Sportsmanship and yoga

Sportsmanship is very similar to the teachings and practice of yoga, although they might appear to be contradicting with one another.

Even though sportsmanship is always being related to any kinds of competitions, while yoga is never a competitive activity, where it's not about competing with the other minds, or with oneself in the past, and there's nothing wrong with the existence of the many different types of competitions in the world, that motivate the minds to keep improving as well as to be achieving higher and higher achievement in this momentary life existence, such as the competitions of academic learning and achievement, general or specific knowledge, intelligence, creativity, design, technology, engineering, architecture, agriculture, township or city infrastructure developments, various types of talents, physical skills, mental skills, sports, professions, businesses, politics, pageantry, jobs finding, apartment or house hunting, life partner or spouse finding, school admission based on entrance exam with limited places, and etc, but the presence of sportsmanship among all kinds of competitors is upmost important in any kinds of competitions/pursues.

No doubt that in all kinds of competitions/pursues, the goal is to win, or to be the best, or to excel among the competitors in any kinds of competitions, or simply to be able to get the desirable job, to have a desirable living space, to find a desirable partner/spouse, to build a desirable relationship, or to get a place in a desirable school, and etc, however, it really doesn't matter if one doesn't win, or couldn't get or do the things that one desires, from time to time, or even every time, where the entire process of engaging in any kinds of competitions or pursues, is without forcing the body and mind beyond the existing condition, ability, disability, and limitation, without hurting oneself and/or others, and devoid of corruption, unjust, prejudice, bribery, ill will, envy, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, disappointment, dissatisfaction, frustration, self-blame, blame others, guilt, regret, pride, arrogance, shame, humiliation, animosity, intimidation, slander, defamation, bully, threat, anger, hatred, vengeance, or violence.

In another term, the minds know how to respect the possibility and impossibility in the present moment now, as well as respecting the result of the competitions or pursues, as it is.

Healthy competitions are more about helping or motivating one another to keep improving in accordance to the existing ability and limitation as well as opportunity or possibility, while respecting the existing disability or impossibility in the present moment now, as it is, without hurting oneself and/or others, or even cheating, in order to win a competition or all competitions, or to have the apartment or house that one desires, or to have the partner or spouse that one loves, and so on.

Win or loose, achievement or non-achievement, success or failure, is not important at all, but sportsmanship is upmost important, in all kinds of competitions or in all kinds of pursues in life.

If the ambitious mind has many desires waiting to be gratified, but it doesn't know and doesn't have sportsmanship, it will be swaying in between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, superiority and inferiority, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, or happiness and unhappiness all the time, being determined by the gratification and non-gratification of desires, success and failure, accomplishment and non-accomplishment, or win and loose, while might hurt oneself and/or others out of such disturbed restless state of mind, either wittingly or unwittingly.

Real competitions under the presence of sportsmanship will make the winner(s) becoming more and more humble and keep improving, while the ones that didn't win would become more persevered and determined to keep improving and keep trying without the sense of inferiority, failure, animosity, humiliation, shame, self-blame, blame others, dissatisfaction, disappointment, envy, jealousy, anger, hatred, resentment, vengeance, or bitterness.

Meanwhile, in any kinds of competitions under the absence of sportsmanship (or correct mentality and attitude), the winner(s) might become proud and arrogant and be over-whelmed by the sense of success and superiority, while the ones that didn't win might be disturbed by the sense of inferiority, failure, animosity, humiliation, shame, self-blame, blame others, dissatisfaction, disappointment, envy, jealousy, anger, hatred, resentment, vengeance, or bitterness.

Sportsmanship isn't only needed to be existing in all kinds of sports/fitness/talents/skills/intelligence/knowledge competitions or championships. It needs to be existing in all kinds of family ties, connections and relationships, or in all kinds of worldly affairs, interactions and activities. It is highly important to have certain degrees of sportsmanship among parents, among siblings, among friends, among schoolmates and colleagues, and among partners in a relationship or in a business. Competition shouldn't be existing in such family ties, connections and relationships, but it does, unfortunately, due to the ignorance and egoism.

Those who are over-powered or disturbed by the sense of envy and jealousy towards others in any kinds of family ties, connections and relationships, and would be behaving in the way that hurt themselves and others out of envy and jealousy, are due to lack of sportsmanship, while at the same time, they always like to be 'competing' with all the others, about anything and everything, either wittingly or unwittingly.

It is quite common that there are many minds, including yoga enthusiasts/yoga practitioners/yoga teachers/yoga businesses, would think and feel that they are always in some kind of competition competing with all the others, particularly in this modern society of social medias addiction under the presence of higher technology. Meanwhile, some minds are always in competition competing with themselves in the past, ceaselessly pushing the body and mind beyond their limitation, to be better, and better, and there's no limit to that, until the body and mind suffers from that, or breaks down. It is indeed a form of mental illness, where there are endless desires, and the sense of discontentment or dissatisfaction has no limit.

The minds that understand sportsmanship, or are endowed with high degrees of sportsmanship even when they are not interested or engaging in any kind of competition, or they don't have any particular desire to have something, or do something, or achieve something, they also wouldn't have much difficulty on the path of yoga that is about non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, or non-expectation, that enables the mind to do its best in all actions or in the yoga practice, while exerting effort to be looking after the physical and mental condition, or purifying and sharpening its reasoning power and understanding, to be free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, while without being determined or disturbed by the fruit of actions/practice being what it is.

The mind that is endowed with high degrees of sportsmanship might still be functioning under the presence of the idea of 'I' due to the veil of ignorance, while the yogi's mind or the buddha's mind is devoid of the idea of 'I', due to the realization towards selflessness.

The mind that is not free from the idea of 'I', will still have the idea of 'I existing in the form of thinking to be identifying as the yoga practitioner who is practicing yoga (I am a yoga practitioner and I am practicing yoga), or as the yoga teacher who is teaching yoga (I am a yoga teacher and I am teaching yoga).

Meanwhile, the mind that is free from the idea of 'I', there's no 'I' existing in the mind to be identifying as a yoga practitioner who is practicing yoga, or as a yoga teacher who is teaching yoga, even though in everyday life, there is the need of using the 'I' and 'my' frequently in all kinds of worldly communication, interaction, affair, and activity, while knowing that this non-existing 'I' and 'my' is merely for the purpose of all that.

That is also why the observation of renunciation/seclusion/solitude and the practice of silence and dispassion is highly important and efficient on the path of yoga of self-inquiry and self-realization. The idea of 'I' as well as all kinds of worldly ideas will be thinning-out, and eventually vanished from the mind naturally, after engaging in a prolonged duration of genuine silence, solitude, and seclusion. The mind will see the truth of the 'I' and all kinds of worldly passionate egoistic ideas deriving from ignorance and egoism, that give rise to so much unnecessary evitable unrest and suffering in oneself while ceaselessly inflicting unnecessary evitable unrest and suffering unto others and the surrounding environment.

There's nothing wrong and it's common that the yoga enthusiasts can be highly devoted, persevered, and determined in performing/learning/practicing/teaching certain yoga asana practice, pranayama practice, sound vibration practice, cleansing practice, concentration practice, or meditation practice, of certain lineage and style, persistently for years and years, while achieving significant improvement in the physical and mental condition, ability and performance, and enjoying the momentary sense of focused within, stillness and lightness, or the impermanent undisturbed quiet state of mind, or the momentary sense of calmness, goodness, positiveness, meaningfulness, confidence, success, or achievement, deriving from the enhanced physical and mental condition, ability and performance that are impermanent, or deriving from the process and progress of teaching and learning between the teacher and the students, that is impermanent, as well as deriving from the empowered mental and emotional dependency (attachment) among the community or among the teacher and the students, that is also impermanent, however, the mind is still not free from the idea of 'I', or ignorance.

Most important is that the mind knows what is non-attachment, or knows how to let go upon the presence of attachment. There's no suffering can arise in such mind, even if there is still the idea of 'I' existing in the mind that is attached, or unattached, or detached, or letting go.

As even the presence of the cause of suffering and the rise or manifestation of suffering in the modification of the mind, or the mind perception of suffering, is also impermanent, and it's not "I am suffering".

What is attachment? There's nothing wrong with the mind enjoys and appreciates certain pleasant/desirable/agreeable/positive/uplifting condition, environment, space, place, nature, plants, objects, people, animals, food, family ties, friendship, relationship, mentorship, community, livelihood, conveniences, enjoyments, interaction and activity, however, if any of these names and forms that the mind enjoys and appreciates very much has changed into something else, or is absent/non-available/not possible for some reasons, either temporarily or permanently, and the mind would be disturbed/dissatisfied/disappointed/upset/unhappy by the changes, the absence, the non-availability, or the impossibility of the names and forms that the mind enjoys and appreciates, that indicates the presence of attachment in the mind, either wittingly or unwittingly.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Being aware of uncertainty without the sense of insecurity

The existence of the sense of insecurity in the modification of the mind is due to the mind perception towards uncertainty deriving from inevitable impermanent changes as well as the infinite existence of the unknown, of what the mind doesn't know, that are not in one's control or desire to be the way that one desires them to be.

It's okay that the mind doesn't know certain things, or many things, or everything.

It's okay that there are inevitable impermanent changes that are not in one's control or desire to be or not to be in certain way.

The practice of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, and non-expectation are there for the mind to transcend the ever existing unknown beyond the knowledge of the mind and the inevitable uncertainty of impermanent changes, where the mind is aware of and acknowledging that there is something beyond its knowledge or perception, as well as there is inevitable ceaseless impermanent changes or uncertainty in this selfless impermanent mind perception of a worldly life existence of names and forms that are selfless and impermanent, but without the sense of insecurity arising in the modification of the mind.

Even if there is the sense of insecurity arising in the modification of the mind from time to time, the mind knows that this is also impermanent, without attachment or identification towards the impermanent modification/state of the mind or the sense of insecurity as "I", or "I am insecure", without aversion towards the presence of the sense of insecurity, without craving towards the absence of the sense of insecurity, without judgment towards the sense of insecurity as good or bad, and without expectation towards the existing sense of insecurity to disappear from the modification of the mind, but allowing the sense of insecurity being there as it is, allowing it to change and pass away, as it is.

The mind is aware of the modification of the mind, or what is going on in the mind, of all kinds of names and forms (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, thoughts, feelings, emotions, imaginations, anticipations, thinking, belief/disbelief, ideas, values, reasoning, understanding/non-understanding, and all kinds of desires/actions/reactions/impurities, and etc) arising, changing, and passing away in the modification of the mind, without grasping, without the idea of 'I' attaching and identifying towards the modification of the mind as "I", without desire of craving and aversion, judgment, or expectation towards the modification of the mind to be or not to be in certain way.

That is the practice of yoga and/or buddhism.

It is in every moment.

Yoga practice is not something that people do in the few hours daily or 'once in a while' self-practice yoga practice sessions consist of yoga asana exercise, pranayama/breathing exercise, kriya/cleansing exercise, relaxation, chanting, concentration, and meditation practice, or when participating in some yoga classes regularly or irregularly.

And it's definitely not about trying to achieve perfection in oneself, or in the many different types of physical and mental yoga practice, or in the world.

Inquire the truth of everything.

The free mind

The free mind is peaceful as it is, not determined by the mind perception of names and forms being what it is, of the presence and absence of all kinds of names and forms, experiences, affairs, conditions, situations, ties and connections, relationships, interactions, activities, enjoyments and non-enjoyments, abilities, disabilities, limitations, achievement and non-achievement, success and failure, and so on.

It knows and respects the truth of selflessness and impermanence, and the nature's law of cause and effect, while it is not determined by all kinds of selfless impermanent names and forms being what they are, as they are, and all are changing, governed by the nature's law of cause and effect.

It is desireless.

It is dispassionate.

It is fearless.

It can advance, or retreat, or neither.

It is open, devoid of blind-believing, blind-following, blind-agreeing/disagreeing, blind-practicing, and blind-propagating.

It is not conditioned or determined by worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, ideas, values, desires, and practice.

It is devoid of passionate egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, intention, and expectation.

It can be performing or not performing actions, and it does its best in all actions that are possible in this present moment, but it is not determined by the actions and the fruit of actions, and it is not determined or disturbed by the actions that are not possible in this present moment.

It can have likes and dislikes, or agreements and disagreements, but it is not determined by the absence and presence of what it likes and dislikes, agrees and disagrees with. It allows others to express their likes and dislikes or agreements and disagreements based on their own particular thinking, belief, ideas, values, desires, and practice, while without being determined, influenced, or disturbed by the likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements of others.

It can be here or not here, depending on the situation, of possibility and impossibility in the present moment now.

It can enjoy and appreciate this or that, without attachment or clinging towards what it enjoys and appreciates, without craving towards the presence of pleasant and desirable experiences, or the absence of unpleasant and undesirable experiences, and without aversion towards the presence of unpleasant and undesirable experiences, or the absence of pleasant and desirable experiences.

It doesn't have to like, agree with, enjoy, or appreciate something that it doesn't like, doesn't agree with, doesn't enjoy, and doesn't appreciate, and it is not determined or disturbed by the presence of something that it doesn't like, doesn't agree with, doesn't enjoy, or doesn't appreciate. And all kinds of enjoyable or non-enjoyable, pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, and agreeable or disagreeable experiences are impermanent.

It knows what are its physical and mental abilities, disabilities and limitations, and what are the possibilities and impossibilities, or the presence or absence of opportunity, in this present moment now, and it respects all that as they are, without attachment or identification towards the physical and mental abilities, disabilities and limitations that are impermanent and conditional. It can be doing something that is possible in accordance to the existing abilities, disabilities and limitations by making good use of the abilities, possibilities and opportunities that are available in this present moment now, without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitations, being undetermined by what it can do and cannot do, and being undisturbed by the disabilities, limitations and impossibilities, or the absence of opportunities in this present moment now. Knowing that all these are impermanent, and it's not 'I'.

It is free from judgment towards itself and others, while it allows others to have judgment towards themselves and/or the others. It is not determined or disturbed by the thinking and non-thinking, belief and disbelief, understanding and non-understanding of others, or the judgment and expectation coming from others towards itself. It allows others to have their own freedom of thinking and non-thinking, belief and disbelief, understanding and non-understanding, or judgment and expectation towards themselves and others, or not.

It doesn't need to receive attention, friendship, companionship, interaction, love, acknowledgement, understanding, agreement, validation, approval, acceptance, praise, compliment, respect, glorification, encouragement, mental or emotional support, sympathy, or empathy from anyone or anywhere, while allowing all these names and forms being there, or not, devoid of attachment, identification, craving or aversion, and expectation towards the absence or presence of all that.

It is free from the sense of belonging, self-esteem, self-worth, separateness, boredom, loneliness, defensiveness and offensiveness, superiority and inferiority, goodness and badness, rightfulness and wrongfulness, positiveness and negativeness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, joyfulness and joylessness, togetherness and aloneness, appropriateness and inappropriateness, auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, accomplishment and non-accomplishment, deserving and non-deserving, and so on.

It is what it is, and it is selfless and impermanent. And all and everyone and everything are selfless and impermanent.

It lives in the present moment, devoid of attachment, identification, possessiveness, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, intention, expectation, fear, worry, guilt, regret, hurt, bitterness, anger, hatred, violence, pride, envy, jealousy, admiration, animosity, dissatisfaction, disappointment, discontentment, greed, longing, wishful thinking, hopefulness, day dreaming, building castle in the air, wild imagination, or future anticipation.

It doesn't matter whether it has encouraging and loving, or understanding and uplifting partner, lover, friends, family, children, parents, leader, supervisor, motivator, teacher, or not. It doesn't need to be encouraged, loved, understood, uplifted, or inspired by any others, to be what it is, and to do or achieve what it wants to do or achieve.

It can be by itself, alone, in silence.

It can be busy performing actions within its capacity without over-exhausting the function of the body and mind, and it can be in silence, in inaction, without the sense of loneliness, boredom, irritation, or meaninglessness.

It knows how to look after the different needs of the body and mind in the present moment now, and understands that the needs are impermanent and could be different from moment to moment.

It can be surrounded by others, while uninfluenced and undisturbed by others being what they are, regardless of wise or ignorant, kind or unkind, selfish or unselfish, peaceful or peaceless, sane or insane.

It lives in the world, while the world doesn't live in it.

It is aware of uncertainty without the sense of insecurity.

It respects the world being what it is, governed by the nature's law of cause and effect.

It respect life existence being what it is, undergoing ceaseless selfless impermanent changes.

It confronts selfless impermanent changes in this present moment now, in peace.

Suffering doesn't arise in this mind, even if there are the presence of unpleasant sensations, undesirable experiences and impermanent changes, disagreeable connections, relationships, interactions and affairs, or challenging conditions and situations.

It doesn't need itself to be perfect.

It doesn't need the world to be perfect.

It doesn't need life existence to be perfect.

It doesn't need to be happy.

It doesn't need to make others happy.

It doesn't need to be this or not be that.

It doesn't need to have this or don't have that.

It doesn't need to control or be in control.

It allows all and everything to be what they are, as they are, and all are impermanent.

It allows all and everyone to be what they want to be, to think what they want to think, to feel what they want to feel, to believe what they want to believe, to behave how they want to behave, to react how they want to react, to express what they want to express, to be happy or unhappy, to agree or disagree, to desire or don't desire, to practice or don't practice, to be understanding or non-understanding, to realize or don't realize, to be peaceful or peaceless, and be free or not free.

It doesn't need to be free. As it is free.

If the breathing is slow, let it be slow.

If the breathing is fast, let it be fast.

If the breath stops coming and going, let it stops.

Inquire the truth of everything, and be free.

It's the freedom of the minds if they don't like, don't agree with, and don't want this freedom. Different minds have their own version of freedom. There's neither right nor wrong, but all and everyone is responsible towards their own thinking, belief, understanding, values, desires, actions, and practice, and the consequences of all that.

Forbearance is the highest sadhana

One of the teachings of yoga from Swami Sivananda is "Forbearance is the highest sadhana".

This teaching about forbearance is about being able to forbear the selfless mind perception of names and forms or experiences that are unpleasant, undesirable or disagreeable, without generate aversion, dissatisfaction, disappointment, ill will, anger, hatred, vengeance, or violence.

Forbearance was/is being misinterpreted by some yoga enthusiasts as "Developing and practicing forbearance (as well as fearlessness or non-attachment) by deliberately performing all kinds of self-harm practices or activities that give rise to unnecessary intentional self-inducing energy/nutrition deprivation, fatigue, hunger, thirst, painful suffering, discomfort, difficulty, hardship, inconvenience, damage, injury, illness, or deformity, and etc."

Depriving sleep, keeping eyes wide opened without blinking, standing on one leg, hanging upside down, raising one or two arm(s) in the air, extreme fasting, lying and sitting on sharp objects, coming in contact with extremely hot or cold temperature or object, deliberate self-inflicting all kinds of abusive and harmful treatment and effect unto the body and mind, and etc, for a prolonged period of time until the body and mind suffers from unnecessary fatigue, energy depletion, malnutrition, illness, injury, malfunction, or deformity, with the intention to challenge and go beyond the limitation of the body and mind to the maximum, in order to portray the practice of forbearance/fearlessness/dispassion/non-attachment/non-identification/non-craving/non-aversion/perseverance/determination/strength/flexibility/stamina, are nothing to do with the teachings and practice of yoga and/or buddhism, that is about wisdom and compassion, that is about the middle path and non-violence, that is about self-inquiry and self-realization, that is about realizing and resting in unconditional peace, that is nothing to do with challenging the selfless impermanent changes or the nature's law of cause and effect by abusing or hurting the body and mind as much as possible in order to challenge the limitation of the body and mind, by keep on pushing the body and mind beyond its limitation, until it suffers and breaks down.

The teachings and practice of yoga and buddhism is about enabling the mind to realize and respect the truth of selflessness and impermanence, as well as the nature's law of cause and effect, by developing and having the correct understanding towards the selfless body and mind needs to be constantly inter-changing between different states and positions, where one cannot be in any particular position or state for too long, that one cannot be staying asleep for too long, or staying awake for too long, or lying down for too long, or staying upside down for too long, or sitting for too long, or standing for too long, or walking for too long, or moving for too long, or staying focus for too long, or staying still for too long, or keep eating non-stop, or keep fasting non-stop, or keep chanting/singing non-stop, and so on. It needs to be inter-changing between all the different positions or states and activity/inactivity. Just as the earth needs to be spinning in a particular direction and speed ceaselessly, or the different seasons need to be inter-changing in certain order to create a suitable living condition for all and everyone and everything to be existing momentarily in this space that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

Under the influence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism and all kinds of impurities in the mind, the teaching about "Ignorance and the by-products of ignorance is the root cause of suffering" is being misinterpreted as "The selfless impermanent life existence and function of the body and mind is the root cause of suffering",

or "The practice of dispassion, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving and non-aversion" is being misinterpreted as "The body and mind is an impure sinful problematic suffering adjunct that deserves all kinds of punishment, ill treatment, or painful suffering",

or "The teachings and practice of being kind and compassionate towards oneself and others, or self-love and love others" is being misinterpreted as "Self-indulgence or self-pampering in all kinds of pleasurable enjoyments of the senses, or the gratification of the desires of craving and aversion, or do what will make oneself feel happy, and to please others or to make others feel happy by gratifying all their desires of craving and aversion, or by giving them what they desire and don't give them what they don't desire, as well as empowering mental and emotional dependency among one another",

or "The practice of holding the body still in any particular position for a prolonged period of time in order to attain direct realization towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence in the body and mind" is being misinterpreted as "Training and challenging the body and mind to go beyond its limitation in the present moment to become better, fitter, healthier, stronger, more flexible, or more efficient than what it is now, by ceaselessly extending the duration of holding the breath and all kinds of positions or yoga poses, and extending the duration of maintaining the point of focus or concentration",

or "The teaching about the body positions and movements are influencing the energy fields in certain way that is also influencing the state of the mind in certain way" is being misinterpreted as "If the body is still, the energy fields will be static, and the mind will also be still",

or "The yoga asana practice, the breathing exercises, and the concentration exercises is about holding the different body positions or yoga poses, the breath, and the point of concentration for a prolonged duration comfortably without struggling," is being misinterpreted as "The degrees of improvement/advancement/achievement in the yoga practice or on the path of yoga, is determined by how long one can hold the different positions/poses, the breath, and the point of concentration, where one is an advanced yogi or yoga practitioner if one can hold the different positions/poses, the breath, and the point of concentration for an extensive duration comfortably without struggling, and vice versa."

A yogi, is not determined by the selfless impermanent condition/ability/limitation/performance of the body and mind that is limited and conditional, not to say, there is no such thing as beginner/intermediate/advanced/good/bad/experienced/non-experienced/qualified/non-qualified/certified/non-certified yogi, or yoga practitioner, or yoga teacher, or even master yoga teacher and 'Guru'. It's merely whether there is absence or presence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness in the selfless impermanent modification of the mind, that is not determined by the absence and presence of the different qualities of names and forms that are selfless and impermanent, that are limited and conditional.

The selfless impermanent life existence and function of the limited and conditional body and mind is merely what it is. It is neither pure nor impure, neither good nor bad, neither positive nor negative, neither meaningful nor meaningless, neither a cause for enjoyment nor a cause for suffering.

It's the presence or absence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', and egoism that give rise to all kinds of impurities or suffering (the consequences of ignorance, the idea of 'I' and egoism) and restlessness (the selfless impermanent restless modification of the mind of ceaseless thought activities, actions/reactions and desires), that is whether the perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting mind appeared to be problematic, impure, suffering, bad, negative, meaningless, and devoid of peace, or not.

The yoga practitioners learn and experience directly towards the truth of the selflessness and impermanence of the body and mind during the process of learning and performing the different yoga asana poses, breathing exercises, concentration practice, meditation practice, and etc, where the condition, the ability, the limitation, and the performance of the body and mind is changing all the time, or it's different from time to time.

Sometimes, the body is more or less energetic, healthy, strong and flexible, and sometimes, the mind is more or less sharp, focus, calm and relax, or the condition/performance/ability/limitation of the body and mind is different from time to time. And even the record holder of the fittest, fastest, healthiest, kindest, happiest, strongest, most flexible, most intelligent, most knowledgeable, illness-free, injury-free, or oldest person in the world had underwent or is undergoing the natural process of decay, aging, weakening, energy depletion, ceased functioning, and disintegration.

It's natural for the body and mind to be impermanent, or constantly changing. It's natural for the body and mind to be undergoing the process of decay/aging/weakness/discomfort/illness/injury/limitation/ceased functioning/disintegration/death. If one tries to go against impermanent changes, or tries to challenge or stop impermanent changes, then there will be unnecessary intentional self-inflicted malfunction, discomfort, fatigue, illness, or injury arise in the body and mind.

One cannot breathe in only and not breathing out, or breathe out only and not breathing in, or hold the breath neither breathing in nor breathing out for too long.

One cannot hold or stay in any particular position or activity for too long, such as sitting for too long, standing for too long, lying down for too long, moving for too long, holding still for too long, and etc, or else, the body will experience discomfort, fatigue, breakdown, or injury, regardless of how fit, healthy, strong, and flexible is the body.

One cannot remain focus, active or awake for too long, where the focus will move and one needs to rest or sleep from time to time, or else, the mind will experience discomfort, fatigue, breakdown, or damage, regardless of how sharp, attentive, patient, forbearing, persevere, determine, adjustable, and adaptable is the thinking mind.

The selfless impermanent body and mind cannot be underused (being in the state of sleep/idleness for too long) or overused (being in the state of wakefulness/activeness for too long).

It's common and normal that the yoga practitioners and/or yoga teachers that are still functioning under the veil of ignorance, the idea of 'I', and egoism, would think and believe that all kinds of yoga practice is all about challenging the limitation of the body and mind, and going against the truth of selflessness and impermanence, or the nature's law of cause and effect.

"I am in control of my body and mind to be and not to be in certain way in accordance to my desire and don't desire." Or, "I am super human being that can defy selfless impermanent changes, the nature's law of cause and effect, gravity, illness, injury, decay, old age, weakness, limitation, and even, death."

That is everyone's freedom of thinking, belief, desire, practice, and action, however, it's nothing to do with the teachings and practice of yoga and/or buddhism.

It's only when there is the presence of 'all kinds of impurities', or 'suffering', or 'restlessness' in the modification of the mind under the presence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', and egoism, that the mind needs to 'forbear', or 'withstand', or 'let go' what the mind perceives, recognizes and experiences as something unpleasant, undesirable, or disagreeable. There is no need to forbear, or withstand, or let go anything, upon the absence of all kinds of impurities, or suffering, or restlessness, upon the absence of ignorance, the idea of 'I' and egoism.

Inquire the truth of everything.

The purity in yoga and buddhism

The purity in yoga and buddhism is about -

The absence of ignorance - not knowing the truth of 'I', the modification of the mind, suffering, the root cause of suffering, selflessness and impermanence, cause and effect, timelessness (time is merely the reflection of ceaseless impermanent changes. There is neither past nor future, there is only now, and it's changing), non-separateness, non-duality.

The absence of the idea of 'I' - the ego, a non-existent individual identity of 'I' that gives rise to the sense of separateness and the consequences of that.

The eradication of egoism - attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, intention, and expectation.

The eradication of impurities - corrupted thinking, beliefs, ideas, values and practice deriving from ignorance and egoism that give rise to incorrect reasoning and understanding (the perception of duality) and hurtful damaging behavior/action/reaction, self-righteousness, possessiveness, obsessiveness, selfishness, inspiration, aspiration, ambitiousness, dissatisfaction, disappointment, irritation, frustration, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, self-esteem, self-worth, pride, arrogance, fear, worry, ill will, animosity, intimidation, offensiveness, defensiveness, grief, guilt, regret, hurts, violence, passion, lust, longing, loneliness, boredom, mental and emotional dependency, auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, appropriateness and inappropriateness, respectfulness and disrespectfulness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, positiveness and negativeness, goodness and badness, joyfulness and sorrowfulness, and etc.

And the annihilation of restlessness - the selfless impermanent restless states of mind ceaselessly interchanging between confusion and clarity, disturbance and calmness, discontentment and contentment, peacelessness and peacefulness, restlessness and quietness, joyfulness and sorrowfulness, goodness and badness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, positiveness and negativeness, happiness and unhappiness, healthiness and unhealthiness, painful suffering and pleasurable enjoyment, and so on, of ceaseless births (thoughts arising) and deaths (thoughts passing away) of countless thoughts arising, changing, and passing away (Impermanence), transitioning in different realms/states of mind.

There is no 'I' existing to be undergoing all that (Selflessness).

Out of ignorance and egoism, there is an idea of 'I' existing in the form of a continuous stream of thought(s) identifying as the existence of an individual identity attaching towards different qualities of selfless impermanent names and forms to be identifying as "This is I", that appears to be undergoing ceaseless births and deaths transitioning in different realms/states of mind, and hence, "I am restless or peaceless," and "I am suffering," and "I want to be free from suffering."

Upon the realization of selflessness, it's merely the selfless impermanent modification of the selfless function of the perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting mind being in a state of restlessness, in the present moment now, undergoing ceaseless selfless impermanent changes, powered by energy, influenced by cause and effect.

Both the teachings and practice of yoga and/or buddhism emphasized on the mind purification process for preparing the mind to be performing self-inquiry (to inquire towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence) and meditation (to annihilate the restless modification of the mind and absorb into silence - Samadhi, the annihilation of the modification of the mind/thought activities, where there is no restless births and deaths a.k.a. restless selfless impermanent changes).

Regardless of whether the minds know or don't know towards the yoga and/or buddhism practice is about the mind purification process, and whether the minds practice yoga and/or buddhism is for the purpose of mind purification, or not, yoga and buddhism practice is still what it is, serve the purpose of purifying the ignorant egoistic impure restless modification of the mind.

All kinds of different practices are indeed existing for purifying the modification of the mind, which is eradicating the veil of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness.

There might be some misunderstanding towards the 'purity' in yoga and/or buddhism, where some minds understood that as 'moral high ground' or 'untouchable', where there are no traces of bad qualities or impure elements, but only good qualities or pure elements existing in the mind based on the many different worldly passionate egoistic beliefs, ideas, values, and practices about what is good and bad quality, and what is purity and impurity.

The 'purity' in the teachings of yoga and/or buddhism is nothing to do with the worldly ideas of 'moral high ground', or 'perfectly all good and nothing bad', or 'perfectly all pure and nothing impure', or 'perfectly all positive and nothing negative'.

The mind purification process is about changing the mind behavior pattern that is under the influence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, to be rendering the mind calm and quiet, to allow the mind to have certain degrees of calmness to be reflecting upon the truth of names and forms as it is, that leads to the development of certain degrees of correct understanding. And upon attaining certain degrees of correct understanding under a calm and quiet mind free from the influence or contamination of worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, ideas, values, and practice, the mind transcends even the state of the mind that is rendered calm and pure.

The 'purity' in yoga and buddhism is about the mind is free from being conditioned, or influenced, or contaminated by worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, ideas, values, desires and practices, that are influencing the mind to reason, understand, desire, behave, act, and react in certain way based on all that.

The most effective way to purify the modification of the mind, particularly in this era that is full of passionate egoistic ideas and activities as well as all kinds of ignorance and consequences of ignorance in the modern society, including in the world of yoga and/or buddhism, is via the observation of renunciation, dispassion, silence, solitude, and seclusion, for a prolonged period of time, for minimum 5 - 6 years, to be cutting off from all kinds of worldly passionate egoistic ties, connections, communications, interactions, ideas, affairs, duties, responsibilities, and activities.

The mind that has developed certain degrees of correct understanding with a firm foundation of dispassion and non-attachment doesn't need to observe renunciation, silence, solitude and seclusion, where it can live and mix among the worldly passionate egoistic minds to be performing certain selfless service, without passionate intention or aspiration to 'change' or 'influence' the world to be in certain way, while it is not being influenced by all kinds of worldly ideas and activities, and it is not being determined or disturbed by all kinds of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in the world that doesn't belong to anyone or anything. It can also choose to live a quiet life in solitude and seclusion, renouncing all kinds of worldly actions. There's neither right nor wrong.

There's no authority in yoga and buddhism to be judging or punishing any minds for being ignorant, or imperfect, or impure. Be free to practice yoga and/or buddhism, or not.

It's everyone's freedom for what they want or don't want to practice.

Inquire the truth of everything.

The belief of good and bad karma

This teaching is for those who want to learn and practice yoga and/or buddhism, and those who think and believe that they are practicing and/or teaching/propagating yoga and/or buddhism.

Under certain worldly passionate egoistic family, cultural, social, spiritual, and/or religious beliefs, ideas, values, and practice, there are minds that believe in good or bad karma, which appeared to be very similar to the teachings of yoga and/or buddhism about the nature's law of cause and effect, or actions and the consequences of actions, but there is a huge difference between 'the selfless nature's law of cause and effect' and 'the passionate egoistic belief of good and bad karma deriving from good/right and bad/wrong conducts/actions/reactions', as what is good or bad, and what is right or wrong, in accordance to the many different worldly passionate egoistic beliefs, ideas, values, and practices, are nothing to do with the selfless nature's law of cause and effect that is merely being what it is, that is non-judgmental and non-discriminate, that is neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong, neither positive nor negative, neither meaningful nor meaningless, neither joyful nor sorrowful, or neither pleasurable enjoyment nor painful suffering.

The nature's law of cause and effect is merely what things are. It is non-judgmental/non-discriminate and it's not based on the quality of good and bad or right and wrong, being projected and generated by the minds under the influence of ignorance, egoism, impurities, and restlessness. The belief of good and bad karma is not necessarily what things are, and it is judgmental and discriminate, and it's very much based on the quality of good and bad or right and wrong, being projected and generated by the minds under the influence of particular worldly passionate egoistic belief, ideas, values, and practice.

The minds that are practicing yoga and/or buddhism, and have intense yearning towards liberation, and want to attain self-realization to be free from ignorance and suffering, the inquiry or investigation towards the truth of everything, is the fundamental essential practice. Although it's the freedom of all and everyone towards what they want to do and practice, or not.

The yoga and/or buddhism practitioners are never believers or followers, not to say, blind-believers or blind-followers, or blind-practitioners and blind-propagators.

The teachings of yoga, or the dhamma of buddhism, that is all about self-inquiry and self-realization, is neither a belief, nor a practice that promote the generation and accumulation of good karma or avoid the generation and accumulation of bad karma. It's about non-attachment and non-identification towards the actions and the fruit of actions. It's about renouncing the fruit of actions, regardless of what the minds think and believe and judge as 'good and bad', or 'right and wrong', or 'meaningful and meaningless', or 'deserving and non-deserving', or 'pleasurable enjoyment and painful suffering', in accordance to the many different worldly passionate egoistic beliefs, ideas, values, and practices.

The mind that is practicing yoga and/or buddhism is desireless, devoid of craving towards 'good karma' and aversion towards 'bad karma', but all and everyone is responsible for one's actions and the consequences of one's actions, where no other can remove or replace oneself for the effect deriving from the cause that oneself have been generating, and one is not being determined or disturbed by the actions and the fruit of actions being what they are, as they are, regardless of whether they appeared to be pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, agreeable or disagreeable, meaningful or meaningless, success or failure, deserving or non-deserving, and enjoyable or non-enjoyable.

The yoga and/or buddhism teachings is about the truth of what things are or truthfulness, by allowing the minds to see, to confront with, and to respect the truth that is not necessarily always pleasant, agreeable, or desirable, and to attain direct realization towards the truth of everything by oneself via an open mind, through self-effort, self-inquiry, and self-realization.

It's never about out of certain possession, identification, affection, concern, fear, or worry towards the world being or not being in certain way in accordance to one's desires and doesn't desires, or agreements and disagreements, or out of selfish intention, desire, vision, and ambition to create a world that one likes and desires, and hence, there are many hypocrisy, untruthfulness, lies, story telling, or fairy tales being generated and propagated, particularly in many things that they don't know, that they don't understand, and that they couldn't explain, to be threatening and conditioning the minds with lots of untruthfulness that gives rise to fear, in order to influence and control the thinking and behavior of the minds to be and not to be in certain way.

The belief of good and bad karma, is being used by the minds to either tempt or threaten other minds to behave or not behaving in certain way. "If you do this, or if you don't do that, you will be rewarded and enjoying. And if you don't do this, or if you do that, you will be punished and suffering." Or it is being used to justify certain things that they can't understand and can't explain, or to justify certain hurtful behavior.

Just as a parent is afraid of the child doesn't behave in the way that it likes and desires, or a leader is afraid of the followers don't behave in the way that it likes and desires, or a teacher is afraid of the students don't behave in the way that it likes and desires, or everyone is afraid of all the others don't behave in the way that each and everyone thinks and believes how everyone should and shouldn't behave. And hence, there are many story telling or fairy tales that are either 'tempting' or 'threatening' the minds to behave and not behaving in certain way.

There are some minds, including the minds that are practicing and/or teaching/propagating yoga and/or buddhism, were/are being conditioned to believe in,

"All and everyone are existing here, experiencing what they are experiencing, is because of their own good and bad karma. Good karma deriving from good and righteous conducts gives rise to pleasurable enjoyment, prosperity, desirable condition, good health, abundance, success, joy, happiness, easiness, or kind treatment, in this present life existence, and will give rise to 'superior reincarnation of a superior next life existence in a superior realm' in the future, and so on, while bad karma deriving from bad and wrongful conducts gives rise to painful suffering, poverty, undesirable condition, ill heath, insufficiency, failure, sorrow, unhappiness, hardship, or ill treatment, in this present life existence, and will give rise to 'inferior reincarnation of an inferior next life existence in an inferior realm', and so on.

All and everyone who had been or were experiencing certain ill treatment, abusive affair, ill heath, bad encountering, painful suffering or difficulties in the past, or are experiencing certain ill treatment, abusive affair, ill heath, bad encountering, painful suffering or difficulties in now, are due to their past accumulation of bad karma either in this present life existence and/or from the many past life existences.

One must receive all kinds of unpleasant conditions, hurtful experiences, corrupted affairs, abusive family ties and relationships, ill treatments, ill heath, painful suffering, or difficulties in silence, in order to 'burn off' the past accumulated bad karma. Where it is 'good' to be suffering as much as possible, while silently 'encouraging' others to behave badly and hurtfully unto oneself, or even coming from oneself generating all kinds of unnecessary damaging effects, difficulties, and inconveniences unto oneself, or punishing/hurting one's own body and mind deliberately under the terms of 'repent' and 'penance', in order to 'burn off' any past accumulated bad karma, that seemingly bottomless.

Meanwhile, in order to avoid any kind of painful suffering or difficulties manifesting in oneself (personal karma) and/or in the collective surrounding environment shared by many others (collective group karma), one needs to be on high alert and be judgmental towards one's and/or others' thinking and conduct, where one and/or others should only generate good karma and avoid generate any bad karma, based on the worldly passionate egoistic family, cultural, social, spiritual, religious, national, political or commercial beliefs, ideas, values, and practices about what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, what is positive and negative, what is appropriate and inappropriate, what is meaningful and meaningless, what is success and failure, what is prosperity and non-prosperity, or what is should and shouldn't.

If someone thinks and believes that itself has been good and kind, and has been performing many good and kind actions, and never did anything bad or wrong in this life existence, but somehow, it is still encountering many badness, undesirable experiences, hurtful affairs, ill treatments, difficulties, or painful suffering, then that is due to the past accumulated bad karma from the previous life existence."

That is everyone's freedom of thinking and belief, reason and understanding, action and reaction.

Inquire towards all these thinking and belief, ideas and values, and practice. These are nothing to do with the teachings and practice of yoga and/or buddhism.

The difference between 'the nature's law of cause and effect' and 'the belief of good and bad karma' - 

Under the nature's law of cause and effect -

If apple seed is planted, it will grow into an apple tree, and not a mango tree or a banana tree.

If mango seed is planted, it will grow into a mango tree, and not an apple tree or a banana tree.

And so on.

Does that mean apple is good and mango is bad, or vice versa? Neither.

As simple as that.

Meanwhile, under the belief of good and bad karma -

If one does bad, there is bad karma, and one will be suffering badness. If one does good, there is good karma, and one will be enjoying goodness. What is good and bad, what is goodness and badness, and what is enjoyment and suffering, can be very different under different beliefs, ideas, values, and practices.

Regardless of what or who the mind thinks and identifies as 'I', and whether the mind thinks and believes that it has been good or bad, kind or unkind, selfish or unselfish, healthy or unhealthy, educated or uneducated, knowledgeable or non-knowledgeable, or have been accumulating lots of so called good karma or bad karma, and so on, all and everyone are under going the inevitable process of selfless impermanent changes, of growth, ceased growing, ceaseless maintenance, decay, aging, weakness, illness, ceased functioning, and disintegration/death. This natural process of selfless impermanent changes can be very unpleasant and painful physically and mentally. Does that mean selfless impermanent changes is something related to bad karma?

Selfless impermanent changes is just what all and everything are. It is neither good nor bad, neither positive nor negative, neither meaningful nor meaningless.

If the mind is free from ignorance and egoism, the mind respects the selfless impermanent changes as they are, devoid of craving and aversion towards the body and mind, or towards all kinds of names and forms, experiences, interactions, ties and relationships, affairs, conditions and situations, to be or not to be in certain way, and hence, there is no suffering arise in this mind.

If the mind is under the influence of ignorance and egoism, where the mind has desires of craving and aversion towards the physical and mental condition, ability, performance, and achievement, and towards all kinds of names and forms, experiences, interactions, ties and relationships, affairs, conditions and situations, to be and not to be in certain way, and when the desire of craving and aversion is ungratified, or when the body and mind and something that it perceives and experiences, is not being the way that the mind likes, desires, and agrees with, there is suffering arise in this mind.

It's about one takes responsibility towards one's action and inaction under the influence of one's desires and doesn't desires, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, or understanding and non-understanding, as well as be responsible towards the consequences of that, without self-blame or blame others.

"I believe or disbelieve in this belief," or "I want or do not want to let go this belief," or "I want or do not want to have this relationship," or "I want or don't want to do this," or "I want to be here and live here," or "I want to go and live somewhere else," or "I want to eat here and this," or "I don't want to eat there and that," and so on. It's one's own choice and decision. And no matter the outcome of one's choice and decision and action/inaction is pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, and agreeable or disagreeable, one either accepts or doesn't accept, or either be determined or undetermined by all that, it's one's own choice and responsibility.

Even if someone else is making all the choices and decisions for oneself, it is oneself who allows or disallows that to be happening, to accept or reject, and to go along with or not going along with all those choices and decisions made by others. That's why it's one's own responsibility towards all kinds of pleasant or unpleasant experiences, regardless of whether it's one's own choices and decisions, or it's others' choices and decisions.

How common that the mind says, "I am unselfish. I love you very much. I don't do anything for myself. I am doing everything for you, according to what you want and don't want. Because, I want you to be happy. I don't want you to be unhappy. I don't want you to get upset and be angry with me. I want you to love me. I don't want you to dislike me. I am doing all these for you." Nope. The mind is not even aware of itself is being so selfish. Everything is being done in accordance to 'what I want and what I don't want'.

Similarly, regardless of whether under the presence and absence of ignorance and egoism, and whether there is suffering arise in the mind, or not, upon coming in contact with certain names and forms/experiences/conditions/situations/affairs/happenings/ties and relationships that are unpleasant, disagreeable, undesirable, non-enjoyable, hurtful, disturbing, or painful, that are deriving from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, that are evitable, it is nothing to do with good or bad karma.

The minds that are free from ignorance and egoism, naturally, if they want, they know how to avoid coming in contact with and/or move away from the minds, beings, objects, interactions, dealings, affairs, happenings, areas, conditions, or situations, that are under the influence of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, as much as possible, to minimize unnecessary damages or energy/life wasting. If it is not possible to avoid coming in contact with or move away from such ignorance, they deal with all that in peace.

Those who are happened to be existing or living in an area that is having all kinds of ignorant affairs, violent and hurtful happenings, or unnecessary evitable damages and painful suffering, that affect all and everyone not only in that area, but also affecting the entire world in certain way, regardless of whether they have been doing something good or bad, right or wrong, and whether they are selfish or unselfish, kind or unkind, it is not because of their bad karma, it's mainly because of the ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, of certain minds that are ignorant, prideful, ambitious, greedy, possessive, selfish, discriminating, hating and violent in this present moment.

The mind will understand all these, knowing what is true or untrue, if it performs inquiry towards "What is time?" / "What is 'I'?" / "What is the thinking mind?" / "What is the modification of the mind?" / "What is past and future?" / "What is selflessness?" / "What is impermanence?" / "What is suffering?" / "What is cause and effect?" /"What is liberation?" under an open mind not being influenced by any particular worldly passionate egoistic beliefs, ideas, values, and practice, and attains direct self-realization towards timelessness, or there's neither past nor future, there is only NOW, and it's changing, or selflessness and impermanence, or knowing Thyself.

Inquire the truth of everything, and be free.

Patience, perseverance, and forbearance

The state of the mind is very much being determined by the degrees of patience, perseverance and forbearance, as well as adaptability and accommodation (the mental stamina, strength, and flexibility).

Under a higher degrees of patience, perseverance and forbearance, the mind is not easily be disturbed/frustrated/irritated/annoyed by the inevitable process of waiting for getting, achieving, or experiencing something that the mind likes and desires, as well as the process of dealing with something that the mind dislikes, disagrees with, and doesn't desire.

The mind that is highly impatient, lack of perseverance, and reluctant to forbear even the slightest physical or mental discomfort, is easily be disturbed/frustrated/irritated/annoyed by the inevitable process of waiting for getting, achieving, or experiencing something that the mind likes and desires, as well as the process of dealing with something that the mind dislikes, disagrees with, and doesn't desire.

It doesn't mean that the minds that are more or less patient, persevere, or forbearing than some other minds are better or worst human beings than the others. It's merely about the state of mind of the minds that are still functioning under the veil of ignorance and egoism, is very much being determined and influenced by the degrees of patience, perseverance, and forbearance, where the state of mind is also affecting their everyday life affair, behavior, action, reaction, decision making, physical and mental performance, interaction and relationship with others.

The mind that is lack of patience, perseverance, or forbearance could be having strong awareness and self-control of not wanting to generate any hurtful action or reaction that would hurt oneself and others under the disturbed state of mind due to the lack of patience, perseverance, or forbearance, and vice versa.

Patience, perseverance, and forbearance are something limited and conditional.

They are limited, because one can be patient, be persevered, and be forbearing, up to a certain extend, where fatigue or burnout will kick in, just like there is particular limitation in the physical stamina, strength, and flexibility.

They are conditional, because just as the physical stamina, strength, and flexibility, the degrees of patience, perseverance, and forbearance can be developed and empowered, where the limitation can be extended up to another extend, or they can be declining as well.

Both physical and mental stamina, strength, and flexibility, are limited and conditional. They are not the goal of the yoga practice.

The means of the yoga practice is about developing correct understanding, or realizing the truth of selflessness and impermanence, by eradicating the veil of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness from the selfless impermanent modification of the mind.

The one that needs to be patient, be persevered, and be forbearing towards this or that, that is less or more disturbed by this or that, is the ego, or the idea of 'I' in the mind.

Under the presence of correct understanding, or under the absence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, the selfless liberated mind doesn't even need to be patient, be persevered, or be forbearing towards anything.

Under the absence of the idea of 'I and egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, and expectation, the selfless perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting mind is not being determined or disturbed by the presence and absence of all kinds of names and forms that appeared to be pleasant or unpleasant, agreeable or disagreeable, desirable or undesirable, enjoyable or non-enjoyable, as well as what the worldly passionate egoistic minds think, believe, judge and categorize as good or bad, right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, auspicious or inauspicious, positive or negative, joyful or sorrowful, meaningful or meaningless, selfishness or unselfishness, deserving or undeserving, strength or weakness, success or failure, achievement or non-achievement, contribution or non-contribution, and so on, based on the many worldly passionate egoistic ways of thinking, beliefs, ideas, values, desires, aspirations, actions, reactions, and practices.

The mind that knows what is non-attachment towards the actions/duties/responsibilities/practice/ties and relationships and the fruit or the outcome of all that, or the mind that is dispassionate, desireless and intentionless, is a liberated mind.

Before the mind is free, the practice and the development and empowerment of patience, perseverance, and forbearance is highly useful and important. As Swami Sivananda taught, "Forbearance is the highest sadhana."

Be free.

Inquire the truth of everything.

The body is consuming itself upon insufficient energy for basic life maintenance

No doubt that when there is still an idea of 'I' having an identification in the thinking mind identifying with the state/modification of the mind that is very much being determined and influenced by the energy fields in the body, as there is absence of correct understanding in the mind, and lack of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, and non-expectation, then this mind can observe a type of diet consumption as well as a way of life or activity that can help to induce more calming effect or less agitating effect in the modification of the mind. But, that is not a guarantee that the mind is, or will be free from the veil of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

Yoga, or the self-realization towards selflessness and impermanence, or the annihilation of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, or unconditional peace, is nothing to do with whether one is consuming a particular type of diet consumption (either vegetarian, or non-vegetarian, or mixture of both), or not.

All minds have been adopting a particular type of vegetarian, or non-vegetarian, or mixture of vegetarian and non-vegetarian diet consumption, either since birth or at certain stage in life under different reasons, however, it doesn't determine that whether the minds are free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, or not.

The body needs to be fed from time to time for maintaining the basic life maintenance, for the selfless bodily systems to be functioning properly, and to have some sufficient excess energy for daily physical and mental activity.

If one stops feeding the body, or stops eating, or is eating too less, over a prolonged period of time, where the body doesn't get enough energy/nutrients/minerals for life maintenance or for the bodily system to be functioning properly, the body will start to consume itself, or 'eating' itself, in order to extract energy from the proteins and fats deposit, as well as nutrients and minerals from within the body parts that are made up of all these components. That's why the body starts to loose body weight, or muscles mass, or fats deposit, or even bone and teeth density, or couldn't function properly as it is, and etc, when the body consumes less energy/nutrients/minerals input than the energy/nutrients/minerals expenditure over a period of time.

How can anyone be a pure vegetarian, if that is a natural process under the selfless survival instinct that is happening within the physical body from time to time, or once in a while, even if the mind is unaware of that?

It's a matter of personal choice under any particular reason for choosing what type of diet to feed the body and mind for maintaining its selfless impermanent existence and function. There's neither right nor wrong in the personal choice of diet consumption that one prefers.

There's nothing wrong, and it's very good to be observing a more healthy option and balanced type of diet consumption, if possible, depending on the logistic, climate, general condition and situation, availability and affordability. But, it's not about whether one is a better or purer human being than the others who have different types of diet consumption.

A yogi is not determined by the state of healthiness or unhealthiness, or good and bad health and fitness condition, or the sense of goodness or badness, positiveness or negativeness, righteousness or wrongfulness, and meaningfulness or meaninglessness, upon the realization of selflessness and impermanence.

The absence or presence of illness, weakness, injury, disabilities, or limitations, and the inevitable process of decay, aging, and disintegration/death of the body and mind doesn't determine one is a yogi, or a liberated mind, or not.

If the mind insists on the availability of specific type of diet (either vegetarian or non-vegetarian) that it prefers, and it will be frustrated and disturbed by the non-availability of that specific type of diet due to certain reasons, as well as be disturbed and angered by others who have different type of diet consumption from oneself, for any reasons, under the presence and influence of the desire of craving and aversion, attachment, identification, comparison, judgment, expectation, specific way of thinking, belief, ideas, visions, values, aspirations and practice, as well as all kinds of impurities, then that is not part of the yoga and/or buddhism practice at all.

Be free.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Discipline in the yoga asana practice

There's nothing wrong with many people are interested in attending some yoga classes to be learning and practicing the yoga asana practice only for gaining enhancement in health and fitness, with the aspiration of improving their physical and/or mental condition, ability, performance, and achievement, as well as be able to perform the different yoga asana poses.

In order to achieve such aspiration, it requires certain degrees of discipline or commitment to be devoting one's life and energy into performing the yoga asana practice and/or some other form of fitness training exercises regularly.

If one can spend approximately 1 to 2 hours a day, for minimum 3 to 6 times a week, continuously for a few years, to be practicing the yoga asana practice as well as the respective fitness training exercises for developing the required strength, flexibility, stamina, and skill for performing the different yoga asana poses effortlessly, under the correct understanding with right attitude/mentality/manner/attention/effort, then naturally, one will gain significant improvement in the over-all physical and/or mental condition, ability, performance and achievement, while minimizing unnecessary harmful effect or injury unto the body and mind, through the regular persistent yoga asana practice or fitness training without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitations in the present moment, and allowing the limitations to change as they are, during and/or after the persistent continuous regular practice or training for a few years. And all these development or enhancement in the physical/mental condition, ability, performance and achievement are momentary and impermanent. They are not the goal of the yoga asana practice.

All these enhanced qualities need to be maintained regularly, and yet, even if all these qualities are under going regular maintenance, the body and mind will still be under going the inevitable process of decay, weakness, old age, and disintegration.

If one has such aspiration of desiring to attain the maximum benefits from performing the yoga asana practice and/or fitness training exercises, but somehow, one doesn't have the required amount of discipline or commitment, where one only wants to attend the yoga asana classes or practicing the yoga asana and fitness training exercises for once a week, while keeps skipping classes or the practice sessions from time to time due to some other priorities and commitments in everyday life, or merely because "I don't feel like doing any physical activity for today at no particular reason" for the day, and for the next many days or weeks, then of course, there won't be much development or improvement in the physical and/or mental condition, ability, performance and achievement.

Moreover, there will be some physical and mental struggle/discomfort/weakness/tightness/soreness or even unnecessary injury manifesting in the body and mind every time during and after the 'once in a while' or 'irregular' yoga asana practice or fitness training session, as the body and mind were never being given the proper or enough amount of continuous practice, or never received enough regular training for it to develop the required physical and mental familiarity, the basic skill, the stamina, the strength and the flexibility, and to be at ease and effortless in the yoga asana practice routine, and in the different yoga exercises or fitness training routine.

Meanwhile, the presence or absence of such discipline or commitment makes no difference to those who don't have such aspiration for gaining maximum benefits or improvement in the physical and/or mental condition, ability, performance, and achievement via the yoga asana practice and/or some other forms of yoga practice under certain names and forms, but they are more interested in learning and practicing yoga for self-inquiry and self-realization, or to be attaining liberation from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, as such yoga practice is not limited by the discipline, commitment, devotion, or regularity in attending the yoga asana classes, or in performing certain physical and mental yoga practice under certain names and forms, but, the yoga practice is in everyday life, in every moment, of how the mind thinks, reasons, understands, behaves, acts and reacts towards the mind perception of names and forms in this present moment now, that are pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, agreeable or disagreeable, and enjoyable or non-enjoyable. Devoid of grasping, or passionate egoistic attachment, identification, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, or expectation, allowing and respecting all kinds of names and forms being there as they are, allowing them to change and pass away, being undetermined and undisturbed by all kinds of names and forms arising, changing, and passing away.

The enhanced physical and/or mental condition, ability, performance, and achievement that are impermanent, might can help to render the body and mind in certain way for different purposes on the path of yoga, but it is neither an obligatory for self-inquiry and self-realization nor a guarantee that the mind will be free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

The yogi, or the liberated mind, or unconditional peace, is not being determined by the selfless impermanent physical and mental condition, ability, performance, and achievement, not even the momentary concentrated, focused, calmed and quiet state of mind induced by the devoted persevered sincere practice. It's the absence of the idea of 'I' and the egoism of passionate egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, and/or expectation towards all these selfless impermanent qualities of names and forms, of the limited and conditional adjuncts, that is not 'I', but I-less.

However, if the mind thinks and believes or realizes that the practice of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, or non-expectation is too difficult or impossible for itself, where it is unwittingly and constantly be determined and disturbed by what is happening in the body and mind, and in the world, of the absence and presence of all kinds of names and forms that it likes and dislikes, agrees and disagrees with, and desires and doesn't desire, then this mind needs to put in some effort or discipline/commitment into performing the physical and mental yoga practice that come under certain names and forms regularly, such as certain observation and restriction, the yoga asana practice, the breathing exercises, the chanting or sound vibration exercises, the practice of withdrawing the mind from the objects of the senses, the concentration practice, and the meditation practice, that will move the mind away from the worldly passionate egoistic restless affairs for some time, to be turning the outgoing mind inward to be focusing within, that help to induce momentary calmness and quietness, to begin with on the path of yoga, until the mind developed certain degrees of correct understanding and knows how to apply non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, and non-expectation into everyday life, naturally and effortlessly, and be undetermined and undisturbed by all kinds of names and forms.

There is a huge difference between one who has been practicing yoga asana practice for one year regularly for 6 times a week and one who has been practicing yoga asana practice for ten years irregularly for once a week or once every two weeks. Or, between one who has been practicing yoga asana practice for many years either regularly or irregularly but without eradicating the idea of 'I', passionate egoism, and worldly ideas and desires, and one who has been practicing yoga asana practice for a few months either regularly or irregularly while working diligently on eradicating the idea of 'I', passionate egoism, and worldly ideas and desires. This is not about comparison and/or judgment about who is better or who can achieve better result, but it indicates that how long one has been started practicing yoga and/or yoga asana practice, either regularly or irregularly, doesn't determine that whether the mind is free from ignorance and the by-products and consequences of ignorance, or not.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Would like to learn and practice yoga, but ...

If the mind has no interest at all towards yoga and the yoga practice, for any reason or no reason, then there's nothing wrong with that. The mind doesn't have to be 'persuaded' or 'forced' into learning and practicing yoga.

Whether the mind has been learning and practicing yoga, or not, or how long the mind has been practicing yoga, is nothing to do with whether the mind is wise, free, and peaceful, or not.

There are some minds might have interest towards learning and practicing yoga for their own particular reasons, however, there are some hesitations that stop them from learning and practicing yoga, or they think and believe that 'yoga' is not for them, or too 'challenging' and 'impossible' for them, or too 'pure' and 'moral high ground' for them, because the 'yoga' that they think they know, has certain conditions that they think they cannot comply with.

Many minds relate yoga with 'purity', 'spirituality', 'religion', 'health and fitness', 'clean eating', 'positive thinking', 'pure living', 'vegetarianism', 'strength and flexibility', 'challenging yoga poses or sequence', 'goodness and kindness', 'unselfishness', 'untouchable', 'superhuman', 'rules and regulations', 'extreme discipline', and so on.

I would like to learn and practice yoga, but I don't think I can practice yoga, because ...

"I smoke a lot, and I am not interested to quit smoking anytime soon, or at all."

"I enjoy drinking, and I don't want to quit drinking."

"I am not a vegetarian, I enjoy eating meat and seafood, and I am not interested to become a vegetarian."

"My body is not flexible."

"I like to eat junk food, and I am not ready to give up junk food."

"I don't believe in spirituality."

"I am not a very good person."

"I have some bad habits."

"I don't like discipline, especially I don't like other people to tell me to do this and don't do that."

"I don't have and don't like self-control. I want to be free to be what I am."

"I am not a pure person."

"I don't want to have anything to do with religion or spirituality."

"I am not good at anything."

"I am a slow learner."

"I am impatient." 

"I cannot concentrate or meditate."

"I don't like exercise that are either too slow and gentle or too intense and difficult."

"I am already too tired physically and mentally from my work and looking after my family and doing the house work."

"I have some serious physical condition/illness/injury that is not suitable for practicing yoga."

"I don't have extra energy for the yoga practice."

"I don't have any free time for the yoga practice."

"I don't have yoga mat and yoga attire."

"I feel intimidated by all these yoga poses."

"I feel intimidated by all these teachings of yoga."

"Yoga is too moral high ground for me."

"I don't know what is non-attachment."

"The teachings are too hard for me to comprehend."

"I like to keep myself busy all the time, and I don't like quietness. Yoga and meditation might be too boring for me."

"I don't think I am fit or qualified enough to be a yoga practitioner."

And so on.

Yoga, or the realization of selflessness and impermanence, or unconditional peace, or the liberation from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, is nothing to do with the presence and absence of all those names and forms, backgrounds, experiences, food choices, conditions, way of living, abilities, limitations, or activities.

One doesn't need to quit smoking or drinking, or believe in spirituality, or be a vegetarian, or have a yoga mat and yoga attire, or be health conscious, or be able to do any yoga asana poses or sitting positions for meditation, and so on, to learn and practice yoga, but having an open mind and the will or desire to learn, to practice, to inquire, and to understand oneself, or the modification of the mind, or what is going on in this mind, by putting aside all kinds of hesitations that stop the mind from learning and practicing yoga.

It's about all and everyone take responsibility for all their action and inaction out of their own desire and don't desire, as well as be responsible for the consequences of their own action/inaction and desire/don't desire.

The realization of selflessness and impermanence that leads to unconditional peace, is nothing to do with whether the body can perform the yoga poses, or not, or whether the body can sit for meditation, or not, or whether the body can hold the breath or the yoga poses for a very long time, or not, or whether the mind is complying to the so called guidelines or standards for 'morality' or 'appropriate conduct' based on certain worldly egoistic family/cultural/social/spiritual/religious/national thinking, belief, values, and practice, or not.

All and everyone can practice yoga of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, and non-expectation, and to attain self-realization or liberation from ignorance, even if the mind thinks and believes that itself is the most evil impure being in the world, if they want, regardless of what the mind think, believe, and understand, or not. It's because the mind doesn't know and doesn't understand what are all these teachings and practice, that's why there is the teachings and practice available for this mind to learn and practice, to inquire and understand all that, if there is a will and determination to know and understand all that.

The mind that is peaceful as it is, that is free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, it doesn't need to practice yoga or anything.

Those who don't want to practice yoga, or are not interested in yoga, they don't need to practice yoga. It doesn't mean that people are bad if they are not interested in yoga, or if they don't practice yoga. Practicing yoga doesn't mean that one is a better being than the others that don't practice yoga.

Some minds might have been practicing/teaching yoga and meditation for a long time, being pure vegetarian, promoting loving kindness, and are highly health conscious, but still, they might not be free from passionate egoism of attachment, identification, and the desire of craving and aversion, and might be behaving in the way that hurt themselves and others, either wittingly or unwittingly. It doesn't mean that they are bad people or bad yogis. There's neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong, but everyone need to take their own pace and causation for undergoing the mind purification process for as long as they need, on the path of yoga towards self-realization or liberation from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

It's about what the mind wants and doesn't want for itself in this selfless impermanent limited conditional momentary life existence of the limited adjuncts of the body and mind.

If the mind doesn't want to know and understand about all that, or doesn't want to be free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, that enjoys being restless, that doesn't like calmness and quietness, that is its own freedom of thinking, desire and doesn't desire, or action and inaction.

Learning and practicing yoga is not about trying to become a 'perfectly high quality good and righteous' human being with 'appropriate and agreeable good and righteous behavior' in accordance to the worldly passionate egoistic family/cultural/social/spiritual/religious/national/commercial/political thinking and belief, values and practice. Many human beings that identifying themselves as righteous and good human beings that are highly civilized and cultured are not necessarily be free from ignorance and egoism, and would be thinking, believing, reasoning, understanding, desiring, behaving, acting, and reacting in the way that hurt oneself and others and the surrounding living environment, either wittingly or unwittingly.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Non-judgment and non-expectation

The practice of non-judgment is about the mind stops judging oneself and others, under the presence of correct understanding, and at the same time, the mind allows all the others to be what they are, as they are, where others are free to have their own understanding and non-understanding, and have judgment or expectation towards themselves and others, or not, but this mind is not being determined by the judgment or expectation coming from others towards oneself and all the others based on their understanding and non-understanding, action/inaction, and reaction/non-reaction under the influence of their particular thinking, belief, ideas, values, desires, and practice.

It's not about expecting others shouldn't have any judgment or expectation towards oneself at all, and be offended or disturbed by others' judgment or expectation towards oneself and some others.

That's why the practice of non-judgment is always being practiced together with non-expectation, as well as non-comparison, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving and non-aversion. All these names and forms are non-separated or non-distinct from one another.

All kinds of yoga practice is about understanding what is going on in one's modification of the mind, and purifying, disciplining, or changing the modification of this mind via certain methods or practices of observing certain observations and restrictions, it's not about looking at how all the others practice, understand, behave, act and react, or not, while expecting others to practice, understand, behave, act and react in certain way or not in certain way.

The yoga teacher is merely being there to deliver the teachings and the different practices. And, it's the freedom of the minds of how they want to perceive and react. The minds are free to react towards the delivery of the teachings and practices of yoga by the yoga teacher as a form of judgment or expectation towards themselves to be or not to be in certain way. Similarly, such minds also have the freedom of expecting the teacher to teach in certain way that they desire and agree with, and not in certain way that they don't desire and disagree with. While the teacher also has the freedom to teach in certain way, or not in certain way.

That indicates how deep is the ignorance in the minds, where the minds feel disturbed or offended by the delivery of the teachings and practice of yoga about identifying ignorance, the ego and egoism in one's mind, as well as observing certain observations (do's) and restrictions (don't do's) in order to eradicate ignorance, the ego and egoism. Even this teaching about pointing out, understanding, recognizing and acknowledging towards "The ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness in the mind," is being perceived as an offensive 'negative' judgment, feedback, or discouragement by the passionate egoistic minds functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism.

The minds expect 'reactions' from the teacher,

"You are amazing. You can do and achieve anything that you desire."

"You are such a wonderful wise and compassionate person with such a beautiful mind and kind heart."

"There's nothing wrong with you or your mind. Ignorance doesn't exist in you or your mind."

"Yeah! Well done! You did so well. I am so proud of you! You should be proud of yourself too."

"You are such a good and kind person. You deserve all the love and compliments. You don't deserve any bad people and bad happenings unto you."

For many minds, the presence and availability of what they perceived and recognized as 'positive' feedback, acknowledgements, compliments, and encouragements is 'normal', 'healthy', and 'the way that it should be', while the absence and non-availability of all that, as well as the presence of what they perceived and recognized as 'negative' feedback/acknowledgment, or the truth of themselves that they are not aware of, that they don't like and disagree with, is a form of offensive judgment, criticism, or discouragement.

And many minds are growing up being conditioned to think and believe, to have values, and to act and react in such way.

That is what the ego is about. It wants and needs to receive 'positive' feedback/acknowledgement/praise/compliment/encouragement constantly in order for it to feel good, right, positive, acknowledged, appreciated, accepted, agreed with, validated, loved, supported, deserving, proud, and meaningful about itself and life existence, while it doesn't want and have intense aversion towards coming in contact with anything that it perceives and refers as 'bad', 'negative', 'disagreement', 'non-supportive', or 'non-encouraging', as well as towards the absence of 'positive' feedback and encouragement.

That is what the minds are learning in the yoga class, to identify, recognize and be aware of the ego and egoism, and to understand the egoistic behavior, action, and reaction of the impure mind functioning under the influence of ignorance, the idea of 'I'/the ego, and egoism, while developing mental and emotional independence, without attachment, identification, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, or expectation. And at the same time, working diligently towards the annihilation of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness.

It's 'nice' to have such comforting agreeable 'positive' interaction and encouragement between the teacher and the students, but it doesn't help to eradicate ignorance, the idea of 'I', and egoism, but only empowers all that, particularly empowering the mental and emotional dependency among the teacher and the students. As even the passionate egoistic teacher also wants and needs to feel that, "I am a good and supportive yoga teacher," and "I am loved and needed by the yoga students."

The mind that is practicing yoga for liberation from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, that is eradicating the ego by 'starving' or 'stop feeding' the ego, is not determined by the presence and absence of 'positive' or 'negative' feedback or acknowledgement from anyone and anywhere. The selfless mind doesn't need the presence of 'positive' feedback and acknowledgement, or the absence of 'negative' feedback and acknowledgement in order to feel good, right, positive, acknowledged, appreciated, accepted, agreed with, validated, loved, supported, deserving, proud, and meaningful about itself or life existence, in order to motivate it to perform actions that are beneficial to oneself and others or to keep learning and improving itself, while allowing all these names and forms being projected by all the other minds to be there, or not.

There are minds that believe in, "We all need love, acknowledgement, and support from one another, to be motivated and encouraged constantly by one another, to keep improving ourselves, to do good, and be good. Or else, we will be lost and aimless, and reluctant to improve, to do good and be good." That's their freedom of thinking, belief, values, desire and practice.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Accepting and loving oneself as one is unconditionally doesn't mean that one doesn't need to inquire the truth of everything

Accepting and loving oneself as one is unconditionally, it doesn't mean that one stops learning and improving, or one doesn't need to inquire the truth of everything to be free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

In contrary, out of unconditional love and acceptance towards oneself, one can be constantly and continuously keep learning and improving in all aspects, but without passionate egoistic attachment, identification, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, or expectation towards the body and mind has to be or not to be in certain way, while performing all actions/duties/responsibilities towards oneself and/or others, including performing the yoga and meditation practice to inquire towards the truth of everything, to be free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, to attain self-realization towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence, and allowing the fruit of actions/duties/responsibilities/practice being what it is.

Such actions, duties, responsibilities and practice are being performed under the presence of correct understanding towards the limitation of the body and mind as well as acknowledging the possibilities and impossibilities in the present moment, without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitation, without hurting oneself and/or others in order to achieve certain improvement or accomplishment, respecting the possibilities and impossibilities in the present moment now, and knowing that all limitations/possibilities/impossibilities in the present moment now is impermanent, and will change.

It's normal and common that some minds that are functioning under the influence of ignorance would have intense disagreement towards self-acceptance, self-love, and contentment, where they think and believe that one would stop learning and improving oneself upon accepting and loving oneself as one is, or upon the presence of contentment. That's their freedom of thinking, understanding, desire/don't desire, and action/inaction.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Yoga practice is indeed changing the mind behavior pattern of this mind, by itself

The yoga practice that is about the annihilation of ignorance, the idea of 'I'/the ego, egoism, impurities, and restlessness (disturbed suffering state of mind), is indeed about changing the mind behavior pattern, of this mind, by itself, out of self-initiative and self-discipline, or in other term, igniting the process of mind purification, to free the mind from being conditioned by the habitual worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, ideas, values, desires, and practice under the influence of ignorance, the ego, egoism, impurities and restlessness to reason, act and react in certain way, to be preparing the mind for performing self-inquiry under a dispassionate, desireless, pure and quiet mind, to be attaining correct understanding towards the selfless impermanent modification of the mind (the mind perception of a selfless impermanent worldly life existence of names and forms), and the truth of selflessness and impermanence in all kinds of names and forms, of both the perceiver and the perceived, where the mind is undetermined and undisturbed by the perceived names and forms being what they are, and allowing all kinds of names and forms being what they are, as they are, and all are selfless and impermanent.

The mind that is closed, that is prideful, that is self-righteous, that is reluctant to change, while constantly be disturbed or annoyed by all kinds of names and forms, of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, thoughts, feelings, emotions, affairs, conditions, situations, family ties, social connections, interactions, events, and relationships that the mind perceived or categorized as unpleasant, undesirable, disagreeable, non-enjoyable, hurtful, annoying, bad, negative, or meaningless, but then it also keeps complaining and blaming towards all those names and forms to be the cause of its disturbed state of mind and all its painful suffering, it will be like 'fish out of water' upon coming in contact with the teachings and practice of yoga.

"There is nothing wrong with me. I am fine. I am good and kind. I don't need to change. The ones that need to change or get out of my way/life are all those people, things, experiences, affairs, and happenings that are bad and wrong, that are negative and hurtful, that are selfish and unkind, that I don't deserve, and they are the reasons why I am in a disturbed state of mind and in painful suffering."

None can help such mind. And that is everyone's freedom of desire, and freedom of being what they are.

In the beginning, when the mind is being over-powered by ignorance, egoism, impurities, and restlessness, where there is the absence of correct understanding, it is about changing the mind behavior pattern by freeing the mind from being conditioned by worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, ideas, values, and practice, to reason, understand, desire, behave, act, and react in certain way, that helps to purify and quiet the modification of the mind, preparing the mind for self-inquiry towards the truth of everything, that gives rise to correct understanding. When the veil of ignorance, the ego, egoism, impurities, and restlessness are becoming weaker and thinned-out, where there is the presence of correct understanding in the mind, it's more about transcending the mind behavior pattern, and silencing the selfless impermanent modification of the mind.

Inquire the truth of everything.