Everyone evolves and understands at their own pace

There's nothing to be arguing about towards the different understanding from different minds towards life existence and all the teachings and practices that we could be learning from reading, hearing and experiencing. As even what our own mind understands would be changing or evolving from time to time. It's a continuous learning and evolving process until the mind realizes the truth of impermanence and selflessness.

Everyone takes their own time to evolve and understand everything differently through different stages of practice and purification process.

It doesn't mean that we understood wrongly, even though what we understood differently on different stages wasn't completely the truth as it is before we attain the complete realization.

For the minds that have intense yearning to be free from ignorance, to realize the truth of names and forms, it might understand something differently on different stages, as one practice persistently without judgment or expectation as layer and layer of the veil of ignorance and impurities is being removed through the purification process.

It's like the eye sight. When the vision are extremely weak, the eyes are almost blind, the eyes couldn't see anything at all regardless of near and far. 

If we never initiate to improve the vision by getting certain treatment or correction, then we will never see anything at all.

If we are being initiative to improve the vision by getting certain treatment or correction, then the vision can have the opportunity to become stronger after receiving certain treatment or correction. The eyes might start to see certain shape and colour of the object in front of it that are close enough and not too far, although it might not see exactly the shape and colour of the object as it is yet, but at least it sees there's something in front of it with certain shape and colour rather blurry. If one is being contented at this stage, and doesn't continue to receive further treatment or correction to improve the vision further, then it will never see the exact shape and colour of any object, and it doesn't see what is beyond what the limited vision can reach.

If the vision gets to be receiving continuous treatment or correction until the eyesight reaches perfect clear vision, then the eyes might get to see things as clear as it can see, near and far.

During the different stages of treatment and correction, the eyes see the same object differently under different degrees of vision on the different stages, and start to see objects further and further away, until the moment it starts to see the exact shape and colour of the object as it is and can see as far as the vision can reach, upon the vision is being corrected to as perfect as it can be.

We might not see the complete truth in the beginning, but as we practice, we could attain partial understanding towards the modification of the mind, or getting a glimpse of the outline of the function of the mind, through the process of removing the different layers of impurities and calming the thought current, even though it might not be as clear as what we should be seeing when the mind is completely cleared from the veil of ignorance and impurities and restlessness, but that persistent practice, purification and inquiry, allows the mind to keep inquiring towards the truth until the veil of ignorance and impurities and restlessness is completely annihilated.

And hence, there's nothing wrong with all the different understanding throughout the entire prolong process of self-transformation or mind evolution, but at least, there's persistent practice to keep purifying, disciplining and quieting the mind, to free the mind from ignorance, egoism and impurities, until it attains Self-realization, knowing Thyself.

And hence, writing a 'Sadhana' diary can also help the yoga practitioners to learn about the modification and evolution of one's mind as they practice. It's not about attaching towards the past or towards one's practice and the fruit of practice, but, it allows the mind to learn from itself by observing and studying the conditioned behavior pattern of the impure egoistic modification of the mind and through attaining all kinds of partial incomplete understanding from different stages.

The mind would see that all the partial incomplete understanding in the past is actually building up the path and leading the mind towards complete realization. There isn't anything bad or wrong in those partial incomplete understanding at all. More importantly, the continuous practice of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison and non-expectation will free the mind from the great obstacle of pride and false contentment that hinders most minds from continuing evolve towards the realization of selflessness, oneness, non-separateness, attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness.

It's like seeing just the shadow of an object allows the mind to be aware of the presence of an object that is unknown to it, as it couldn't see the object directly yet due to some obstacle, but the mind will continue to strive to remove or go beyond the obstacle to see the object as it is, and not just seeing the shadow of the object. Most minds can't see anything due to the huge obstacle of deep ignorance, and are not initiated to make an effort to find out what is behind the obstacle, or to know the unknown, and even being fearful towards what is behind the obstacle, or knowing the unknown.

Without blind-believing, blind-following, blind-practicing, or blind-propagating any teachings and practice, but attaining direct experience and realization through inquiry towards the truth of everything, including all the teachings and practice of Yoga or Buddhism.

Be free.

My life stories - Part 13

My life Stories – Part 13
Stories from my past memories – childhood, family, friends, growing up, poverty, integrity, dreams come true, finding peace and happiness, Buddhism, Yoga, and now…

We were busy organizing our new life in this rented apartment on Penang Island after we moved in on the 2^nd of February. We needed to get the apartment ready to receive Marc’s parents who came to visit us during the 4^th week of February. Two weeks after Marc’s parents left, Malaysia and many other countries declared national and international lockdown due to the pandemic in mid-March. We didn’t get to explore much of the island. At least, I knew the way to the supermarket for grocery shopping every ten days or so during the lockdown. Also, my husband got to swim every day in the condominium’s swimming pool from the day we moved in for about six weeks until the lockdown started. 

One of the main reasons we decided to leave Langkawi and move to Penang Island renting this particular apartment was because it had the 50 metres lap pool and it’s beside a hiking path. Regular swimming and walking is very important for my husband’s over-all well-being. He has some old and new injuries as well as extreme low blood pressure that restricted him from performing yoga asana practice. I myself prefer doing yoga asana practice at home, and hence, the lockdown didn’t cause me much inconvenience and restriction. It was until the RMCO (Recovery Movement Control Order) started in early July, where the swimming pools in many condominiums remained closed due to the strict S.O.P (Standard Operating Procedure), but the public swimming pool started operating again complying with the S.O.P, my husband got to swim regularly again at the Spice Aquatic Centre for a few months until the pandemic second wave hit Penang and many other states in Malaysia in early November, where swimming activities are not allowed, again.

Even so, my husband and I are very glad that we had left Langkawi and moved into this apartment just before the pandemic lockdown, where we can’t travel or run yoga retreats. We really loved Langkawi, and were thinking of living there for as long as possible because of the nature and slow pace of living that we liked very much, but the human related difficulties that we experienced while living and teaching yoga in Langkawi in the last ten years had encouraged me to suggest to my husband that we should go somewhere else.

Similarly, Marc’s parents had made a very sudden decision to change their travelling dates to travel earlier to Australia than their initial plan, to spend a couple of months with their second daughter and grandchildren and then visit us for one week on the way back to Ireland just before the international lockdown began. Or else, they wouldn’t be able to travel anywhere if they had followed their initial travel plan. When they informed us about they had already bought the flight tickets to Langkawi for February 2020, they didn’t know that we had decided to move to Penang, and they didn’t think of we wouldn’t be living in Langkawi anymore one day. Partially it’s our own fault as we didn’t want to inform anyone about our plan to move away from Langkawi until we had found a secured place to live in Penang. And so, we bought them the flight tickets to Penang and paid for their one night accommodation in Langkawi before their connecting flight between Langkawi – Kuala Lumpur – Dublin. That worked out nicely in the end. We didn’t expect pandemic and international lockdown would be happening in March. It was so lucky that they got to see their children and grandchildren before the pandemic, and nobody knows how long this travel restriction will go on.

Many people, including some yoga practitioners and teachers might understand the importance of it, but they couldn’t observe the practice of social distancing during the pandemic, which is the most important way to stop the spread of the virus from human to human. A few reasons why people can’t practice social distancing or avoid any kinds physical social meet up, gathering and interaction for a prolonged period of time such as the sense of loneliness, meaninglessness and boredom, and anxiety building up towards the pandemic and the side-effects of it; people don’t really understand and don’t want social distancing; as well as many people just can’t live without engaging in physical social/cultural/religious practices, celebrations, ceremonies and events in a group more than one person.

People can’t live without physically meeting, mingling, interacting, communicating and talking with some other human beings from time to time, especially with their family and friends who live physically apart from one another. People can’t live without hugging and touching or ‘kiss kiss’, especially with their family and friends.

People, including some yoga enthusiasts and mental health professionals, would actually believe that people will be sick and die if without physical hugging and touching with other human beings. People can’t just be by themselves or with those within the same household after a certain period of time, but they need to go out and physically mingling with their neighbours, relatives and friends, and family members who are not living under the same household.

Social distancing isn’t just about maintaining at least two metres distance of physical distancing, on top of frequent hand-washing and wearing face mask like what most people would prefer it to be, where people need to go out to work to maintain livelihood and get daily needs, but it’s the restriction of all kinds of physical social/cultural/religious activity, gathering, meet up, interaction, communication, celebration, ceremony and event that gather two or more people to be in a particular space, which involves verbal interaction or talking among people, that serves an upmost important role to minimize the spread of the highly contagious virus. Because most people just forget about maintaining physical distance and can’t avoid verbal/physical communication/interaction when there are two people or more being together in the same space.

There’s nothing wrong with people being sociable and talkative and carrying out their all-time social/cultural/religious practices even in the midst of pandemic. Life has to go on. Just that this pandemic won’t end anytime soon, but will keep growing under the ongoing physical social meet up, gathering, mingling, interaction and talking face to face among human beings. People’s lives, movements and livelihoods that depend on the global economy will always be restricted and affected, unless the vaccine is found and accessible/affordable to everyone.

Because the pandemic is still continuing and even worsening throughout Malaysia and in many other countries, we won’t be running yoga retreats anytime soon. We still receive some retreat requests from time to time, but we reject all of them, as we know it’s not suitable to have such activities during the pandemic. And recently, during the second wave lockdown in Malaysia, all kinds of retreat activities are not allowed, which we agree with.

We had been living on Marc’s saving for the last many months, and lately, his writing, editing and proofreading career has started to take off. He got some international writing, editing and proofreading work that brings in some income for our living, even though the amount is not much and isn't enough to cover monthly basic living expenses. Just like many other people who have to work from home, his work depends very much on the internet connectivity. It would be difficult for him if we had stayed in Langkawi, because the internet speed that we had in that house was very slow and we experienced no internet connectivity for a few days from time to time. We also wouldn’t be able to run yoga retreats in Langkawi during the pandemic if we had stayed there. Here in Penang, we can have a high speed internet connection at a lower price than what we had paid in Langkawi.

Just like everything in this world, this apartment is not perfect. It also has some defects. We are not looking for perfection, but appreciating all the good points while accommodating the not so good points. The living condition, the surrounding environment, the natural air flow and the lighting in this apartment are significantly better than the previous house in Langkawi. This is especially important for my husband, as he needs a healthy environment and comfortable space for his writing that requires a lot of concentration and creativity. Proper lighting is a must because he reads a lot throughout the day and night. Our monthly electric bill now is about 70% less than what we had while living in Langkawi.

Even though people’s everyday lives with certain familiar routine and many physical activities or travelling are under restriction at this time being for the sake of flattening the curve of the pandemic, and many people’s livelihood are more or less being affected by it especially if this will go on for a longer period of time, we are grateful with how and where we are.

The pandemic might restrict us from running yoga retreats, but it doesn’t restrict me from performing yoga practice and writing about yoga in my blogs once in a while. There’s a shift in the world of yoga in a good way being benefited from the pandemic lockdown. It’s not so much about appreciating the good things that we already have in life. The pandemic lockdown is creating a great opportunity, time and space to the yoga enthusiasts to develop self-practice, self-reliance, self-discipline and self-inquiry, inquiring the truth of impermanence and selflessness in all the names and forms, and experience the practice of solitude, seclusion and silence, if they want, under the movement restriction. Though not many people would be interested in the practice of solitude, seclusion and silence, as they prefer to continue keeping busy with their social life and activities mentally and emotionally through the social media platforms during the lockdown or the two weeks mandatory self-quarantine.

Some people’s existing livelihood might be affected by the pandemic lockdown and need to find some other way of making a living to support oneself and/or other people under one’s care, and hence, they won’t be thinking of the practice of silence at this time, which is nothing wrong. Just by maintaining equanimous under any condition and situation without being determined by the impermanent changes and challenges in life, while doing one’s best to look after oneself and one’s life is already a great practice. One can also ask for help from some others if needed, without feeling bad about oneself and one’s difficulty, and without expecting sympathetic reaction or treatment from others thinking that other people should provide help to oneself, but allowing voluntary help from others is available, or not.

Not many people are suitable for the practice of solitude, seclusion and silence. Most people need to keep their minds busy engaging in social connection and interaction with their family and friends physically, mentally and emotionally in order to maintain sanity and counter the sense of loneliness, meaninglessness and boredom, to be caring for one another amidst the pandemic. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s better for people to maintain certain degrees of sanity than losing their minds while trying to perform the practice of silence to quiet the restless mind, if they aren’t ready for it, particularly in this time being. Those who don’t have enough understanding towards the teachings and practice of yoga would be disturbed by the sense of guilt, if they think they are not being there physically, mentally and emotionally for other people, especially their close family and friends. People also have fear towards being criticized by other people for trying to practice silence.

Some people have responsibility towards looking after their old parents, or young children, or physical dependent family members, and hence, aren't able to observe the practice of silence, and it's fine. They just need to know how to look after their own well-being, and aren't being frustrated about unable to do something they would like to do while had to be looking after some other people in their lives. That is also part of our yoga practice, if all those worldly responsibilities are being performed selflessly without attachment, identification and expectation towards the action and the fruit of action.

There’s nothing wrong either for those who make use of this time being to go into solitude and seclusion to practice silence even just for a few weeks being completely cut off from all kinds of social connection, communication, interaction and activity physically, mentally and emotionally, if they are ready, being equipped with Viveka, Vairagya, Shatsampat and Mumukshutva. Those who haven’t experience the practice of silence before should start with one week of silence first, and then gradually increase the length of the duration while having a short break in between, to allow the mind gradually gets use to it and realizes the effect of the practice.

Those who weren’t affected financially by the pandemic lockdown and who have developed certain degrees of self-reliance and correct understanding about the teachings and practice of yoga, and who have determination to free the mind from ignorance, restlessness, disturbs and impurities are suitable and ready for the practice of complete silence for a short or prolonged period of time. Those who are suffering from chronic depression and those who are physically, mentally and emotionally dependent on other people in everyday life are not suitable to practice complete silence. Though there’s no harm and it’s beneficial for them or anyone to be practicing some light yoga asana and breathing exercises regularly at home, especially if many outdoor and group activities are not allowed in the midst of the pandemic. 

If the mind still hasn’t developed the basic foundation of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion and non-expectation, and doesn’t have the basic understanding towards the modification of the mind and the purification process of the mind, even if oneself has been practicing yoga for a long time and is interested to try the practice of silence, then it’s being advised that the practice of silence should only be done under the supervision from some others who had a higher understanding about the modification of the mind and the mind purification process.

Some people might misunderstand that just by staying at home not going out for many days restricting many physical social and leisure activities during the lockdown is not different from the practice of silence. It’s about cutting off all kinds of familiar worldly habits of the mind, including self-pampering with pleasurable enjoyment of the senses, and mental and emotional connections, communications, interactions and activities with other beings, refraining the mind from the habit of going out chasing after the objects of senses to be entertained and stimulated.

The observation of silence is bringing the mind to the present to be focusing within on the internalizing yoga and meditation practice, for quieting the mind and turning the mind inwards for self-introspection, being the witness of the modification of the mind and contemplation towards the truth of names and forms or “I”, while looking after the basic daily needs of maintaining the well-being of the physical body. It’s an intense mind purification process that might generate great discomfort physically, mentally and emotionally. That’s why it’s not suitable for those who are not mentally and emotionally independent. Also, one must be able to take responsibility towards one’s action and the consequences of one’s action. Those who like to blame others for all their unhappiness, pain and discomfort are not suitable for this practice either.

Just by restricting the familiar physical social and leisure activities or not moving the body, but without restricting the mental and emotional craving and longing towards entertainment, stimulation and social connection, communication, interaction and activity, even if being physically isolated by oneself for a prolonged period of time, it won’t work.

While some yoga practitioners might feel that life existence is too precious to be wasting in mind disciplining practice under the threat of the pandemic, and hence, forgoing the yoga practice of disciplining and silencing the mind but indulging in worldly enjoyments of the senses as much as possible. That’s their freedom and there’s nothing wrong.

All is impermanent.

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Different teachings / practices catering the different levels of understanding

Sometimes people might feel confused by the different teachings or practices in yoga that appear to be 'contradicted' with one another.

Such as, there is the teachings or external practice of 'Yama (refraining from immoral conduct) and Niyama (observances)', 'positive thinking', 'sattvic physical and mental inputs', 'breath control' and 'physical position' to influence/balance/purify/control/manipulate the energy field to 'change' or 'influence' the state of the mind from agitation to calmness, from dullness to brightness, from restlessness to quietness, from negative to positive, from unhealthiness to healthiness, from selfishness to unselfishness, from impurity to purity, from ignorance to the end of ignorance. These are 'the practice with names and forms' with the intention to influence or change certain 'lower qualities' to be transformed into 'higher qualities', or to let go certain old 'bad' habits and to develop new 'good' habits. This is for the passionate ones who are being conditioned deeply by worldly egoistic thinking/belief/habits/behavior/desire/action and reaction, who still identified strongly with certain qualities of names and forms (family, relationship, given name/self-identity, gender, sexual orientation, personality, self-image, physical appearance/condition/ability/disability, states of the mind of thinking/belief/feelings/emotions, action and the fruit of action, culture, religion, spirituality, community, knowledge, experiences, relationship, nationality, political point of view, and so on), who are still looking for and being determined by the sense of love, happiness, satisfaction, success, meaningfulness, confidence, positiveness, goodness, righteousness, easiness, or pleasurable enjoyments in the qualities of names and forms.

Then, there's the teachings and internal practice of the senses are being withdrawn from the sense objects, concentration and meditation, which include non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison, non-expectation, annihilating egoism or the idea of 'I', where there's no 'I' existing being the performer of action or the receiver/enjoyer of the fruit of action. There's neither 'I' am selfish nor 'I' am unselfish. There's neither 'I' want goodness/happiness nor 'I' don't want badness/unhappiness. It's going beyond all the qualities of names and forms, being undetermined by the Gunas/energy fields, the physical condition, the state of the mind, quality of names and forms, duality, actions and the fruit of actions.

This is for the dispassionate ones who have firm determination to transcend the mind perception of a worldly life existence of impermanent and selfless names and forms, who have abandoned worldly egoistic thinking/belief/habits/behavior/desire/action and reaction, who are disinterested in chasing after worldly objects/enjoyments/relationships/satisfaction/meaningfulness/identification/recognition, who have gone beyond the sense of love, happiness, satisfaction, success, meaningfulness, confidence, positiveness, goodness, righteousness, easiness, or pleasurable enjoyments, upon the realization of selflessness, namelessness, formlessness, attributelessness, non-duality, oneness, or non-separateness derived from self-inquiry under a desireless equanimous mind, being aware of the modification of the mind or the different states of the mind allowing all the pleasant/unpleasant or desirable/undesirable names and forms of all the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, feelings, thoughts in this present moment now being there as it is, without interfering with or controlling or changing the physical condition or the state of the mind to be something else that is not what it is, or to be 'the way that I desire it to be', allowing all the names and forms to be arising and passing away, allowing all the impermanent changes to be there, as they are.

There's neither attachment towards nor identification with the impermanent and selfless physical body/the modification of the mind as 'I'. These are 'the nameless and formless practice' without any intention to influence or change anything, but allowing all and everything to be there as they are, to be changing as they are, to be what they are, as they are.

If the external practice with names and forms are being practiced with the nameless formless internal practice, then one will know how to free the mind from egoism while performing all the external practice and allowing all the effects or benefits coming from the external practice to be there as they are, without intention to be receiving the effects/benefits of the practice, without desire of craving or aversion, without judgment or expectation, without attachment or identification with the practice or the result of the practice.

Just like the sun, the wind, the water, the earth and the space have no intention to be performing action, or to be interfering with one another and everything in the universe, or discriminating/judging/praising/condemning this is good or that is bad, but actions/activities are there constantly influencing each other.

All the different teachings and practices exist to accommodate different states of the mind with different degrees of attachment, openness, awareness, ignorance, understanding and/or realization. There's no 'contradiction' at all. It's just different stages of the entire yoga practice. However, many yoga enthusiasts might just stop at getting the effects/benefits from the yoga practice and don't want to proceed any further to free the mind from egoism, impurities, restlessness or ignorance, to free the mind from being determined by the mind perception of different qualities of names and forms, and be free, as they are not interested at all in silencing the modification of the mind, as they are passionately 'loving' and 'enjoying' the impermanent and selfless worldly life existence so much. And that's their freedom.

When the mind is being less conditioned by worldly thinking/belief/habits/action/reaction, this mind will be less disturbed by the mind perception of names and forms of all kinds of agreeable/disagreeable or pleasant/unpleasant experiences, and this will allow the mind to see the truth of things as it is, under a calm and quiet state of the mind, intentionlessly, effortlessly, spontaneously.

Approaching a teacher asking to be accepted as student of yoga

Traditionally, when someone is interested in finding a teacher to learn, study and practice yoga and meditation under the guidance of this person (the teacher), one needs to approach the teacher humbly asking to be accepted as a student of yoga under this teacher, serving the teacher without asking/expecting "What am I getting from learning yoga under you?" or "What can you (the teacher) give me in return for offering fees/donations to you to be learning and practicing yoga from you and serving you?"

The teacher will then observe and test this person to see whether this person is fit to be a student of yoga. Once the person is accepted to be a student of yoga, this person will live closely to the teacher for many years, where in the first few years are merely doing some random 'work/service' in daily life, such like housekeeping/cooking/gardening/cleaning/washing serving the teacher (very important/efficient initial purification to eliminate worldly habits of egoism and impurities) before being initiated into the practice. There's high degree of segregation/non-physical contact among the teacher and the student. It's not like nowadays, most people are looking forward to be touching and hugging as the way to show friendliness, love and care.

The teacher doesn't advertise/boast about "I am a certified/qualified/experienced/internationally recognized/affiliated yoga teacher" and "What kind of benefits/certification/qualification/result/achievement you will get if you attend my classes/courses learning yoga from me." but instead, "It's a hard-work. There will be lots of unpleasantness/pain and hardships/obstacles that you need to deal with by yourself. You have to walk the path alone by yourself. You need to be determined, persevered and vigilant to discipline your own mind until you attain self-realization." And the students of yoga will be determined to finish their learning under the teacher no matter how much difficulties and obstacles arise during the physical/mental/emotional purification process, while developing discipline and independence in their own practice, as one day, they will have to leave the teacher, or the teacher will leave.

It's not about to be 'qualified' as 'yoga teachers/masters', be 'affiliated' with 'yoga alliance' to be 'conducting yoga classes' to teach 'yoga classes' or 'conducting yoga courses' to be 'training yoga teachers to teach yoga or conduct yoga classes/yoga courses to other people'. As a 'yogi' who knows yoga doesn't need to be 'trained' to be 'qualified' to be 'certified yoga teacher' and 'affiliated with' such and such 'yoga organization/alliance' to be 'recognized/authorized' to teach yoga to anyone. It's neither about 'correct/proper physical alignments', 'teaching techniques', 'effects/benefits of the yoga practice', 'healing', 'connecting', 'sharing', 'hugging' and 'touching'.

Nowadays, this tradition is no longer be seen/practiced/appreciated. One of the reason would be the existence of 'sincere teacher of yoga' and 'sincere student of yoga' is very rare now.

In this modern commercialized world of 'higher education and higher quality of life with worldly social values and practice', the 'yoga teachers' have to 'advertise' or 'boast' about their 'certification/qualification/recognition/affiliation/experiences/achievements' and 'to be presenting' something 'unique, enjoyable, innovative and attractive' to attract people to be interested to come to attend the 'yoga classes' or 'yoga courses' conducted by them, while gratifying the people's desire of craving and aversion, by giving them what they want/like and don't give them what they don't want/like, to make them feel treasured, appreciated, valued, pampered, satisfied and empowered. Both the teacher and the students also want to develop and maintain an inter-dependent 'connection/relationship' where the students ceaselessly need to receive attention, love, care, support, acknowledgement, advice or feedback from the teacher, while the teacher wants to 'be close' to the students, 'be there' for the students, 'be connecting' with the students, or 'be loved/needed/glorified/supported/respected' by the students.

Because most egoistic impure minds are being conditioned deeply by the worldly thinking behavior pattern, almost all of the 'yoga enthusiasts' or the 'prospect/potential students/clients' of the 'yoga school/yoga studio/yoga centre' will have some kind of 'request' or 'expectation' towards the 'yoga school', 'yoga studio', 'yoga center', 'yoga classes', 'yoga courses' or 'yoga teachers' to meet up their 'requests' and 'expectation' in terms of the 'quality' of the 'professional profile/image', 'qualification', 'certification', 'recognition', 'affiliation', 'organization', 'experience', 'achievement', or 'result orientation', and above all, "How much and what do I get from paying this amount of 'fees'/'donation' to the 'yoga school'/'yoga studio'/'yoga centre'/'yoga teacher' for attending the 'yoga classes'/'yoga courses'."

Many of the untrained worldly egoistic impure minds will have doubt/insecurity towards their own 'determination' being determined by whether they will like/enjoy 'the teacher's over-all presentation/image/charm/professionalism/credibility/teaching style' or 'the classes' or 'the practice', or not, where they are unsure/unwilling to pay fees in advance which might be 'non-refundable' if they want to 'give up' when they experience discomfort or difficulty, or when they 'don't like/enjoy' the 'teacher/classes/practice', while the truth of the purification process deriving from performing 'serious/intense/persevered yoga and meditation practice to eliminate ignorance/egoism/impurities/restlessness' is inevitably 'unpleasant' and 'painful' physically/mentally/emotionally for all egoistic impure minds. Even before the students come to the 'yoga school/yoga studio/yoga centre' to begin learning and practicing yoga under the teacher, the test/obstacle derived from the purification process already started. All kinds of obstacles manifest in the form of physical/mental/emotional discomfort and doubt.

Unfortunately, there are quite many stories of 'impure yoga teachers' existing in the world 'taking advantage' of the attention/love seeking 'yoga students', where people looking forward to be 'touched', creating many forms of 'corruption', and then there are 'impure yoga students' who didn't get what they like and want from the teachers and they criticized and bitched about the teachers with the intention to hurt/damage the teacher's reputation, that makes it even harder and more challenging for 'yoga enthusiasts' to 'surrender' all doubts/insecurity, to be opened to approach a teacher to ask to be accepted as 'student of yoga' and to 'serve' the teacher without attachment, identification and expectation, to be effectively purifying and eliminating egoism and impurities, to free the mind from restlessness and the veil of ignorance.

There's neither right nor wrong, neither good nor bad. It's just how things are in this world.

Anyway, 'sincere teachers of yoga' and 'sincere students of yoga' will meet each other in due time and due cause. There's no 'attachment', 'identification' or 'expectation' towards each other. The students/practitioners 'serve' the teacher humbly for years, surrendering the ego and worldly passionate desire/ambition/thinking/belief/social behavior pattern, and developing self-discipline. After learning/receiving the teachings from the teachers, the students retreat into seclusion and solitude, working diligently and independently towards purifying and silencing the modification of the mind, to perform self-inquiry upon the truth of everything, to attain self-realization and total annihilation of the mind or the mind perception of an impermanent and selfless worldly life existence of countless 'births' and 'deaths' of names and forms (thoughts/feelings/emotions/relationships) arising and passing away, of ignorance, egoism, impurities, restlessness and suffering.

 "You are left alone now." - Swami Sivananda

Perform self-inquiry towards all the doubts in one's mind

There’s nothing wrong with reading and memorizing and studying the teachings from the ancient scriptures of Yoga or Buddhism. Just that one needs to know how to unattached towards all the teachings in the scriptures, even if some or all of the teachings might seem to be agreeable or disagreeable to the mind based on what the mind thinks it knows, without blind-agreeing/disagreeing, blind-believing, or blind-following, but be determined to purify the mind to free the mind from egoism and impurities, to allow the mind to perform inquiry/investigation to inquire the truth of all these teachings whether they are true, or not.

At the same time, when the mind is still under the influence of ignorance, egoism and impurities, the mind might generate disagreement or dislike towards some or all of the teachings, and out of the egoistic habit of the mind, it might feel disturbed or resentment towards the teachings that the mind disagrees with or dislikes. The disturbed mind would want to argue or debate or discuss about the truth of this and that, which the mind itself isn’t sure what it is. The mind that ‘knows’, would be in silence, allowing others to ‘understand’ or ‘interpret’ this and that in their own ways/versions.

It’s not so much about whether the teachings in the scriptures are all true, or not. Or whether there’s some misinterpretation coming from the impure mind while studying and analyzing the teachings, or there’s some misleading coming from those who ‘prepared’ the scriptures while putting the teachings into words/texts in a particular language, or there’s some imperfection while describing/translating the teachings into a particular language.

Any kinds of written texts or verbal words in any particular form of language is imperfect. That’s why the truth can only be realized through self-realization under a pure mind, and it can never be described/translated into the form of verbal or written words/texts of any languages. Buddha already stated that the truth can only be attained through self-realization via a pure and quiet mind acting as a reflector for the mind to reflect upon itself to know thyself, it's never through reading/studying/analyzing/debating/discussing or getting answers from anyone by asking questions, as one will never know whether all the answers from anyone is true, or not, unless one realizes the truth by itself.

Dhamma cannot be written down in words of any languages, and if the teachings had to be passing down through verbal form and be translated into other languages in verbal or written form, and be kept in the form of texts/words in any particular languages, it’s not perfect. Everyone who sincerely wants to follow the path of yoga or Buddhism, must work diligently on purifying and quieting the restless mind to allow the mind to inquire/reflect the truth of everything, including all the teachings from all the scriptures (any kind of teachings in text form or in verbal form of any particular language.)

And it’s not important at all whether the agreements and disagreements coming from the impure mind towards the teachings are true, or not. But it’s about the mind develops non-attachment towards all the teachings as well as all the impure mind reactions of agreements and disagreements towards everything based on ‘what the mind thinks it knows or understands’, without being disturbed by something that the mind disagrees with or dislikes, without being attached onto something that the mind agrees with or likes, remain equanimous being free from craving and aversion towards the duality of what the mind thinks and believes or understands as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, or ‘true’ and ‘untrue’, that is upmost important.

Any form of argument, debate and discussion that derived from impure minds are useless as the minds are functioning under the influence of impurities. If the mind is free from impurities, there’s no argument, debate or discussion. Swami Sivananda mentioned repeatedly many times in many of his books – Abandon all forms of argument, debate and discussion. Purify and silent the mind. Meditate and realize. Ajahn Chah mentioned in his teachings – There’s only one book to read – the heart, look within and know thyself. Buddha’s teaching – Do not blind-believing or blind-following, investigate the truth of everything via self-realization through purification of the mind and the annihilation of ignorance and egoism – attachment, identification, the desire of craving and aversion.

The truth is there as it is when the mind is pure and quiet, being free from the influence of duality, being free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance – egoism, impurities and restlessness of the modification of the mind. The truth is not a belief. The truth is just what things are. The truth is still the truth, that all are impermanent and selfless, including what the impure mind perceives as pleasurable enjoyment or painful suffering, regardless of what the mind thinks it knows or doesn’t know, or whether the mind agrees or disagrees with what it perceives based on what it thinks it understands, or whether the mind thinks itself is perfect or imperfect, or whether the world that the mind perceives through the senses appears to be pleasant or unpleasant, or whether the mind is happy or unhappy.

Those who had never read or come in contact with any scriptures or teachings, can still attain self-realization and be free from ignorance and suffering, when the mind is pure. Being free from ignorance and suffering doesn’t change the truth of impermanence and selflessness in all the names and forms, or doesn't change all the names and forms to be the way that the impure egoistic minds would like them to be.

The practice of silence to conquer the restless mind

This teaching is for those who want to conquer the restless mind, but they realize that the mind is so difficult to quiet down, that there will be ceaseless distracting random thoughts occupying the mind, especially whenever they try to sit down quietly limiting the physical movements and refraining the senses from going out chasing after the object of the senses, to train the mind in concentration and meditation.

It's a common reaction of all the untrained impure minds when the physical body is being restricted from bodily movements and the mental habitual activities is being restricted, there will be random thoughts bubbling up to the surface of the mind. It's part of the purification process. People should continue the practice by learning how to be aware of all these random thoughts without association, attachment, identification, craving or aversion, judgment and expectation, and allowing all these random pleasant and unpleasant thoughts arising and passing away, to clear up the past accumulated imprints. People expect that when they meditate, the mind will be free from any thoughts, and so, they'll get very disappointed and demotivated after a few attempts trying to concentrate or meditate, they realize that the modification of the mind is even more agitated and violent whenever they try to concentrate or meditate. And without correct understanding, many people would give up and prefer to just live everyday life as they are, 'happy happy go lucky', be good, do good, without the need to deal with the unpleasant behavior of the mind that they don't like to confront with. And that's their freedom.

The biggest element in aid to conquer the restless mind is the observation of silence, of seclusion, solitude and renunciation from worldly social relationships, activities and interactions.

Some people think that those who want to conquer the mind should take up the challenge of living and mixing among the society, in order to allow the mind to practice concentration and meditation in everyday life having to deal with all kinds of challenging condition and situation, distractions and disturbance, while learning how to remain equanimous without being affected or determined by all the challenging condition and situation in life, without generating craving towards the pleasant life experiences and without generating aversion towards the unpleasant life experiences. And there's nothing wrong with that. But what happens? After many years of 'trying' to practice yoga and meditation to conquer the restless mind, but the mind is still restless, or even more restless under the influence of ignorance and impurities.

Some even say that it's very easy to be calm and quiet being in solitude and seclusion without dealing with other beings and worldly affairs. They think that one doesn't need to deal with pleasantness and unpleasantness, craving and aversion, distractions and disturbance, actions and reactions, when being in solitude and seclusion. What they don't know is that most minds will runaway from solitude and seclusion after some time, like fish out of water, and the modification of the mind is even more agitated and violent being restricted from worldly social relationships, activities and interactions that keep the mind stimulated, entertained, busy, or restless. That's why so many people will say that meditation is very difficult, or they can't meditate, or they don't like meditation, or they don't like to observe silence, of solitude and seclusion.

Whether one is surrounded by many other beings and happenings, or one is alone in solitude away from happenings, this mind has to deal with the impermanent and selfless changes of the physical body and the ignorant impure egoistic modification of the mind. Whether the mind is free, or not free, it's always right here and right now. When the mind practices concentration and meditation, it's always alone, regardless of whether there are other people around, or not.

Do not blind-believing or blind-following any teachings from anyone or somewhere, including all the teachings here. Contemplate and inquire the truth of all teachings and attain self-realization of the truth of all the teachings via direct experience.

Take note that living in the world and mixing in the society are two completely different things. Geographically and biologically, one will have to and always be living in the world, otherwise, this body will not be able to survive for long, but at the same time, know the importance of observing silence, of maximum solitude and seclusion, renouncing worldly social relationships, activities and interactions, in short, refraining from mixing in the society.

While living in the world, one will still have to deal with the impermanent and selfless condition and situation in the world that is ever challenging, and developing the strength of non-association, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment and non-expectation, and one learns how to conserve energy and not wasting energy into worldly affairs/activities/interactions that derived from ignorance and egoism, as well as empowering/feeding ignorance and egoism.

Observing maximum solitude and seclusion while living in the world, and renouncing worldly social relationships, activities and interactions doesn't mean that one is completely isolated from the society and not performing any actions in the world. One can be performing unlimited selfless service in the world to benefit the society efficiently, but being free from mixing, or socializing, or accumulating relationships. One is care-less towards the worldly affairs, but can also be performing actions that benefit the world at the same time. Being compassionate towards all beings doesn't mean that one has to be in a form of relationship with all beings. One can be kind to others without the need of knowing or contacting with the others. Contemplate on this, and be free to observe silence while living in the world and performing actions in the world.

For the 'first class' students of Dhamma, which are very few of them in this world, they don't need to observe silence, of solitude, seclusion and renunciation from worldly social relationships, activities and interactions, as they are already grounded firmly in Dhamma. They can be mixing in the society like everyone else, behaving like everyone else, but their minds are ever pure and quiet. They don't need to practice concentration or meditation at all. They are not separated from meditation. There's no in or out of meditation.

For the other students of Dhamma, which is the majority of us, we do need to observe silence at some stage, of maximum solitude and seclusion, and renounce worldly social relationships, activities and interactions, as whether we are aware or unaware, the mind is constantly absorbing all the inputs of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations and thoughts/imagination/projection/dreams, all the time, unwittingly. All these endless accumulated inputs are the ceaseless random thoughts that bubbling up to the surface of the mind during the practice of concentration and meditation, and many minds that haven't develop a strong foundation of non-association, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment and non-expectation will be greatly disturbed, distracted and demotivated by this purification process. And this will never come to an end, unless we start reducing and limiting all these unnecessary mind inputs deriving from all kinds of worldly relationships, activities and interactions.

It's like someone tries very hard to clean up the rubbish bin, but somehow, rubbish keep pouring into the bin, from someone and somewhere, endlessly. The bin will never be cleaned. The untrained impure egoistic mind is like a rubbish bin, taking in all kinds of rubbish (mind inputs) ceaselessly, unwittingly. And yoga and meditation practice of silence, solitude, seclusion and renunciation, is the most effective and practical way to free the mind from being a rubbish bin, and it's not about to be a clean rubbish bin, but to realize its nature of namelessness, formlessness and attributelessness, that it is neither a dirty rubbish bin nor a clean rubbish bin.

Perform this test to know how the mind works. Sit down without moving the body and limbs, closing the eyes, and observe the natural breath coming in and going out for a few minutes. Very soon, unwittingly, random thoughts will arise and occupying the mind. And one will realize that all these random bubbling thoughts are the strongest imprints during the day, or from the last few days, or even from weeks/months/years before, or even forgotten.

Even Siddhartha Gautama Buddha and Swami Sivananda also had to retreat from the society to be focusing on their practice for some years in solitude, restraining the modification of the mind and attaining liberation. And then they came back to the society to disseminate the Dhamma to the other suffering minds whom in need of the Dhamma to be free from suffering.

By reducing and limiting the mind inputs not just allowing the mind to be purified effectively, but it also helps to develop a great mental strength that allows the mind to be uninfluenced, unaffected, undisturbed and undetermined by all the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses. At this stage, the mind is safe and free to be mixing in the society and live everyday life like everyone else, but the mind is ever pure and quiet.

It's everyone's freedom for what they want to think and believe, and what they want or don't want to practice.

Learn to be alone and independent

If one wants to practice yoga and meditation, one needs to learn to be alone and independent, as well as allow others to also learn to be alone and independent, learning to look after oneself.

Somehow quite many people think and believe that 'aloneness' of solitude and seclusion is something 'wrong' and 'selfish'. Many people, including health professionals and yoga teachers, would think and believe that it's 'abnormal' and 'unhealthy' for the body and the mind if someone is being 'isolated' from other human beings for a prolonged period of time, that people would get sick and die due to loneliness and without any 'physical touch/contact' or 'mental connection/interaction' with other human beings. So they believe, and so they become. It's everyone's freedom for what they want to think and believe.

For yoga practitioners, one must inquire the truth of everything. Do not blind-agreeing, blind-believing, blind-following, or blind-sharing any information of anything coming from anyone or any source.

Look into the history, of those who had been observing serious prolonged solitude and seclusion, voluntary being isolated from other human beings in the society to cut-off social activities, communication and interaction, to minimize mind inputs of worldly ideas, habits, thinking and belief, to quiet the restless modification of the mind, they were able to conquer their minds and attained the knowledge that liberates the mind from ignorance and suffering. These liberated minds were no longer be influenced or determined by all the others in the society of all kinds of thinking and belief and behavior.

Yoga practitioners who truly want to be free from ignorance and suffering, must inquire the truth of all those worldly thinking and belief coming from someone and somewhere, while letting go the worldly habit of minding other people's worldly affair, allowing others to learn to be independent to look after their own minds, or not.

No doubt that all living beings must depend on nature to provide the source of energy in the form of food, water and air for survival, and human beings living in the modern society are limited by necessary dependence on some others for certain things. Such as those who don't farm or cook, will have to depend on those who involve in farming, transporting, food processing, handling and cooking, to allow food to be available to them. Or, people who don't know how to build a house need to depend on house builders to build houses for them. Or, babies, toddlers and young children need the attentive care and guidance from others who are physically/mentally/emotionally matured. Or, those who have physical or mental limitation or illness, also need to depend on other people to look after their everyday living and to rehabilitate. Or, most people depend on clean treated running water, gas and electricity supply to their home for modern living convenience. Or people who are critically sick need to depend on health professionals who have the knowledge of medicines and treatments for all kinds of critical illness, and depending on the availability of the medicines or treatments to counter that particular illness.

Otherwise, most people could be physically, mentally and emotionally independent most of the time for most of the things in everyday life, but people just wouldn't, where people are either reluctant to look after themselves physically, mentally and emotionally even when they could, but they rather depending on other people to be there for them physically, mentally and emotionally, or people have fear and aversion towards the sense of lovelessness, companionlessness, loneliness, boredom and meaninglessness.

Survival instinct, love seeking, companion seeking, loneliness, boredom and meaninglessness are some of the significant reasons why people don't like or don't agree with 'aloneness' and 'independence'. Meanwhile there are selfish greedy people in the world also don't like the society to be 'independent' as that means they can no longer easily 'manipulate' or 'control' the society to get what they want.

It's common that many people want to think and believe that all human beings somehow NEEDING each other in life. People like to think and feel, "My children need me", "My family needs me", "My friends need me", "My partner needs me", "My students need me", "My pets need me", "My country needs me", and so on. Or "I need my children/my family/my friends/my partner/my students/my pets/my country being there for me, or else my life is empty, lonely, bored, joyless and meaningless."

It makes the egoistic minds feel good and meaningful about themselves when they think they are needed by other people or beings, that they can contribute something to other beings. If everyone is physically, mentally and emotionally independent and doesn't really need anyone to be there for them physically, mentally and emotionally, then this 'craving for needing one another in life' will not be gratified. People are no longer be able to attain that kind of good and meaningful feelings coming from the perception of "I am needed by some others. I am a useful being. I can contribute to the family/society/country/world/humanity." But, this is only because of ignorance and egoism.

The mind can be free from the idea of "I am needed by some others" or "I want to be there for some others" and be free from the craving for attaining good feelings and the sense of meaningfulness coming from being needed by others, but still being kind and generous and helpful to those who really need physical, mental and emotional care and support from others, unconditionally without discrimination of 'superiority or inferiority', 'people whom I know or don't know', 'people whom I like or don't like', or 'people whom I agree with or disagree with'.

And then there are those who become physically, mentally and emotionally frustrated, exhausted and restless deriving from pushing oneself beyond one's limitation to look after other people who want to or need to depend on the others physically, mentally and emotionally. This is because the egoistic mind would feel bad, guilty and regret if they think they are not always there or couldn't be there for people who want to or need to depend on them. And if their body and mind breakdown due to over exhaustion from looking after others, themselves need to be looked after by some others. If one can't even look after oneself properly, then how can one look after the others efficiently?

When the mind is free from ignorance and egoism, it can truly serve the world efficiently, selflessly and unconditionally, under a pure, calm, dispassionate, desireless and selfless mind.

In the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre/Ashram, most people see the sequence of the teachings of Swami Sivananda as SERVE, LOVE, GIVE, PURIFY, MEDITATE, REALIZE. That is also what Swami Sivananda taught and had written in most of his books.

SERVE, LOVE, GIVE is when the mind turning outward performing selfless actions in the world (Karma Yoga) to serve the purpose of purifying the mind via the elimination of egoism through selfless service. While PURIFY allows the mind be free from impurities and restlessness to meditate and realize the truth of selflessness. MEDITATE is when the mind turning inward ceased all actions or studies in the world, stands as the silent witness towards the mind perception of a world of names and forms. And REALIZE is the fruit of meditation.

SERVE, LOVE, GIVE are supposed to help in the elimination of egoism while performing karma yoga/selfless service, however, it's because most minds are not free from ignorance and egoism, that's why they need to be purified. While SERVE, LOVE, GIVE under the influence of ignorance and egoism could actually empowering ignorance and egoism, and would generate more impurities and restlessness into the mind than to purify the mind, which in fact, hindering the mind to meditate and realize.

And so, the more efficient way might be first taking care of PURIFY (by turning the mind inward via dispassion, renunciation, solitude, seclusion and silence), MEDITATE and REALIZE, and then this mind that is free from ignorance and egoism can truly SERVE, LOVE, GIVE through performing selfless actions or Karma Yoga in the world, efficiently, selflessly and unconditionally. At this point, even though the body and mind is performing actions in the world, but the mind is unmoved/unaffected/undetermined by the actions and the fruit of actions. This mind is void of restlessness or exhaustion. This is INACTION in ACTIONS that doesn't bind the mind to karma.

In fact, meditation practice being done with the correct understanding and attitude is the best mind purification, as during the time of sitting quietly by oneself, moving the body and mind away from worldly interactions and activities, turning the attention inward, withdrawing the senses from the sense objects, witnessing/observing the mind activities without association/identification with the modifications of the mind, without craving, aversion, judgment and expectation, without intention, the mind is being purified naturally and efficiently.

PURIFY, MEDITATE, REALIZE is indeed the mind SERVING, LOVING, GIVING the mind itself, and thus, purifying itself. Upon the realization of Selflessness, this mind can truly SERVE, LOVE, GIVE to others.

And hence, the importance of silence, solitude and seclusion, aloneness and independence for those who truly want to practice yoga and realize yoga.

One must look after one's mind before one can truly benefit the others.

Those who disagree with this don't have to take up this teaching. Be free.

Getting benefits from doing yoga exercises regularly but didn't eliminate ignorance, egoism and impurities?

What it's like if we are getting many health and fitness benefits from doing the yoga exercises regularly, but we didn't eliminate ignorance, egoism and impurities?

It's like a beautiful garden with lots of nice fragrant flowers blooming and filling the air with really nice fragrance, but there were also smells of cat shits/pees and decapitated rotting dead body parts of birds and frogs that the cats killed for fun and left behind in the garden here and there.

It's everyone's freedom for what they want to do with that.

Some say, "It's okay. I love cats. I don't mind the smells of cat shits/pees and decapitated rotting dead body parts of birds and frogs that the cats killed for fun. I can still smelling the fragrance of the flowers. The nice fragrance of the flowers can 'sort of' cover those smells. I don't need to do anything." That's their choice of freedom.

Some say, "The nice fragrance of the flowers don't really cover or remove the smells of cat shits/pees and rotting dead body parts of the birds and frogs killed by the cats and being left behind in the garden. The air is filled with the mixture of the fragrance from the flowers and the smells from the consequences of cats' behavior. The fragrance of the flowers is no longer a nice fragrant, but it's contaminated by the smells of the consequences left behind by the cats. What is there to be enjoying about? I have to clean up all these existing cat shits, wash away the pees, and take away all the dead body parts of birds and frogs, and then I'll do my best to keep the cats away as much as possible. Then I can truly enjoy the nice pure fragrance of the flowers in the garden." This is similar to the essential purification process of performing the yoga practice.

It's not so much about attaining and accumulating the benefits of the yoga exercises, and making the body and mind feels good momentarily after doing the yoga exercises, or accumulating virtues and merits by doing lots of 'good actions', but more important, is to clean up the ceaseless generation and accumulation of 'rubbish' in the mind - The annihilation of ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Huge amount of accumulated virtues and merits are nothing if ignorance, egoism and impurities are ceaselessly 'occupying' and 'contaminating' the mind.

Be free.

The function of memory and the existence of 'I'

The existence of 'I' is very much influenced by the function of memory to remember all or some of the relationships and experiences with everyone and the objects of names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, and the accumulated knowledge and skills through remembering all its learning and training from the past till the present, with all kinds of imagination, anticipation, speculation, projection and expectation, plus all the thought activities of pleasant and unpleasant reactions of feelings and emotions towards all the good and bad, desirable and undesirable experiences.

If the mind couldn't remember certain experiences in the past, it won't relate itself with those experiences and will have no identification with those experiences. At some points, the mind might confuse some wild imaginations and the dreams that it remembers as part of the life experiences that it thinks it experienced in life. Under the function of memory, most of the time, the mind doesn't remember things exactly as they were. A lot of the details of the memories are doubtful and confused. And the ego attached onto these blurred memories of the past to be identifying as 'I', and judges itself and everyone and everything based on these memories.

If the function of memory doesn't exist, or the mind couldn't recall all that it perceived of what it saw/heard/smelled/tasted/felt/thought/knew/acknowledged/learned/experienced/practiced/acted/reacted/acquired/possessed, or what it liked and didn't like towards all the perceived names and forms, there's no remembrance of an existence or identification of 'I' and any relationships with anyone in the present. Whatever was being processed in the mind wasn't being stored as a conscious memory to be recall into the present, though there will be subtle imprints of all the present reactions of craving and aversion towards all the perceptions of names and forms being stored in the subconscious mind where all these subtle imprints of craving and aversion would bubble up to the surface of the conscious mind during the deep mind purification process, when the mind stops reacting with craving and aversion towards all the perceptions in the present.

Without memory storage of what it perceives through the senses and what is being processed through the thinking faculty, the mind won't remember a continuous/permanent identity that attached onto some qualities of names and forms that comes with certain accumulated knowledge, experiences and relationships with everyone to be identifying as "This is what I was/am from the past till now." This mind won't be influenced by any particular ethnic and social background, culture, knowledge, idea, practice, thinking, belief, or learning, to apply any judgment, comparison, or expectation that based on the memories of past experiences of accumulated knowledge, ideas, beliefs, actions and reactions towards all the mind perceptions of names and forms in this existence now, such like, "I had this before. This was good, I liked this. I want this again." or "I had that before. That was bad, I didn't like that. I don't want that again."

Even though there might be spontaneous reaction of craving or aversion towards the mind perception of names and forms in the present now, but then, the mind won't be able to remember this experience and its reaction of craving and aversion towards this experience. All experiences will appear to be something new or unknown to it. The desire of craving and aversion on the conscious level are very much influenced by the memories of the past pleasant and unpleasant experiences. "I experienced this before or I know this, I remember either I had liked this and I want this again (craving), or I didn't like this and I don't want this again (aversion)." Meanwhile, the subtle desires of craving and aversion that continuously bubble up to the surface of the conscious mind which the memoryless mind doesn't remember or doesn't know what they are or where they come from, but somehow there are ceaseless reaction of craving and aversion towards all the names and forms being generated due to these subtle imprints of desires.

If the mind developed awareness towards the existence of these subtle desires of craving and aversion, without attachment towards these desires or identification with them, or it is uninfluenced by these existing subtle desires to generate more reactions of craving and aversion, this mind is free.

That's why for those who take seriously in the path of yoga and meditation, the practice of renunciation and seclusion, reducing and restricting mind inputs of all sorts, or the contact with objects of names and forms, or social interactions and activities in the world, is a very important observation to minimize and restrict the accumulation of subtle imprints of under current desires even if the mind has no awareness or memories of all its reactions of craving and aversion towards all the perceptions of names and forms.

It's everyone's freedom for what they want to do with their worldly life existence of the impermanent and selfless body and mind.

For those who are absolutely okay with the impermanent and selfless function of the body and mind, who are free from clinging and craving towards good condition and free from aversion towards bad condition, and aren't disturbed or determined by all kinds of suffering in the world of names and forms that derived from ignorance and egoism and impurities, they don't need to practice yoga and meditation, as they are free as they are.

Be free.

Yoga practice - why and how?

The practice of yoga is about the realization of unconditional peace which is the nature of all beings beyond the mind perception of all the different qualities of names and forms that generate separateness and discrimination among all beings which lead to restlessness or peacelessness and suffering.

The root cause of restlessness or peacelessness and suffering is ignorance and egoism.

The unconditional peace is unconditioned/undetermined by the impermanent qualities of names and forms (the law of birth and death), and is realized upon the annihilation of ignorance and egoism.

The annihilation of egoism is the realization of selflessness.

Compassion is the active force of selflessness that allow actions being performed without egoism of attachment, identification, desires of craving and aversion, and expectation. Just like the sun, the water, the wind, the earth and the space, or like all the internal organs in the physical body. There are specific functions in their existence to support one another, but there is no egoism in them to influence or to control or to identify with their functions/actions and the fruit of their functions/actions.

Ignorance is not knowing the truth of names and forms, and egoism is born out of ignorance. Egoism is the idea of 'I' exist as an individual being attached to certain qualities of names and forms to be identified as 'I', where all sorts of desires of craving and aversions arise due to this false identity of 'I'. And all kinds of impurities of anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, agitation, depression, hurts, offensiveness, defensiveness, fear and worry are born out of ungratified desires of craving and aversion. And hence, the mind is being in a state of restlessness or peacelessness and suffering. The mind appears to be not peaceful.

The ego, or who/what the mind thinks is 'I', is nothing but made up of mere pieces of BROKEN MEMORIES of all the perceptions of names and forms, life experiences, actions and reactions, feelings and emotions, imaginations, expectations, dreams and relationships with everyone and everything. What is not found in the memories, or beyond what the mind can recollect, there's no 'I'. People say, "This is not who you really are, you need to find/go back to your true identity of who you really are" or "This person is not what he/she appears to be, you need to find our his/her true identity of what he/she really is." Everyone can 'appear' or 'pretend' to be what they are or what they want to be and they are being different on different timing and condition, whether intentionally or unintentionally, with their appearance, personality, mentality, vision, mood and behavior are changing from time to time, but there is not a permanent 'I' being there as "this is who I really am."

There is no 'existence of an individual identity of who you really are' or 'who I think is the real I'. When one realized the true nature of oneself beyond the existence of the body and the mind and the worldly identity that attached onto certain qualities of names and forms, it's not about realizing my original self or a personal nature. It's the limitless/non-separate/egoless/selfless/nameless/formless/attributeless nature in all and everyone. The mind will be free from separateness and discrimination, and all the impurities of anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, offensiveness, defensiveness, hurts, fear and worry that come along with the existence of separateness and discrimination.

When a person lost all his/her memories, all the relationships with everyone with all the past painful and uplifting life experiences, and the past accumulated knowledge have no impact on this person's mind perception of himself/herself or his/her identity in the present. What is pride and arrogance about 'I' am knowledgeable or 'I' have great achievements? Subconsciously, this person might still be able to perform certain habitual actions without the memory of 'how did I know how to do this' and unwittingly react towards all the pleasant and unpleasant sensations that keep arising and passing away.

When a person feels bitter or hurt or angry about something unpleasant/painful that has happened on them, it is because of the attachment and identification towards all these memories of experiences that generates the reaction of bitterness or hurt or anger towards these experiences. The experiences and the memories of the experiences has no power to cause bitterness, hurt or anger. For example, if 'I' have no recollection/remembrance about something unpleasant or hurtful that has just happened, 'I' won't feel 'bitter' or 'hurt' or 'angry'. It is the continuous remembering what had happened that the mind recognizes as 'unpleasant' or 'hurtful' that causes the ego, or 'I', to continue to feel 'disturbed', and continuously react with 'bitterness', 'hurt' and 'anger'.

All the past reactions of pleasant and unpleasant feelings and emotions towards all kinds of pleasant and unpleasant sensations arising and passing away that has been storing in the subconscious mind might come up to the surface of the mind without remembrance/recollection of when and how did these feelings and emotions exist in the first place, the mind can be trained to just observe and be aware of them without attachment or identification, without reaction of craving or aversion, and allowing them to pass away. This is what deep mind purification is about.

Yoga practice is to purify and quiet the mind, to allow the mind to be open, unconditioned by any conditional worldly thinking and belief, to allow the mind to see the truth of names and forms as it is, to be free from ignorance and egoism and all kinds of impurities that lead to restlessness or peacelessness and suffering.

The realization of unconditional peace of selflessness is beyond the different states of the mind. Different states of the mind conditioned by cause and effect are being projected in the mind and all states of the mind are impermanent, and it is not 'I'. The mind projects restlessness. It is not 'I' am restless. The mind projects dullness. It is not 'I' am dull. The mind projects calmness. It is not 'I' am calm. The mind projects peacefulness. It is not 'I' am peaceful. The mind projects kindness. It is not 'I' am kind. The mind projects evilness. It is not 'I' am evil.

The mind is just what it is. It is neither good nor bad. It is neither perfect nor imperfect. It is neither pure nor impure. It is neither positive nor negative. It is neither wise nor unwise. Out of ignorance, the idea of 'I', 'my' and 'mine', and all kinds of ignorant thinking, attachment, identification, desires of craving and aversion arise in the mind that leads to the countless births and deaths of different states of the mind with all kinds of actions and reactions and the result/consequences/fruit of actions and reactions.

The big picture of the yoga and meditation practice is about purifying the mind to free the mind from the pollution of conditional worldly thinking and belief, which is the product of ignorance and egoism, as well as the fuel that feeds ignorance and egoism. And all these worldly thinking and belief about what is a meaningful life, how people should think and behave, act and react, and what people should believe in, are manipulated by many impure selfish minds. If the mind is under the influence of ignorance and egoism, it is easily be manipulated and influenced by what they perceive through the senses of seeing, reading, hearing, smelling, touching and thinking, that are not necessarily the truth of what things are. No matter how intelligent that the mind thinks it is, it still can be manipulated and influenced by worldly conditional thinking and belief, without knowing that it has already been manipulated or influenced by them.

Yoga and meditation practice is to free the mind that has been conditioning by all these worldly thinking and belief. And thus, there is a very important part of the yoga and meditation practice that is being ignored or criticized by many worldly people, including those who think they love yoga and practice yoga, which is the practice of SILENCE, to be in solitude and seclusion for a sustained period of time (at least 5-6 years), to move away from the society, stop mixing with worldly people, stop engaging in worldly interactions and conversations, stop reading newspapers, novels and magazines, stop watching TV programs, advertisements and movies, stop all kinds of worldly contact and communication. It doesn't matter whether the mind thinks these 'inputs' of the mind are true, or not true. By allowing the mind to be in silence and cleared out of all the worldly thinking and belief, be free from conditional judgment and expectation based on the worldly thinking and belief, the mind will be able to see the truth of things as it is. This sounds extreme or horrible for many people, but it is the most effective way to free the mind from being manipulated or influenced by ceaseless 'inputs' that are not the truth of what things are. Only those who are determined and are fearless to let go all the worldly thinking and belief as well as worldly identity with qualities of names and forms can truly practice yoga and meditation. Or else, everyone is just doing some forms of different styles and brands of 'yoga exercises' to feel good and look good.

There are many different practices exist to help in the purification of the mind, and to quiet the restless mind. The process of the mind purification and quieting the restless mind via intense disciplines and restrictions (mainly of renunciation from worldly ideas, affairs and activities) can be very unpleasant and prolonged. And hence, the qualities or the abilities of non-attachment, non-identification, non-expectation, desireless, self-introspection, self-discipline, self-control, self-reliance, faith, determination, perseverance, acceptance, tolerance, forbearance, adjustment, adaptation and accommodation play an important role to allow the peace seekers to keep practicing/purifying the mind disregards all kinds of obstacles and difficulties, until the mind is completely be free from ignorance and egoism, and realize selflessness and compassion, and unconditional peace.

The realization of yoga, or unconditional peace, is not possible if the peace seekers are reluctant to let go conditional worldly thinking and beliefs, and all kinds of worldly and personal identifications. The mind is not opened to just seeing everything as it is, but it's closed or limited by conditional worldly thinking and belief that influence how the mind perceives/understands everything. Whenever there's judgment and expectation from the mind towards everything that it perceives through the senses of what it sees, hears, smells, tastes, touches and thinks, it is based on what the mind thinks and believes what things are and how everything should be. And the ego or the false identification of 'I' generates craving and aversion based on the likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements of the egoism towards all the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, ceaselessly and restlessly. There's no peace.

The realization of yoga, or unconditional peace, is nothing to do with what are the physical conditions, abilities and limitations, the thinking and belief, the intelligence, the talents, the skills of doing something, the creativity, the personality, the good and bad life experiences, the happy and unhappy feelings and emotions, whether one believes or disbelieves in God, religion or spirituality, and how much knowledge the mind knows or doesn't know about this and that in this worldly life existence about humanity, spirituality, culture, religion, arts, music, fitness, health, technology, engineering, science, geology, history, mathematics, chemistry, physiology, biology, anatomy, psychology, and etc.

It is nothing to do with whether the mind thinks the world is a good or bad place, whether there are good things or bad things happening in the world, whether the world is full of happiness or unhappiness.

It is nothing to do with how much information about yoga, the teachings of yoga and the practice of yoga that people have been accumulating from reading, watching, hearing and 'doing'.

People like to know/ask what type of yoga or yoga practice and their benefits, or how much and how long one has been 'doing' yoga, but all these doesn't correlate with the realization of yoga or the liberation from suffering. One can be trying hard to clean up a dirty floor, but in the process of cleaning the floor, one can be creating more dirt onto the floor at the same time. One thinks that "Oh, I cleaned the floor already. The floor should be clean now after my effort of cleaning the floor." but doesn't aware that the floor is still dirty. The action of cleaning the floor doesn't correlate with the cleanliness of the floor.

Be free.

Want to practice yoga? (8)

Surrender
Perform existing duties, but surrender all forms of attachments, identifications, desires, intentions, motivations, goals, expectations, or acknowledgments. The body and mind are what they are, where they are and how they are, but it's impermanent and will constantly change, and it's not 'I' and there's no 'I' exists in all the impermanent changes. Allowing the path to be what it is, without expecting the path to be what it is not. The path is constantly changing and allow the changes to be what they are.

Abandon
Abandon the fruit of actions, worldly identities, ideas and desires, social and cultural beliefs and practices, and worldly sensual indulgence. Be friendly and non-discriminating towards all, without desire to be accumulating personal friendships or relationships, but allowing all friendships or relationships to be there, or not. All friendships and relationships will change. Allowing all the changes to be there as they are. Abandon the desire of longing to be loved or appreciated, and the fear of being unloved or unappreciated.

Let go of pride and arrogance
Starve the ego, or deprive the mind of the characteristics of egoism, especially pride and arrogance about 'I', about who 'I' am, what 'I' am, or how 'I' am, and what and how 'I' know, 'I' think, 'I' act, 'I' express, 'I' give, 'I' receive, 'I' deserve and 'I' have. Being free from pride and arrogance is not about 'being humble' either. Abandon the idea or identification of "I am being humble." One is just what one is, neither being arrogant nor being humble.

Observe
Observe the mind perception of all the objects of names and forms that the mind comes in contact with, including all forms of living beings and non-living beings and objects with different characteristics, names and forms, without being influenced by worldly social and cultural thinking, ideas, beliefs and practices; without attachment, desire, clinging, judgment, or expectation. Allowing everyone and everything to be what they are, as they are, and for being constantly changing.

Take it or leave it
If you can't just observe, but will generate attachment or desire towards the objects of names and forms, then practice take it or leave it, without generate craving for what you like that you could take, without generate aversion towards what you don't like that you don't want to take. Minds that are impure and ignorant don't just take it or leave it. They want more of what they like, and they want to destroy what they don't like. All kinds of greed, self-righteousness, criticism, condemn, conflict, argument, riot, war, discrimination, hatred, prejudice, violence and insanity exist due to most minds are over-powered by impurities and ignorance.

Minimize social interactions and worldly inputs and outputs as much as possible
Embrace peace, tranquility, silence, solitude, seclusion, self-introspection, self-discipline, self-control, self-effort, self-inquiry and self-realization. Allowing the mind stuffs or thought activities to subside. One can only benefit the society truly and effectively when one's mind is completely be free from impurities, or at least have self-awareness and self-control over the impurities that exist in one's mind. Being aware of the impurities in one's mind and restricting oneself from mixing into the society is being kind and compassionate towards other beings, to minimize generating harmful and disharmony effects into the society.

Stay away from any external substances or influences that will alter or over-power the mind via stimulation or suppression
Only through self-awareness, self-effort, self-discipline, self-control, self-introspection, self-inquiry and self-realization that one purifies and conquers one's mind. Performing yoga asana and pranayama practice is using one's own physical body and the breath as tools to influence the energy field or the state of one's mind without the influence of external substances or influences, such like the usage of drugs to stimulate, or numb, or suppress the function of the mind. Drugs, or any external substances might generate momentary effects onto the mind, but it doesn't remove ignorance and impurities of the mind. One has to rely on self-effort, self-discipline, self-inquiry and self-realization to eliminate ignorance and egoism.

Be persevered
Impurities are what hindering the mind from seeing the truth as it is. They are also the great obstacles on the path towards self-realization. Impurities are one's biggest enemy. Rise above impurities, not to be defeated by impurities within one's mind. Once one curbs the enemy within, there's no enemy without. Be persevered and keep purifying the mind until it sees the truth as it is once impurities are absent.

Looking after our minds...

Yoga practice is looking after our minds particularly through observing certain observation and restriction of mental and physical activities to purify our thinking patterns, actions and speech in everyday life, besides performing some forms of physical and breathing exercises (Yoga Asana and Pranayama) to assist and support concentration and meditation practice (Dharana and Dhyana), to know the truth and be free from being determined or disturbed by the world of impermanent names and forms.

If our minds are highly sensitive towards all the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, and easily be affected by the pleasant and unpleasant qualities of name and form, and being restless being influenced and disturbed by the perceptions of names and forms, then we need to have certain degrees of limitation, or restriction, or filtration of what types of input that come in contact with the mind.

When the mind develops a strong foundation of non-attachment and non-identification, then all kinds of observation are unnecessary, and there's no need of limitation, or restriction, or filtration of what types of input that come in contact with the mind.

The practice of disassociation and non-identification with any names and forms is our basic yoga practice.

The worldly minded minds will want to avoid this type of yoga practice, and criticize this type of practice as anti-social and 'unhuman'. The worldly minded minds identify with the name and form of 'human beings' - "I am a human being. I am a good human being. Good human beings should have such and such qualities, should behave in such and such ways, or else we are bad human beings." We don't just expect ourselves as human beings we should behave in certain ways, but we also expect other 'human beings' also conform to our own projection and expectation, constantly generate separateness, conflicts, arguments, discrimination and hatred in oneself and others.

Yoga and meditation practice is not about strengthening or securing the worldly identification with certain qualities of name and form as this or that, but it's to drop off any identifications with any names and forms, realize non-separateness, or oneness beyond all the qualities of name and form.

It's the same as when we identify ourselves with a particular type of 'origin', 'nation', 'culture', 'religion', 'ethnic', 'personality', 'behavior', 'gender', 'sexual orientation', 'political group', 'professionalism', 'social group', 'yoga practitioner', 'yoga teacher', 'yoga lineage', or 'yoga group', we are not free.

Even by identifying oneself as a 'divine being' or 'spiritual being' is also not free from identification with qualities of name and form, and separateness.

Fear, discrimination (including discrimination of friends or not friends, human beings or non-human beings), pride and arrogance derive from separateness due to the identification with name and form. Unless we are free from fear, discrimination, pride and arrogance, there's no discrimination of friends or not friends, human beings or non-human beings, or else we can't be truly compassionate even though we would like to be a compassionate being.

Om shanti.

Be free...

The mind itself is neither good nor bad.

It's the subjective thinking and beliefs, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, as well as all the impurities that are occupying the mind that are being projected onto everything that it perceives through the senses of what it sees, hears, smells, tastes, touches and thinks.

Free the mind from the influence of conditioned subjective thinking and beliefs, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, and any impurities, the mind will see the truth of things as they are.

When we hear the sound of airplane flying over the sky during the yoga class, those whose minds are influenced by negative thinking will feel annoyed and disturbed by the sound, as their minds perceive this sound as 'unpleasant', 'annoying' and 'disturbing'. Those whose minds are influenced by positive thinking will feel challenged by the sound, as their minds perceive this sounds as something 'good' to help them in the practice of non-attachment. Those whose minds are influenced by the idea of 'Everything is God', will feel blessed by the sound, as their minds perceive this sound as 'Om', as a blessing coming from God to encourage them in their spiritual practice. Those whose minds are influenced by fear will feel terrified by the sound, as their minds perceive this sound as something 'threatening'.

Those whose minds are free from any influences, will be aware of the sound as it is, and allow the sound to be what it is, to be there as it is, without judgment or attachment. It is neither negative, nor positive, nor divine, nor fearful.

The sound has no intention or quality to be something negative to annoy anyone, or to be something positive to empower anyone, or to be something divine to bless anyone, or to be something threatening to terrify anyone.

No matter what type of influences that is influencing the mind perception of names and forms, whatever the mind perceives and how the mind reacts, whether the mind is positive or negative, whether it recognizes something as 'pleasant' or 'unpleasant', whether the mind feels 'good' or 'bad', it's impermanent.

Remove whatever that is occupying and influencing the mind, and be free.

Yoga as it is...

The means of Buddhism teachings and yoga teachings are not different from one another. It's about purification of the mind, control of the mind, self-awareness, self-control, self-discipline, purification of thoughts, actions and speech, non-blind-faith, non-follower, non-duality, non-separateness, wisdom, compassion, selflessness/ego-lessness/I-lessness, non-identification, non-attachment, desireless, namelessness, formlessness, self-inquiry and self-realization of the truth, and be free from ignorance, egoism, attachment, identification, craving, aversion, and all sorts of impurities, and transcend suffering.

Some people think yoga and Buddhism practice is a form of religious practice belongs to a particular religion and culture, as they often see some yoga and Buddhism practitioners perform some sorts of rituals here and there, where all these rituals are coming from a form of religious and cultural practice.

There's nothing wrong with some/most of the yoga practitioners perform rituals and religious ceremonies as part of the yoga practice, but yoga is undetermined by whether there is any rituals and religious ceremonies as part of our yoga practice, or not. As by performing rituals and religious ceremonies doesn't determine that one is practicing yoga, or not. And by not performing any rituals or religious ceremonies, it doesn't determine that one is not practicing yoga, and it doesn't stop one from practicing yoga.

Beyond all the influence of personal cultural practice or religious practice that was mixed into the yoga practice in different parts of the world, yoga is beyond all the cultural practice and religious beliefs and rituals. It's the same for Buddhism practice.

Yoga is right here, in this moment, when the mind is free from the influence of any qualities of names and forms, egoism, identification, attachment, conditioned thinking and beliefs, dualities, desires, longing, craving, speculation, anticipation, expectation, judgment, and impurities.

When the mind is free from ignorance, egoism, attachment, identification, craving, aversion, desires, intentions, expectations, qualities of names and forms, one doesn't need to perform any rituals with any intentions. Although one still can be performing rituals and religious ceremonies selflessly, without attachment, identification, intention or expectation.

Go beyond all the names and forms, and rest in silence.

Purification process of the mind?

The purification process of yoga and meditation practice is like cleaning a drainage system that hasn't been cleared for a long time. Blocked drains can cause problems to our lives and the environment.

For some people the cleansing process is not necessarily pleasant.

Before we open the cover to look what is inside the drain we don't see any disgusting rubbish and it doesn't smell too bad. But as soon as we open the cover and look inside there might be bad smells or unsightly rubbish and waste floating on top. It can be quite unpleasant or disturbing. When we use a rake or net to remove the rubbish floating on the surface the smell becomes more intense and more undesirable waste is revealed. It becomes even more unpleasant or disturbing. If we generate aversion towards this experience, we might want to stop cleaning and replace the cover. We might not want to deal with the drain or the rubbish right now. And the drain continues to accumulate more and more rubbish and generates further problems in lives and in the environment.

It's similar when we practice yoga and meditation. It is an intense cleansing process. The mind needs to be cleansed regularly so that it doesn't cause problems to ourselves and to society.

The purification process can be unpleasant, or even quite painful for certain people. All the past accumulated mental and emotional tension that we have suppressed, or tried to run away from, comes up to the surface of the mind.

Some people retreat from the purification process, as they can’t bear or handle unpleasant experiences, while others are determined to go through the purification process without judgment or expectation, without craving or aversion, developing non-attachment and non-identification towards the mind and its contents, as they have developed a certain degree of understanding of the mind, and are determined to free the mind from impurities to benefit oneself and others.

Om shanti.