The basic yoga practice in the yoga class

What do the yoga students learn and practice in the yoga class?

Regardless of what are the different backgrounds, experiences, physical and mental conditions, and intentions of the yoga students, all and everyone are learning and practicing about compassion and non-violence without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitation, respecting the body and mind in the present moment now as they are, desirelessness/intentionlessness, detaching from worldly passionate egoistic traits, turning the mind inward focusing on the yoga practice, being in the present moment, letting go the past pleasant and unpleasant experiences, letting go the future hopeful or fearful anticipation, observing the impermanent changes, observing what is going on in the body and mind, going beyond the impermanent physical condition and the impermanent state of the mind, developing patience, acceptance, adjustment, adaptation, accommodation, forbearance, determination, perseverance, self-discipline, self-responsibility, self-independence, non-blind agreeing/disagreeing, non-blind believing, non-blind following, non-blind practicing, non-blind propagating, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison, and non-expectation, during the process of learning and performing the different yoga asana poses and exercises, the breathing exercises, the concentration exercises, the sound vibration exercises, and the relaxation.

What the body can do or cannot do in the present moment, is not important.

What the mind knows or doesn't know in the present moment, is not important.

What the mind likes and agrees with or dislikes and disagrees with, is not important.

The mind doesn't need to do or practice what it dislikes and disagrees with, or feels uncomfortable with.

It's about not attaching towards what the mind perceives in the present moment now. Without craving towards what is pleasant and agreeable. Without aversion towards what is unpleasant and disagreeable. All and everything is impermanent.

Allow the mind to take its own pace to be opened, or not.

Do one's best while performing all actions, and allow the fruit of actions being what it is.

Open minded - Non blind-believing, non blind-following, non blind-agreeing or blind-disagreeing, non blind-practicing, and non blind-propagating.

Inquire towards the truth of everything, including all the teachings of yoga, coming from anyone and anywhere.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (16)

Learning and practicing yoga is not about enhancing one's physical and mental condition and ability to be able to perform the yoga asana poses and exercises or some other kinds of physical and mental activities in life, to be empowering or boosting the sense of self-esteem, self-worth, confidence, achievement, goodness or meaningfulness, being motivated and encouraged by the yoga teachers to keep practicing regardless of failures/challenges/difficulties, in order to experience the physical and mental transformation from being not strong and flexible or bold enough to perform certain yoga poses/practices until they are strong and flexible or bold enough to be performing those yoga poses/practices, to let them know that it's possible for them to do and achieve anything that they want, if they are being determined and persevered, and never give up.

There's nothing wrong with that, in fact it's a very good motivational training workshop just like many other motivational workshops in the world for people to develop certain degrees of physical and mental strength, flexibility and stamina, as well as the skill, in order to be doing something and achieving certain results, however, yoga and its practice, which is the elimination of ignorance and egoism, the annihilation of the modification of the mind, as well as the realization of Selflessness, is nothing to do with the enhanced physical and mental condition and ability to be doing and achieving something either in everyday life or in the yoga practice.

It's very good for the motivational teacher/trainer to give positive encouragement and acknowledgement towards the students/trainees in any kind of motivational workshops, by cheering, "Well done!", "Yes! You can do it!", "Keep it up!", "Very good!", "Believe in yourself!", "Never give up!", "Yeah! You done it!", and so on, but again, the continuous improvement of the physical and mental ability and achievement of the students of yoga doesn't determine the elimination of ignorance and egoism, the annihilation of the modification of the mind, or the realization of Selflessness. In fact all these motivational workshops are only strengthening the idea of 'I' and empowering egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment and expectation towards the qualities of names and forms.

Even if the yoga students are unable to perform many kinds of physical or mental activities, not to say, any of the yoga asana poses or breathing exercises, due to some physical and mental limitation and disability or environmental restriction, they still can practice yoga to be eliminating ignorance and egoism, disciplining the outgoing tendency of the mind, quieting the restless state of the mind, purifying the intellect, performing self-inquiry, realizing the truth of selflessness and impermanence, be free from ignorance and suffering, and resting in unconditional peace, if they know how to eliminate ignorance and egoism.

It's not about "Nothing is impossible," but "Non-attachment towards both possibility and impossibility."

By developing strong determination and perseverance to be performing many different kinds of actions or yoga practices, with the great aspiration, positive thinking and optimism to be 'achieving' something, but without knowing how to let go attachment, identification and the desire of craving and aversion towards goodness/badness, positiveness/negativeness, meaningfulness/meaninglessness, righteousness/wrongfulness, and etc, it doesn't lead the mind towards Selflessness, or liberation from ignorance and suffering.

That's why there were/are many great competitive sports persons, or world champions, or scientists, or geniuses, or creative artists, in the past or in the present, were/are not necessarily be free from ignorance and egoism or painful sorrow and suffering with their superhuman physical and mental ability and achievement, unless they realized Selflessness, knowing what is 'I', and be able to let go or unattached towards whatever the mind perceived through the senses.

Because yoga is not about how many actions that the body and mind can perform, or how many things that the body and mind can achieve through developing and enhancing physical and mental condition and ability, it's about letting go the attachment, identification and desire of craving and aversion towards what the body and mind can do and cannot do, achieve and doesn't achieve, as well as all kinds of impermanent qualities of names and forms.

Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, or any serious selfless yoga teachers that teach about yoga as it is that leads the mind towards the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, couldn't/didn't/don't say to the practitioners, "Very good! Keep it up! You can do it! I can, so can you! Believe in yourself! You are incredible superhuman!" when they were/are performing or not performing any kind of actions/practices, regardless of whether they were/are doing it right and improving, or not, or "Yeah! Well done! You are liberated now! Great job! I'm so proud of you! You should be so proud of yourself! And your country and all your family and friends will be very proud of you!" or issued them an 'internationally recognized certification' sanctioned by and affiliated to '..xxx..', when they attained/attain certain realization.

And why?

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (6)

What the body can do and cannot do, is not important.

What the mind can achieve and cannot achieve, is not important.

Peace, compassion, and the ability to let go, is not determined by what the body can do and cannot do, or what the mind knows and doesn't know about the different names and forms, the characteristics and the purposes of the many things that exist in the world of names and forms, as well as what the mind achieves and doesn't achieve by utilizing the intelligence and accumulated knowledge.

Knowing and memorizing many names and forms, and their characteristics and purposes, doesn't change the truth of names and forms being selfless and impermanent regardless of all the different qualities, and it doesn't determine the ability of seeing things as they are without grasping, or the capability of non-attachment, non-identification, non-clinging, non-longing, non-craving, non-aversion, and letting go what the mind perceives, judges, thinks and believes as good and bad, right and wrong, positive and negative, pleasant and unpleasant, meaningful and meaningless, deserving and undeserving, and so on, according to certain worldly thinking and belief, values and expectation.

What the body can do and cannot do, or what the mind can achieve and cannot achieve, is impermanent. No matter what the body can do or cannot do, no matter what the mind achieves and doesn't achieve, this body and the modification of the mind, or the perceptive, cognitive, assertive thinking faculty of the physical body, is subject to selfless impermanent changes of decay, weakness, injury, illness, pain, old age, death or decomposition, being powered and influenced by energy and elements.

Above all, there's no 'I', or individual being existing, to be in control or altering the truth of selfless impermanent changes that is governed and influenced by the law of nature, or cause and effect. There's no 'I' existing to be going through impermanent changes of decay, weakness, injury, illness, pain, old age, death or decomposition, but merely the limited adjunct of the body with the perceptive cognitive assertive modification of the thinking emotional mind.

If being physically and mentally fit, strong and flexible determining a person as a 'yogi', then all the competitive athletes especially gymnasts and contortionists, who are also possessing the strong mental quality of concentration, focus, determination, perseverance, will power, forbearance, positive thinking, and etc, on top of the extraordinary physical ability to perform certain actions, as well as all the intelligent knowledgeable scholars and scientists, are all 'yogis'. But, it's not necessarily so.

The most healthy, strong, flexible, intelligent and knowledgeable human beings in the world might not be free from the perception of physical/mental/emotional suffering and have no peace, if the mind is not free from ignorance and egoism.

What distinguish 'the yogi' from the competitive athletes, gymnasts and contortionists, as well as the scholars and scientists, is the presence and absence of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison, and non-expectation. More importantly, 'yogis' or not, all are subject to selfless impermanent changes, however, 'the yogis' are resting in unconditional peace, transcending the modification of the mind, of a selfless impermanent worldly life existence, not being disturbed or determined by the ceaseless and selfless impermanent changes in the body and the mind, and in everyone and everything in the world, not being disturbed or determined by the actions and fruit of actions. Meanwhile the others of the many different qualities, abilities and limitations, might be disturbed and determined by the selfless impermanent changes, being restlessly swaying in between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, happiness and unhappiness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, enjoying or suffering, being influenced and determined by the actions and fruit of actions, success and failure, abilities and disabilities, pleasantness and unpleasantness, desirable and undesirable life experiences, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, good and bad relationships with all and everything, the conditions and situations in the world, and so on, perceiving all kinds of suffering due to ignorance and egoism.

Competitive athletes, gymnasts and contortionists, intelligent scholars and scientists, as well as anyone who are not as physically or mentally fit and strong as them, also are 'yogis', if the mind is free from egoism of attachment, identification, craving, aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation.

Being mentally positive and optimistic, or being good, righteous, kind, loving, generous, happy, content, grateful, cheerful, forgiving, sympathetic and empathetic, also doesn't change the truth of selflessness and impermanence of this body and mind, and all kinds of names and forms that are existing in this world being perceived through the selfless thinking assertive intellectual emotional mind.

There's not even the idea, or identification of, "I am practicing yoga and I am a yoga practitioner", or "I am a yogi," not to say, "I am a good or bad yogi."

This teaching that distinguishes 'the yogis' from 'the non-yogis' is beyond worldly egoistic judgment and comparison, where it's not about comparing between the qualities of 'yogis' and 'non-yogis', to judge who is better/worst or who is superior/inferior. But, it's about whether one realized the truth of names and forms, being free from ignorance and egoism, and is peaceful as one is, or not, regardless of all kinds of different qualities. It's about looking at the different names and forms, and to reflect upon the one same truth of all kinds of names and forms that portray different qualities from one another. It's about knowing what is yoga, what is the yoga practice, what is the main purpose of practicing yoga, and how to realize yoga through the practice.

Regardless of good or bad quality, all are impermanent. If there's attachment towards either good or bad quality, not respecting the law of impermanence, there will be suffering arise in this mind. And there's nothing wrong if the mind doesn't want to be free from attachment. It's everyone's freedom for what they want and don't want. However, a disturbed mind in pain or anger might not have self-control to not generate actions that would hurt oneself and/or others, and the surrounding environment. That's all.

'The yogis' look at things, they see the selflessness and impermanence in all and everything, regardless of the different qualities, void of desire of craving and aversion towards the different qualities, respecting the law of nature, respecting all the impermanent changes as they are. There's no clinging or longing towards 'good' qualities. There's no aversion towards 'bad' qualities. They live and perform actions among the worldly minded, but the mind is void of disturbs, hurts, sorrow, fear and worry.

'The non-yogis' look at things, they see the different qualities, and generate likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, and the desire of craving and aversion towards the objects of names and forms that the mind perceived through the senses. From there, restlessness arise upon discontentment and unwittingly chasing after the names and forms that it desires, and trying to get rid of the names and forms that it doesn't desire, where suffering arise upon non-gratification of the desire of craving and aversion, when it gets what it doesn't desire and doesn't get what it desires, when things don't happen in the way that it desires and expects it to be. The mind misses the people, the objects, the relationship, the interaction, the goodness, the happiness, or the meaningfulness that it likes and desires, but are absence in the present moment. The mind reacts with and suffers from disturbance, disappointment, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, hurts, painful sorrow, grief, guilt, regret, anger, hatred, fear and worry, upon coming in contact with undesirable/disagreeable experiences, and upon not coming in contact with desirable/agreeable experiences.

There are some highly intelligent creative minds in the world of advanced technologies, as well as there are some wise and compassionate 'yogis' in the world of selflessness and impermanence, but can they stop the ignorance, egoism, suffering, hatred, discrimination, greed, jealousy, corruptions, wars, violence, illness, old age, death, and so on in the world of limited adjunct? Nope. Not even enlightened beings in the present or in the history can do anything to change or control the world to be or not to be in certain way. It's all about self-transformation. One can only liberate one's mind from ignorance and its by-products. This path is alone, but not lonely.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (5)

The kind and sympathetic mind or the intelligent and knowledgeable mind can be free from suffering if it knows what is non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison and non-expectation.

The mind can be very kind and sympathetic towards all kinds of suffering in other beings, and/or being intelligent and knowledgeable, but it might not be free from the suffering of disturbed, disappointment, frustration, dissatisfaction, irritation, annoyance, anger, hurts, grief or painful sorrow, if it doesn't know what is non-attachment.

There's nothing wrong, and it's normal for the untrained impure mind to feel disturbed, disappointment, frustration, dissatisfaction, irritation, annoyance, anger, hurts, grief or painful sorrow, and maybe some other kinds of feelings and emotions, it's only indicating that the mind is still functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism.

The mind that is free from ignorance and egoism, that knows and respects the truth of selflessness and impermanence in all kinds of names and forms that is arising, changing and passing away governed by the nature law of cause and effect, that knows thyself, knowing what is going on in the modification of the mind, will be aware of the different kinds of agreeable and disagreeable names and forms, or pleasant and unpleasant experiences, that are happening to oneself and/or other beings and/or the surrounding environment, where it might feel sympathy and empathy towards other beings' difficulties and suffering, while it might or might not be performing certain actions that might or might not bring certain improvement or relief, but without being determined or disturbed by the names and forms or experiences, without attachment, identification or expectation towards one's action/inaction and the fruit of action/inaction, without intention to change and control the names and forms to be something that the mind likes, agrees with and desires.

Accumulating and memorizing a lot of knowledge about the teachings doesn't mean anything, if the mind doesn't practice the teachings, and doesn't realize the teachings through direct experience via self-inquiry and self-realization.

The mind that thinks and believes that itself already had studied and knew a lot about many different kinds of teachings through reading and hearing, with the notion of, "I'd already learned a lot of philosophies about this and that. I know enough. I don't need to be repeatedly hearing the same philosophies again and again from different teachers. Now, I just want to learn to do some physical movements/positions that I would like my body be able to do, that makes my mind feels good, positive, healthy, strong and meaningful. That's all. I don't want to keep hearing some teachings that I already read and heard many times." Then obviously, this mind hasn't been practicing any of the teachings/knowledge that it learned and remembered, even though it has been accumulating a lot of knowledge about many teachings from here and there. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's mere ignorance.

Most untrained minds would spontaneously feel being judged when they come in contact with or hear the teachings that aren't directing towards anyone personally, but merely in general, about how the impure egoistic minds are being conditioned to behave, act and react unwittingly, where many minds naturally relate such ignorant egoistic behavior, action and reaction being mentioned in the teachings to their own behavior, action and reaction, and thus, they think and feel that they were being judged, criticized and attacked by the teachings and/or the teachers who are disseminating the teachings. "Are you talking about me? Why are you talking about me and judging/criticizing/attacking me?" This is also nothing wrong, and it's a very common and normal reaction of the impure egoistic minds, but it's only indicating that the minds are reacting in such way under the influence of ignorance.

The teachings and/or the teachers who disseminate the teachings to the student(s) don't have intention to be judging or criticizing anyone, but merely being what they are, as they are, to allow the minds to reflect upon oneself, to be initiative to learn how to discipline and purify the impure egoistic modification of the mind, to annihilate ignorance and egoism through self-effort, independently.

Most egoistic minds will have strong reaction of annoyance and defensiveness towards certain teachings that relate to themselves, and don't like to hear or practice the teachings that are pointing out the ignorance in the impure mind, and to be doing something about it. For the minds that are being conditioned to behave, act and react under the influence of ignorance and egoism, it's absolutely normal and nothing wrong or bad about how they themselves behave, act and react, and hence, they don't think that there's any urgency to transform the egoistic behavior of the mind, as they think and believe that all their suffering and misery, as well as how their mind behaves, acts and reacts, are induced or caused by other beings who were/are being bad and wrongful towards them. "It's because of you, and your bad behavior are hurting me, that's why I am behaving, acting and reacting like this."

The minds that reflect upon everything, and realized what is going on in itself, are aware of all their mind's behaviors, actions and reactions are the responsibility of the mind itself. And this understanding will free the mind from all kinds of corrupted thinking and suffering that arise due to ignorance or incorrect understanding. What others think and don't think, and how others behave/don't behave, act/don't act and react/don't react, are their own freedom and responsibility, but it cannot determine this mind to behave, act and react in certain way, unless this mind allows that to be happening. And when this mind behaves, acts and reacts in certain way, it's its own freedom and responsibility, it's nothing to do with other minds being good or bad, right or wrong, kind or unkind.

There's nothing wrong if the mind is still feeling hurt and being miserable towards certain undesirable, disagreeable and unpleasant experiences/objects/people/names and forms, and is still have clinging and longing towards certain desirable, agreeable and pleasant experiences/objects/people/names and forms. It just needs to take its own pace and effort to keep practicing and keep purifying until it starts to see what is really going on in itself.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (4)

What other bodies and minds know and don't know, can do and cannot do, achieve and don't achieve, act/react and don't act/react, desire and don't desire, expect and don't expect, understand and don't understand, think and don't think, believe and disbelieve, like and dislike, agree and disagree, appreciate and don't appreciate, practice and don't practice, eat and don't eat, and how others want to live their life, are their freedom.

There's no judgment, or comparison, or expectation towards oneself and others, and between all and everyone who have different qualities of names and forms, condition, opportunity, experience, achievement, ability and limitation.

There's no superiority or inferiority.

One doesn't feel inferior, or admire/envy towards, or feel being intimidated by others who have higher qualities, condition, opportunity, experience and ability than oneself. Neither does one feel superior, or being proud and arrogant towards oneself has higher qualities, condition, opportunity, experience, achievement and ability than others.

'The yoga teacher' doesn't necessarily have to be someone who possessed/possesses higher qualities of names and forms, condition, opportunity, experience, achievement and ability than 'the yoga students', but, someone, or anyone and anything, or any names and forms, that allows 'this mind' to reflect, to look within, to inquire the truth, to have self-control and self-discipline, to be self-reliant, to realize, to be aware of ignorance and egoism in oneself, to annihilate ignorance and egoism in oneself by oneself, to be transcending all the selfless impermanent names and forms or the modification of the mind, and to attain self-realization towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence via self-effort, all and everything of different qualities of names and forms, regardless of superior or inferior/good or bad/desirable or undesirable/agreeable or disagreeable qualities, where all and everything are subject to selfless impermanent changes, are 'yoga teachers' to 'this mind', and above all, 'this mind' that is opened, and allowing all those teachings and practices to be happening, is the greatest teacher above all.

'The minds' that don't know this, will only in search for certain 'yoga teachers' who possessed/possess certain higher qualities of names and forms, condition, opportunity, experience, achievement and ability than oneself, with the intention or aspiration to be 'learning' and 'practicing' certain 'yoga practices of certain names and forms', in order to be able to also achieve those higher qualities of names and forms that oneself agrees with, likes, desires, admires, wants to possess and be identifying with. These minds are not free, including 'yoga teachers' and 'aspired yoga teachers', even though they might be attaining higher qualities of names and forms that they wanted to possess through practicing certain 'yoga practices of certain names and forms' learning from and practicing under the guidance of certain 'yoga teachers of certain names and forms', regularly and persistently, for many years.

'The yoga teachers' or 'the yoga students' who think and believe that, as 'the yoga teacher', they need to acquire and possess certain higher qualities of names and forms, in order to be able or be qualified to 'teach yoga' to others, still need to keep practicing until the mind is free from such thinking and belief.

Regardless of higher or lower/good or bad/pleasant or unpleasant qualities, all are subject to impermanent changes of decay, old age, weakness, injury, illness, pain, unpleasantness, cease functioning, death or decomposition.

Letting go attachment and identification, longing and clinging and chasing after towards any qualities of names and forms that are subject to selfless impermanent changes, is the 'yoga practice'.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (3)

Regardless of,

What is the condition of the body,

In good health, strong and flexible, or not,

What the body can do or cannot do,

What is the state of the mind,

In calmness, or not,

What the mind knows and doesn't know,

What is the condition and situation in the world,

How is the surrounding environment,

Agreeable or disagreeable,

Desirable or undesirable,

Pleasant or unpleasant,

Possibility or impossibility,

What the body and mind and this life existence can achieve or cannot achieve,

What type of family and social background, origin, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, culture, belief, spirituality, values, education, profession, ambition, aspiration, inspiration, past and present experiences and non-experiences, achievements and non-achievements,

What type of yoga lineage, brand, style, level and practice,

Which yoga schools and who were/are the teachers,

In this present moment,

Where one is,

In motion or motionless, thinking or not thinking,

While doing some sort of yoga practice, or not,

While performing duty and responsibility in life, or not,

In solitude, or not,

There's no past, no future, no grasping, no attachment, no identification, no craving, no aversion, no judgment, no comparison, no expectation, no aspiration, no admiration, no longing, no clinging, no good, no bad, no positive, no negative, no meaningfulness, no meaninglessness, no superiority, no inferiority, no regret, no pride, no fear, no worry, no grief, no painful sorrow, no hurts, no suffering, no end of suffering,

There's no 'I', 'my', 'mine'.

There's no 'I am',

There's no 'I am not',

There's no 'I want',

There's no 'I don't want',

There's no 'I wish', 'I hope', 'I aspire', 'I inspire',

There's no 'I practice', 'I love', 'I give', 'I forgive', 'I let go', 'I inquire', 'I meditate', 'I receive', 'I realize'

There's no 'good enough', 'not good enough',

There's no 'I am free', 'I am not free',

There's no 'I am good, wise, generous, loving, kind and compassionate',

Merely selfless impermanent changes of names and forms arising and passing away.

Being what it is, as it is.

Void of egoism or desire, is silence.

*If the mind still has the idea or desire of "I want to learn and practice yoga from this or that teacher because I want to .....", then keep practicing, until the mind is void of such idea or desire.

If the mind doesn't agree with, doesn't like and doesn't want this, let it be.*

Community or seclusion and solitude?

If the members of a community are free from ignorance and egoism, and hence, everyone is independent mentally and emotionally, free from the influence of passion, worldly social/cultural/religious/spiritual thinking, belief, values and practice, egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, and expectation, while performing necessary selfless actions that benefit oneself and other beings within and outside the community, unconditionally and non-discriminatively, without being determined by the actions and the fruit of actions, without being disturbed by the ignorance and the consequence of ignorance of the others in the world, but without any attachment and expectation, everyone might even help the others who are still under the influence of ignorance and egoism to develop awareness to free their minds from ignorance and egoism, then there's no difference between being part of a community and being in seclusion and solitude.

If the members of a community or even within a family are very much under the influence of ignorance and egoism, but oneself has the correct understanding about the teachings and practice of yoga, where one has attained mental and emotional independence, being free from the influence of passion; worldly social/cultural/religious/spiritual thinking, belief, values and practice; egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, and expectation, while performing necessary selfless actions that benefit oneself and other beings within and outside the community or family, unconditionally and non-discriminatively, where oneself is not being determined by the actions and the fruit of actions, without being disturbed by the ignorance and the consequence of ignorance of the others in the world or in the family, not just that oneself doesn't empower the ignorance and egoism in oneself and other beings under the influence of the ignorance and egoism of the others in the community or family, but without any attachment and expectation, one might even help the others to develop awareness to free their minds from ignorance and egoism, then there's no difference between living in a community or family and being in seclusion and solitude.

If the members of a community or in the family are under the influence of ignorance and egoism, and oneself has not developed the correct understanding about the teachings and practice of yoga, where one has not attained mental and emotional independence, is still under the influence of passion; worldly social/cultural/religious/spiritual thinking, belief, values and practice; egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, and expectation; being determined very much by the actions and the fruit of actions; being influenced, determined and disturbed by the ignorance and the consequence of ignorance of the others in the world or in the family, not just that oneself couldn't help oneself and/or other beings to be free from ignorance and egoism, but the ignorance and egoism in oneself is being empowered by the ignorance and egoism of the community, then it's better for the yoga practitioner to be in seclusion and solitude, staying away from all those ignorant egoistic influence and distraction, to work diligently to free one's mind from ignorance and egoism.

If being in seclusion and solitude without freeing the mind from ignorance and egoism, without realizing selflessness and unconditional peace, the mind is still very much being over-powered by passion; worldly social/cultural/religious/spiritual thinking, belief, values and practice; egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment and expectation, and hence, the mind is being disturbed and determined by the modification of the mind, the impermanent changes, the state of the mind, the condition of the physical body, the perceived names and forms through the senses, the life experiences, the worldly relationships and connections, success and failure, pleasantness and unpleasantness, praise and condemn, the physical and mental achievement and non-achievement, and/or the condition and situation in the world or in the family, then it doesn't serve the purpose of being in seclusion and solitude.

If oneself has awareness towards oneself is still under the influence of ignorance and egoism, and trying one's best to free one's mind from ignorance and egoism, while being aware of the ignorance and egoism in other beings, but one doesn't empower or encourage the ignorance and egoism in other beings, then even though oneself is not free from ignorance and egoism yet, and oneself couldn't help other beings to develop awareness to free their minds from ignorance and egoism, but that is already what the practice is about.

If oneself has no awareness towards oneself is under the influence of ignorance and egoism, especially those who identified themselves as 'yoga teacher' who want to teach yoga or are teaching yoga to other people, and whether wittingly or unwittingly, oneself is constantly empowering the ignorance and egoism in oneself and other beings in the community while thinking and believing that oneself is practicing and/or teaching yoga, then that is not what the practice is about. Though there's nothing wrong with that, as most people under the influence of ignorance are being ignorant towards the ignorance in themselves, and everyone takes their own time and pace to evolve. The prideful minds under the influence of ignorance and egoism would feel very belittled, insulted, intimidated or offended when being advised to see the ignorance and egoism in themselves. That's why it has to come from self-awareness to be aware of ignorance and egoism in oneself, then only one would be initiated to do something about it.

It doesn't matter if oneself still haven't realized the difference between "Passionate egoistic sympathetic/empathetic loving kindness that empowers ignorance and egoism in the world" and "Selfless compassion that is free from ignorance and egoism, that helps other beings to be free from ignorance and egoism."

Just keep practicing.

Satsanga (wise selfless dispassionate company) is great if it's available. Asanga (without any company) is better than Kutsanga (ignorant egoistic passionate company). There's no difference between Satsanga, Asanga and Kutsanga for those who are free from ignorance and egoism.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Inquiring the truth of everything vs pushing away what the mind believes as bad, wrong and negative

No one can force the mind to be open, to be unattached, to be inquiring towards the truth of everything, as what the teachings and practice of yoga and Buddhism is about.

It has to be coming from the mind itself be willing to open up, to practice non-attachment, and to perform inquiry towards the truth of things, instead of the mind only wants to come in contact with the names and forms that the mind perceives, recognizes, judges and believes as 'good', 'right' and 'positive' that the mind likes and agrees with, and pushing away/denying/doesn't want to come in contact with the names and forms that the mind perceives, recognizes, judges and believes as 'bad', 'wrong' and 'negative' that the mind doesn't like and doesn't agree with.

Even many of the yoga teachers who teach about Positive Thinking and Mind Purification also refuse to be open, to practice non-attachment, to inquire the truth of everything, including whatever their minds perceive, recognize, judge and believe as 'good or bad', 'right or wrong' and 'positive or negative', that they either like or dislike, agree or disagree with, where they themselves practice while teaching and advising their students to also practice "Keeping the mind away from coming in contact with all the disagreeable things that I think and believe is bad, wrong and negative", without inquiring towards the truth of what their minds believe as 'good', 'bad', 'right', 'wrong', 'positive', or 'negative' based on their particular social/cultural/spiritual/religious thinking, belief, values and practice.

It's everyone's freedom whether they want to be open, to practice non-attachment and to inquire the truth of everything, or not.

There's neither right nor wrong if the yoga teachers and the yoga practitioners who think and believe they love yoga very much, that they are practicing yoga everyday, but they choose to be conditioned and limited by their existing thinking and belief to judge and categorize everything into 'good or bad', 'right or wrong', and 'positive or negative', and only want to come in contact with what they labelled as 'good', 'right' and 'positive', while have intense aversion towards what they labelled as 'bad', 'wrong' and 'negative', thinking and believing that Mind Purification means only having the 'good', 'right' and 'positive' thoughts in their minds and only allow the 'good', 'right' and 'positive' things to come to their awareness and mind perception of their life existence, and thinking and believing that the coming in contact with the 'bad', 'wrong' and 'negative' things will pollute, or contaminate, or ruin their minds, and hence, they do their best to push away anything that their minds labelled as 'bad', 'wrong' and 'negative', not to say, to confront and inquire the truth of all those things.

Mind purification is not at all about occupying the mind with what the worldly thinking and belief labelled as 'good', 'right' and 'positive' thoughts, feelings, emotions and perception of names and forms, of what the mind perceives through the senses, of what the mind comes in contact with, of what the mind experiences in life, and keeping the mind 'away from' or 'void' of coming in contact with, or experiencing, or perceiving what the worldly thinking and belief labelled as 'bad', 'wrong' and 'negative' thoughts, feelings, emotions and perception of names and forms through the senses of what the mind sees, hears, smells, tastes, senses/feels and thinks.

"No, no, no! I do not want to come in contact with, or see, or hear, or smell, or taste, or feel, or think of anything that is bad, wrong and negative!" This is the reaction of many of the minds under their understanding about 'positive thinking' and 'mind purification', upon coming in contact with something that their minds dislike and disagree with, that they think and believe as 'bad', 'wrong' and 'negative'. Again, that's their freedom of understanding and reaction. It's neither right nor wrong. It's just that the minds are not free, even after many years practicing and/or teaching all kinds of 'yoga practice' and attaining all kinds of health and fitness benefit from the yoga practice.

Mind purification is about removing the veil of ignorance and egoism, of all kinds of incorrect/corrupted understanding, thinking and belief, to allow the mind to see or know the truth of things as it is, where all the names and forms are just what they are. They are neither 'good' nor 'bad', neither 'right' nor 'wrong', and neither 'positive' nor 'negative'.

Upon seeing/knowing the truth of things as it is, the mind is being aware of all kinds of mind perception of names and forms, without attachment, identification, association, judgement, craving, aversion or expectation. Allowing all the names and forms being there as they are, coming and going, arising and passing away. All are nothing but impermanent and selfless changes.

The mind that is free from ignorance and egoism doesn't need to think positively, or stay positive, or be optimistic. It doesn't need to push away anything that the ignorant egoistic mind perceives and judges as 'bad', 'wrong' and 'negative'.

That's why the practice of non-attachment is the upmost important fundamental practice. It allows all the other practices to be happening.

Without knowing what is non-attachment, the mind cannot perform inquiry of inquiring towards the truth of everything, and will be influenced, affected, determined and disturbed naturally/autonomously by all the ignorant egoistic actions and reactions upon coming in contact with the objects of name and form of all the mind perception of names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses selflessly and ceaselessly.

Before the mind knows what is non-attachment, the mind is closed being conditioned and limited by the existing worldly social/cultural/spiritual/religious thinking, belief, values and practice. It never come across the thought of "How true is it about all the thinking, belief, values and practice in my mind, about all my likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements towards everything that I believe and judge as 'good or bad', 'right or wrong', and 'positive or negative', based on those thinking, belief, values and practice, that make me feel disturbed, unhappy, frustrated, irritated, dissatisfied, disappointed, hurt by or even hating the things that my belief and judgement categorized as 'bad', 'wrong' and 'negative'?"

Upon the practice of non-attachment towards all kinds of existing thinking, belief, values and practice in the mind, the mind starts to be open. 

Then naturally, the practice of non-identification towards the existing thinking, belief, values and practice takes place. 

The non-attachment and non-identification will allow the mind to stand as a third party or witness towards all these existing thinking, belief, values and practice in the mind. 

Then the practice of non-judgment takes place, to allow the mind to inquire the truth of all the perceived names and forms, and the reaction of agreements and disagreements coming from the mind towards everything that the mind comes in contact with, without judgment based on the existing thinking, belief, values and practice in the mind. 

Then the mind will start to see the truth of everything, that they are just what they are, neither 'good or bad', nor 'right or wrong', nor 'positive or negative'. 

Then non-craving, non-aversion and non-expectation comes into the practice naturally, where the mind will stop craving/clinging/longing/grasping towards what it used to think and believe as something 'good', 'right' and 'positive', stop aversion/rejecting/denying/pushing away/hating towards what it used to think and believe as something 'bad', 'wrong', and 'negative', and stop expecting everything and everyone has to be or not to be in certain way according to those existing thinking, belief, values and practice in the mind. The mind will stop interfering with all the others who have different thinking, beliefs, values and practices, and isn't interested to convert or change others to also adopt one's particular thinking, belief, values and practice.

The world will have more peace and harmony if everyone is free from such ignorance and egoism. The world is full of unrest, disharmony, discrimination, oppression, fear and hatred because out of ignorance and egoism, everyone are interfering with some others who have different thinking, beliefs, values and practices from oneself, and trying to convert or change all the others to also adopt one's particular thinking, belief, values and practice. People are also easily feel disturbed, offended, insulted and hurt by other people's expression of thoughts, actions and speech that they dislike and disagree with, as they expect other people to behave or not behaving in certain way based on their particular thinking, belief, values and practice, and to show 'respect' in certain way towards their thinking, belief, values and practice.

When the mind has gone through such self-transformation, this mind won't be influenced, affected, determined or disturbed by all the different impermanent qualities of name and form that the mind perceives through the senses selflessly and ceaselessly.

This mind, being free from ignorance and egoism, being free from incorrect/corrupted understanding, being unconditioned by any particular worldly social/cultural/spiritual/religious thinking and belief to analyze and judge everything and everyone, will have peace, without denying or pushing away all the so called 'bad, wrong and negative' elements coming and going in the mind, without being determined or disturbed by all the so called 'bad, wrong and negative' things and happenings in the world, allowing all kinds of different thinking, beliefs, values and practices being existing in the world as they are, without discrimination towards all the others who are being different from one another from the appearance but all are the one same nature beyond all the names and forms that are subject to impermanence and selflessness, and being at peace unconditionally regardless of all kinds of pleasant/unpleasant, desirable/undesirable, agreeable/disagreeable, enjoyable/non-enjoyable experiences while performing selfless compassionate actions in the world for oneself and/or others.

Out of ignorance, people might have fear and worry towards, "If there's no discrimination about what is good, bad, right, wrong, positive and negative, then the world will be in chaos and people would just behave as they like without consideration, if there's no such belief and judgement about what is good and bad, right and wrong, positive and negative, about how people should and shouldn't behave." 

If people's minds are free from ignorance and egoism, they won't be performing ignorant egoistic actions and reactions out of ignorance, egoism and impurities.

If people's minds are functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism, then even though there's discrimination of what is good, bad, right, wrong, positive and negative, about how people should and shouldn't behave according to any particular thinking, belief, values and practice, people would still be performing ignorant egoistic actions and reactions out of ignorance, egoism and impurities of anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, hurt, dissatisfaction, disappointment, irritation, frustration, offensiveness, defensiveness, pride, arrogance, painful sorrow, fear and worry, and either wittingly or unwittingly, intentionally or unintentionally, hurting themselves and/or others.

There are so many people believe in certain belief in the world, but did it ever stop people from behaving ignorantly? Nope. Because whether the mind is free or not free from ignorance and egoism is nothing to do with any particular thinking, belief, values and practice. Ignorance and egoism exist in all kinds of people with different social/cultural/religious/spiritual thinking, beliefs, values and practices, regardless of whether people believe or disbelieve in 'God existence', whether people have or don't have a religious or spiritual practice, or what type of religion or spirituality that people have, or whether people are well educated, knowledgeable and intelligent, or not.

It's about whether the mind is free from ignorance and egoism, or not, that determining whether the mind will be peaceful unconditionally, and be free from generating ignorant egoistic actions and reactions that hurt oneself and/or others in the world, or not.

Those who are free from ignorance and egoism don't even need to have self-awareness and self-control to stop oneself from performing actions and reactions out of ignorance, egoism and impurities, as the mind is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

The practice of self-awareness and self-control exists for those who are not free from ignorance, egoism and impurities yet, but at least they have self-awareness and self-control towards one's ignorant egoistic actions and reactions that would hurt oneself and/or others.

While all the majority human beings who are not free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, as well as without self-awareness or self-control over their actions and reactions, either wittingly or unwittingly, would still be performing ignorant egoistic actions and reactions out of ignorance, egoism and impurities that would hurt themselves and/or others, even when there's 'discrimination' of 'right and wrong', 'good and bad', or 'positive and negative' about how people should or shouldn't behave under the many social/cultural/spiritual/religious thinking, beliefs, values and practices, as well as the existence of many laws and orders in the world that serve the idea of 'monitoring' and 'controlling' everyone's behavior to be or not to be in certain way.

Contemplate and be free.

'Good friend' vs 'wise company' or Satsanga

People often talk about 'Friends are highly important in life', where 'good friends' are those who are intelligent/educated/knowledgeable enough to inspire one another in those fields, who are like-minded, who are available being there physically/mentally/emotionally 'caring' for one another, to be fun interacting and playing with, to do something 'great' together, to 'help' and 'console' one another or to 'protect' and 'stand up for' one another when it's needed. Some people can't even manage their own existing life problems, but still want to be busy minding other people's or so called friend's ceaseless many kind of 'problems', and ending up bringing more 'problems' into one's life.

People might think and say that "This is what true good friends are, sharing one's another problems. The world is such a wonderful place full of people unhesitating generating all kinds of problem here and there that can be shared by many good friends. Creating problems, sharing problems and standing up for one another indicate that the world is full of love and kindness."

On the path of yoga or Buddhism, a true 'good friend' is a 'wise company' or 'Satsanga' who is not necessarily someone intelligent/educated/knowledgeable to inspire one another in those fields, or being like-minded and being there physically/mentally/emotionally for one another, being fun to interact and play with, but someone who is wise and independent enough to look after oneself by minimizing or not generating unnecessary 'problems'/'inconvenience' in one's life and/or other people's life, where oneself doesn't really 'need' anyone who is like-minded being there physically/mentally/emotionally to be fun to 'interact and play with', or to 'help', 'console', 'protect' and 'stand up for' oneself for anything, as the one who is free from ignorance and egoism, doesn't generate unnecessary 'problems' and knows how not to get involve with other people's unnecessary 'life problem'/'social media related problem'/'relationship problem'/'emotional problem'/'financial problem' that occur due to ignorance, egoism and impurities, while 'selflessly' and 'intentionlessly', one's wisdom and independence might or might not be inspiring others to also be wise and independent to be looking after themselves, by minimizing or stop generating unnecessary 'problems' in one's life and/or other people's life.

Meanwhile, 'Kutsanga' are those so called 'friends' who consume one's time, attention and energy into 'sharing and solving' their unnecessary 'problems' that arise due to ignorance and egoism, as these 'friends', even among the intelligent/educated/knowledgeable group of people, will keep generating 'problems' in their life 'unwittingly' out of ignorance and egoism that 'needed' to be shared by their friends, and cause distraction/obstacle to one's practice for yoga of silencing the modification of the mind. But then this would be perceived as something 'selfish', 'inhuman', or 'wrong' by many passionate people in the world.

Selfless yoga practitioners don't have any intention/aspiration to inspire anyone for anything, while allowing everyone to perceive, react and feel the way as they are.

Whether people would be inspired by someone or something, or not, it's coming from the people themselves perceiving, reacting and feeling being inspired, or not, it's not coming from someone or something being inspiring and has the 'power' to inspire everyone. Most of the time, something really 'good' might appear to be 'uninspiring' for many people, and vice versa.

Compassion manifests along the realization of selflessness, respecting the law of nature, impermanence, cause and effect, while may or may not selflessly/intentionlessly 'guiding' other beings towards the realization of selflessness, wisdom and compassion, be free from ignorance and egoism, though this might appear to be 'inhuman', 'unloving', 'wrong' or 'harsh' for the passionate minds. It's nothing to do with what the passionate minds think and believe as 'The kind of human relationship, interaction and behavior that project loving kindness in certain way' that is unwittingly encouraging and empowering ignorance and egoism in the world.

This teaching is not about one shouldn't have any friends in life. It's about whether the mind is free from ignorance and egoism, or not, especially for those who want to practice yoga and meditation to transcend the mind perception of a worldly life existence of names and forms that is subject to impermanence and selflessness.

The minds that are free from ignorance and egoism, will be friendly towards all and everyone, unconditionally without discrimination of personal likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements based on particular thinking and belief, appearance, gender, race, nationality, behavior, cultural/religious values and practice, without the 'need' of making and accumulating personal friendships that can share and interact with physically/mentally/emotionally in order to feel good, happy, love, joyful or meaningful, or to be 'healthy' physically/mentally/emotionally. There's no 'friends' or 'not friends' in the minds that are free from ignorance and egoism.

Passionate minds, including health professionals and yoga enthusiasts, cannot comprehend that human beings can be happy and healthy as one is, regardless of whether being interacting or not interacting with some other human beings physically/mentally/emotionally, without suffering from the sense of loneliness, joylessness, meaninglessness, left out or unloved if there's lack of such social interaction.

There's nothing wrong with having a few or many friends in life, but if the mind strongly thinks and believes that having no 'friends' to share, interact or play with, is something bad, wrong, negative, terrible, joyless, meaningless, unhealthy or lonely, then it shows that the mind is not free from ignorance and egoism. If the mind is free from ignorance and egoism, free from egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion and expectation, then regardless of whether one has none, or a few, or many friends in life, to share, interact and play with physically/mentally/emotionally, there's no difference. This mind is free and peaceful as it is, being undetermined by 'how many (good) friends one has', to be happy, joyful and peaceful, or not. The mind is free from the sense of loneliness/meaninglessness/joylessness/left out/unloved, if 'friends' that can share, interact and play with physically/mentally/emotionally are not available.

How to live in the present?

Whether the mind is aware or unaware, agrees or disagrees, there's nothing else other than NOW. There's no living outside of NOW. It's always being in NOW, living in NOW, regardless of the ignorant impure egoistic mind is always wandering between the remembrance towards 'the past memory of impermanent changes of names and forms that the mind perceived as something pleasant/happy/enjoyable or unpleasant/unhappy/suffering' and the anticipation/projection towards 'the future being in certain way that the mind perceived as desirable or undesirable'.

Due to the function of the memory of remembering/observing the process of the impermanent changes of names and forms, from birth, to growth, to aging, to decaying, to old age, and to death, of all kinds of desirable/undesirable and pleasant/unpleasant experience/relationship, on top of the movement of the earth in NOW that generate the perception of day/brightness and night/darkness as well as the natural interchange cycle of the state of rest/sleep and waking, and the mechanism of the movement of the clock or watch that generate the strong idea of the existence of 'time', of past, present and future.

One can perform this experiment of watching the entire process of cooking the bread in the oven. The action of watching all the changes in the entire process of cooking the dough to become bread, is always in NOW.

Under the function of the timer/clock/watch, the bread takes about '40 minutes' to be cooking from the form of a dough to become a ready to eat bread. But the bread is always being cooking in NOW, and keep cooking in NOW until the bread is ready and stop cooking, which is also in NOW. The process of cooking the bread through the high heat produced by the oven that changes the entire structure/texture/taste of the dough to become the form of bread, that generates continuous changes of the form of the dough/bread from moment to moment is always in NOW, in this present moment.

No matter how much/little and what type of changes are happening in this present moment, it's always in NOW.

One might remember one has slept for a few hours earlier, but the remembrance of 'that' is in NOW. It's always [I am sleeping/not awake], [I am awake/not sleeping], [I am doing something], [I am not doing something/anything], and constantly remembering [I was sleeping], [I was awake], [I slept], [I didn't sleep], [I did something] or [I didn't do something/anything] in NOW, while the body is going through impermanent changes ceaselessly.

The witness/observer of impermanent changes is timeless, it's always NOW. There's neither a past nor a future. The mind might be remembering 'the past experiences/impermanent changes' and imagining/anticipating 'the future anticipation', being aware of many people/beings had lived and died, many things/relationships had appeared and disappeared, many feelings/sensations had arose and passed away, but all these modifications are always in NOW.

The physical body and the thinking mind is always living/going through impermanent changes in NOW, until the process of death/decomposition takes place, it's also in NOW. The process of aging/decaying is always happening in NOW, until death/decomposition takes place, in NOW.

If the mind is free from or knows how to detach/unattached towards the remembrance of all the impermanent changes of desirable/undesirable and pleasant/unpleasant perception of names and forms or experiences, there's no hurt, or grief, or sorrow, or regret, or guilt. If the mind is free from or knows how to detach/unattached towards the imagination/anticipation towards 'the future', there's no fear or worry.

It's either one is okay or not okay, comfortable or uncomfortable, in NOW, in this present. It's normal and nothing wrong if one is not okay or uncomfortable in NOW. Whether one is okay and comfortable, or not, this is impermanent and it is changing and passing away.

Feedback for yoga teachers?

In the last few months, there were hundreds of blog views coming from the search word "Feedback for yoga teachers".

Looking at the pandemic lockdown and social distancing situation, it's normal that many yoga teachers who used to conduct yoga classes to be making a living would move their classes onto the online social media platform. And hence, as the 'new normal', there are now many online (guided) yoga classes.

Personally, I neither encourage/support nor discourage/unsupport 'the old normal' yoga classes, or 'the new normal' online yoga classes, as it's everyone's freedom for what they do and don't do, even though I myself am not interested in conducting 'yoga classes' in the past, not to say to be conducting 'online yoga classes' in the present. In the world of capitalism and consumerism, if there's a demand requesting certain service and product, and there will be somebody offering the service and product, especially if people are interested in learning to do some yoga exercises as a healthy leisure activity, it's something very good for the society to have 'yoga classes' or 'online yoga classes'.

First of all, it's a new thing for both the 'yoga teachers' and the 'yoga students'. The process of teaching and learning yoga (asana) practice in a physical present yoga class is no doubt being quite different from teaching and learning yoga (asana) practice via online yoga class.

The teacher can't be paying attention to many students at the same time in physical present yoga classes, not to say in online yoga class, where there's a rather small computer screen with many different small windows of the different people joining the 'online yoga class'. Unless it's a one to one private yoga practice session, or private online yoga practice session.

Even though, in many of the physical present yoga classes, the yoga students are being advised not to turn/tilt their head to be looking at the teacher or the others while performing most of the yoga asana positions or exercises, as it might cause certain muscular sprain or injury around the neck and shoulder area, but many of the students would still be spontaneously turning/tilting their head while performing many of the yoga asana poses/exercises in order to take a look or glance at the teacher and/or the others under their own different intentions/motivations/reasons for doing that, mostly it's curiosity, or trying to imitate, or trying to compare, or being unsure/unclear about the practice and being not confident towards one's performance or execution. Not to say, in the online yoga classes, the entire attention is to be turning the head in a particular angle to be constantly looking at the computer screen, to be following some instructions and imitating the teacher and/or the others to be doing the yoga asana poses or exercises.

Of course, there will be many opinions coming from different participants who want to 'improve' their experience on the online yoga class, and want to give feedback/advice/suggestions to the yoga teachers who conduct the online yoga classes, and most of the teachers also welcoming 'feedback' from the participants to improve the experience on teaching online classes and to improve the quality of their online classes. Mostly it's either about the positioning of the camera so that they can have a better view angle to see more clearly towards how the teacher demonstrates the practice/exercise, or something to do with the usage of microphone and volume control, or the pacing/intensity of the particular practice/exercise/routine, or the format and contents of the yoga class, or about the background and the layout of the room use for giving the online class, the impact of the surrounding environment, the music (most commercial yoga classes use music to create certain atmosphere), and etc. It's all about the whole experience or the mind perception of names and forms of different qualities that are agreeable or disagreeable to the minds of everyone.

Yoga practice is about freeing the mind from such attachment and desire of craving and aversion towards the mind perception of names and forms through the senses, of what the eyes see, what the ears hear, what the nose smells (in this case, what the participants smell or don't smell is nothing to do with the yoga teacher or the online yoga class), what the tongue tastes, what the body or skin senses, as well as what the mind experiences, thinks, feels, acts and reacts.

Yoga practice is about dispassion, renunciation, silence, solitude, seclusion, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison, non-expectation, self-control, self-discipline, self-reliance, self-inquiry, self-realization, inquiring the truth of names and forms, inquiring the truth of 'I', knowing thyself, the elimination of the root cause of suffering - ignorance, egoism and impurities, the annihilation of the modification of the mind, transcending the wheel of birth and death, cause and effect, or attaining liberation or Samadhi. All these has nothing to do with 'qualified/certified yoga teachers', 'yoga teachers certification', 'yoga classes', 'different brands and styles of yoga school, lineage, practice', 'physical ability/disability/limitation', 'physical health condition', 'worldly condition and situation', 'surrounding environment', 'proper precise physical alignment while doing the yoga poses/exercises', 'yoga props', 'yoga mats', 'yoga attires and accessories', 'yoga scents', 'yoga music', 'yoga super food', and etc.

If one is truly teaching or practicing yoga, it's really not about whether the yoga teacher is good or not good; whether the many different details of the yoga class are good or not good; whether the practice/exercise/routine is good or not good; whether the contents of the yoga class is good or not good; whether the way that the teacher conducts the yoga class is good or not good; whether the instructions are good or not good; whether the result of the teaching, the yoga class and the practice is good or not good; or whether the teaching skill of the yoga teacher is good or not good; not to say, whether the students/participants/somebody's performance, or execution, or physical alignment is good or not good; whether one's body and mind feels good or not good, being comfortable or uncomfortable throughout the practice.

It's about there's an opportunity where someone is there delivering the teachings and practice of yoga that would lead the minds towards self-realization and liberation from ignorance and suffering, without attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation, as well as someone is there receiving, learning and practicing the teachings and practice of yoga without attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation, to transcend the worldly life existence of a body and mind that is subject to impermanence and selflessness; to transcend the mind perception of qualities, names and forms that are impermanent and selfless; to go beyond duality of good/bad, right/wrong, positive/negative, meaningfulness/meaninglessness, praise/censure, success/failure, heat/cold, pleasantness/unpleasantness, happiness/unhappiness, enjoyable/non-enjoyable, and so on; to go beyond the egoistic likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements based on the worldly conditioned passionate egoistic social/cultural/spiritual/religious/political thinking and belief; to tame the outgoing tendency of the restless mind, turning the mind inward; to be in the present; to quiet, silent and annihilate the modification of the mind; to perform self-inquiry; to free the mind from the veil of ignorance, egoism and impurities; to realize the truth of suffering and the root cause of suffering; to realize selflessness and attain liberation from 'mind stuff', or 'modification of the mind', or 'all that related to the mind perception of an impermanent selfless worldly life existence', or 'endless suffering deriving from the bondage of birth and death, cause and effect'.

In short, it's about guiding the minds to be free from ignorance, egoism, impurities and suffering (upmost important), while in the process of doing or not doing some forms of physical and mental practice under many different names, brands, ways or styles (not important at all).

Either through physical present yoga session or online yoga class, whether the teacher is teaching yoga as it is, or not; whether the students of yoga will be learning and practicing yoga as it is, or not; with correct understanding, attitude and mentality or not; and realize yoga, or not, it's their own effort and responsibility.

Feedback about the quality of the yoga teacher, the venue/environment/background, the technical issues, the teachings, the teaching skill, the interactive skill, the creativity, the charisma, the atmosphere, the yoga class, the practice, the result, or the entire experience, is truly irrelevant in the process of eliminating ignorance, egoism, impurities and suffering in one's mind, or in the process of letting go/renouncing worldly conditioned passionate egoistic thinking, belief, values, practice, actions, reactions, expectations, desires, aspirations, inspirations, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, and etc.

Feedback for yoga teachers?

Question - How to give feedback to the yoga teacher or tell the yoga teacher in the yoga class to talk less, and not giving too much unnecessary instructions/explanation so that I can be focusing within and be mindful to observe what is going in my body and mind, to observe and connect with my thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations?

Why are you being in a yoga class anyway, especially if you already knew what is the practice of mindfulness and how to turn the mind inward to be observing what is going in the body and mind, and would prefer a mindful practice in silence without the need of following some verbal teachings/instructions/guidance to be performing certain practice that you want to practice?

In the same yoga class, some people would think that the teacher talks too much about the teachings of yoga or gives too many unnecessary instructions that they already knew, while some others would think that the teacher is not talking enough about the teachings and didn't give enough instructions that they would like to receive from the teacher, according to the different reactions of the different minds that have different understanding and expectation. Some will complain that the yoga class is too intense, while some will complain that it's too gentle, and some will say it's just nice, not too intense or overly gentle.

The yoga classes and the yoga teachers are just being what they are. There's nothing wrong with the yoga classes, or the yoga teachers, or how the yoga teachers conduct the yoga classes. There's also nothing wrong with yourself and your wish to have some silent moments to be quiet and be mindful towards what is going on within the body and mind. It's just that most yoga classes are not about 'performing your own self-practice in silence'. Yoga classes are for people to be learning the teachings of yoga and following the guidance/instructions of a yoga teacher to be learning how to perform the practice. Yoga classes are meant to be somebody constantly delivering the teachings of yoga and giving guidance/instructions to be guiding the people performing the yoga practice. And after the people develop the basic understanding towards the teachings of yoga and learnt how to perform most of the basic yoga practice, they should retreat into solitude and seclusion to be performing self-practice in silence without looking at anyone or listening to some instructions/guidance/explanation to be doing any form of yoga practice.

The frustration and dissatisfaction coming from your mind towards the yoga class is not being the way that you want it to be, and the yoga teacher is being the way that you think it shouldn't be, is not because there's something 'wrong' or 'inappropriate' with the yoga class or the yoga teacher, or how the yoga teacher conducts the yoga class. It's about you have certain expectation towards the yoga classes to be the way that you think how it should be and not to be in certain way that you think it shouldn't be, as well as you are not getting what you think you should be getting from a yoga class or the yoga teacher.

If you truly know what are the basic teachings and practice of yoga, and are truly practicing yoga, you would allow the yoga classes and the yoga teachers to be what they are, not necessarily the way that you think how it should be. There's no attachment and expectation towards the practice and the result of the practice. There's no attachment and expectation towards the yoga classes, the yoga teachers or how the yoga teachers conduct the yoga classes. There's mere awareness/acknowledgement towards all the modifications of the mind, including whatever the mind perceives or experiences, as well as towards the habitual behavior of the mind of how the mind reacts spontaneously towards all the perception of names and forms or experiences regardless of pleasant/unpleasant, agreeable/disagreeable and desirable/undesirable names and forms/experiences, without generate attachment, identification, craving and aversion, judgment or expectation towards all the perceived names and forms or experiences has to be or not to be in certain ways.

You should know how to apply the practice of non-attachment, non-craving, non-aversion and non-expectation, inside or outside the yoga class or self-practice, while performing particular yoga practice, or not, And not being distracted/disturbed/annoyed/frustrated by all the names and forms that your mind doesn't like and doesn't want which your mind perceives through the senses, of what is going on within and without the body and mind, and allowing all the names and forms/experiences being there as they are. Knowing that they all are impermanent and selfless.

If you truly are performing mindfulness, there's no frustration or dissatisfaction towards the surrounding environment or the mind itself, for not being able to be focused, to be mindful, to be observing towards what is going on in the body and mind of the thoughts, feelings and sensations due to you think there's distraction, or disturbance, or annoyance coming from the external names and forms/experiences that your mind perceives/experiences (in this case, it's about the way how the yoga teacher conducts the yoga class.)  Learn how to be mindful towards the mind is unable to be focused or mindful in this present moment now, knowing that even this is impermanent.

Yoga practice is about freeing the mind from the ego and egoism, being a silent witness that is aware of and acknowledging all the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses without interference, grasping/attachment, or the desire of craving and aversion, as well as being aware of all the habitual egoistic mind reactions towards all the names and forms, and letting go any existing craving and aversion and expectation towards the names and forms should or shouldn't be in certain way, should or shouldn't exist, without attachment towards whatever the mind perceives from within or without the body and mind, remain equanimous under any condition and situation, without judgment and expectation towards all the names and forms/experiences to be or not to be in certain ways based on what the mind thinks and believes what things are, and what the mind likes and dislikes, agrees and disagrees with, or wants and doesn't want.

It's about knowing what is selflessness/egolessness/'I'lessness and performing necessary actions out of selfless compassion, not out of egoistic desires, that are free from egoism of attachment, identification, craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation.

If you are practicing mindfulness, you should be mindful towards all the reactions coming from your mind towards the mind perception of names and forms without attachment towards or identification with what is going on in the mind or the modification of the mind of thoughts, feelings, sensations, actions, reactions, memories, imaginations, and so on. It's about disassociation with the modifications of the mind and not being disturbed by what is going on in the mind, being a silent witness witnessing all the modifications of the mind. It's not about trying to be free from any external disturbance/distractions from the names and forms/experiences that the mind perceives through the senses. It doesn't mean that one should be deliberately be in an extreme condition to be practicing yoga, but if a better condition is unavailable, then one learns how to adapt, adjust, accommodate. It doesn't mean that one should be deliberately confronting with all kinds of difficulty to be practicing yoga, but if there's unavoidable difficulty, then one learns how to tolerate and forbear.

You think and believe that it's the happenings outside your body and mind distracting/hindering your mind to be focused and be mindful of what is going on in the body and mind, but actually, all the 'distraction'/'disturbance'/'hindrance' are all coming from your mind constantly reacting towards the mind perception of names and forms of what you think is happening outside the body and mind, as your mind doesn't know what is non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion and non-expectation.

If you already learnt and knew about the practice of turning the mind inward to be mindful of the impermanent and selfless changes in the body and mind, you shouldn't be 'disturbed' by the surrounding environment, and you don't need to be attending yoga classes or be in a yoga class to be following some guidance (the way that you think how it should be) to be performing your yoga practice or mindfulness practice. You should be performing self-practice in solitude and seclusion, in silence, especially if you think mindfulness can only be done or achieved in a silent environment without any 'distracting'/'disturbing'/'annoying' sounds, noises, talking, instructions, or happenings.

Your mind wants/desires to perform the practice of mindfulness and wants to be able to be focused and mindful observing the thoughts, feelings and sensations while attending yoga classes to be doing some yoga practice composed by a yoga teacher, but feels unable to focus and mindful, as your mind thinks and believes that it's because of the teacher constantly talking and giving instructions in the yoga class that you think is unnecessary, distracting, disturbing and annoying.

Actually, the 'distraction'/'disturbance'/'annoyance' existing in your mind is due to your mind generates attachment towards the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, and reacting with aversion and frustration being generated towards something that your mind thinks is 'hindering' you from doing what you want to do, and there's craving towards certain names and forms/experiences that you prefer which is ungratified - I want to be able to be mindful to be observing the thoughts, feelings and sensations, but I can't do that as the teacher is so annoying. There's expectation towards a particular environment or situation that you think and believe will allow your mind to be mindful without any external distraction/disturbance/annoyance coming from outside the body and mind.

Learn how to be mindful of all the names and forms that your mind perceives through the senses wherever you are and whatever the surrounding environment is. Needless to choose a particular environment to be mindful towards something that you choose to be mindful about.

Yoga classes are a 'product' to meet the demand of the worldly minds that are interested in doing some yoga exercises to look good and feel good, to be fit and healthy, but not so much about learning how to be silent, to free the mind from ignorance, egoism and impurities, to free the mind from passionate desires of craving and aversion, to renounce the worldly affair, relationships and activities, to turn the mind inward resting in the chamber of the heart.

Yoga classes that are about delivering the teachings of yoga and teaching those who are interested in yoga and the yoga practice about how to perform the yoga practice are meant to be someone being there delivering the teachings verbally and physically, while giving instructions on how to perform the different practices. Different teachers have their own way/style of delivering the teachings and how they teach other people to be performing the yoga practice, so that these people can perform all the yoga practice by themselves after learning about the teachings and how to perform the yoga practice. The yoga teachers are just being the way as they are.

Most commercial yoga classes are about a yoga exercise instructor giving instructions leading a group of people doing some physical movements/exercises that would give certain health and fitness benefits to the people, they are not so much about a person delivering the teachings of yoga about freeing the mind from ignorance, egoism and impurities to the students so that they can contemplate upon the teachings, by performing the yoga practice that they learnt in the yoga classes, to purify and quiet the mind, to allow the mind to inquire and see the truth of things. If you think you can perform your own self-practice and you want to go deeper into the practice, but you would like to have certain supervision from some others (teachers) who are more experienced as you aren't very sure about the practice, then you can look for and participate in either long silent meditation retreat or long silent yoga retreat that are more serious towards silencing and looking into the mind.

Most worldly passionate egoistic minds that aren't aware of ignorance and egoism in themselves would generate great aversion towards some of the teachings of yoga that they don't like and disagree with, and generate frustration if they hear or come in contact with any teachings/practice that they don't like and disagree with. Most minds also generate aversion/dissatisfaction/disagreement towards certain way of the yoga practice and certain style of the class format, or how the teacher delivers specific teachings or how the teacher guides the students performing specific practice. But, it doesn't matter whether the teachers are 'good' or 'not good' based on the judgment and expectation of the mind, it's not so much about the teacher or the yoga class is 'good' or 'not good', but it's about how this mind reacting under the influence of ignorance and egoism, and impurities of dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration and so on.

If this mind knows what is going on in itself, this mind doesn't need to attend any yoga classes at all to be performing some yoga practice, but there's nothing wrong also if this mind is being in a yoga class, but then this mind will allow all the talking or teaching or instructions of the yoga teacher in the yoga class to be there as they are, regardless of whether the mind likes or dislikes, agrees or disagrees with the talking, or the teachings, or the instructions. The practice is about developing non-attachment towards all the mind perception of names and forms without being disturbed or determined by the mind perception of names and forms. It's not about being in a most perfect desirable environment so that the mind won't be 'disturbed' by any names and forms that the mind doesn't like and doesn't want, in order to be able to be mindful to be observing the thoughts, feelings or sensations.

What's the point of developing the practice of mindfulness or observation towards thoughts, feelings and sensations, but not knowing what is non-attachment/non-craving/non-aversion, and constantly feel being 'distracted'/'disturbed'/'annoyed'/'dissatisfied'/'frustrated' by the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses towards the surrounding environment, or be disturbed by what is going on in the mind itself, of all kinds of thoughts, feelings, sensations, agreements/disagreements, likes/dislikes, actions and reactions, and the result of actions and reactions?

Be free.

Want to learn yoga?

A young man who is interested to start learning and practicing yoga has the intention to find a 'yoga teacher' to learn about yoga and/or the yoga practice has an opportunity to meet a person who could deliver the teachings and practice of yoga to those who are interested in learning and practicing yoga.

Instead of thinking, "Dear teacher, how can I serve you and what should I do, as I hope you would receive me as your student (to be a student of yoga) and teach me about the teachings and practice of yoga?" this young man asked, "I have been looking for a yoga teacher because I am interested in yoga and want to learn and practice yoga, but first, I need to know what is your level in yoga and what qualifications you have?"

Most probably, many 'yoga teachers' would respond with, "I am an advanced and experienced yoga practitioner cum yoga teacher with certain years experience in yoga practice and teaching yoga, and I am a qualified (x) level yoga teacher with many 'Internationally recognized yoga teacher certifications' affiliated with such and such 'yoga alliance' and 'yoga association'." And this is something in common among many 'yoga enthusiasts' in the world of yoga.

Does one needs to acquire and possess 'qualification and certification of peace, kindness, compassion and forgiveness' to be peaceful, kind and compassionate, to be able to forgive and let go, or to be recognized as a 'peaceful, kind, compassionate and forgiving being'?

Did any of the ancient buddhas, yogis and gurus had been 'certified' by (?) and be 'qualified' with one or a few 'certification' of Buddhism or Yoga that indicate such and such level in practicing, enlightening and teaching, for being what they are?

Contemplate, reflect, realize.

Why self-righteousness is not yoga practice?

Some yoga enthusiasts are not free from self-righteousness where they think and believe that self-righteousness is a good and upright quality that compliment their yoga practice.

Due to deep rooted ignorance and egoism, there are minds that think and believe that they are good and righteous people and seeing themselves are somehow better human beings than some others whom they perceive as bad and wrongful human beings, and for the sake of humanity, they should stand up for righteousness and condemn those who think and behave in the way that is against what they think and believe is good and rightful way of thinking and behavior, that is bad and wrong, based on their understanding and expectation towards how people or human beings should or shouldn't behave.

None can 'tell' or 'teach' another being/person/mind/community about "This is right and that is wrong." as there's neither right nor wrong, but just different minds judging everything differently based on their own particular thinking, belief, values, practice and preferences, and to behave, act and react in certain way. Siddhartha Gautama Buddha never said or taught about "This is right and that is wrong." even though there's the Eight Fold Path observations for the mind to purify and silent itself to allow the mind to inquire the truth of everything, to see things as they are, beyond the limited/conditioned judgment under the influence of different egoistic worldly thinking and beliefs.

It has to come from the mind itself to inquire into the truth of self-righteousness, where it doesn't exist in selflessness, namelessness, formlessness, attributelessness.

Just as the ideas of patriotism, loyalty, family ties, friendship, relationship, connection, society, community, country, nationality, pride/shame, deserving/undeserving, meaningfulness/meaninglessness, or positiveness/negativeness, are all part of the play of the ego and egoism derived from ignorance. The mind only knows what it knows and what it thinks and believes about what it knows. The mind cannot comprehend what it doesn't know, what it doesn't think, what is beyond all kinds of knowledge that the mind could learn and remember. Just as the ego (the idea/perception of I) cannot comprehend 'selflessness' or 'I-lessness'. And hence, the yoga practice is all about annihilating the ego and egoism to allow the mind to realize selflessness and see things as they are, transcending all the worldly egoistic thinking and beliefs.

Being conditioned by egoistic thinking pattern unwittingly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mind is being bound by endless desires

Endless desires constantly arising and passing away in the impure egoistic mind, where there's an acting self cognition in the mind generates attachment or grasps onto these desires, and ceaseless actions are being performed to gratify/materialize all these desires, unwittingly being bound by or being the slave of endless desires and the ceaseless effort to be chasing after the gratification of all desires.

When one is alive, "I want to be this and that."
"I want to do this and that."
"I want to be happy."
"I want to be successful."
"I want to be positive and strong."
"I want to be healthy."
"I want to be somebody. I don't want to be nobody."
"I want to be a man. I don't want to be a woman."
"I want to be a woman. I don't want to be a man."
"I want to be famous."
And then,
When one dies,
"I want to be this or that."
"I want to be an angel."
"I want to be in heaven."
"I want to be a star."
"I want to be a tree."
"I want to be a cat/dog/fish/bird."
"I want to be a man. I don't want to be in a woman's body."
"I want to be a woman. I don't want to be in a man's body."
"I want to be remembered."

There's never ending of desire to be 'somebody' or 'something' that one is not.

And everybody are being brought up in the society being encouraged or empowered to be 'somebody' that is not what one is. Very few just be, without attaching onto any names and forms to be 'somebody'. From all those identifications as 'somebody with certain names and forms', one identifies strongly as this is 'I'/'who I am'.

One doesn't need to be 'somebody' or 'anybody' or 'nobody'. One doesn't even need to be 'me' whom one thinks and believes that is 'who/what I am'.

One is just what one is. And whatever one is, it's mere manifestation of the impermanent and selfless modification of the mind born out of ignorance, influenced by cause and effect and powered by Prana/energy and fed by endless desires. One could be very/less successful and might be 'wearing' many 'name tags' of different 'names and forms' in this life existence of a selfless body and thinking mind, but none of these names and forms is 'I'. There's no 'I' existing to be identifying as 'somebody', of this or that, of good or bad.

Go beyond the manifestation of the mind perception of a selfless worldly life existence of names and forms that is subject to impermanence, and realize oneness, selflessness, namelessness, formlessness, attributelessness, birthlessness, deathlessness.

There's no distinction or separateness of this consciousness and that consciousness, or lower consciousness and higher consciousness, or pure and impure consciousness, or individual consciousness and universal consciousness. One doesn't become that. All is that.

One who realizes this, is desireless/fearless/worryless/lonelyless. Desireless is the way to cut off delivering the 'fuel' that feeds the wheel of birth and death.

Practitioner / Adhikari vs follower / disciple / worshiper / admirer / supporter

Those who truly want to practice yoga to free the mind from ignorance to know thyself, they need to know how to free the mind from the egoistic tendency of unwittingly becoming a passionate follower/disciple/worshiper/admirer/supporter.

Be a dispassionate 'practitioner' or 'Adhikari' of the teachings of yoga, inquiring the truth of everything, including whatever the teachers/gurus/scriptures teach, attaining self-realization via self-effort and self-inquiry, and not to be a passionate 'follower', 'disciple', 'worshiper', 'admirer', or 'supporter' towards the teacher/guru/yogi/saint/sage, or the scriptures/teachings of yoga, or the stories of many great minds/teachers/gurus/yogis/saints/sages.

By following, or becoming a disciple of, or worshiping, or admiring, or supporting the teacher/guru/yogi/saint/sage, or the scriptures/teachings of yoga, or the stories of many great minds/teachers/gurus/yogis/saints/sages, and awaiting/requesting/expecting 'answers', or 'blessings', or 'miracles', or 'transcendental experiences' from the teacher/guru/yogi/saint/sage or from 'God', doesn't free the mind from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance. There's attachment that gives rise to the sense of separateness/duality between 'I' and 'the teacher', or 'the guru', or 'the teachings', or 'the practice', or 'the experience', or 'the fruit of practice'.

Practically practicing the teachings of yoga in NOW, this very existence of the mind functioning perceiving a life existence of names and forms of cause and effect/impermanence/selflessness, of disciplining the mind, quieting the mind, purifying the mind, freeing the mind from egoistic worldly/spiritual attachment, identification, desires of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation, refraining the mind from going out through the sense organs chasing after the objects of the senses, renouncing worldly egoistic passions/desires/objects/activities/social interactions and connections, silencing the modification of the mind, and upon the annihilation of the veil of ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness completely, and knowing thyself - Selflessness/egolessness/'I'lessness, or YOGA of oneness, non-separateness, namelessness, formlessness, attributelessness, birthlessness, deathlessness, beginninglessness, endlessness, there's no separateness of 'practitioner/action of practice/fruit of the practice' or between 'I' and what is not 'I' or 'the perceiver and the perceived' to be found in the selfless, nameless, formless, attributeless, birthless, deathless, beginningless, endless universal consciousness (Atman).

This is nothing to do with the worldly attachment/passionate love and 'heroic' ambition/aspiration of the egoistic thinking minds desire to be 'saving the world' by making/changing/influencing the world to be 'a better place than what it is', but just do one's best focusing on freeing one's mind from ignorance to attain self-realization, is the greatest and most efficient way to contribute to 'a world free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance', selflessly, desirelessly and intentionlessly, being free from disturbs, disappointment, dissatisfaction, hurts, offensiveness, anger, hatred, aggressiveness or violence to fight against what the mind dislikes and disagrees with, that the mind thinks and believes as 'bad', 'wrong', 'hurtful', 'negative', 'unjust', 'disappointing' or 'meaningless'.

Real teacher or guru doesn't attract/recruit/accumulate 'followers', 'disciples', 'worshipers', 'admirers', or 'supporters'. They are just being what they are, just like the sun, the air, the water, the earth and the space. They don't even have any intention/aspiration/desire to be 'teaching'/'sharing'/'helping'/'uplifting' anyone, not to say to be 'saving the world' to make/change/influence the world to be 'a place different from what it is'.

"He is extremely humble. He appears to be quite an ordinary man. He never advertises that he is a Sat-Guru or a knower of Brahman. He never says, "I am an illumined sage. I am an Avatara. I will give Mukti for many persons. I possess many Siddhis." He is perfectly desireless. He has no craving for money or name and fame. He has no desire to establish cult or Ashram. He simply works for solidarity of the world and elevates people. He says, "I have neither followers nor disciples, neither possession nor Mutts of my own." He has no attachment to any person or any object. He never tries to establish cult or Ashram. He is absolutely free from 'I-ness' or 'mine-ness'. He never allows those around him to tell people that he got Siddhis, that he is a great Mahatma. He does not like to come in the lime-light of publicity. He always hides himself. If he becomes famous in a place, he leaves the place at once. If a man says, "I am a Mahatma, I am a realised soul, I am a Sat-Guru," if his disciples advertise that their teacher is a Sat-Guru with many Siddhis, that he has exhibited many Siddhis, know that this man is an empty vessel that makes much noise. The Sruti emphatically declares "He who says 'I know Brahman' does not know Brahman, he who says 'I do not know Brahman' knows Brahman." This world abounds with psuedo-Gurus. Beware of such persons. They exploit the innocent and credulous and throw them in the dark abyss. They will mislead people. It is like a blind man leading the blind. Siddhis keep a man far from God and God-realisation. Do not be carried away by the Siddhis of a man." - Swami Sivananda

"Jnana is the greatest purifier. There is no salvation without knowledge. Knowledge of Atman destroys ignorance, pain, sorrow and stops the wheel of births and deaths.

Attain this knowledge through Satsanga, service of the Guru, study of Vedantic books, hearing of Srutis, reflection and constant meditation.

Sorrow is for one who has the notion of self in the body, not for the sage who identifies himself with the all-blissful Atman." - Swami Sivananda

"Neither charity, nor sacrifice, nor fame, nor fasting, nor begetting a good son, nor control of breath, nor victory over the enemy, nor the society of friends, nor Siddhis like Anima can stand in comparison with realisation of the Self.

You may cross the sea by walking or float in the air or support on hands the great mountain Maha Meru or drink poison like milk or eat fire like fried grains or fly in the sky or stand on fire or break iron or get wealth by the power of magic ointment. Yet can all these give you liberation?

You can become a king or Indra or a Sannyasin. You can stun others by Mantra-sakti or aim accurately or know the past, present and the future.

You can reduce anger by destroying lust or eradicating greed. Yet can all these help you in the attainment of liberation?

You might have conquered pride, delusion and envy. You might have dwelt in Brahma-loka or Vaikuntha-loka or Kailasa. Yet can all these stand in comparison with liberation? He is fit for liberation who regards all these as nothing.

You took bath in the Ganga, you did all the sixteen kinds of charity. You did crores of Japa. What is the use of all these things if you do not attain Self-realisation?

Can you acquire eternal bliss and supreme peace from the attainment of vast erudition or from possession of immense wealth or from the enjoyment of beautiful young ladies? No. The supreme undying bliss can be obtained only by realisation of the Self.

Who is wife? Who is son? Who are you? Wherefrom did you come? How wonderful is this Samsara? How are you related to one another? Think deeply on these matters.

Who are you? Who am I? Wherefrom have we come? Who is mother? Who is father? Think deeply on all these. Leave off this world which is a dream and seek the eternal.

Vairagya is the rein by which the uncontrollable mind is restrained. Ripe Vairagya is intense attachment to Atman bliss and strong dispassion for anything other than Atman.

If one considers even the position and happiness of Brahma as the dung of a cow, then only he has developed a real lasting Vairagya. Temporary fleeting dispassion is not Vairagya. It will not help the aspirant in the attainment of Self-realisation.

It is common to have dispassion for some particular objects by some cause or other. But by having dispassion for all objects at all times, one will get knowledge of the Self. You may get Atma-Jnana soon by the grace of the Guru, by devotion to him, and by practice of what he instructs." - Swami Sivananda

"Life is short and fleeting like that drop of water on the lotus leaf. This mundane life is filled with egoism, delusion and diseases. When will you be free from all these? The deer falls a prey to the sense of sound; the elephant to that of touch; the moth to that of form; the fish to that of taste; and the bee to that of smell. But man falls a prey to all these five senses. Therefore how difficult it is for man to free itself from the clutches of these five senses and obtain liberation? When wells and ponds are full in rainy season, the water is muddy and not fit for drinking. In summer the water gets decreased and is sweet. So also when the mind is filled with Vasanas, it is clouded with Tamoguna. When it is free from sensual desires by the practice of dispassion it is filled with pure Sattva." - Swami Sivananda