May your / our wishes come true?

On certain occasions or celebration days, such like birthday or new year, it's very common that we'll wish somebody or ourselves that "May all your/our wishes come true..."

Wishes (desires or goals) that are under the influence of an impure mind that is not completely be free from egoism, ignorance and impurities can be harmful. As in the process of making the wishes come true, as well as the end result might generate consequences that will hurt ourselves and others.

Be humble, especially when we think we are pure (enough), or we think we are humble (enough), or we think we are somehow purer than some other beings, or we think we are evolving on a higher level of consciousness than others... As if we are truly be free from egoism, there's nobody being there to be identifying with such different qualities of names and forms. As well as there's no criticism towards those whom we think they are inferior or less pure than us. There's no judgment nor comparison.

Om shanti.

The ego, pride, arrogance, dissatisfaction, greed, restlessness...

The untrained mind is never contented, or is ever dissatisfied and greedy. Out of pride and arrogance, the ego keeps telling itself "I deserve something better and more than this..." And what is that 'something'? The ego has no answer for that, as it also doesn't know what it is... It keeps looking for 'something' that doesn't exist in the present moment now, and it will never find it as that 'something' is beyond the present moment now and its own knowledge. So as dissatisfaction and greed. Forever restless.

Be humble, be patient, be grateful and be forgiving, if we want to see improvement in our life...

Be humble, be patient, be grateful (content) and be forgiving, and you will see your life moving towards brightness and happiness...

Be arrogant, be impatient, be ungrateful (discontent or greedy) and be hating, and you will see your life moving towards darkness and unhappiness...

If we practice humility, patience, gratefulness and forgiveness, we will see the condition of our life gradually improve and will have "less" problems and obstacles... Not that by being humble, patient, grateful, or forgiving will give us the superpower to change everything to be the way that we desire, like and agree with, or to make all the bad things disappear, but it's because our mind is opening up.

The truth is, problems and obstacles will always still be there, but it is our mind perception of things has changed... Being humble, patient, grateful and forgiving, or not, doesn't change the truth of things being what it is - Selfless and Impermanent. Things will still be happening as it is, if there's a cause ripening for it to be happening. Things that were usually being perceived as "problems" and "obstacles" are no more being perceived as problems and obstacles now, they are just some impermanent names and forms arising and passing away, forming and disintegrating. We don't see them as problems and obstacles anymore and not rejecting them, but allowing them to be exist just like we allow "good" and "happy" things to be exist, sharing this space of the universe...

We have problems, tensions, fear, worry and unhappiness, it's because we try to retain the "good" and "happy" things (which are impermanent and subject to changes), and try to push away the "bad" and "unhappy" things (which are impermanent and subject to changes as well)...

Contemplate on this and free ourselves from being conditioned by our own mind perception that we only want to have "good and happy" things and don't want to have "bad and unhappy" things.

It is up to the mind whether things are "good and happy" or things are "bad and unhappy". The things themselves are just being what they are, they are not something "good and happy" nor something "bad and unhappy". They have no quality nor intention to be good or bad, to make us happy or unhappy...

A positive mind perceives everything as something positive...

A negative mind perceives everything as something negative...

A mind that has gone beyond positive and negative, perceives everything as it is, it is not something positive nor negative...

Be happy.

Want to learn and practice yoga? Learn to put down the ego first...

In the old times when a person approached a yoga Guru or yoga teacher with the intention to learn about yoga and wanted to practice yoga, he would be very humble and patient to serve this Guru or teacher for many years.

It was actually a great process of purification for the mind, as well as eradicating the ego.

The Guru or the teacher didn’t teach him any so called yoga and meditation practices, not until his ego was eradicated and his mind was free from impurities. He would only be asked to observe some code of conducts (morality) and to do any works in the house or in the ashram as selfless service or Karma yoga (unattached to the action and the result of the action), to purify the mind and to eradicate the ego – This is also the practice of non-attachment.

By this stage, he had actually finished most of his yoga practice (attaining the state of selflessness), which was through purifying the mind, and be free from the ego and impurities. Naturally he would already have the wisdom and a clear mind to digest and absorb whatever the Guru or the teacher wanted to teach him.

And with a desire-less, pure and calm mind that didn’t wavering here and there, he could easily meditate in a firm and steady asana seat, his breath was naturally rendering calm, he could observe the mind and go beyond the mind effortlessly, not being disturbed by all the names and forms (sights, sounds, smells, taste, touch and thoughts), and attain the highest state of pure consciousness, pure existence, pure knowledge and pure bliss.

That’s why Sat Guru Swami Sivananda taught us to mind our own fundamental practice of purifying the mind and eradicating the ego, and everything will fall into place for us naturally when the mind is free from impurities and when the ego is eradicated.

When the mind is free from impurities and the ego is eradicated, we are our own Guru, our very own teacher… Here is where the path of Self-realization begins.

If we still need a Guru or a teacher to tell us and guide us what do we need to do or to answer the doubts in our mind due to ignorance, then we are still on the outside of the path of Self-realization.

Yoga = Selflessness = Ego-less = Unconditional and unlimited compassion and wisdom = Eternal peace = Yoga

If our “yoga and meditation practice” did not bring us towards ego-less or selflessness, compassion and wisdom, then that is because we haven’t go through the initial process of purification of the mind and eradication of the ego yet. It’s like a container without a closing bottom underneath, no matter how much water we pour into the container, the container can never hold any water in it.

If we put some very tasty food into a bowl that is full of dirts and impurities, then the food will be contaminated and doesn’t taste good anymore. Clean the bowl first, then we can put any food into it, and the food will be free from contamination of dirts and impurities, and will taste as good as it is.

Purify the mind, and all our doubts about everything will be disappearing by itself. The Truth will reveal itself to us naturally when the mind is calm and free from impurities. We will perceive everything as it is, not necessary the way that we want it to be perceived, or the way that we want it to be…

When the mind is pure, there is nothing can affect, or disturb, or influence, or determine us. We are what we are, as we are. We are not “this”, we are not “that”. We are not “happy” nor “suffering”. We are not “good” nor “bad”.

Humility manifests in those who are truly self-confident... Pride & arrogance manifests in those who are not sure what is true confidence...

The greatest obstacle for us to obtain the highest knowledge (realizing the wisdom in us) is pride and arrogance.

A truly confident person will not have any pride and arrogance but is being humble, and yet being very confident about himself or herself and is not looking down on any other beings nor is admiring any other beings. He or she doesn’t depend on any of the qualities that come from all the names and forms to feel confident about himself or herself. This true confidence manifests in him or her when he or she knows Thyself, or knowing the truth of himself or herself about the false identification of a limited life existence that we think and believe is who we are, or what is this perceptive cognitive assertive intellectual thinking mind that enjoys and suffers, or who/what am 'I', and knows the truth of what is real and unreal.

A truly confident person doesn't need to justify or to prove to himself or herself or to anybody else about anything.

There is no superiority. There is no inferiority. There is no good beings. There is no bad beings. There is no fear, no worry. When attachment or dependency towards all the qualities of names and forms disappears from those who have true confidence, then all kind of judgments, comparisons, competitions and expectations towards other people and towards our own self will also disappear naturally.

All are equal under the presence of wisdom and compassion. All are selfless and impermanent, regardless of good or bad, positive or negative, right or wrong, meaningfulness or meaninglessness, kind or unkind, pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, agreeable or disagreeable, healthy or unhealthy, knowledgeable or non-knowledgeable, success or failure, living beings or non-living objects, and so on.

Success and failure have no meanings at all for those who are truly confident. Success and failure only exist in those who are lack of self-confidence and are being determined by success or failure to give them "confidence" or to take away their "confidence".

True confidence is always here in us. We will realize it when we know who we really are or who/what am 'I'. That it's not something that can be determined by "this" or "that". It is not about what we can do or cannot do. It is not about what we can achieve and cannot achieve...

Trying to gain recognition, or acknowledgment, or approval, or agreement from other people or from our own self is a sign that we are lack of true confidence. Longing for appreciation, praise and compliments, dislike and reject non-appreciation, criticism and condemnation is another sign of lack of true confidence. When we get recognition, acknowledgment, approval or agreement from other people and are getting appreciation, praise and compliments, we will feel good and "confident" about ourselves, and feel superior or proud and arrogant, but when we don't get any recognition, acknowledgment, approval or agreement from other people and are not getting any appreciation, praise and compliments, we will feel bad and "not confident" about ourselves, and feel inferior or low self-esteem. This conditional "confidence" is not the real confidence.

Learn to let go of craving towards appreciation, praise and compliments. Learn to let go of aversion towards non-appreciation, criticism and condemnations. This will develop equanimity in us.

Equanimity brings out true confidence and humility, which allows us to continue to evolve and improve without feeling bad, or low, or guilty about our own self for being imperfect, or are not perfected in our practice yet.

Om shanti.