/desire of craving and aversion that could end up hurting oneself and/or others in certain ways while trying to achieve certain goals/results that one desires.

Meanwhile, growing motivational discontentment in the passionate egoistic minds could easily turn into a form of greedy ambition/aspiration/desire of craving and aversion unwittingly, that might motivate the mind to be performing certain actions that could end up hurting oneself and/or others, and the surrounding environment, either wittingly or unwittingly, just as some people generate certain damages to their body and mind by pushing their body and mind beyond its limitation in order to achieve certain results that they desire, as well as some people who have certain influential power are hurting/damaging many lives, things and nature in the world as the minds are being over-powered by greedy ambition/aspiration to control the world to be in certain way, to gain higher power or wealth, to seize and possess space/lands/resources, or to create a world that they desire.

Discontentment isn't just existing in the worldly life, but either wittingly or unwittingly, it also comes into the yoga practice.

Quite many yoga practitioners, particularly yoga teachers, would think and believe that they need to keep learning and performing as many yoga asana poses and their different variations as possible, as well as studying and memorizing as many names and forms of the different yoga practices and their respective consequences/effects as possible, or the names and forms of different body systems, muscles, bones, organs, glands and nerves, and their respective functions, for their own particular reasons, or to be a 'well-informed', 'knowledgeable', 'qualified', 'competitive', 'professional', 'confident' or 'responsible' good yoga teacher, but all these are nothing to do with the realization of selflessness, compassion and unconditional peace, or the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, or the ability of letting go, as well as performing self-inquiry inquiring towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence in all the names and forms. In fact, it's empowering ignorance and egoism in the mind.

People who cannot see, or hear, or read, or speak, or sing, or sit up, or stand, or move, or know and perform any particular 'yoga practice under certain names and forms', 'chanting and prayers', 'breathing exercises' or 'yoga asana poses', can still inquire towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence, be free from ignorance and egoism, and realize unconditional peace and compassion, void of painful sorrow and suffering. Not to say, whether knowing what are the names and effects or benefits of the different practices, or be able to perform all the different poses 'beautifully'/'gracefully' and in perfect alignment, and be able to pronounce all the names or chanting and prayers 'precisely', or not.

Being knowledgeable towards many things and being capable to do many things physically and mentally, and utilizing those enhance physical/mental condition and accumulated knowledge for doing something in life, is nothing bad or wrong, but one doesn't need to be able to know or do many things, or know and do many different types of yoga practices, or know and do many different yoga asana poses as well as the many different variations of the yoga asana poses, throughout the path of yoga for self-inquiry and self-realization, to free the mind from ignorance and egoism.

In order to help purifying, influencing and calming the restless state of the mind, one just needs to know and do a few basic yoga asana poses regularly, where each practice session might be slightly different from one another, where certain basic yoga asana poses are being practiced on that particular day and time, and certain poses might be held for slightly longer or shorter time, while there might be a need to take complete rest from physical or mental training on certain day and time, according to what the body and mind needs in that particular moment, based on the physical condition and the state of the mind on that day and at that time.

Performing just a few basic yoga asana poses on each practice session being practiced under the correct understanding and attitude, in a relaxed manner without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitation, without straining/hurting/damaging the body and mind, is sufficient enough to serve the main purpose of performing the yoga asana poses, which is for purifying the energy centers and channels, to be calming the restless state of the mind or energizing the idle state of the mind, as well as to be developing certain degrees of awareness and concentration, and maintaining certain degrees of vitality and mobility preparing the body and mind to be fit enough for performing self-inquiry and meditation practice, as well as to have the sufficient health and energy for performing selfless service, duties and responsibilities towards oneself and/or others in everyday life.

Somehow, the passionate egoistic minds are getting bored and aren't contented with just doing a few basic yoga asana poses regularly, where the mind is being inspired and aspiring to be able to know and do as many yoga asana poses and the different variations as possible, due to boredom and discontentment, and most probably, to attain the sense of confidence, positiveness, goodness, satisfaction and meaningfulness that is being determined by the accumulation of knowledge towards this and that or the mental ability to do and achieve certain things, and being determined by the physical condition and ability to perform as many yoga asana poses as possible, especially some of the challenging yoga asana poses that required certain degrees of skill, strength and flexibility, where the mind feels good and satisfied upon being able to perform certain actions/positions that it couldn't do before, where the self-esteem and confidence is being determined by the physical and mental condition, ability and achievement.

Some yoga teachers as well as the yoga students also think and believe that, as 'yoga teachers', they need to be able to know and do as many yoga asana poses and the different variations as possible, as well as accumulating and possessing as many 'recognized yoga certifications' as possible, to show that they are 'highly qualified', 'well-trained', 'competitive', 'creative' and 'professional' yoga teachers to conduct 'variety', 'enjoyable', 'safe' and 'effective' yoga (asana) classes. That is also being propagated in many of the 'yoga teachers training courses' in the world, which is not what yoga is about.

It's neither right nor wrong, as it is something good for anybody to be engaging in any kinds of educational learning or sports and fitness training activities regularly for enhancing physical/mental condition and ability. It's better than spending time and energy engaging in unwholesome activities. However, the yoga practitioners or yoga teachers need to know that the mental ability to do and achieve certain things with the accumulated knowledge about this and that, and the 'enhanced' physical condition and ability to perform many different kinds of physical actions, positions and movements, doesn't determine the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, or the ability to let go, or whether the mind will attain the realization of selflessness, compassion and unconditional peace, and be free from painful sorrow and suffering, or not.

Inquire the egoistic behavior of the mind under the influence of ignorance and egoism and worldly passionate thinking, belief, values and practice.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (11)

Letting go what is impossible, what cannot be undone or changed for better, what is/was pleasant/unpleasant or agreeable/disagreeable, the past memories of desirable/undesirable experiences and relationships, the future anticipation, success and failure, right and wrong, good and bad, positive and negative, strength and weakness, improvement and deterioration, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, superiority and inferiority, ability and disability, achievement and non-achievement, contribution and non-contribution, dissatisfaction and disappointment, anger and jealousy, hatred and discrimination, all kinds of worldly egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice, and all kinds of attachment, identification, desires of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation, as well as unattached towards what is possible and what can be done/improved in the present moment, is the yoga practice, before/during/after the physical yoga practice, and within every moment in everyday life.

Letting go the desire of craving and aversion and expectation towards everything to be and not to be in certain way, and letting go the aspiration or intention towards 'interfering', 'controlling', 'influencing' or 'changing' everything to be and not to be in certain way according to the desire and don't desire of the thinking mind. It's letting go craving, longing and clinging towards agreeable, pleasant and desirable condition, situation, experience, relationship, interaction, activities, abilities and achievements, while letting go aversion, anger and hatred towards disagreeable, unpleasant and undesirable condition, situation, experience, relationship, interaction, activities, disabilities and non-achievements.

Void of craving and aversion doesn't mean that one has to like and agree with everything. It's non-attachment towards the likes and dislikes, enjoyable and non-enjoyable or agreements and disagreements. The mind is being undetermined and undisturbed upon coming in contact with names and forms that the mind doesn't like, doesn't enjoy and disagrees with, and upon not coming in contact with names and forms that the mind likes, enjoys and agrees with.

Respecting the perceived reality in the present moment now as it is. Being aware of the physical condition and the state of the mind in the present moment now, without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitation, without injuring/hurting/damaging the body and/or the thinking faculty out of dissatisfaction, greed, ambition, or the desire of craving and aversion. The condition of the body and the state of the mind is changing selflessly, where there's no 'I' in the impermanent changes of names and forms, of the body and mind.

Without 'I' being there generating possessiveness towards the physical body and the modification of the mind as 'my body' and 'my mind'. Without 'I' being there generating the desire of craving and aversion 'aspiring' to be 'intentionally' controlling or changing the physical condition and the state of the mind, as well as the condition of the world to be something else that it is not, of "I want my body and my mind to be like this and not like that, to be able to do this and achieve that, and I want the world to be the way that I desire," void of attachment, identification and association towards the impermanent existence and function of the body and mind, and the perceived limited world of selfless names and forms.

Without 'I' being there being disturbed or determined by the condition of the body and the state of the mind as well as the condition of the world that is selfless and impermanent, regardless of in good health or sickness, in pleasantness or painful sorrow, in good or bad condition, in calmness or restlessness, it's not 'I' and 'not mine', and it's impermanent. Eventually, the body and the mind as well as the perceived world of selfless names and forms will also be disintegrating into the nature of selfless elements.

Out of the power of nature, which is selfless non-sympathetic non-discriminating intentionless compassion, just like all the elements that selflessly/intentionlessly existing and performing ceaseless actions supporting each other as well as supporting the existence and function of all and everything in this space, influenced by cause and effect, void of the discrimination of likes and dislikes, agreement and disagreement, pleasure or displeasure, or the desire of craving and aversion, of "I want this and I don't want that, aspirationally and passionately interfering, controlling and changing everything to be in certain way that I desire," performing actions that support and nourish the existence and function of this body and mind, which in then, the 'nourished' body and mind will also be 'unintentionally' benefiting the surrounding environment and all and everything, while allowing and respecting the nature of impermanent changes to be what they are, as they are.

Letting go, is neither something easy nor difficult, but depending on the degrees of ignorance and egoism, it can be rather easy for some, while extremely difficult for some.

Letting go, is not just about letting go what the mind perceived as 'badness', 'meaninglessness', 'disturbing', 'hurtful' or 'sorrowful', but also about letting go the attachment/clinging towards what the mind perceived as 'goodness', 'meaningfulness', 'comforting', 'soothing' or 'joyful'.

Letting go egoism, unveiling the nature of selflessness/'I'lessness/egolessness in all and everything, is compassion.

Compassion is widely being misinterpreted as 'sympathetic and empathetic loving kindness', with the aspiration/intention/desire to give happiness/joy and take away unhappiness/sorrow to and from others, which is not liberation at all, but it's merely the power of nature in ceaseless actions that selflessly and intentionlessly influencing all kinds of names and forms to be arising (births/existing) and passing away (deaths/ceased existing) and ceaselessly changing in between existing and ceased existing, influenced by the nature law of cause and effect. There's neither 'good' nor 'bad', neither 'joyfulness' nor 'painful sorrow', neither 'deserving' nor 'non-deserving', in the births and deaths of all and everything, regardless of the different impermanent qualities projected to and from the names and forms.

The mind that realized this, is void of painful sorrow, disturbs, hurts, or suffering. This is nothing to do with 'emotionlessness', 'ungrateful', 'unappreciative', 'uncaring', 'unloving' or 'negativity' out of emotional dysfunction, mental sickness, selfishness, meanness, cruelty, anger, hatred or discrimination. It's merely the presence and absence of attachment/grasping/clinging/craving/aversion.

No others/teachers/gurus/liberated minds and no huge amount of information/knowledge/borrowed wisdom accumulated from reading, hearing, studying and memorizing can free the mind from ignorance and suffering. It has to come from the mind itself to realize selflessness and compassion. The teachings is there. The teacher is there to disseminate the teachings through various ways. Everything is there to allow the mind to reflect upon the truth of selflessness and impermanence. But it's still up to the mind itself to practice and realize the teachings.

In the beginning of the practice, the ignorant egoistic passionate restless mind needs some sorts of methods/practices to 'influence', 'control', 'conquer', 'quieting' and 'calming' the state of the mind, to 'purify' and 'discipline' the egoistic behavior pattern of the mind, by itself through its free-will and effort, in order to allow the mind to develop the initial understanding and foundation to perform self-inquiry. While during the process of self-inquiry, it's void of 'influence', 'control', 'conquer', 'purification' or 'discipline', to see things as they are, and respect everything as it is. It's not a contradiction. It's merely part of the process. It's also not about 'healing'. There's no 'I' being there that needs to be 'healed'. More importantly, it's nothing to do with 'influencing', 'controlling', 'conquering', 'quieting', 'calming', 'purifying', 'disciplining', or 'healing' and 'liberating' other minds.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (10)

All minds under different degrees of ignorance and egoism will take their own pace depending on their effort, discipline, understanding, determination, perseverance, condition and situation to learn, practice, inquire, understand and realize what is going on in their own mind.

There's nothing to be comparing and judged about among the different minds on the different paths of yoga.

All the different types of yoga paths and lineages under different names and forms, with different ways of styles, approaches and practices, to suit different minds of different temperaments and degrees of understanding, are all about Self-realization, the annihilation of ignorance and egoism. If it doesn't lead towards the elimination of ignorance and egoism, then it's just some physical and mental health and fitness activities, just like many other physical and mental health and fitness activities in the world, still benefiting the body and the thinking mind to certain extend.

Most minds begin their journey of Self-realization under an impure egoistic modification of the mind, being conditioned by worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice, to behave, act and react, to analyze, compare and judge. Somewhere along the path or lineage, somehow, some minds that weren't/aren't pure might behave, act and react under the influence of ignorance and egoism and impurities, and hence, there might be some 'mischievousness' occurred/occur in the different yoga lineage/school/ashram/organization.

Minds that have certain degrees of understanding, will not be disturbed, affected or determined by the different types of 'mischievousness' that existed/exist in certain yoga lineage/school/ashram/organization, either experiencing by oneself or some others, and move on in one's journey towards Self-realization, knowing that the corruptions or mischievousness of the impure minds are deriving from the ignorance and impurities in the minds, and are nothing to do with the teachings and practice of yoga.

While the minds that don't have such understanding would be disturbed, affected and determined by such disagreeable/unpleasant experiences, thinking and believing that the 'mischievousness' of certain minds within the yoga lineage/school/ashram/organization are due to there's something 'imperfect'/'wrong'/'bad' about the teachings and practices of yoga, and hence, they condemned/condemn the teachings/practices/lineage/school/ashram/organization, and generated/generate aversion or resentment towards the path of yoga. That's their freedom of thinking, understanding, action and reaction.

That's why the development of self-reliance, mental and emotional independence, and the practice of openness, non blind-following, non blind-believing, non blind-practicing, non blind-propagating, self-inquiry, renunciation, dispassion, seclusion and solitude are very important, even in the beginning of the yoga practice, along with the practice of non-attachment, non-identification, non-judgment, non-comparison, non-craving, non-aversion and non-expectation.

There are many different kinds of 'distractions' and 'obstacles' on the path of Self-realization.

The yoga practitioners need to be aware of certain worldly habits of unintentional or intentional random chit-chatting while socializing and interacting with some others, either being aspired to care for others and vice versa, or with the intention of building personal connection or friendship, want to know about others and be known by others, by talking about oneself, one's origin/background/knowledge/identities/attachments/expectations, one's desires and don't desire, one's agreements and disagreements, one's satisfaction/achievement and dissatisfaction/non-achievement/disappointment, talking about other people this and that, wandering into the past pleasant/unpleasant memories and the future desirable/undesirable anticipations, talking about 'I', 'My', 'You', 'He', 'She', 'They', 'This and that', where the conversation is all about the justification and empowerment of a personal and community identity, judging, comparing, admiring, envying, complaining, bitching, back-biting, glorifying, slandering, boasting, desiring, aspiring, inspiring, anticipating, speculating, scheming, plotting, feelings, emotions, ideas, beliefs and values, or else, there's nothing to be talking about other than saying "Hello", "Good morning/evening", "How are you", "Goodbye", which is 'inappropriate', 'awkward', 'cold', 'inhuman' or 'uncaring' for certain social cultural practices. Some yoga practitioners and/or yoga teachers might not be aware of they might be engaging in such physical/mental/verbal activities most of the time when they meet up, gather, socialize and interact with some others.

Unless the mind is already be free from ignorance and egoism, where there's no attachment, identification or expectation towards all kinds of names and forms in the conversations, one can be talking about this and that without being determined, affected, influenced or disturbed by any conversations about anything, however, how many minds are void of passionate egoism?

Talk less. Talk only when necessary. Talk only Dharma, that leads the mind towards reflection upon itself, if this mind really wants to be free from ignorance and all kinds of disturbs, as well as wants to help other minds to be free from ignorance and all kinds of disturbs.

Those who are not interested in practicing yoga, it's their freedom for what they think, behave, act and react, desire and don't desire, or what they want to do or don't do.

Many passionate minds, including some long time yoga practitioners/yoga teachers as well as mental health practitioners might disagree with this, as the minds are being conditioned deeply in worldly egoistic way of thinking, belief, values and practice, where talking and listening among one another, being mentally and emotionally dependent on one another, is a form of 'caring', 'sharing', 'loving kindness', 'meaningfulness', 'empathy', or 'healing'.

Talking and listening to be sharing, is the 'healthy' common values and practice for many kind and caring people that put upmost importance onto 'family/friends/community mental and emotional support and dependence', where they never thought of the importance of developing mental and emotional independence in oneself and in all and everyone, where mental and emotional independence is being recognized as 'selfishness', 'unhealthy', 'lovelessness', 'closed mind', 'harshness', 'bad', 'wrong', or 'insanity'. There's nothing wrong, as it gives momentary relief to most minds, and helps to prevent certain self-harm/harm others incidents, as many minds are never being trained to find out what is going on in the mind, and hence are not capable to look into the mind to see what is going on in one's mind. Instead of curing and preventing 'the mental disturbance/pain/problem/illness' from the root, it's still good to provide some emergency momentary relief by 'talking' and 'sharing' among one another.

While in the yoga practice, is about self-inquiry looking into one's mind, alone in solitude by oneself, curbing the 'urge'/'need'/'desire' to look out for answers, comfort, love, support, sympathy, empathy, encouragement, and so on, to see what is really happening in the mind whenever there are names and forms arising and passing away, when there are pleasant/unpleasant thoughts, actions/reactions, craving, aversion, ideas, feelings, emotions, memories, anticipations, goodness, badness, rightfulness, wrongfulness, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, agreements, disagreements, unrest, hurts, sorrow, anger, hatred, love, sympathy, guilt, shame, pride, loneliness, fear, worry, and so on, where the mind thinks and believes that there is a 'need' for the presence of some others, or 'specific individuals that one is attracted to and admires', to be talking, sharing, listening, interacting, acknowledging, affirming, accepting, understanding, agreeing, attracting, loving, caring, supporting, encouraging, comforting, giving and receiving, among each other. Where the mind feels good, positive and meaningful when all these are available, and the mind feels bad, negative and meaningless when all these are not available.

This teaching and practice is neither good nor bad, but it might not be suitable for certain minds (yet) that haven't develop certain degrees of independence, openness, awareness, dispassion and renunciation, and still have intense mental and emotional dependence on some others, even though they might have been 'practicing yoga' and/or 'teaching yoga' for many years. But, it would lead the mind towards unconditional peace, being free from being determined by the selfless impermanent modification of the mind.

Inquire towards the truth of everything, especially what is going on in the mind, to know Thyself. No other can liberate oneself from ignorance and suffering, but through the mind's self-effort, self-discipline, self-inquiry and self-realization, to know Thyself.

When the mind is void of ignorance and egoism, is in peace unconditionally, is void of disturbs or impurities, who is there that needs to be sharing, listening, interacting, acknowledging, affirming, accepting, understanding, agreeing, attracting, loving, caring, supporting, encouraging, comforting, giving and receiving, to and from some others, to feel good, positive and meaningful, to not hurt oneself and/or others?

Why many minds need to be sharing, listening, interacting, acknowledging, affirming, accepting, understanding, agreeing, attracting, loving, caring, supporting, encouraging, comforting, giving and receiving, to and from some others, to feel good, positive and meaningful, to not hurt oneself and/or others? Because the minds are disturbed and in suffering, is under the influence of impurities and not at peace, due to the veil of ignorance and egoism. The 'problem' is not because of lacking some others being there to be talking and sharing about this and that all the time, but it's ignorance and egoism in the mind.

Teach and guide the minds to be free from ignorance and egoism, is teaching yoga, is compassion, even if it might not necessarily be pleasant or enjoyable.

Learn and practice how to free the mind from ignorance and egoism, is practicing yoga, is compassion, even if it might not necessarily be pleasant or enjoyable.

All experiences in this impermanent worldly life existence, regardless of pleasant or unpleasant, agreeable or disagreeable, desirable or undesirable, joyful or sorrowful, enjoyable or non-enjoyable, meaningful or meaningless, right or wrong, good or bad, are just 'great' opportunities for the mind to reflect, inquire and realize the truth of selflessness and impermanence, to be able to let go and unattached.

The yoga teacher doesn't need to ask, talk, listen, know or share about 'what are the personal problems/disturbs' in the different minds, as all kinds of 'problems/'disturbs' are all due to ignorance and egoism in one's mind, where the yoga teacher just needs to guide the minds to look into their own minds, to know what is going on in the mind, to let go attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation, letting go what the mind thinks and believes is their 'problems'/'disturbs', to free their own mind from ignorance and egoism, and realize unconditional peace. That is compassion, however, the passionate minds might not know or agree with this.

It's common and normal that the minds that have some sorts of doubts/disturbs/troubles/hurts/painful sorrow, which ignited their interest to be joining yoga retreats or yoga classes, expecting to be talking and sharing to the yoga teacher about their 'problems', as well as expecting the yoga teacher to be asking and listening towards their 'problems', while hoping to be receiving some sorts of 'comforting' and 'agreeable' response from the teachers, thinking that the yoga teacher should be giving them 'the desirable/agreeable answers/healing to all their doubts/disturbs/troubles/hurts/painful sorrow, and take away all their 'problems'. This might be practicing in many yoga retreats or yoga classes in the world, as well as outside of the retreats and classes, in social/community meet ups, where many 'yoga teachers' emphasized about 'connecting', 'sharing', 'talking', 'listening', 'hugging', 'touching', or 'healing'. However, these minds would be very disappointed, when the yoga teacher didn't ask them anything about what is 'troubling'/'hurting' them, or not showing any interests in 'listening' and 'sharing' their 'problems'. They thought that the teacher is unfriendly, cold, uncaring, unsympathetic and absurd, or is lack of empathy, compassion or professionalism, and hence, they criticized the teacher as 'bad' yoga teacher. What they didn't know is that this kind of yoga teachers, are the real yoga teachers that can teach and guide them towards unconditional peace, void of all kinds of mental or emotional suffering. But, many passionate minds don't like or agree with this. And that's their freedom of thinking, action/reaction and choice.

The yoga teacher doesn't even need to be deliberately doing/saying anything that would be offensive towards the minds, but merely didn't deliberately give the minds what they would like to see or hear, or what they expect to be experiencing, and hence, the minds react and feel offended and disappointed by the yoga teacher who is truly wise and compassionate. But, that's the point. The minds are being given the great opportunity to look into their own minds, to see those ceaseless egoistic actions/reactions under the influence of ignorance. Some minds would start to be aware of the modification of the mind, which is a good start or uplift for their yoga practice. While some minds would still be unable to look into their own mind, and generate dislike and disagreement towards the teacher for not being the way that they think how it should be, or not giving them what they expect to be receiving/experiencing, the way that they desire. That's their freedom of action and reaction.

Either the mind will see what is going on in itself, or not, and be thankful and appreciative, or be offended and unappreciative, it really doesn't matter, the teacher is just delivering the teachings, and it's up to the minds themselves to practice and realize, or not.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (9)

The practice of letting go judgment, comparison and expectation in the teachings of yoga, is exactly the opposite of the worldly thinking, belief, values and practice, in the competitive world of various forms of intelligence, talents, sports, skills, business and professionalism, that is mostly result, success and achievement orientated, that is about the development/empowerment of personal, family, community, school, company and national pride, determining the sense of self-esteem, self-worth, satisfaction and meaningfulness, through constant judgment, comparison and expectation from oneself and others towards the qualities of names and forms in oneself, and between/among different individuals and groups.

There's neither right nor wrong, it's just different approach, mentality, understanding and goal towards exerting energy into performing certain actions/practices/trainings that would lead towards what different minds defined as the highest development, improvement, transition, achievement or purpose for oneself and/or for others, in this life existence.

In the worldly thinking and practice, in order to motivate and inspire oneself to work harder and be better, one should constantly comparing oneself with oneself in the past, as well as comparing with all the others, to have great expectation towards oneself to become better and better, to be better than oneself in the past and be able to stand out among the others, and there's no end to continuous growth, improvement and achievement. That is deriving from egoism as well as empowering egoism. While in yoga, one can still be constantly improving one's physical and mental performance without the need of judgment, comparison and expectation.

No doubt that the body and mind is subject to decay and deterioration, and will stop 'growing' and followed by gradual decaying process at certain point, however, the body and mind can be maintaining certain degrees of good health and fitness level up to certain extend through engaging in certain regular healthy routine of mental and physical training and maintenance in moderation. Either over-use or under-use is not good for anything.

That's why in the teaching and practice of yoga, there are certain physical and mental training that could help to maintain certain degrees of physical and mental health and fitness level, if being practiced regularly under the correct understanding and attitude, but there's no attachment or identification, judgment or comparison, desire of craving and aversion or expectation towards the impermanent condition of the physical body and the state of the mind, knowing that it's the nature of the body and mind for being impermanent, as well as deterioration/decaying is the inevitable truth of all kinds of selfless names and forms, no matter how much effort being put into the maintenance of this body and mind. There's no dissatisfaction, disappointment, unhappiness or painful sorrow when the body and mind are losing youth, strength and mobility, experiencing aging, decaying, weakening, illness, injury, pain, discomfort, and approaching towards old age, death or decomposition.

In the yoga practice, one is practicing non-judgment, non-comparison and non-expectation in one's yoga practice as well as in daily life affairs, actions, activities and relationships with everyone and everything, either from oneself towards oneself, or towards others and among all kinds of names and forms. Respecting the perceived reality in the present moment now, as it is, as it changes from moment to moment, not necessarily pleasant, agreeable or desirable, without attachment or identification towards one's efforts and actions, and the fruit of one's efforts and actions.

Those who are free from judgment, comparison and expectation towards oneself and others, can still be doing one's best while engaging in various types of 'healthy' competitions, that promotes good health and fitness for the body and mind, as well as promoting sportsmanship and friendship among the different diversities in the world through the engagement of various forms of 'healthy' competitions. It's not so much about 'winning', but the entire process of persevered training and constant improving, physically and mentally, as well as the importance of sportsmanship in any competitions.

'Unhealthy' competitions are those that emphasized on the result, where 'winning'/'victory'/'success'/'effort well paid off'/'fame' is the highest goal of the persevered training, that promotes personal/group/national identity pride, and the sense of superiority, satisfaction and meaningfulness, where the minds might have difficulty in accepting 'failure', and would generate disappointment or shamefulness in oneself, and generate jealousy, resentment and hatred towards others who perform better than oneself, who beaten oneself in any kinds of competitions, while being demotivated to keep training or keep improving, after experiencing 'not winning'/'losing'/'failing' for certain times.

Healthy competitions are those that are about sportsmanship, and constant improvement of certain physical and mental talents, skills, performances and abilities, of certain business/professional strategies and services, to be using those enhanced talents, skills, abilities, strategies and services that can contribute to the world in certain way.

Healthy minds participating in healthy competitions are able to accept failure/not winning/losing, and don't generate disappointment or shamefulness in oneself, and don't generate jealousy, resentment or hatred towards others who perform better than oneself, who beaten oneself in any kinds of competitions, while still be persevered in one's learning/practice/training to continuously keep improving and keep trying, until one's retirement from such competitions. And it's okay, if after trying one's best, one still never win any competitions until one's retirement. That is actually more important than the one who is the best in one particular moment, who beats all the other competitors, or who stands out among all the others at that particular moment. And all are impermanent. The all time winners of any particular physical or mental competitions, will also have to retire, or passed way one day, as the body and mind is subject to decay or deterioration, even among the strongest or smartest people.

While being free from judgment, comparison, or expectation, just do one's best, without attachment and identification, will allow the mind to be free from unnecessary tension/pressure that would be affecting the physical and mental performance, and allowing the mind to be in the moment during the entire process of persevered physical and/or mental practice/training/development/improvement, and/or while engaging in any forms of competitions in the competitive world, without being distracted by judgment, comparison or expectation.

The relaxed/tension-free body and mind while engaging in physical and/or mental yoga practices will allow the mind to be fully attentive on the practice, being aware of the impermanent ability and limitation in the present moment, without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitation, which can help to minimize the risk of injury, as well as allowing the body and mind to be absorbing the effects/benefits of the practice more efficiently, without any expectation, craving or aversion towards the ability and disability of the body and mind in the present moment, or towards the effect/benefit/result/fruit of the practice, allowing the effect/benefit/result/fruit of practice being what it is.

Everyone has a different condition of the body and state of the mind, and it's impermanent. What the body and mind can do or cannot do, can achieve or cannot achieve in this present moment, is impermanent, and might be different from all the others. There's nothing to be comparing and judging about. Especially the yoga teacher and the yoga students in the yoga practice. The yoga teachers cannot say, "I can do this, so can you." Or in certain yoga teachers training courses, all students of 'aspired yoga teachers' are required to be able to do certain yoga asana poses, in order to pass the examination, and be graduated and qualified as 'certified yoga teachers'. That's pure ignorance.

The mind that is aware of ignorance and egoism, that is free from ignorance and egoism, that realized selflessness, compassion and unconditional peace, doesn't even need to be able to perform any yoga asana poses/chanting and prayer or possessing any 'recognized yoga teacher certification' to be guiding others onto the path of yoga.

Inquire the truth of everything.