Relying on one another to feel love, joy and meaningful is not freedom at all

There's nothing wrong with most people/minds are relying on their relationship, companionship, connection, interaction and sharing among one another to feel love, joy and meaningful about oneself and life existence, however, it's nothing to do with the teaching of yoga and the yoga practice of attaining or realizing real (selfless compassionate) love, or freedom, or liberation, or independence through the realization of selflessness, or non-separateness, or oneness.

As the minds would perceive great disturb and suffering upon the presence of the sense of lovelessness, painful sorrow and meaninglessness either due to the presence of certain disagreeable, undesirable and unpleasant relationship, companionship, connection, interaction and sharing with some others, or due to the absence of certain agreeable, desirable and pleasant relationship, companionship, connection, interaction and sharing with some others, regardless of whether it's one's personal direct experience, or being empathetic towards some others' personal experience.

It's passion and the outgoing tendency of the mind, as well as survival instinct, fear and the desire of craving and aversion, deriving from ignorance and egoism, that is why the minds think and believe that the highest meaning of life existence is about attaining and empowering the sense of love, joyfulness and meaningfulness through developing and engaging in relationship, companionship, connection, interaction and sharing among one another, where intense attachment and identification and emotional interdependence among one another is being highly valued and promoted in the world of passionate egoistic human beings.

It's very good that if human beings can be kind and loving among one another, but it can be without attachment, identification, expectation and emotional interdependence, where the action of loving kindness is out of selfless compassion, and not out of the idea, value, belief and expectation of attaining and empowering the sense of love, joyfulness and meaningfulness in the minds through developing and engaging in relationship, companionship, connection, interaction and sharing among one another.

There's no disturb, painful sorrow or suffering in such action of loving kindness out of selfless compassion towards all and everyone non-discriminatively, free from the attachment and desire of craving towards the presence of agreeable relationship and interaction among one another, without the attachment and desire of aversion towards the presence of disagreeable relationship and interaction, or the absence of agreeable relationship and interaction among one another, and, without the need of attaining and empowering the sense of love, joyfulness and meaningfulness at all.

Such minds are truly the embodiment of unconditional loving kindness, peace, freedom and independence.

It's normal that passionate outgoing minds that are being conditioned deeply by worldly egoistic cultural, social, religious, national and political thinking, belief, values and practice would have great difficulty in understanding such selfless, wise and compassionate minds, or the teaching and practice and realization of yoga and buddhism about selflessness, or non-separateness, or oneness.

Out of survival instinct and fear, all kinds of worldly egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice have one similar common pattern, which is emphasizing on the importance of family-hood, brotherhood, sisterhood, community-hood, patriotism or loyalty among one another to be empowering, defending and protecting one another within the family, the particular community or the particular nation from any threats or intimidation coming from 'any outsiders who are not one of us'. Where anyone who is not being actively supporting or engaging in their particular family-hood, brotherhood, sisterhood, community-hood, patriotism or loyalty idea, value and practice, will be recognized as a (potential) enemy, threat, or intimidation towards their particular family, community, or nation.

Out of ignorance and egoism, what people don't realize/know/understand is that, those who are free from ignorance and egoism most probably might not be actively engaging in any kind of family-hood, brotherhood, sisterhood, community-hood, patriotism or loyalty idea, value and practice, but it doesn't mean that they are an enemy, or threat, or intimidation that would harm the family, any community, any nation and the world, or it doesn't mean that they won't be contributing anything to be benefiting the over-all welfare of the family, or the community, or the nation and the world. In fact, such minds are the ones that can truly help the world to advance towards the proper direction that benefits, not just a particular family, or a particular community, or a particular nation, but all and everyone non-discriminatively.

It's normal that some minds/people with their selfish prideful and greedy agenda or aspiration would not agree or like this at all. They need to be in power and in control of everyone and everything in order to feel great about themselves, as well as to be achieving their selfish agenda or aspiration that would make them feel "I am (We are) strong and powerful," at all costs, even if it would be hurting all and everyone or the environment. Unfortunately, none can do anything to help these minds to be free from ignorance. It has to come from one's own self-awareness and self-acknowledgement towards the ignorance in oneself, and be initiative to make an effort to be free from ignorance, or to stop hurting oneself and all the others.

Being conditioned by egoistic thinking pattern unwittingly

The minds can still be functioning under the influence of conditional egoistic thinking pattern to behave, judge, expect, aspire, act and react, unwittingly, even if the minds have 'good' intention to be supporting and upholding 'good' values/practice/behavior, and believe in performing 'good' actions and standing up for protecting 'goodness and righteousness' in the world.

Yoga practice is to free the mind from conditional egoistic thinking pattern that most minds are unaware of, while thinking and believing that those thinking and beliefs are the important values of humanity.

Yoga practitioners can perform self-introspection to find out whether one's mind is being conditioned by egoistic thinking pattern unwittingly, by asking oneself these questions, as most minds are unaware of itself is being conditioned to think and believe in such way, to behave, judge, expect, aspire, act and react.

- Is there a strong sense of belonging towards a particular name and form of family/relationship/friendship/social group/community/country/nationality/ethnicity/culture/religion/school/spirituality/profession/politic/any form of practice and etc, and one would do one's best to uphold and protect that particular name and form that the mind thinks and believes, 'This is where I belong, that I am being proud of being part of it, and I have the duty and responsibility to do my best to be protecting it from being hurt, damaged or destroyed by what I think and believe as negativity, badness and wrongfulness', or I don't know where I belong and it's important for me to be in searching for something/somewhere that I belonged to, that can give me the sense of belonging?

- Does the mind thinks and believes that patriotism and loyalty towards something/somewhere that one belonged to, is a great value or quality that everyone should be cherished and be proud of, where 'Betrayal of any kind is something terribly wrong and unforgivable, and those who commit any form of betrayal must be condemned and punished accordingly'?

- Does the mind thinks and believes that there are certain things/objects/lives that it likes and agrees with, that it understands as something important and appreciates very much shouldn't be subject to 'impermanent changes' and don't deserve 'extinction'?

Not that patriotism and loyalty or upholding something that one's mind thinks and believes is 'good and righteous' is something bad or wrong, but it promotes 'separateness' and 'discrimination' where it doesn't allow the mind to go beyond the conditional thinking pattern that hinders the mind from realizing selflessness, oneness, non-separateness, namelessness, formlessness and attributelessness, which is the ultimate goal of yoga. Similarly, there's nothing wrong with showing great appreciation towards something that the mind perceives as important, lovable and agreeable, but the intense attachment towards something that the mind thinks and believes is important, lovable and agreeable, and not allowing everything being what they are, where everything will change and disappear, is what hinders the mind from realizing 'yoga', or be free from ignorance and suffering.

Patriotism/Loyalty and the sense of belonging or the need to find where one belonged to don't exist in selflessness. Due to ignorance and egoism, many yoga practitioners are still being conditioned by such egoistic thinking pattern, where they think and believe that they belong to certain 'yoga lineage', or 'yoga family', or 'yoga community'. Similarly, the minds that are free from ignorance and egoism can be appreciating all the lovable and agreeable names and forms, but without attachment and are able to respect the law of nature (impermanence and selflessness) as it is, and be able to let them go, in peace.

Patriotism/loyalty and self-righteousness is not yoga practice. Yoga practitioners must work cautiously and diligently to free the mind from such egoistic thinking/belief/values/practice in order to free the mind from ignorance and egoism, to realize selflessness/oneness/non-separateness/namelessness/formlessness/attributelessness, that leads the mind towards right discrimination towards the truth of everything and non-discrimination towards all the different qualities of names and forms that co-existing in this space, which all are subject to impermanence and selflessness.