Go beyond all kinds of belief and disbelief

There are many different kinds of belief and disbelief existing in the world, but whether they are true or untrue, it's not important for those who want to practice yoga to conquer the restless impure egoistic mind. As all kinds of belief and disbelief are all part of the modification of the mind. And yoga practice is to allow the mind to go beyond all kinds of belief and disbelief, allowing everything to be what they are, without judgment or expectation that everything has to be/not to be in certain ways. More importantly, is not to blind-believing, blind-following, or blind-preaching any belief or disbelief.

The truth of names and forms is not a belief. The truth is just what things are, impermanent and selfless. Regardless of whether the mind believes or disbelieves in something that the mind comes in contact with, the mind can't see the truth of names and forms as it is when it is functioning under the influence of certain belief or disbelief to analyze and judge everything, to act and react complying to those belief and disbelief.

Unconditional peace (selflessness), unconditional love/kindness (compassion) and the ability to forgive and let go something that the worldly thinking mind perceives as 'wrong', 'bad', 'disturbing' or 'hurtful', to surrender/give up all the desires of craving and aversion, and to be free from disturbs, pride, arrogance, offensiveness, defensiveness, dissatisfaction, disappointment, anger, hatred, jealousy, hurts, guilt, regret, painful sorrow, grief, fear and worry, are nothing to do with whether the mind believes or disbelieves in something.

For those who truly want to practice yoga and meditation to conquer the modifications of the mind, it's about going beyond all kinds of belief and disbelief, freeing the mind from egoistic judgment, comparison and expectation based on those belief and disbelief, to allow the mind to see things as they are.

Regardless of all kinds of belief and disbelief, everyone still have to live life as they are, dealing with the truth of impermanence and selflessness of a life existence of the body and mind. The modification of the mind as well as the consequence of all the actions and reactions (cause and effect) of the impure egoistic mind is still what it is. It doesn't determine that everyone who believe or disbelieve in something are all free/not free from ignorance and the suffering that derived from ignorance.

There's nothing wrong with the existence of many kinds of distinct thinking/belief/disbelief. It's just something there influencing how the minds/people think, feel, behave, analyze, judge, expect, act, react and live life.

Different minds/people think, feel, behave, act, react and live life differently from one another. But beyond all the different kinds of thinking, feeling, behavior, action, reaction and way of life, out of ignorance, all beings think and believe that 'I' exist under the function of a thinking mind perceiving a world of names and forms through the senses under the influence of ignorance/egoism/impurities where the mind or what the mind thinks and believes as 'I', constantly acts and reacts restlessly towards all the mind perceptions of names and forms.

All kinds of distinct thinking/belief doesn't change the truth of impermanence and selflessness, or the truth of suffering and the cause of suffering - Ignorance and its by-products of egoism (attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation), all kinds of impurities, disturbance and restlessness, and the existence and function of an impermanent and selfless physical body of countless births and deaths (ceaseless impermanent changes in the physical body and different states of mind in this present moment), of blood, flesh, shit, pee, pus, hunger, thirst, decaying, aging, illness, pain and decompose. The inevitable fundamental suffering of all living beings, hunger/thirst - eat/drink - shit/pee - and repeat, over and over again, until the body stops functioning/existing. It's the truth of the physical body and the restless selfless modification of a thinking mind. All these are nothing to do with the world of names and forms that the mind perceives through the sense, or the belief and disbelief in the mind. Even if the mind strongly believes in 'positive thinking', 'righteousness', 'kindness' and 'goodness', the truth of the impermanent and selfless physical body and the thinking mind is still what it is. Enjoyment and suffering, good and bad, happiness and unhappiness, they all happen in the thinking mind. They exist as part of the modifications of the mind, in the form of thought-current/thought-wave arising and passing away, ceaselessly.

All kinds of disturbs/hurts/disappointment/depression/anger/hatred/jealousy/animosity/fear/unhappiness/painful sorrow/suffering/and etc, exist in the form of thought-current/though-wave.

And hence the teachings of yoga and Buddhism - Annihilate this thinking mind/thought-current, and the world of names and forms, births and deaths, of enjoyment and suffering, good and bad, happiness and unhappiness, cease existing.

Are we really practicing yoga?

We are not really practicing yoga, if the reasoning power is being conditioned by what the mind believes what things are, being influenced by particular social/cultural/religious/political belief, values and practice.

Anything that we believe and judge as 'good' or 'bad' and 'right' or 'wrong' is conditioned by subjective 'standards of belief, values and practice' coming from our own limited perception and recognition about what things are, but it is not coming from the objects themselves.

In different social cultural beliefs, being "fat" can be 'not good' for some people, but can be 'very good' for some other people. What we think is 'not perfect' can be 'perfectly as it is' for some other people.

Things that might seem like "big problems" for us, might be "no problem at all" for some other people.

It is up to us, whether we want our mind to be conditioned by certain beliefs and way of thinking to judge and expect everything to be in certain ways, or not.

We either limiting ourselves by generate a lot of "standards" and "qualities" for ourselves to live up to, or limiting ourselves by allowing other people's "standards" and "qualities" to determine us.

We also apply our own type of "qualities" and "standards" onto everyone and everything, expecting everyone and everything should also comply to these "qualities" and "standards", and be judged by these "qualities" and "standards". We categorize everyone and everything into categories according to our own "standards" of what is 'good' and 'not good'.

We all are free, until the moment we start to apply 'beliefs', 'ideas', 'standards', and 'qualities' onto ourselves and towards other people and everything. Expect ourselves, other people and things have to be like this and not to be like that. Making ourselves not free, and disturbing other people as well.

Just by doing some yoga asana exercises and poses, or pranayama, or studying, discussing, talking, reading and hearing the philosophy of yoga, or chanting and praying in Sanskrit everyday, but without practicing the essential meaning of non-dualism in everyday life, constantly being disturbed, affected and determined by the projected good and bad qualities of names and forms, and generate craving and aversion towards what we like and dislike, agree and disagree with, being over-powered by discrimination, anger, hatred, dissatisfaction, disappointment, fear and worry, not knowing the practice of non-attachment and non-identification, then it is like performing lots of actions improving the function of the mind, the body, the hands, the feet, and the sense organs, having a good condition 'vehicle' with full tank of fuel, but we don't know how to 'drive' this good condition 'vehicle' towards Freedom, or Moksha.

Om shanti.