Healthy body happy mind?

Just like the many common and popular terms of 'mental and emotional healing' and/or 'spiritual healing', or 'be positive, be strong', or 'you can fly', or 'you deserve', or 'you are unlimited', or 'you can be/do/achieve anything that you desire', and etc, similarly, the term of 'healthy body happy mind' is also one of the many common and popular terms in the world of yoga, and they are neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong, but all these common and popular terms are nothing to do with the teachings and practice of yoga.

The minds that are still functioning under the presence and influence of the veil of ignorance, need to be prompted/inspired/motivated/attracted by certain pleasant, desirable, agreeable, enjoyable, motivational, or attractive 'benefit'/'result'/'goal'/'achievement', in order to be inspired and aspired to do something or anything. And hence, there are many different types of 'motivational positive encouragement' existing to motivate the minds to be engaging in certain kind of yoga practice to begin with. If there is persistence and regularity in the engagement in some kind of yoga practice, the mind might or might not start to realize and understand towards all those 'motivational positive encouragements' are not the objective, or the highest goal, or the end of the yoga practice.

Very few minds that are already endowed with the basic correct understanding from young, and that have the intense immovable yearning towards liberation, self discipline, and the mental and emotional independence, where they will devote their entire life existence and function, or their entire attention and energy onto the path of yoga and/or buddhism diligently to inquire the truth of everything internally and externally to know Thyself, even if they have read or heard from someone or somewhere, or they have realized and understood from the very beginning that the path of yoga and/or buddhism is not an easy or pleasant path, but rather there are many challenging obstacles and difficulties arising from time to time, internally and externally, where they endure or forbear, and break through or move around all kinds of unpleasant or even painful obstacles or difficulties, and upon the direct self realization towards knowing Thyself takes place, they might or might not return to the world of ignorant egoistic impure restless suffering minds, served as the reflective object and/or subject for the suffering minds that are in searching for genuine guidance or way towards liberation, to reflect/contemplate upon themselves to know Thyself.

Do not mistaken such devotion onto the path of yoga and/or buddhism as 'Being a monk or a nun living in the temple or ashram with the monk/nun community', as that doesn't guarantee that the mind is practicing yoga and/or buddhism as it is.

There is nothing wrong with 'healthy and fit physical body' and 'happy minds'. 

It is indeed very good to have a 'healthy and fit physical body' with minimum illness, injury, weakness, limitations, or disabilities. It saves lots of unnecessary expenses, conserves life existence/effort/energy, and generates less evitable inconveniences to oneself and others, if one has the basic general knowledge or universal common sense, correct understanding, and proper action taking to avoid or prevent all kinds of evitable unnecessary physical illness, injury, limitation, or disability that is not due to inevitable genetically inherited physical and/or mental condition from the beginning of formation and birth, or if upon the presence of any kind of treatable/recoverable illness or injury, one has the self initiative and understanding to take immediate action to be rehabilitated from the existing treatable illness or injury attentively as soon as possible, before it becomes worst if being left unattended without proper action taking or necessary medical treatments.

It is also very good to have a 'happy mind', even if that state of happiness/satisfaction/comfort is also merely a momentary state of the mind, that is limited and conditional, that is coming and going, that will appear and disappear, that will arise, change, and pass away, but a mind that is in a state of happiness/satisfaction/comfort, will most probably be nicer and kinder to oneself and others, and will be less violent and hurtful unto oneself and others, even if such pleasant behavior is only presence during that momentary state of happiness/satisfaction/comfort.

Just as some people where their mind is being over-powered by the veil of ignorance, will appear to be more difficult than usual, and behaving irrationally and violently upon the presence of hunger or tiredness that is not being satisfied immediately, and even more so upon the presence of hunger or tiredness is persisted not being attended for an extended duration (non-gratification of needs/desires), while they appeared to be more easy going and a lot nicer when there is absence of hunger or tiredness, or upon the hunger or tiredness is being attended immediately and disappeared (gratification of needs/desires).

Such minds are unwittingly being the slave of the conscious/semi-conscious desires of craving and aversion, as well as the non-conscious urges/fluctuation of hormonal changes/involuntary autonomous bodily functions/conditions/situations. Such minds would become agitated/grumpy/bad mood if it doesn't get to sleep when it desires to sleep, or it doesn't get enough of sleep, or the sleep is disturbed by something or someone, or upon waking up but not fully awake yet.

Even though it is not necessarily, but it is a lot easier for the mind that is in a good mood or in state of comfort, happiness, or satisfaction, to be 'more easy going', or 'nicer', or 'kinder', or 'forgiving', or be able to 'let go' and 'not be bothered by' something or anything, even if that is conditional, and it is only possible for a limited duration.

Especially under the absence of the basic essential correct understanding towards what is happening in the mind itself, on top of under the presence of grasping as well as the absence of certain degrees of self control, the mind that is in a state of unhappiness/disturbance/great disappointment/unpleasantness/discomfort/dissatisfaction/painful suffering/exhaustion/tiredness/hunger and thirst, will tend to be violent and hurtful unto oneself and others and the surrounding environment, either wittingly or unwittingly, randomly or deliberately, intentionally or unintentionally.

And more importantly, if under the absence of correct understanding on top of the presence of incorrect understanding, the mind might unwittingly or ignorantly harming the existence and function of the body and mind as well as directly or indirectly harming others and the surrounding environment during the process to achieve a 'healthy and fit physical body' and/or 'happy mind'. Such as some minds feel good, happy, satisfied, or accomplished upon successfully damaging/hurting/manipulating/exploiting/destroying some others or something in order to achieve what they like and desire.

Meanwhile, 'healthy and fit body' and 'happy mind' are not necessarily relate to one another, or the shadow of one another.

Under the presence and influence of the veil of ignorance, the mind can still be unhappy about something or everything even if the body is super healthy and fit, or is highly energetic and free from illness/injury/weakness/stiffness/limitation, or under the presence of correct understanding, the mind can still be cheerful and happy even if the body is unhealthy and unfit, or is undergoing certain unpleasant and undesirable illness, injury, weakness, stiffness, limitation, disability, discomfort, or painful suffering.

No doubt that, it will be very good if all and everyone can have a 'healthy and fit physical body' as well as a 'happy mind' at the same time. There will be more peace and harmony or less unrest and disharmony, in this world of many diversities that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

More importantly, a 'happy mind' doesn't necessarily mean that the mind is free from the influence of the veil of ignorance and the by-products of ignorance.

There are many minds are being happy and feeling good and satisfied because of the gratification of certain desires of craving and aversion, or the manifestation of the momentary conditional sense of confidence, strength, success, achievement, or accomplishment, upon experiencing/achieving/receiving/possessing/enjoying what the mind likes, agrees, and desires, that the mind thinks and believes and recognizes as 'superior' quality or status, while not experiencing/getting/receiving/possessing/suffering what the mind doesn't like, doesn't agree, and doesn't desire, that the mind thinks and believes and recognizes as 'inferior' quality or status.

The gratification of the desires of craving and aversion, or the momentary conditional sense of confidence, strength, success, achievement, or accomplishment, as well as during the process of achieving all THAT, are not necessarily be free from certain activities that are harming/hurting/exploiting some others or the surrounding environment directly and/or indirectly, either wittingly and/or unwittingly, that impact all and everyone and everything and the surrounding environment short-termly, medium-termly, or long-termly, under the presence of boundless empowered greedy desires, inspirations, aspirations, visions, and ambitions waiting to be materialized and fulfilled endlessly.

It is also common and natural that most minds would like to have longevity or long life span, to be able to live as long as possible, as well as to be aging gracefully and joyfully, and to enjoy all kinds of enjoyments as much as possible, if it is not possible to be immortal and forever youthful infinitely, devoid of decay, aging, old age, weakness, stiffness, illness, injury, immobility, limitation, disability, or death.

Many minds might relate 'healthy and fit body' with 'longevity', because scientifically or biologically, a 'healthy and fit body' has the bigger possibility of having a longer life span.

'Healthy and fit or youthful and energetic body' and 'longevity' are not necessarily the shadow of one another, where there are many people don't or didn't live long due to certain impactful activities/conditions/situations even when the body is/was still in the tip top good health, fitness, youthful, and energetic condition.

Except certain inevitable intentionless natural causes of death regardless of short or long life span (impactful accidents and diseases/non-human's ignorance induced natural disasters/genetically inherited underlying condition/natural process of decay and disintegration), there are many evitable unnecessary non-natural causes of death as well as physical and/or mental painful suffering, is due to the hurtful and impactful activities/conditions/situations/ties and connections/relationships/interactions/communications/affairs deriving from the minds that are functioning under the presence and influence of the veil of ignorance, a.k.a. the idea of 'I'/the ego (the conscious and semi-conscious self awareness or self acknowledgement under the presence of conscious and semi-conscious awareness upon the state of consciousness and semi-consciousness), egoism, impurities, and restlessness.

There are many evitable unnecessary human's ignorance induced detrimental and impactful conditions, situations, affairs, activities, ties and connections, relationships, interactions, communications, accidents, illnesses, diseases, injuries, damages, abuse, bully, violence, fighting, killing, unrest, oppression, invasion, intrusion, war, discrimination and prejudice, unjust and cruelty, exploitation and desperation, or all kinds of evitable painful physical and mental/emotional suffering inflicted by oneself and/or others, that are impacting, threatening, damaging, and detrimental towards the surrounding living environment and atmosphere, or the life existence and function as well as the over-all physical and mental well-being of all and everyone.

All THAT are the by-products deriving from the minds under the influence of all kinds of worldly egoistic ideas/affairs/beliefs/values/practices/visions/agendas/activities, especially selfish politicking or political power games, greedy commercial/financial/economical endless investment, development, growth, expansion, and empowerment (beyond the basic need of essential infrastructure development and management for all kinds of diversities to be existing and living in simplicity under a conducive peaceful and harmonious environment freely and indiscriminately), in order to support endless wealth and status accumulation and hoarding, or to gratify and materialize boundless desires, pleasurable physical and mental enjoyments, inspirations, aspirations, visions, and ambitions waiting to be fulfilled, being empowered by as well as empowering selfishness, possessiveness, sense of belonging and pride, mental and emotional dependence, the power of unity or togetherness, or more precisely, the power of control and authority for maximal survival and expansion (that is widely being misunderstood or linked to non-separateness or oneness or non-duality in yoga and/or buddhism), such as family-hood, brotherhood and sisterhood, gangsterism, nationalism, communism, capitalism, tribalism, leadership, organization, authorization, anarchy, monarchy, democracy, dictatorship, or authoritarianism, as well as the sense of self-esteem and self-worth, pride and shame, superiority and inferiority, envy and jealousy, fear and the urge to control and interfere or manipulate all and everything to be or not to be in certain way, discrimination and prejudice, and all kinds of corruption, exploitation, intrusion, invasion, occupation, fighting, or war, domestically and externally, either being generated wittingly and/or unwittingly, that directly and/or indirectly impacting all and everyone and everything, even to the minds that are functioning under the absence of grasping under the presence of correct understanding (non-feeding ignorance), not to say, even more so to the minds that are functioning under the presence of grasping and incorrect understanding (ignorance gives rise to ignorance, and that also feeds and empowers ignorance).

There are many unnecessary and evitable environmental damages or detrimental conditions and situations that give rise to unnecessary physical and mental painful suffering in the many minds are not because of the sake of 'survival', but the empowered boundless and endless greedy desires, inspirations, aspirations, visions, and ambitions of the minds of human beings functioning under the presence and influence of the veil of ignorance.

What is the point of having 'longevity' or 'continuously living as long as possible', under a 'healthy and fit and energetic physical body', to accumulate and hoard unlimited 'wealth and possessions', or to enjoy unlimited pleasurable enjoyments of the senses, while wittingly or unwittingly harming/hurting/exploiting all and everyone and everything and the surrounding environment, directly or indirectly, in the process of achieving all THAT?

That is why the highly essential and practical teachings and observation or practice in yoga and/or buddhism about non-grasping, non-association, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison, non-expectation, live in the present, letting go the desirable and undesirable past memories and future imaginations, renunciation, dispassion, desirelessness, contentment, non-greed, simplicity, generosity, kindness, respect, non-discrimination, inclusivity, forbearance, adjustment, adaptation, accommodation, non-possessiveness, solitude, seclusion, mental and emotional independence, open mind, non-blind believing/following/glorifying/worshiping/agreeing/disagreeing/practicing/propagating, silence (Mauna), concentration and meditation, all kinds of attention demanding and effort exerting/action taking exercises, self-introspection and self-investigation, self-inquiry and self-realization, and the middle path, to practically and effectively moving the body and mind (physically and mentally) away from continuously being bombarded, hammered, disturbed, conditioned, and influenced consciously/semi-consciously/unconsciously by so much over-whelming impactful worldly egoistic ideas/affairs/beliefs/values/practices/visions/aspirations/ambitions/agendas/activities/all kinds of 'motivational positive empowerment' to achieve endless higher and higher success, status, power, wealth, and enjoyment', in order to purify and quiet the restless egoistic impure modification of the mind, to develop, promote, and empower mental and emotional independence and correct understanding, to practically and effectively freeing the selfless impermanent limited and conditional perceptive, cognitive, intellectual, emotional, thinking, and acting faculty/mind from the influence of the veil of ignorance.

The mind that understands this, it appreciates and makes good use of the availability of a 'healthy and fit and energetic physical body' without harming/exploiting anyone or anything under the presence of unconditional peace and correct understanding, to perform actions/activities that are beneficial to all and everyone and everything and the surrounding environment that doesn't belong to anyone or anything, while being at peace being undetermined or undisturbed upon the non-availability of a 'healthy and fit and energetic physical body' to be performing any actions/activities.

Inquire the truth of everything. 

The world of many diversities doesn't belong to anyone or anything

Neither the world of many diversities and communities nor the planet earth nor anything in this infinite space belong to anyone or anything.

All land and space, the nature and natural resources, and all and everything in anywhere in the universe don't belong to anyone or anything.

All and everyone and everything are merely existing momentarily and sharing this infinite space that doesn't belong to anyone and anything. 

'Discrimination', 'separateness', 'borders', 'documentation', 'emigration', 'immigration', 'nationality', 'citizenship', 'legalization', 'criminalization', 'authorization', or 'legal and illegal immigrants' don't exist, as well as all and everyone are free to be existing, living, surviving, moving, and travelling everywhere in the world that doesn't belong to anyone and anything, until different communities claimed possession, ownership, and authorization towards the land and space, the nature and natural resources, and all and everything in this world on planet earth that doesn't belong to anyone and anything, while create lots of story telling and justification (all kinds of beliefs and values) to justify and validate all that (all those egoistic practices that go against nature or the truth of everything as it is).

Unfortunately, even under the era of higher advanced science and technology, of higher education and development, most human beings are being brought up, educated, and empowered under certain beliefs and values to have strong attachment and identification, possessiveness and the sense of belonging, pride and patriotism, and the sense of separateness and discrimination towards what they were being conditioned to think and believe towards 'That is the way of the world', 'That is how things should be done', 'That is who they are', 'That is what belongs to them', 'That is where they belong to', 'That they need to be patriotic to protect what they belong to and what belongs to them', 'That they need approval and recognition and authorization to be who they are and for all and everything (to be born, to be alive, to be existing, to be what they are and not to be what they are not, to think or don't think, to believe or don't believe, to feel or don't feel, to behave or don't behave, to express or don't express, to be living, and to be stop living or to die)', 'That they are different from and more superior than all the others that are not one of them', 'That they have the rights or more rights to be existing, living, surviving, moving, and travelling in certain area of land and space', and 'All the others that are not one of them don't have the rights or have less rights to be existing, living, surviving, moving, and travelling in certain area of land and space that they think and believe that belong to them'.

How ridiculous is that, the authorities, the law makers, the armies, and the soldiers have 'the rights' to hurt and kill all and everyone and destroy all and everything, causing all kinds of unnecessary difficulties and painful suffering unto many innocent lives in the world that doesn't belong to anyone and anything, while all and everyone doesn't even have the rights or freedom to die at one's own wish, that it is illegal and criminalized and punishable for want to stop living due to the existence of all kinds of unnecessary difficulties and painful suffering that exist because of the existence of all kinds of man made greed, selfishness, possessiveness, discrimination, separateness, bullying, cruelty, violence, and madness deriving from ignorance, or because people appreciate and respect all lives and everything, and they don't want to be forced to be engaging in violence to hurt and kill and destroy all and everyone and everything? How ridiculous is that many kind people wish to stop living because they are being forced to become armies and soldiers that hurt and kill others and cause hurtful destruction unto all and everything, and they will be criticized, condemned, and punished for don't want to hurt and kill others?

The many different leaders/authorities/law makers says, "We are here to protect our people and our world," while they are doing many things to hurt the people and the world that don't belong to anyone or anything as much as possible, either intentionally (wittingly) or unintentionally (unwittingly).

The children also don't belong to the parents, not to say, the diverse communities don't belong to anyone or anything.

Certain ambitious leaders/authorities misused the meanings of oneness, non-separateness, non-discrimination, and non-borders, or 'all are one', or 'we are one big family', via the practice of unification/non-diversity/non-individualism/non-independence through manipulation/force/threat/intimidation/oppression/suppression/invasion, by disallowing and criminalizing and destroying diversities and all kinds of freedom, while being ambitious to claim possession/ownership and authorization/control over the entire world of many diversities and communities as well as land, space, and natural resources that doesn't belong to anyone or anything to be governed/controlled under their own particular leadership or authority, to be materializing, supporting, and empowering their particular ambitious vision of an unify non-diverse world under their particular way of thinking and belief, values and desires.

Complete madness. 

The world doesn't have to be like this.

Inquire the truth of everything.

May all be free, be happy, be peaceful.

Self-righteousness that hurt and destroy all and everything out of anger, hatred, fear, and greed

It's normal and common that many minds are having the sense of pride and superiority towards their own existence, origin, background, belief, ideas, values, desires, visions, actions, and reactions, and have the sense of self-righteousness towards all and everything based on their particular way of thinking, belief, ideas, values, and desires.

Out of self-righteousness being righteous towards many things based on their own particular way of thinking, belief, ideas, values, and desires, they would hurt and destroy all and everything that they think and believe as 'bad' and 'wrong', or potentially 'hurtful' and 'destructive' unto them and what is theirs, or potential 'obstacles' obstructing them to achieve what they want to achieve, out of anger and hatred, as well as fear and defensiveness, on top of greed and possessiveness.

Out of the sense of fear and defensiveness, where they think and feel that themselves are being intimidated by the strong presence of some others, and hence, they would hurt and destroy what they think and believe is the potential intimidation that can be intimidating them, even when none and nothing is intimidating them.

Fear of being hurt or attacked by some others, one would attack and destroy the potential 'enemies' FIRST, even when the others have no intention and didn't do anything to hurt or attack anyone. 

For example, there is fear in the people towards the potential risk of could be hurt by the poisonous snakes (that have no intention to hurt anyone unless when they needed to defend themselves only if they are being disturbed, threatened, and attacked), and hence, the people want to hurt and destroy or get rid of all the poisonous snakes in the surrounding environment that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

There is enormous greed in the minds towards possessing and hoarding land and space, food and energy resources and wealth, and endless accumulation of power and control that can gratify all their greedy desires and ambitions, and hence, they desire to invade and conquer and claim ownership towards all the land and space that they think and believe that has something or everything that they want, in order to gratify all their boundless desires, at all costs, of hurting and destroying all and everything, under the name of 'self-righteousness' and 'self-defense' reacting towards 'the existing threat upon them that is actually inflicted by their own self-righteousness, fear, and intentional annoying disturbing behavior unto the others', in order to achieve what they want to achieve.

"We are limited. We cannot be any stronger. We are not as strong as others. And so, we cannot let others to become stronger than us. We need to cause damages unto others, so that others cannot and won't become stronger than us."

There are minds deliberately generate ongoing disturbing annoying behavior unto the others that they dislike and disagree with, to provoke them to react in certain way, that would give them the righteous excuse to hurt and punish, or even destroy the others that they dislike and disagree with.

Just as certain people have fear towards poisonous snakes, and hence, they want to get rid of the poisonous snakes that are just being there as they are without any intention to hurt or intimidate anyone, and upon the poisonous snakes react under the threat of being disturbed and attacked by the people in order to be defending/protecting themselves, the people think and say, "Look. They are so bad and hurtful. They deserved to be destroyed and eliminated from the world. I am doing everyone a favor, by hurting them and getting rid of them so that they won't be able to hurt me and my family and all of you. I am doing this to defend the safety of myself and my family and all of you. Also, after we clear out all the poisonous snakes from this land, we can do whatever we want on this land and take whatever we want from this land."

The minds that have correct understanding, they respect all and everyone as they are, even if they don't agree with all and everyone. They don't possess any land or space claiming as their land or their space, because they know that all lands and space don't belong to anyone or anything. All and everyone are merely momentarily sharing this land and space with all and everything that are different from one another, that might not like or agree with one another, and that's okay. If there are some others that are non-understanding and behaving hurtfully and destructively, they would just stay away from these minds as much as possible, minimize or avoid any kind of dealing or interaction with them. Leave them alone, let them be what they are, while allowing them to be aware of their own mind and their behavior, or not.

The minds that understand, they never feel intimidated by anyone or anything, not even death, not to say, the ones that claimed to be the most powerful and influential people, or the most successful and wealthy people, and carry the highest ranking, class, title, or status in the world. They never admire or look down on anyone. They are free from superiority and inferiority. They are free from self-esteem and self-worth. They don't need to please anyone and they don't need to be pleased by anyone.

All are selfless. All are impermanent. All are limited and conditional. All will change, decay, disintegrate, and pass away, regardless of whether comfortably, gracefully, or elegantly, or not.

Reflect. Inquire. Realize.

Be free from ignorance.

Be free from self-righteousness.

Be free from fear.

Be free from greed and possessiveness. 

Be free from "I need to attack you first even before you do anything 'bad', 'wrong', 'hurtful', or 'destructive' unto me. To show you and all the others that I am strong. I can bully you, but you can't bully me. If you threaten me for bullying you, then it proves that you are bad and wrong, and you deserved to be punished for threatening me. I bully you is all out of self-defense, because I strongly think and believe that you would be bad and hurtful unto me and my family and everyone else, and so, it's totally alright and nothing wrong for me to bully you and hurt you as much as I want, so that you can't hurt me even if I am hurting you. And I want to hurt you, because I think and believe that you are bad, and you deserve punishment."

That is seriously mentally ill. Unfortunately, many minds are indeed not aware of themselves are thinking and behaving in such way. These minds are drowning in painful suffering being lost in ignorance.

"We are the good and righteous people. We need to punish and get rid of all the other bad and wrongful people in the world," and "You are bad and wrong because you don't do exactly what I want and expect you to do." That is what the self-righteous minds strongly think and believe and behave.

Such is the world of ignorance.

Ignorance is the most serious form of mental illness that cause intentional or unintentional hurtful destructive behavior unto oneself and/or others and the surrounding environment in a world that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

And this ignorance exists in everywhere, where the minds are, in the family, in the relationships, in any community, or in any dealing and affair.

None can remove the ignorance in others.

It's the freedom of the minds towards whether they are aware of ignorance in themselves, or not, and whether they want to be free from ignorance, or not.

It's the freedom of all minds to behave the way that they are, and it's their own responsibility towards all their behaviors/actions/reactions and the consequences of all that.

Inquire the truth of everything, and be free.

Can't have everything - Appreciate certain things while let go some other things

There are some reasons why the mind is in the state of disturbance, unrest, dissatisfaction, disappointment, unhappiness, or misery, that is unnecessary and evitable.

- Fear towards making choices or taking responsibilities.

- Doesn't know what it wants and doesn't want.

- Has some ideas towards what it wants and doesn't want, but is unsure towards what it really wants and doesn't want.

- Knows what it really wants and doesn't want, but has fear towards making wrong decisions that lead to regrets.

- Knows what it wants and doesn't want, and has no fear or regret towards making decisions to be achieving what it wants and doesn't want, but it is greedy, where it wants all and everything that it wants, and even beyond.

 

There are inevitable limitations in this selfless impermanent worldly existence of names and forms.

One can only be here, or there.

One cannot be here and there at the same time.

 

No matter how big the pot is, the pot can only fill up what it can fill up.

It's about making choices towards keeping what can be put and kept in the pot, while let go certain things that can't fit into the pot, or when the pot is full.

 

None can have all and everything.

One can fill up all the pockets that one has, and hold something in bags or containers sitting on top of the head, or holding in both hands, or hanging onto the ears, the shoulders, the forearms, the waist, and the hips, or strapping onto the entire body, as much as possible, until one can no longer move and breathe, or one can keep as much as possible in the biggest warehouse(s), but still, there is limitation.

The healthiest, fittest, strongest, fastest, and most knowledgeable, intelligent, skillful, talented, beautiful, charming, admirable, influential, wealthy, successful, or powerful person in the world also has limitation.

For the minds that are devoid of desires, they are free as they are, regardless of all kinds of limitations.

For the minds that have desires, they can be free as well, if they know how to accept and respect limitations.

Appreciate certain things without attachment or clinging, while be bold to let go some other things.

The mind will be free from unnecessary disturbance, unrest, dissatisfaction, disappointment, unhappiness, or misery.

Be free.

The world is what it is

The selfless impermanent world is existing, and it is called 'the world', because it is what all and everything are. They are non-separated.

There is no world if there isn't any kind of selfless impermanent worldly existence of names and forms being existing here in this space that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

Apart from the inevitable selfless impermanent changes due to the inevitable natural decaying process that exists along with all kinds of selfless impermanent names and forms since the beginning of existence, the perceived world is merely what it is (or all and everything are merely being what they are, as they are), it is nothing but the consequences of all kinds of actions/reactions of the selfless minds, where the selfless impermanent changes in the world are indeed influenced and impacted greatly by the sum actions/reactions of the selfless minds that had been, and are occupying this space of the universe that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

Some minds justify that survival instinct (hunger and thirst) is the reason why there are so many selfishness, greed, discrimination, fear, occupation, fighting, and violence related affairs, events, or suffering existing in this world.

Survival instinct alone, if without the influence of ignorance and egoism, it doesn't cause unnecessary damages (or evitable suffering) to the world that doesn't belong to anyone and anything. The world exists along with all kinds of supportive essential elements for all kinds of existence to be catering the different basic needs of all kinds of names and forms to be existing, maintaining (surviving), and ceased existing. If without the presence of the selfless supportive elements, nothing can exist, there is no world.

Hunger and thirst (lack of energy/energy depletion) -> finding/consuming food and water that doesn't belong to anyone or anything (replenishing energy that doesn't belong to anyone or anything) -> either surviving (energy replenished) or ceased functioning and existing/dying and disintegrating (prolonged and complete energy depletion). Devoid of greed, hoarding, possessiveness, separateness, selfishness, protectiveness, fear, discrimination, or ceaseless and boundless desires for abundant pleasurable enjoyments of the senses beyond basic needs for survival. The earth doesn't belong to anyone. The space, the land, the air, the water, or nature doesn't belong to anyone. There are enough basic needs for all selfless impermanent existence of diverse names and forms to be shared among all and everything that are selfless and impermanent.

It's the presence of ignorance and egoism on top of the survival instinct in the minds that had been and are occupying in the world that is selfless and impermanent, that is limited and conditional, that is why there are many unnecessary human made hurtful physical/mental/emotional damages (evitable suffering deriving from ignorance and egoism) being generated by the passionate impure egoistic minds functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism into the world of many diversities that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

It's not survival instinct, but it's the presence of ignorance and egoism that gives rise to the non-existing individual and community existence, separateness, fear towards unknown/death/ceased functioning and existing/non-existence/extinction, craving towards the absence of hunger and thirst (pain and unpleasantness), aversion towards the presence of hunger and thirst, clinging towards continuous supply of supportive elements for desirable comfortable enjoyable elongated life existence, hoarding, possessiveness, selfishness, greed, protectiveness, discrimination, personal and group identities, pride, ideas, beliefs, visions, aspirations, ambitions, desires, politics/power of control, ungratified desires of craving (wants) and aversion (don't wants), dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, irritation, anger, hatred, defensiveness, offensiveness, humiliation, retaliation, intimidation, fighting, invasion, occupation, violence, and so on.

Inquire the truth of everything. Attain self-realization towards selflessness and impermanence, and be free.

One will stop generating hurtful action/reaction unto oneself and others, or the world of many diversities in this space of the universe that doesn't belong to anyone and anything.

This (non-violence) is nothing to do with the passionate possessive impure egoistic limited and conditional loving kindness/sympathy/empathy/protectiveness under the influence of ignorance and egoism, where all and everyone are fighting against/hurting one another trying to possess and protect what they think and believe is them and theirs, that they love very much, while all and everyone are indeed hurting all and everything that they think and believe that they love very much, that they think and believe are them and theirs.

None can remove the ignorance and egoism in others for others, but only by the mind itself, alone.

The mind that knows, the mind that is devoid of ignorance and egoism, the mind that is devoid of attachment and identification/possessiveness and protectiveness/craving and aversion/fear and greed/anger and hatred/separateness and discrimination/desires and visions/intention and expectation, the mind that lets go and unattached towards all and everything, the mind that respects cause and effect, nature, or selfless impermanent changes/decaying process, the mind that is resting in silence, is free.

Be free from selfishness, possessiveness, pride, discrimination, petty-mindedness

Selfishness, possessiveness, pride, discrimination, and petty-mindedness, or greed, is not distinctive from self-destruction. It hurts others, and it will hurt oneself.

When a mind, not to say, the minds of a group of community, is being over-powered by selfishness, possessiveness (of claiming ownership and authority towards certain space and nature that don't belong to anyone), pride (towards their particular identity and possession), discrimination (towards the others that the mind(s) perceived as 'foreigners' or 'not one of us'), and petty-mindedness (of unwilling to be sharing the space and nature that don't belong to anyone with all and everyone, or unwilling to look after the general physical and mental welfare of the others, but depriving and destroying the general physical and mental welfare of the others), and under the influence of all these names and forms, the mind(s) generate desires, thoughts, actions and expressions that project the aspiration of either unwelcoming, pushing away, chasing out, and hating towards 'the others', or charging/taxing all others for their existence and all kinds of basic needs for survival in this space that doesn't belong to anyone, it all will come back unto oneself (themselves).

How people (the minds) desire to 'build' their 'living space' that doesn't belong to them or anyone (either full of peace, openness, kindness and harmony that give rise to prosperity for everyone, or full of unrest, selfishness, unkindness and disharmony that give rise to desperation and suffering for everyone), that's the 'living space' that they will be living in.

All kinds of basic survival needs that are available for all kinds of names and forms to be existing and surviving here in this space that doesn't belong to anyone, are coming from the selfless universe or the selfless nature, absolutely available for all and everyone to be existing and surviving here in this space that doesn't belong to anyone, unconditionally and limitlessly, provided that each and everyone needs to be exerting certain effort or energy to be maintaining and looking after their own existence and survival. All and everyone still needs to find food and water, and eat the food and drink the water, which requires certain effort or energy, where the energy is also coming from the selfless support of the selfless universe or nature, unconditionally and limitlessly, until the end of the existence of any particular name and form.

However, the many ignorant selfish possessive discriminating greedy minds thought that they could just claim ownership and authority towards the space and all kinds of basic survival needs that don't belong to anyone as much as they can, keeping for their own existence and survival, while at the same time, either forbidding others from existing and surviving in this space that doesn't belong to anyone, or restricting others' existence and survival by charging/taxing others for being existing and surviving in this space that doesn't belong to anyone.

It's like the air or oxygen. It doesn't belong to anyone. Similarly, the sun, the earth, the space, the land, the water, the nature or natural resources that exist selflessly and unconditionally for the existence and life maintenance or survival of all kinds of names and forms, don't belong to anyone.

Inquire the truth of everything.

None need more than sufficient basic needs to live a simple happy peaceful life

A simple happy peaceful life doesn't mean living under insufficiency of lacking the basic needs for life maintenance.

A simple clean and tidy living and resting space or shelter as well as enough basic clothing that protect the physical body from the impact of harsh weather, injuries, insects and wild animals in a healthy natural non-polluted surrounding environment, clean air, adequate simple nutritious food consumption that generates enough energy and nutrition for maintaining the basic function of the physical body and the thinking faculty, clean safe drinking water, basic hygiene and sanitation, certain indoor or outdoor physical and mental activities that don't require any additional equipment or gadget, basic living skills, basic correct understanding or universal conscience with basic common sense, openness, self-control, self-reliance, self-effort, self-inquiry, self-realization, contentment, and certain degrees of mental and emotional independence, are all the basic needs for maintaining a wholesome selfless impermanent life existence of the selfless physical body and the selfless thinking faculty.

There are boundless different kinds of unnecessary commercial ideas, products and activities, food productions, dining options, entertainments, fashions, accessories, gadgets, lifestyles, beliefs, values, practices, physical and mental leisure activities that require certain space, equipment or gadget, varieties of furniture, luxury accommodations, home decorations, pets decorations, toys, commercialized sports activities related commercial products, theme parks related commercial products, tourism related commercial products, celebration days, cultural, spiritual and religious events with their respective rituals or objects for different occasions, health and fitness products, beauty cosmetics products, skin care/body care/facial care/hair care products, spiritual healing related products, health food products, health care products, slimming products, anti-aging products, luxurious pleasurable material and sensual enjoyment of the senses for the body and mind, tourism holiday activities, and etc, where all these ideas, products and activities beyond basic needs for life maintenance are deriving from the intention of empowering wealth generation and accumulation through business investments, property investments, productions, tourism, commercialism and capitalism, under the creativity of the creative minds utilizing the many different technologies and higher technologies designing for catering the 'inspired' and 'empowered' desires and ambitions beyond basic needs for life maintenance of the ever restless discontented ambitious passionate minds under the influence of ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness.

The existence of all these unnecessary ideas, products and activities are exploiting the nature and natural resources to the maximum to the point of destruction, while generating lots of unnecessary inevitable rubbish or pollution into the world, and give rise to so much exploitation and corruption that lead to many unnecessary damages and suffering in the world under such greedy ambitious inspirational aspirations and desires of the restless passionate egoistic minds functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism.

The buddhas and gurus foreseen all kinds of alarming damaging effects in the world deriving from such ignorance, egoism, restlessness, discontentment, dissatisfaction, greed, desires, aspirations, ambitions, success, wealth, status, indulgence, possessiveness and pride, that give rise to so much unnecessary damages to the natural environment, unrest, separateness, discrimination, selfishness, exploitation, corruption, unequal basic needs availability and distribution, unbalanced between abundance and insufficiency, desperation, suffering, hunger, violence and war in the world, and hence, the existence of the basic and yet essential teachings and advice of living a life of simplicity and contentment, dispassion and renunciation.

None need more than sufficient basic needs for life maintenance to be living a simple happy peaceful life in this world.

None need the additional ongoing stimulation of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, imaginations, visualizations, feelings, and etc, to be pleasing the ever discontented boundless passionate desires, to live a healthy happy life, physically, mentally and emotionally.

There will be minds that disagree with this and don't like to hear this, while thinking and believing that "There's nothing wrong or damaging to be enjoying whatever that is available to us, as long as it's not hurting oneself. Life is too dull and boring without some pleasurable entertainments and enjoyments. The global and local economy depends solely on the boundless desires and aspirations of consumerism inspired and empowered by all these business capital investments, property investments, productions, tourism, commercialism and capitalism, or else, the economy will collapse, there will be no jobs, and everyone will be suffering. But, at least those who have the opportunity and motivation and are capable of making a success out of all these to be generating and accumulating wealth won't be suffering so much. Life still goes on for those who achieved such success and wealth regardless of many others who are being exploited and living in poverty because they don't have the credibility or motivation to achieve success to get out of such desperate situation that exists under exploitation by those who are smart and credible, and those who are smart and successful deserved all kinds of abundance, enjoyments and comforts because it's their own ability, effort and aspiration. There's nothing wrong with smart people who work smart accumulating wealth and enjoying life to the maximum by exploiting the nature and the non-smart people who have to work hard and still not making enough for living. Be smart. Be inspired, and be empowered to be smart and achieve limitless success and wealth."

That's right. Keep inquiring towards what's wrong with this thinking or understanding, for the minds that think and believe that there's nothing bad or damaging with a little bit of extra desires, ambitions, success and enjoyments in life. Unfortunately, very few minds would see what is the 'problem' with this 'system' of a new modern society of 'empowerment towards achieving success and wealth and pleasurable enjoyment' as well as no limit of 'higher success, higher wealth and higher pleasurable enjoyment'.

That's why by being inspired and empowered to be having higher education, higher intelligence, motivation, ambition and the accumulation of knowledge, achievement, success and wealth, doesn't guarantee that the mind will have correct understanding, or is free from the influence of ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness.

It's the freedom of all and everyone for their understanding and desire and don't desire, as well as dealing with the consequences of the understanding and the desire and don't desire.

When the climate eventually collapsed, followed by the food production collapsed, where there's very little livable condition left on earth, when hunger, desperation, violence and wars are everywhere, then we will see if the minds still think and believe that they and their next generations won't be affected by the consequences of their 'nothing wrong' greedy boundless desires and aspirations.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Neither too tight nor too loose, follow the middle path

The sincere yoga or buddhism practitioner who is determined to attain direct realization towards the truth of selflessness, to be free from the veil of ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness, needs to know how to follow the middle path, neither too tight nor too loose, where one eats enough, sleeps enough, actives enough, rests enough, works enough, not over-eating or under eating, not over sleeping or under sleeping, not over active or under active, not over resting or under resting, not over working or under working, and so on.

The middle path is the path of yoga and/or buddhism.

A life of simplicity with enough basic needs, without intentionally torturing oneself in hard living condition or indulging in easy comfortable living condition chasing after excess livelihood or comfortable pleasurable enjoyment of the senses, is the middle path.

Although under certain reason, if there is not enough basic needs for life maintenance, where the practitioner is living in a state of insufficiency, where the physical body and mind has to be spending excessive attention, energy and effort into looking after the maintenance of life, as well as maybe looking after some others in life financially, physically and mentally, and there might not be attention or energy left for performing certain physical yoga or meditation practice under particular name and form, it's okay, as all those attention, energy and effort being spent on the action of looking after the maintenance of life and looking after some others who are financially, physically or mentally dependent on oneself, are indeed the practical nameless formless practice under right effort, when one knows what is non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment and non-expectation towards the actions and the fruit of actions, free from dissatisfaction, discontentment or greed, while allowing the fruit of one's attention, energy and effort to be what it is.

This is different from the passionate desire of egoistic attachment, affection and clinging towards the physical body and all kinds of ties and relationships with some others under the presence of attachment, identification and expectation, where the duty and responsibility is being performed under the intention of gratifying worldly passionate desires and aspirations, then that is not part of the practice under right effort.

While those who are living in an easy comfortable living condition with more than enough basic needs for living, they need to be aware of not losing themselves in a comfortable condition, or losing oneself in chasing after higher and higher pleasurable enjoyment or the accumulation and hoarding of wealth, unwittingly. One needs to be able to let go all kinds of pleasurable enjoyment of the senses that are easily accessible to oneself, and only keep enough for living in simplicity that enables oneself to be focusing on the path towards the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, without spending too much attention, energy and effort into looking after life maintenance, while letting go the excess abundance to some others who are living under insufficiency, and need not continuously generating and accumulating wealth that contributing to many kinds of exploitation and damages in the world. Without attachment, identification, craving, aversion, judgment or expectation towards the practice or the fruit of the practice.

The mind that is lost in the generation, accumulation and hoarding of wealth will justify that its intention is to be able to perform as much charity as possible with those accumulated wealth, while not knowing that the presence of such intention or idea is merely a form of greed or ambitious, which is already swaying away from the practice.

Some minds also justifying that the indulgence in a comfortable luxurious pleasurable lifestyle is also part of the practice of non-attachment and non-identification, where they continuously indulging in such indulgence, thinking that they are also practicing non-attachment and non-identification towards such indulgence. That's their freedom of thinking and belief, however, what they are not aware of, is that the accumulation of wealth that support such luxurious pleasurable lifestyle is deriving from and empowering the many exploitation and corruptions in the world that give rise to many desperate conditions and suffering to many others in the world as well as contributing to many unnecessary damages to the surrounding environment, either directly or indirectly. And all these will lead to impactful consequences to all and everyone regardless of who and where.

Some minds mistaken the middle path as there's no need to refrain the senses from indulging in pleasurable enjoyment. That's their freedom of thinking and desire, however, the middle path includes the highly important practice of refraining the senses from chasing after the objects of the senses, or indulging in pleasurable enjoyment of the senses.

The presence of the idea or intention of "building and organizing bigger and more yoga classes, yoga events, yoga schools, yoga studios, yoga community, yoga organization, or yoga association, to be attracting more people into the world of yoga," is already a form of greed or ambitious, that is already swaying away from the practice, that the minds aren't aware of.

A yogi is not determined by the easy or hard life condition, the good or bad health and fitness condition, or the amount and size of the charity works or the dissemination of the teachings of yoga to others that one can performed under good intention.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Somewhere in between insufficiency and abundance

Just like everything else, there's neither good nor bad about poverty and wealthiness, if the mind is void of ignorance and egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment and expectation, being free from discontentment, greed and selfishness, where one is able to adapt to the different conditions without being determined by the different conditions, as well as making use of the different conditions to be doing something beneficial for oneself and the world.

Both conditions have their own pros and cons, and their consequences that impact the world in certain way.

Regardless of living under the condition of poverty or wealthiness, one might be performing actions under any condition that might harm oneself, the others or the environment, out of ignorance and egoism, out of desperation, discontentment, insecurity, fear, greed and selfishness. One might also be using the existing challenging poverty condition to be constantly improving oneself without attachment, identification or expectation, or using the existing wealthy condition to be doing something beneficial for looking after the well-being of the world, without attachment, identification or expectation.

Under the era of such advanced science and technology, where many people in certain areas in the world are living under extreme comfortable condition, with many conveniences and endless pleasurable enjoyments, where people are throwing out excess food that they couldn't manage to sell or eat everyday, all and everyone in the world should have enough basic needs for living, not just merely enough for survival, not to say, none should be living under the state of insufficiency, where there's no proper shelter or not enough nutritional food.

One doesn't need to be wealthy to be having that kind of enough basic needs for living, that is free from the state of insufficiency, where there should be sufficient income for accessing affordable shelter and nutritional food for all and everyone, if none is being greedy and selfish to be accumulating and hoarding unlimited wealth that empowers many corruptions in the world, that are responsible for many exploitation and destruction towards nature, natural resources, animals and human beings, that are impacting regional and global food production and supply, and contributing towards unjust distribution of income and food supply around the world.

There are many other options in between insufficiency and abundance, that doesn't need to be exploiting or harming all and everything to the maximum just because some greedy and selfish human beings are being highly ambitious to be attaining and possessing unlimited wealth or abundance.

It's good to be constantly improving oneself and one's living condition, however, one needs to be endowed with contentment and non-greediness as well, by knowing and stopping at the point of 'financially sufficient enough for living' without exploiting or harming anyone or anything in order to be accumulating more and more wealth beyond the point of 'sufficient enough for living'. That is true self-improvement. One can still be constantly improving oneself after stop accumulating wealth. Self-improvement is nothing to do with wealth accumulation. Unfortunately, many people are being empowered to put the two together on each end of the weighing scale. Those who constantly improving themselves and their wealth accumulation without a stopping point until causing harm and destruction to all and everything out of limitless discontentment and greed, might be being admired by many others as 'the most successful people/influencers in the world', but not really.

Being aware of ignorance in the world without being determined or disturbed by it

Not being determined or disturbed by the ignorance in the world doesn't mean that one is ignoring or unaware of all kinds of ignorant affairs in the surrounding environment. It also doesn't mean that one is emotionless, non-sympathetic, or non-empathetic.

It's merely the correct understanding towards the modification of the minds, towards ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, while respecting the nature of selflessness and impermanence in all and everything, and being capable to let go passionate egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment and expectation, that enable the mind to be aware of all kinds of ignorance and suffering deriving from ignorance in the world, while being undetermined and undisturbed by the ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

For those who have great enthusiasm to help the world to be free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, or to have less ignorant affairs and suffering generated out of ignorant thinking, belief, values, practice, actions and reactions, they need to be aware of what is happening around the world, however, it's very important for them to also have certain degrees of non-attachment and non-identification, so that they are not being determined or disturbed so much by all kinds of heartbreaking inhumanity or cruelty that are (unfortunately still) existing in the world of higher education, science and technology, of higher comfort, convenience and enjoyments, but not free from the influence of ignorance and egoism. If so, they can contribute a lot, while looking after themselves, without loosing their own peace and sanity. The world is desperately in need of more such selfless compassionate beings to balance the off-sided equilibrium of the world, where greed and selfishness are getting heavier, unfortunately.

Some people might choose to ignore the ignorance in the world, by closing their eyes and ears, or moving away from social medias and current world/local news, not seeing and not hearing anything in the world and in one's surrounding environment that can be 'disturbing' to the state of their mind, so that they will feel better and happier. That's their freedom, and there's nothing wrong to be looking after the state of one's mind.

In fact, those who can't take in anymore disturbing or frustrating news in the world about all kinds of ignorant worldly affairs deriving from the ignorance of selfish human beings, as they might not know what is non-attachment and non-identification, then by making an initiation and effort to step back from the world, of not seeing and not hearing, or not knowing and not aware of all kinds of ignorant happenings in the world, is the best way to help the world to have more peace by helping oneself, to maintain certain degrees of peace and quietness, to be looking after one's mental health before loosing it. It's not selfish at all, as one isn't generating or contributing any harmful destructive actions and reactions into the world, which is already a great contribution to more peace and harmony.

Never ending rubbish in the world of human beings and beyond

Greedy ambitious human beings who want to enjoy unlimited comfort of living, objects, toys, accessories, leisure activities and pleasurable enjoyments of the senses not just have been generating lots of rubbish on earth, but those who are knowledgeable, powerful and wealthy enough to be travelling outside of this planet utilizing their power, wealth and knowledge of higher science and technology, are/will be inevitably generating unnecessary human made rubbish into the space of the universe.

Unfortunately, there are many young people in the world are being 'empowered' to be proud of such 'actions', or 'capability', or 'achievement', to be admiring such human beings and their 'great achievement', and be inspired to become 'successful' like them.

Those organizations, or people, or influencers, who are directly or indirectly involving in any kinds of 'youth empowerment' or 'women empowerment' that 'meant' to be empowering youth or women, they need to see what they are actually doing, whether they are empowering 'youth' or 'women' to become responsible human beings that would be leading towards more peace and harmony into the world, or to become greedy and ambitious prideful human beings that would be leading towards endless 'human made destruction utilizing wealth, power and the knowledge of higher science and technology' into the world, and beyond.

Most minds don't like to hear about dispassion and renunciation

It's understandable that most minds/people don't like to hear about or even react with anger and hatred towards the teaching and practice of dispassion and renunciation in yoga and Buddhism.

This doesn't exclude many of the highly intelligent, talented, educated, knowledgeable and so called successful/powerful people/influencers in the world, who might not be aware of the influence of ignorance and egoism in themselves, who are surviving in this world playing along with the game of capitalism and commercialism that exploits all and everything as much as possible utilizing the higher science and technology, in order to achieve higher and unlimited success and wealth for securing survival, pleasurable enjoyment and comfort for oneself.

People who believe in the meaning or goal of life existence is about equipping oneself from young with all kinds of education, qualification, skill, knowledge, connection, social networking and experiences, to be highly ambitious, with the intention and aspiration plus determination and perseverance for striving to be attaining and accumulating more and more success/wealth that are more than enough for basic survival, in order to be supporting and maintaining certain comfortable and pleasurable lifestyle, to fit into 'the successful and wealthy rich upper class' category, they are the fuel that feed capitalism and commercialism surviving from exploiting all kinds of natural resources, nature, animals and human beings in the world as much as possible.

Out of survival instinct and greed, the minds that are functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism would want to defend and protect themselves, their life existence, their survival, their livelihood or source of wealth, their accumulated wealth and possessions, their career or business, their inherited or adopted belief, values and practice, and their pride, from the intimidation deriving from any teachings or practices that not only don't support capitalism and commercialism, but are unintentionally, existing as the biggest threat/obstacle towards the prosperity of capitalism and commercialism, or in another term, GREED, and POWER that supports and empowers GREED.

Most of the empowerment workshops in the world are about equipping oneself with the 'qualities' in order to attain higher and unlimited success and wealth, to be inspired and being aspired to become highly ambitious and successful, which turn into GREED and PRIDE unwittingly, with the main aspiration of to be achieving and supporting certain lifestyle of higher and unlimited comfort, new interests, new activities, new toys, new adventures, new excitements and pleasurable enjoyments, that gives rise to and empowers the sense of goodness, satisfaction, positiveness, joyfulness, accomplishment, pride and meaningfulness.

No any advertisements can tempt the minds that are dispassionate. No any salesmen can sell their products/creations/ideas/values to the minds that renounced the world. No any politicians can manipulate the minds that are free from ignorance and egoism. No any 'amazing inspirational quotes of passionate inspiration' can move or cheat the minds that are dispassionate. No any businesses that are surviving on the egoism, discontentment, greed and fear of human beings can survive, if all and everyone are dispassionate and renounce the world of ignorance and egoism, or are free from ignorance and egoism.

The huge business of 'medical health care', 'body, facial and hair care', 'beauty and cosmetic', 'fitness and fitness related products and services', 'dietary supplement', 'spiritual healing', 'fashions and accessories', 'home appliances and decor', 'luxurious holiday', 'recreational food and beverage', 'social media platforms', 'cars', 'gadgets', 'games', 'toys', 'sports', 'trendy lifestyle', 'leisure activities', 'real estate', 'insurance', and so on, are surviving on human beings' ignorance and egoism, passionate desires of craving and aversion, fear and discontentment/greed. Almost everyone are trying to 'sell' something, to gain certain profits or rewards that they desire, either in the form of money or something else. Young children are being brought up to admire and be inspired by 'successful, powerful and wealthy rich' human beings, to become like them, whom are being identified as 'inspirational most successful people in the world being determined by their wealth and power status', who are not necessarily being free from selfishness and corruption, who are not necessarily using their power, knowledge, position and wealth, or advance science and technology, to be looking after the general welfare of all and everyone and the environment, but only to fulfill their personal or community selfish ambitions, of GREED, POWER and PRIDE.

Even Swami Sivananda renounced his job as medical doctor, after realizing the corruptions in the world of ignorance and egoism cannot be eliminated through medical health care of advance science and technology, as even the physically strong and healthy human beings who are free from illness and disability, who are highly educated and knowledgeable, might not necessarily be free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance, and hence, he immersed into serious Sadhana to realize the path that leads towards liberation from all these corruptions.

Inquire towards the truth of everything, freeing one's mind from the influence of ignorance and egoism, particularly those who are angry and disgusted towards the many human made destruction in the world of human beings, who have great aspiration to help to make the world a better place for all and everyone without discrimination, or to reduce unnecessary human made suffering in the world, or to advocate awareness for world peace, non-violence, non-discrimination, equal rights and mental health, or to protect the over-all welfare of all and everything and the environment.

Many minds might think and believe that hardships, poverty, difficult life condition, sickness or low education are the cause of misery and suffering, but it's not necessary so. Those who are free from hardships, poverty, difficult life condition, sickness or low education, but might not necessarily be free from unrest and suffering due to ignorance and egoism. Those who are free from ignorance and egoism, they are free from unrest and suffering, regardless of whether being free from hardships, poverty, difficult life condition, sickness or low education, or not.

In the beginning, the world of business/trading is neither good nor bad, where most businesses are just purely about exchanging different kinds of goods and harvests for diversity, however, due to ignorance and egoism in human beings, there are many kinds of corruption, exploitation and destruction arising from the world of business, out of never ending GREED.

GREED doesn't just manifest in the world of capitalism and commercialism, where the businessmen are greedy for higher profits and the consumers are greedy for higher possession, convenience, comfort and pleasurable enjoyment. But, it also manifests in the world of spirituality.

The teachings from ancient until the present, never change. Where ignorance and egoism is indeed the root cause of all kinds of suffering or bondage, while the greatest obstacles towards liberation from ignorance and egoism, is endless PASSION, DESIRE, GREED, and PRIDE. The subside of passion, desire, greed and pride, is the annihilation of egoism, that removes the veil of ignorance, that uncovers unconditional peace and selfless compassion.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (25)

The teachings and practice of yoga, is about looking after the state of the mind, or, the mental health, to free the mind from the diseases of mind, which is ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Mental health plays upmost important role towards determining what type of condition and situation in the impermanent and selfless world of diversities. It's because even though there is inevitable basic suffering of restlessness due to the selfless impermanent nature of everything, but the condition and situation in the world is impacted hugely by the consequences of ceaseless actions and reactions of the minds in this world.

All minds ceaselessly act and react in the world, that bring along the consequences of actions and reactions into the world, which determining or conditioning the world being in certain way, either intentionally or unintentionally. The world is having more or less unnecessary man made suffering, on top of the inevitable suffering of restlessness due to the impermanent selfless changes in all beings, is all the outcome of ceaseless actions and reactions of the minds.

The more minds that are acting and reacting under the influence of ignorance, egoism and impurities either wittingly or unwittingly, the more unnecessary man made suffering deriving from ignorance, egoism and impurities are there in the world, and vice versa.

Behavior problems (ignorant egoistic impure actions and reactions) that inflict disturbance and pain in oneself and others, either intentionally or unintentionally, are the reflections of ill mental health. In yoga, it's the reflection of the disturbed, restless and impure modifications of the perceptive cognitive thinking mind functioning under the influence of ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Even though most minds are under the influence of ignorance and egoism, and are experiencing disturbance, restlessness and impurities, but if the mind has certain degrees of awareness and self-control, not being over-powered by the impurities in the mind, then one might not be generating too many unnecessary ignorant egoistic impure behaviors (actions and reactions) that would bring consequences that hurt oneself and/or others, and the surrounding environment. This can be referred as 'rather healthy' mental health, even if it's not completely be free from ignorance and egoism.

On the other hand, one might be constantly and ignorantly generating ignorant behaviors and the consequences of ignorant behaviors that would hurt oneself and/or others, either intentionally or unintentionally, if without awareness or self-control, being over-powered by ignorance, egoism, disturbance, restlessness and impurities to act and react, either wittingly or unwittingly. This can be referred as 'ill' mental health.

It's normal that when the condition of the world is good, or when life is good and easy for many people, there might be less behavior problems, as there are less disturbed restless minds under desperation for basic survival, even though behavior problems will still always be existing in the world of human beings arising from ignorance, egoism and impurities (ill mental health), even when the world or life is under good condition, or there's no urgency or desperation for basic survival.

Under the presence of desperation in the mind deriving from survival instinct due to the suffering of hunger and thirst and life threatening situation, some people might steal or hurt some others in order to survive, or to relieve their hunger and thirst and to get out from life threatening situation, however, there are minds that are not under such desperation, as they are living under good and comfortable condition, free from the suffering of hunger and thirst and life threatening situation, but out of ignorance, egoism and impurities, there is boundless greed, or endless desire and aspiration, towards possessing and hoarding resources not only for survival, but more so for gratifying the boundless desires of craving and aversion, to be indulging in continuous unlimited higher and higher pleasurable enjoyment of the senses, and hence, one would steal/rob, exploit and hurt others, in order to seize and possess more and more resources (possessing higher and higher wealth and power that enabling them to hoard more and more resources which provide them with higher and higher pleasurable enjoyment and satisfaction), even when one has more than enough basic survival needs for oneself, and is free from the suffering of hunger and thirst and life threatening situation in the present as well as until the end of this life.

These mind are nothing but the slave of the ego, the intellect and the senses, even though they amassed huge amount of knowledge, wealth and power.

That is the reflection of seriously ill mental health, where the mind would sabotage or hurt anyone and anything, intentionally, in order to gratify the endless greed/dissatisfaction or the desire of craving and aversion.

Greed is a form of serious and yet very common mental illness in the world.

Greed towards hoarding resources for survival and enjoyment, love, support, family ties, friendship, relationship, connection, companionship, agreement, acceptance, acknowledgement, appreciation, recognition, praise, achievement, success, fame, wealth, power, status, knowledge, superiority, pride, enhanced physical and mental abilities, actions and the fruit of actions, desirable experiences, pleasurable physical/mental/material/emotional enjoyments and comforts, agreeable and comfortable condition and situation, the sense of satisfaction, goodness, happiness and meaningfulness, and so on.

Anger, hatred, offensiveness, defensiveness, violence, jealousy, dissatisfaction, possessiveness, irritation, annoyance, discrimination, racism, oppression, authorization, punishment, and so on, are the reflections of ill mental health. The mind is sicked.

That's why the existence of the teachings and practice of yoga and buddhism, and/or certain religions, which the main teachings and practice is about the subjugation of greed and desire, however, either in the world of yoga and buddhism, or in many religions, there are many minds are being ignorant towards ignorance, (even when they are preaching about the liberation from ignorance and suffering arising from ignorance,) where there is greed or desire and aspiration towards 'achieving' or 'creating' a world that the ignorant egoistic impure minds think, believe and desire how it should be, by converting, interfering, oppressing, controlling, disciplining, influencing, manipulating and conditioning all and everyone, to think, believe, behave and live life in certain way, that they think is 'the right way', where different minds have different understanding and belief towards what is 'the right way'. And hence, there are disagreements, arguments, offensiveness, defensiveness, possessiveness, protectiveness, conflicts, fighting, wars and violence, in the name of upholding everyone's own version of 'the right way' and to be creating a world the way that they desire.

There's nothing to be ashamed of for being suffering from ill mental health. Many people are suffering from certain degrees of mental illness but might not be aware of it. While those who are aware of it, might be seeking certain ways that give momentary relief from the suffering of mental disturbance/unrest/hurt/fear/worry/stress/depression/unhappiness/dissatisfaction/disappointment/low self-esteem/shame/guilt/regret, which might not necessarily be something 'healthy' in the long run. There's neither right nor wrong, as it's everyone's freedom for what they want to do with their body and mind. While many people are not interested in and don't want to go through 'the prolong yet not so easy and unpleasant way' but could be thoroughly freeing the mind from the suffering arising from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

There's not much can be done if the brain (the hardware of the thinking faculty) is damaged by certain injury, virus or disease, causing permanent damage to the power of awareness, understanding, reasoning and self-control, being unable to be aware, to understand, to reason, or to have self-control over one's behavior. That's why it's highly important to be doing something for looking after the mental health before it's too late.

It will be worst, if some, or all of the world leaders who have so much authorized power to impact the world in certain way are suffering from ill mental health, there will be more and more unnecessary man made long lasting damages, difficulties and suffering in this world. Even if there's only one leader that is suffering from ill mental health but already can be creating certain short term and long term damages to the world using the authorized power within a few moments, to make certain decisions and perform certain actions out of selfish greedy desires and aspirations, not to say, if there are more than one mentally ill leader in the world that has more than a few moments of authorized power to be creating different types of damages to the world that would last a long time, even after their departure from this world. All kinds of damages cannot be undone, but everyone's life existence in this world are being impacted by the consequences of ignorant and egoistic actions and reactions deriving from the many world leaders that are suffering from ill mental health.

In yoga, having ignorant companionship (Kutsanga) is worst than having no wise companionship (Satsanga). One should embrace solitude (Asanga) if without any wise companionship. Similarly, most people in this world of civilization emphasized on the importance of having a leader to lead the people, to make things happen, however, having one or some mentally ill leaders in the world is worst than having no leader at all.

Many people would think and believe that being a listener and companion to be comforting the disturbed unhappy minds, by giving them what they want and expect to experience, what they like to see and hear, that makes the minds feel better and happier, is looking after the mental health of the disturbed unhappy minds. That might give momentary relief to the suffering minds, but it doesn't remove the root cause of suffering or all kinds of disturbance and unhappiness. It doesn't stop the minds from continuing perceiving the suffering of all kinds of disturbance, unrest, hurt, loneliness, unhappiness, painful sorrow, fear, worry, dissatisfaction, disappointment, craving, aversion, greed, anger, low self-esteem, and so on. In fact, it empowers the egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, and expectation in the disturbed unhappy minds, which only leads to deeper suffering upon coming in contact with undesirable experiences and not coming in contact with desirable experiences (the suffering of restlessness to keep gratifying endless desires of craving and aversion, in order to feel good, right, happy, satisfied, deserving, successful, strong, positive and meaningful.)

Yoga practice is indeed rooting out the cause of suffering. It might not be something agreeable for the worldly passionate sympathetic minds that act and react under the influence of passionate egoistic worldly thinking, belief, values and practice, that empowers ignorance and egoism. That's their freedom of thinking, action and reaction.

The passionate egoistic disturbed and unhappy minds think and say, "I was hurt, and I am still feeling hurt (even after 10, or 50, or 100 years later). I am disturbed and unhappy. I deserve to be receiving sympathetic reactions and treatments from others. If not, I feel disappointed, unattended, unnoticed, unacknowledged, unloved, unsupported, sad, lonely and meaningless."

The passionate sympathetic minds think and say, "These disturbed unhappy minds will hurt themselves, and maybe others as well, if we are not being there for them, to comfort them, to relief their suffering." That's exactly the problem. Why do disturbed unhappy minds have such tendency to hurt itself and/or others out of suffering and unhappiness, that they 'need' some others to be there for them, to comfort them, so that they won't do anything to hurt themselves and/or others? Ignorance and egoism. A healthy matured independent mind that is free from ignorance and egoism won't hurt itself and/or others under any unpleasant/undesirable/disagreeable experiences, conditions and situations, even if without anyone being there to be listening or comforting this mind for anything. It doesn't need any kind of sympathetic reactions or treatments from anyone to feel better and happier about itself and life existence.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Financial difficulty, desperation and exploitation

There are many different kinds of exploitation that exist in the world.

Particularly during this prolonged pandemic situation in the world that has taken away many people's livelihood.

Many people's life and livelihood are being impacted greatly by the prolonged lockdown in certain countries where the pandemic situation wasn't being handled efficiently.

There are also certain countries run by their government that have been handling the pandemic situation more efficiently that the other countries, where people's everyday life and livelihood aren't being affected too much by the pandemic like the many other people in some other countries.

Some people would have the common sense to be considerate towards other people's financial difficulty and suffering due to the prolonged lockdown in some other countries, even though they themselves might not be affected very much by the pandemic in their own countries.

Meanwhile there are also some people, who are not just don't have the conscience to be considerate towards other people's difficulty, but whether wittingly or unwittingly, in certain dealings, people are taking advantage out of other people's difficult condition to be exploiting other people especially those who are under desperation for survival, not to say, to be making a decent livelihood, under the impact of the prolonged pandemic lockdown in their countries.

This kind of exploitation are existing due to those who are in desperation, they have no other choices but would rather be exploited than to let themselves and/or their family to go hungry or to endure further difficulty.

Similarly, in order to stop encouraging or empowering this kind of exploitation, we ourselves don't take advantage of other people's desperation under difficult condition to be exploiting other people in anyway, regardless of whether out of desperation or out of greed and stinginess, but also, we ourselves don't allow ourselves to be exploited by those who would take advantage of other people's suffering to exploit other people, out of their greed and stinginess, no matter how much difficulty that we need to endure, for not giving in to exploitation by others, and not allowing exploitation to be happening to ourselves done by others and/or to others done by ourselves.

Unfortunately, even among the yoga community, who are supposed to be practicing reflective understanding towards other people's difficulty and suffering, but then either wittingly or unwittingly, out of worldly egoistic habitual behavior pattern, some yoga enthusiasts might be engaging in exploiting other people in certain situations, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Rejecting subjugation and yearning for freedom is basic instinct in all living beings

Yearning towards all kinds of freedom and rejection towards any kind of subjugation being imposed onto oneself is part of the basic instinct in all living beings.

All living beings want total or maximum freedom for themselves, however, there are also human beings that don't mind imposing subjugation or restriction onto other beings that they disagree with or dislike, either by themselves or by others. These minds want all kinds of freedom for themselves, but they disagree with or being dissatisfied with some others having their own freedom.

In the teachings and practice of yoga and buddhism, one doesn't impose subjugation or restriction onto any others, but, only through one's own freewill, one imposes subjugation or restriction onto oneself, to discipline oneself, to have self-control, in order to annihilate ignorance, egoism and impurities in oneself, to attain the highest freedom of existence, which is free from the inevitable restless suffering of names and forms that is subject to selflessness and impermanence, of a perceived worldly life existence deriving from the modification of the mind functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism. 

Coming from the conscience of this mind itself, yearning to free itself from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, so that the existence of this body and mind, its thoughts, actions and speech wouldn't cause any painful suffering onto the others in the surrounding environment.

Many people would think and believe that 'democracy' or 'power to the people' is 'freedom from being ruled by others', or what people think and believe which will give them 'the power' that gives them 'the freedom' that they desire, where people have the power to choose and elect a group of people that represent them to form an authorization that will 'serve' them and 'give' them what they want, the way that they desire. But, 'democracy' is only 'sort of power and freedom' to a group of people who make up the majority, and not to the other groups of people who aren't the majority, because not everyone has the same interests and desires towards a world run by a particular system that they prefer and don't prefer. Meanwhile, 'the majority' with the similar interests and desires are not necessarily those who are free from the influence of ignorance, egoism, greed, possessiveness and selfishness, as well as those whom 'the majority' chosen and elected to represent them and form the authorization to serve the people, also might not necessarily be free from the influence of ignorance, egoism, greed, possessiveness and selfishness.

A 'system' that is generated and run by a group of corrupted minds that are functioning under the influence of ignorance, egoism, greed, possessiveness and selfishness would be hurting many innocent common people who just want to live a simple honest life, and hurting the surrounding living environment more than to be 'protecting' the benefits and welfare of the people indiscriminately, or to be 'looking after' the welfare of the surrounding living environment.

That's why the teachings and practice of yoga and buddhism emphasized on the attainment of self-realization through self-conscience, self-freewill, self-effort, self-discipline, self-control, self-purification and self-inquiry to free one's mind from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance, allowing a world that is self regulating under the law of nature, where all beings are self-initiated to free oneself from the influence of ignorance and the by-products of ignorance, where all beings don't need to be regulated under a humans generated 'system' to be or not to be in certain way, or 'be so called protected' under the 'system', where liberation from ignorance and egoism in the beings will efficiently contribute to peace and harmony among all beings in the world of diversities. Then, either with or without a 'humans generated system' in the world, it's neither good nor bad, if the world (the people and the authority that serves the people) is free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance.

Liberation from ignorance and egoism can never be achieved by the discrimination, regulation, oppression, disciplinary, control, and threat imposed by others, or by receiving so called 'blessing' from 'someone or somewhere', but only through self-initiation and persevered self-effort to discipline, purify and silent one's mind.

It's never about out of self-righteousness based on a particular thinking, belief, practice, values, interests and desires to teach, judge, oppress, control, discipline, change, prosecute, and punish the others that are different from oneself, that one disagrees with and dislikes.

It's not about achieving a world that is preferable to a particular group of people of a particular thinking, belief, practice, values, interests and desires, by running the world under a particular humans generated 'system of law and order' to regulate all and everyone to be and not to be in certain way according to a particular thinking, belief, practice, values, interests and desires.

Under the so called 'democratic system regulated under specific law and order' to be regulating and controlling the people in the world to be and not to be in certain way, some really good leaders with good intentions and great ideas that would benefit the overall welfare of the world also can't do much to free the world from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, due to being 'restricted' by the 'system of democracy' itself. It's not that 'democracy' is not good, it's just that real freedom for all and everyone without discrimination doesn't come from 'democracy'.

Above all, 'positive thinking' and 'optimism' also couldn't remove the ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in the world.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Subtle greed towards developing connections

There is this teaching that some yoga practitioners/teachers might have neglected -

不要攀缘 也不要贪缘

It means - Do not greed for developing or building connections

Because 'developing or building connections' with as many beings as possible or 结缘 is being perceived in the world as something good and righteous, such as 'performing good actions' and 'sharing something good with others' will bring friendship, love, support, help, happiness, prosperity and meaningfulness in return, quite many yoga practitioners/teachers are not aware of the subtle greed towards developing or building connections with as many beings as possible for many 'good reasons'.

In the world of business, career or entertainment, people have the need to develop or build as many 'good connections' or 'friendships' as possible in order to attain the highest success in life, career or business. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Just that it can become an obstacle on the path of yoga towards the annihilation of ignorance and egoism. Some yoga practitioners/teachers are not aware of the mind is being over-powered by the subtle spiritual greed to build 'yoga schools', or 'yoga centres', or 'yoga ashrams', or 'yoga empire'. The mind would think that it's for the sake of 'sharing yoga' with as many people as possible. It's a great teaching why Swami Sivananda mentioned that - "Do not build ashrams. Do not hoard disciples. Do not associate. Live alone. Walk alone. Eat alone. Meditate alone."

"I am kind to others so that they will also be kind to others." This is not yoga, even though there's nothing bad or wrong with that. There's egoism of attachment, identification, desire and intention or expectation towards something that the mind perceives as 'good' and 'right'. The mind is not free.

Contemplate on this teaching and be free from the subtle greed towards connections building. Be free from the longing for friendship, love, support, help, happiness, prosperity or meaningfulness deriving from 'performing good actions' and 'sharing something good with others'. Be free from intention or aspiration. One might be 'performing good actions' and 'sharing something good with others', but all actions are intention-less. It's free from the subtle/hidden greed or craving towards developing or building 'good connections' with as many beings as possible.

Just be kind to others. Whether other people want to be kind to others, or not, that's their freedom.

Just do good in the world. Whether the world will be good, or not, allow it to be what it is, as it is.

Existence in now

Contemplation on existence/the mind perception of an impermanent and selfless life existence in the present moment.

Existence only existing in now. There's neither past nor future. It's the thinking/thought process of recollection of memories and wild imagination of the mind that generates the 'shadow' of now, either behind of now (the past) or in front of now (the future). Suffering arise when the mind sees/takes the 'shadow' of the selfless mind perception of names and forms as 'I' (the existence of an individual being of 'I', where this countless ever changing 'I' is not even I.)

All kind of restlessness, peacelessness, anxieties, tension, hurts, regrets, guilt, offensiveness, defensiveness, possessiveness, meaninglessness, depression, insecurity, frustration, anger, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, hopes, fear and worry, are due to being ignorant towards existence, thinking and believing that 'I' am existing with an individual identity from the past until now and into the future, that 'I' have a past and a future, and 'I' had/am/will be physically/mentally/emotionally existed/existing/continuing existing along with all the relationships with everyone and everything, and hence, there's clinging/attachment/identification towards the present experiences/relationships, thinking/remembering about the past experiences/relationships and imagining/anticipating the future experiences/relationships, craving towards pleasant/desirable experiences/relationships and aversion towards unpleasant/undesirable experiences/relationships.

This very moment is the only existence of this body and the thinking mind that is functioning under the charity of 'the space', 'the sun', 'the earth', 'the water' and 'the air/wind', it's not 'I', and it is changing. Within this moment, along with the function of this body and the modification of the mind, countless rounds of birth and death happening, new cells replacing old cells, the bodily system growing, changing, cease growing and start decaying, different states of the mind arising and passing away, thoughts/memories/imaginations/sensations/feelings arising and passing away, physical and mental pleasantness and unpleasantness coming and going, 'heaven' and 'hell' and all kind of 'realms' interchanging in the mind, ceaseless actions generating ceaseless reactions of cause and effect, and all kind of names and forms forming and deforming ceaselessly.

Those who realized this, allowing the impermanent/momentary function of the body and the modification of the mind perception of a worldly life existence to be what it is, as it is, remain equanimous and at peace, being free from attachment, identification and desire of craving and aversion, being undetermined/undisturbed by the mind perception of a pleasant/unpleasant or desirable/undesirable reality of a worldly life existence that is impermanent.

Those who haven't realized this, continuously and restlessly chasing after the objects of names and forms of higher and higher quality of pleasurable living, performing actions out of the intention/aspiration of creating a 'perfect' world the way that 'I' think it should be that allows 'I' to live life the way that 'I' like it to be, accumulating relationships and gratifying desires of craving and aversion, to chase away bottomless 'shadow' of boredom, loneliness, unhappiness, meaninglessness and emptiness, to feel good, happy and meaningful.

It's neither right nor wrong, neither good nor bad, it's everyone's freedom for what they want to do with their life, body and mind. The conditions and situations of the world are the consequences of the actions born out of every individual human being's intention/aspiration/ambition of desiring/wishing/hoping/demanding/building/protecting/frustrating/hating/fighting/killing for a desirable 'perfect' world and a 'good' life that they think how it should be, that they want it to be.

Be free.