The free mind

The free mind is peaceful as it is, not determined by the mind perception of names and forms being what it is, of the presence and absence of all kinds of names and forms, experiences, affairs, conditions, situations, ties and connections, relationships, interactions, activities, enjoyments and non-enjoyments, abilities, disabilities, limitations, achievement and non-achievement, success and failure, and so on.

It knows and respects the truth of selflessness and impermanence, and the nature's law of cause and effect, while it is not determined by all kinds of selfless impermanent names and forms being what they are, as they are, and all are changing, governed by the nature's law of cause and effect.

It is desireless.

It is dispassionate.

It is fearless.

It can advance, or retreat, or neither.

It is open, devoid of blind-believing, blind-following, blind-agreeing/disagreeing, blind-practicing, and blind-propagating.

It is not conditioned or determined by worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, ideas, values, desires, and practice.

It is devoid of passionate egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, intention, and expectation.

It can be performing or not performing actions, and it does its best in all actions that are possible in this present moment, but it is not determined by the actions and the fruit of actions, and it is not determined or disturbed by the actions that are not possible in this present moment.

It can have likes and dislikes, or agreements and disagreements, but it is not determined by the absence and presence of what it likes and dislikes, agrees and disagrees with. It allows others to express their likes and dislikes or agreements and disagreements based on their own particular thinking, belief, ideas, values, desires, and practice, while without being determined, influenced, or disturbed by the likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements of others.

It can be here or not here, depending on the situation, of possibility and impossibility in the present moment now.

It can enjoy and appreciate this or that, without attachment or clinging towards what it enjoys and appreciates, without craving towards the presence of pleasant and desirable experiences, or the absence of unpleasant and undesirable experiences, and without aversion towards the presence of unpleasant and undesirable experiences, or the absence of pleasant and desirable experiences.

It doesn't have to like, agree with, enjoy, or appreciate something that it doesn't like, doesn't agree with, doesn't enjoy, and doesn't appreciate, and it is not determined or disturbed by the presence of something that it doesn't like, doesn't agree with, doesn't enjoy, or doesn't appreciate. And all kinds of enjoyable or non-enjoyable, pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, and agreeable or disagreeable experiences are impermanent.

It knows what are its physical and mental abilities, disabilities and limitations, and what are the possibilities and impossibilities, or the presence or absence of opportunity, in this present moment now, and it respects all that as they are, without attachment or identification towards the physical and mental abilities, disabilities and limitations that are impermanent and conditional. It can be doing something that is possible in accordance to the existing abilities, disabilities and limitations by making good use of the abilities, possibilities and opportunities that are available in this present moment now, without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitations, being undetermined by what it can do and cannot do, and being undisturbed by the disabilities, limitations and impossibilities, or the absence of opportunities in this present moment now. Knowing that all these are impermanent, and it's not 'I'.

It is free from judgment towards itself and others, while it allows others to have judgment towards themselves and/or the others. It is not determined or disturbed by the thinking and non-thinking, belief and disbelief, understanding and non-understanding of others, or the judgment and expectation coming from others towards itself. It allows others to have their own freedom of thinking and non-thinking, belief and disbelief, understanding and non-understanding, or judgment and expectation towards themselves and others, or not.

It doesn't need to receive attention, friendship, companionship, interaction, love, acknowledgement, understanding, agreement, validation, approval, acceptance, praise, compliment, respect, glorification, encouragement, mental or emotional support, sympathy, or empathy from anyone or anywhere, while allowing all these names and forms being there, or not, devoid of attachment, identification, craving or aversion, and expectation towards the absence or presence of all that.

It is free from the sense of belonging, self-esteem, self-worth, separateness, boredom, loneliness, defensiveness and offensiveness, superiority and inferiority, goodness and badness, rightfulness and wrongfulness, positiveness and negativeness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, joyfulness and joylessness, togetherness and aloneness, appropriateness and inappropriateness, auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, accomplishment and non-accomplishment, deserving and non-deserving, and so on.

It is what it is, and it is selfless and impermanent. And all and everyone and everything are selfless and impermanent.

It lives in the present moment, devoid of attachment, identification, possessiveness, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, intention, expectation, fear, worry, guilt, regret, hurt, bitterness, anger, hatred, violence, pride, envy, jealousy, admiration, animosity, dissatisfaction, disappointment, discontentment, greed, longing, wishful thinking, hopefulness, day dreaming, building castle in the air, wild imagination, or future anticipation.

It doesn't matter whether it has encouraging and loving, or understanding and uplifting partner, lover, friends, family, children, parents, leader, supervisor, motivator, teacher, or not. It doesn't need to be encouraged, loved, understood, uplifted, or inspired by any others, to be what it is, and to do or achieve what it wants to do or achieve.

It can be by itself, alone, in silence.

It can be busy performing actions within its capacity without over-exhausting the function of the body and mind, and it can be in silence, in inaction, without the sense of loneliness, boredom, irritation, or meaninglessness.

It knows how to look after the different needs of the body and mind in the present moment now, and understands that the needs are impermanent and could be different from moment to moment.

It can be surrounded by others, while uninfluenced and undisturbed by others being what they are, regardless of wise or ignorant, kind or unkind, selfish or unselfish, peaceful or peaceless, sane or insane.

It lives in the world, while the world doesn't live in it.

It is aware of uncertainty without the sense of insecurity.

It respects the world being what it is, governed by the nature's law of cause and effect.

It respect life existence being what it is, undergoing ceaseless selfless impermanent changes.

It confronts selfless impermanent changes in this present moment now, in peace.

Suffering doesn't arise in this mind, even if there are the presence of unpleasant sensations, undesirable experiences and impermanent changes, disagreeable connections, relationships, interactions and affairs, or challenging conditions and situations.

It doesn't need itself to be perfect.

It doesn't need the world to be perfect.

It doesn't need life existence to be perfect.

It doesn't need to be happy.

It doesn't need to make others happy.

It doesn't need to be this or not be that.

It doesn't need to have this or don't have that.

It doesn't need to control or be in control.

It allows all and everything to be what they are, as they are, and all are impermanent.

It allows all and everyone to be what they want to be, to think what they want to think, to feel what they want to feel, to believe what they want to believe, to behave how they want to behave, to react how they want to react, to express what they want to express, to be happy or unhappy, to agree or disagree, to desire or don't desire, to practice or don't practice, to be understanding or non-understanding, to realize or don't realize, to be peaceful or peaceless, and be free or not free.

It doesn't need to be free. As it is free.

If the breathing is slow, let it be slow.

If the breathing is fast, let it be fast.

If the breath stops coming and going, let it stops.

Inquire the truth of everything, and be free.

It's the freedom of the minds if they don't like, don't agree with, and don't want this freedom. Different minds have their own version of freedom. There's neither right nor wrong, but all and everyone is responsible towards their own thinking, belief, understanding, values, desires, actions, and practice, and the consequences of all that.

The body is consuming itself upon insufficient energy for basic life maintenance

No doubt that when there is still an idea of 'I' having an identification in the thinking mind identifying with the state/modification of the mind that is very much being determined and influenced by the energy fields in the body, as there is absence of correct understanding in the mind, and lack of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, and non-expectation, then this mind can observe a type of diet consumption as well as a way of life or activity that can help to induce more calming effect or less agitating effect in the modification of the mind. But, that is not a guarantee that the mind is, or will be free from the veil of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

Yoga, or the self-realization towards selflessness and impermanence, or the annihilation of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, or unconditional peace, is nothing to do with whether one is consuming a particular type of diet consumption (either vegetarian, or non-vegetarian, or mixture of both), or not.

All minds have been adopting a particular type of vegetarian, or non-vegetarian, or mixture of vegetarian and non-vegetarian diet consumption, either since birth or at certain stage in life under different reasons, however, it doesn't determine that whether the minds are free from ignorance and the consequences of ignorance, or not.

The body needs to be fed from time to time for maintaining the basic life maintenance, for the selfless bodily systems to be functioning properly, and to have some sufficient excess energy for daily physical and mental activity.

If one stops feeding the body, or stops eating, or is eating too less, over a prolonged period of time, where the body doesn't get enough energy/nutrients/minerals for life maintenance or for the bodily system to be functioning properly, the body will start to consume itself, or 'eating' itself, in order to extract energy from the proteins and fats deposit, as well as nutrients and minerals from within the body parts that are made up of all these components. That's why the body starts to loose body weight, or muscles mass, or fats deposit, or even bone and teeth density, or couldn't function properly as it is, and etc, when the body consumes less energy/nutrients/minerals input than the energy/nutrients/minerals expenditure over a period of time.

How can anyone be a pure vegetarian, if that is a natural process under the selfless survival instinct that is happening within the physical body from time to time, or once in a while, even if the mind is unaware of that?

It's a matter of personal choice under any particular reason for choosing what type of diet to feed the body and mind for maintaining its selfless impermanent existence and function. There's neither right nor wrong in the personal choice of diet consumption that one prefers.

There's nothing wrong, and it's very good to be observing a more healthy option and balanced type of diet consumption, if possible, depending on the logistic, climate, general condition and situation, availability and affordability. But, it's not about whether one is a better or purer human being than the others who have different types of diet consumption.

A yogi is not determined by the state of healthiness or unhealthiness, or good and bad health and fitness condition, or the sense of goodness or badness, positiveness or negativeness, righteousness or wrongfulness, and meaningfulness or meaninglessness, upon the realization of selflessness and impermanence.

The absence or presence of illness, weakness, injury, disabilities, or limitations, and the inevitable process of decay, aging, and disintegration/death of the body and mind doesn't determine one is a yogi, or a liberated mind, or not.

If the mind insists on the availability of specific type of diet (either vegetarian or non-vegetarian) that it prefers, and it will be frustrated and disturbed by the non-availability of that specific type of diet due to certain reasons, as well as be disturbed and angered by others who have different type of diet consumption from oneself, for any reasons, under the presence and influence of the desire of craving and aversion, attachment, identification, comparison, judgment, expectation, specific way of thinking, belief, ideas, visions, values, aspirations and practice, as well as all kinds of impurities, then that is not part of the yoga and/or buddhism practice at all.

Be free.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Yoga is universal

Regardless of whatever the different minds want it to be, yoga is universal.

Yoga is beyond spirituality and non-spirituality. It is neither spiritual nor non-spiritual. There's neither "I am spiritual" nor "I am non-spiritual."

The minds that are sentimental or believing in spirituality, then yoga can appear to be something sentimental or spiritual for them.

The minds that are non-sentimental or non-believing in spirituality, then yoga can appear to be something non-sentimental or non-spiritual for them.

As regardless of whatever is happening within the modification of the mind, whether the mind believes or disbelieves in spirituality, whether the mind is sentimental or non-sentimental, whether ignorance is present or absent in the mind, whether the mind is intellectual or non-intellectual, whether the mind is pure or impure, or whether the mind is peaceful or non-peaceful, yoga is beyond the limited conditional selfless modification of the mind, or the different states of the mind.

Yoga of selflessness, oneness, non-separateness, or the selfless universal consciousness, is beyond the selfless impermanent existence and function of all minds, and/or beyond the mind perception of all the different impermanent qualities of selfless names and forms.

All kinds of yoga practice that served the purpose of disciplining, calming, purifying, and quieting the modification of the mind, to eradicate the idea of 'I' and egoism, is to prepare the mind for meditation, and to perform self-inquiry towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence, to attain self-realization.

Upon the attainment of self-realization, where the mind realized selflessness and absorbed in silence (the annihilation of the modification of the mind), there is neither spiritual nor non-spiritual.

Yoga is merely the selfless reflection reflecting what all and everything are, selfless and impermanent, ceaselessly arising, changing, and passing away upon the changeless, timeless, causeless, limitless, nameless, formless, attributeless, actionless, birthless, deathless, beginningless, endless, selfless consciousness, that is uncontaminated or undetermined by any selfless impermanent quality, or duality, or name and form.

All minds can attain self-realization via self-initiative, self-purification, self-determination, self-independence, self-discipline, self-effort, and self-inquiry, except the minds that are expecting and waiting for an enlightened being or Guru to give them 'miracle touch' or 'mystical healing', and/or even give them enlightenment or liberation, and that's their freedom of thinking and desire.

All kinds of external teachings and teachers/gurus are merely providing some guidance to the minds for them to reflect upon, or showing the path/direction that leads the mind onto the practice, but the only teacher/guru that can free the mind from ignorance, is the mind itself. No any other teachers, or gurus, or liberated minds, can remove the ignorance in any minds, but the mind itself, alone.

The idea, or the notion, or the thinking, or the understanding, or the identification of, "I have a Guru," or "I don't have a guru," or "I am a yogi," or "I have been practicing yoga for how many years," or "I am a qualified and certified yoga teacher," or "I am advanced and highly experienced yogi/yoga teacher," or "I am an enlightened yogi/yoga Guru," or "I am a master trainer of yoga teachers," or "I am the founder/member of a yoga organization," or "Yoga came from and belongs to particular religion, country, place, community, organization, authority, and etc," doesn't mean anything. All these are merely indicating that the mind is still functioning under the influence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', and egoism.

The mind is the one and only teacher/guru that teaches and liberates itself, by itself, alone.

Renounce the world of MAYA, of 'I'-ness, 'mine'-ness, ignorance, egoism, passion, admiration, glorification, pride, hypocrisy, untruthfulness, desire, greed, ambitiousness, restlessness, selfishness, possessiveness, discrimination, self-righteousness, blind-believing/following/practicing/propagating/worshiping, superstition, story making/telling, petty-mindedness, jealousy, anger, hatred, fear, power, and violence, is the key to self-realization.

Transcending or going beyond all kinds of so called 'beautiful', 'out of the world', 'amazing', 'magnificent', 'magical', 'mystical', or 'transcendental' mind perception of names and forms, or the play of sights, lights, colours, sounds, smells, tastes, or sensations. None can force or influence another to renounce the world. It's the mind's own self-initiative and determination.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Ignorance in the world of yoga and buddhism

Many people don't really know or understand what is yoga and the yoga practice, even after many years of practicing and/or teaching 'yoga'. There's nothing wrong or abnormal, because that is what ignorance is about.

It's understandable, because the 'yoga' that many people see or practice in this world are the 'yoga' being practiced and taught by those who don't really know what is yoga, and there are many people are learning and practicing 'yoga' by attending ongoing 'yoga classes' that are being conducted by many 'certified' and 'qualified' yoga teachers that also don't really know or understand what is yoga and the yoga practice.

Similarly, in the world of buddhism, there are many people who think they are the disciples of Buddha, but they don't really know or understand what is buddha, buddhism, the teachings of buddha or the dhamma, and the practice.

Everyone takes their own effort and pace to realize what is yoga or buddhism, the teachings of yoga or the teachings of buddha, or the dhamma and the practice.

And it's okay, if the minds still haven't realized the dhamma by the end of this selfless impermanent life existence, after have been performing so many kinds of yoga practice or buddhism practice, under the idea of "I am a yogi who practice yoga," or "I am a Buddhist who practice Buddhism."

The only difference is that, if more minds are free from ignorance and egoism while being here momentarily in this space of the universe that doesn't belong to anyone or anything, there will be less unrest and disharmony or damaging effects being generated into this world, unwittingly, and vice versa.

Under the veil of ignorance and egoism, the selfless impermanent minds are not any different from all kinds of momentary natural disasters that come with the selfless intentionless damaging power that destroy many lives, objects and the surrounding environment, even if these natural disasters are only existing for a few moments, not to say, many minds are existing for quite a long while in this world, that keep contributing unnecessary unrest, disharmony and damaging effects into the world, either wittingly or unwittingly, during their momentary selfless impermanent existence in this world.

The minds that understand, they won't be offended by this.

The minds that would be offended by this, they don't understand.

Many years ago, in an ashram in India, there was a very old yoga teacher told this mind that he was still 'in doubt' after practicing and teaching yoga for many years. That had actually empowered the intense yearning towards liberation in this mind, to be determined to be free from ignorance, not just doing some form of yoga practice regularly, and hence, initiated the observation of renunciation from the world of passionate egoistic social and cultural affairs, connections, interactions and activities. He was indeed a great teacher.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (20)

The four basic qualifications of a yoga practitioner or Sadhaka, which are Vairagya, Viveka, Mumukshuttva and Shat-sampat, is nothing to do with the so called internationally recognized qualification or certification of attending and graduating from 'yoga teachers training courses' being issued or sanctioned by the many different yoga schools/organizations under different lineages, branches, names and styles, being affiliated to so called 'international yoga alliance', being associated to so called 'yoga association', or being a registered member of certain yoga school, yoga alliance or yoga organization, where all these names and forms are being introduced into the world of yoga under the influence of ignorance and egoism.

Even though there are many people are doing some kind of yoga practice regularly, and there are many yoga enthusiasts have been attending one or a few 'yoga teachers training courses', as well as regularly attending different types of ongoing certified and accredited yoga workshops and courses to enhance or upgrade one's yoga practice as well as teaching skills to be conducting yoga classes, it doesn't mean that there are many yoga practitioners or Sadhaka in the world, nowadays. As the path of yoga is nothing to do with all those names and forms, activities and qualifications.

When people's minds are being conditioned and empowered to take highly importance towards all those worldly egoistic names and forms, activities and qualifications, to be determining and acknowledging oneself or someone as a qualified yoga practitioner or yoga teacher, it only moves the mind further away from what yoga practice is about.

All the 'yoga teachers', 'yoga schools', 'yoga organizations', 'yoga courses', 'yoga workshops' or 'yoga retreats' that introduced and advertised themselves as 'Certified yoga teacher', or 'Internationally certified and accredited yoga courses', or 'Yoga teacher and yoga school affiliated to such and such yoga alliance or yoga association', that are enforcing the attachment and identification towards such names and forms, and emphasizing on the achievement towards the fruit of action, about what kind of benefits/results people will be getting from doing the yoga practices being taught by them of their particular yoga lineage/brand, in their yoga classes/workshops/retreats, at their yoga school/centre/studio, are nothing but empowering the egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment and expectation in the people who are initially interested to be learning and practicing yoga. All those 'names and forms' that attract and motivate them to be learning 'yoga' under the attachment and identification towards those qualities of names and forms, don't help to free the minds from ignorance and egoism, but it's empowering ignorance and egoism, unwittingly.

That's why renunciation is an important observation in one's yoga practice, particularly for the passionate egoistic minds to be developing the fundamental practice of dispassion, detachment (Vairagya) and right discrimination (Viveka), in order to free the mind from unwittingly being conditioned by all those worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice, to reason, think, behave, act and react.

Renouncing worldly affairs, connections, interactions and activities, embracing seclusion and solitude, moving the mind away from the company of the passionate egoistic minds, including those in the world of yoga, minimizing distraction and disturbance arising from coming in contact with the ceaseless ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in the world, to be conserving energy and focusing on one's yoga practice for quieting the restless modification of the mind, disciplining the outgoing tendency of the mind that restlessly chasing after the objects of the senses, and purifying the intellect or reasoning power, to be performing self-inquiry or investigation towards the truth of names and forms, free from the influence of worldly passionate egoistic thinking, belief, values and practice.

After the mind has developed the basic foundation of dispassion, detachment and right discrimination, this mind can choose to come back into the world to perform selfless service that help to bring correct understanding into the world, or not, but it is no longer being determined, influenced, affected or disturbed by all kinds of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in the world as well as selfless impermanent changes, upon coming in contact with all kinds of qualities of names and forms.

Such 'yogi', 'Sadhaka', or 'the teacher of yoga', that doesn't attach towards or identify with any names and forms, doesn't need to attend 'Yoga teachers training courses', to be attaining, possessing and carrying 'Internationally recognized yoga teacher qualification and certification affiliated to International yoga alliance/association', and doesn't need to introduce or advertise oneself or one's action of delivering the teachings of yoga with all kinds of worldly egoistic qualities of names and forms, of 'Certified yoga teacher', or 'Internationally certified and accredited yoga courses', or 'Yoga teacher and yoga school affiliated to such and such yoga alliance or yoga association' that comes with the intention/aspiration/desire to be attracting more people to be interested in learning and practicing yoga from oneself.

If the mind is still being determined, influenced, affected and disturbed by certain names and forms upon coming in contact with the objects of the senses, particularly the ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in the world, it means that it still hasn't developed the important basic foundation yet, regardless of how many internationally recognized qualifications and certifications that it has been attaining, possessing and carrying, or not.

Some minds might even argue that it's non-appreciation, ungratefulness and disrespectful towards all those teachers, teachings, courses, organizations and qualifications. What kind of teachers or teachings is that, if it would be 'disrespected' and 'depreciated' by certain action or inaction from anyone?

Guru/Buddha/Dhamma/Teacher of Dhamma doesn't need to be receiving respect, gratitude or appreciation from anyone through any action or inaction, for being what they are.

If certain 'Guru', or 'Buddha', or 'Dhamma', or 'Teacher of Dhamma' can be 'disrespected' or 'depreciated' and be 'offended' or 'hurt' by certain action and inaction of someone, especially the one who would claim 'authorization' to be 'threatening' and 'punishing' anyone who appeared to be 'non-appreciative' and 'disrespectful', by saying that "This is your karma for being ignorant, bad and wrong," then it's not Guru, or Buddha, or Dhamma, or Teacher of Dhamma.

Coming from the mind itself, to be freeing itself from ignorance and egoism, is the greatest form of 'needless' respect, gratitude and appreciation towards Guru/Buddha/Dhamma/Teacher of Dhamma.

Upon the realization of selflessness, oneness, non-separateness, attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness, what is 'qualification', 'dispassion', 'renunciation', 'Guru', 'Buddha', 'Dhamma', 'Teacher of Dhamma', 'respectful', 'disrespectful', 'grateful', 'ungrateful', 'appreciation', 'depreciation', 'positive', 'negative'?

Whether someone wants to practice yoga, or not, is practicing yoga, or not, and will be free from ignorance and egoism, or not, it's its own freedom and effort. It's nothing to do with right or wrong. Neither it has anything to do with any teachers or teachings. Without any advertisement of one would be receiving specific benefits/results/effects/healing from doing specific practices, or one would be free from ignorance and suffering after how long and how much one has been performing certain practices, or any kind of guarantee towards what people will experience or don't experience, and without any 'positive words of motivational encouragement', trendy fashionable branded yoga attires, props and accessories as well as ongoing yoga event, celebration, festival, or community social gathering that empower the egoism, the students of yoga learn and practice yoga as it is.

Some 'yoga practitioners' think and say, "I have been practicing yoga under my yoga teachers for many years using specific props. Without the specific props while doing the yoga asana, pranayama and meditation practice, I cannot and will not practice yoga. I don't want to hurt myself from practicing yoga without the props. It's so unprofessional that there are no props available in the yoga class." That's their freedom of thinking and action/inaction. However, it only indicates the ignorance and egoism in the minds of the teachers and the students, even after many years of so called 'practicing yoga' or 'teaching yoga'.

It doesn't stop one from practicing yoga of self-inquiry and self-realization, of the elimination of ignorance and egoism, even if the body is being restricted by certain limitation for doing many of the yoga practices. One doesn't need to be doing any specific yoga practices that are being restricted by certain limitation, and still can be free from ignorance and egoism, if one knows what is practicing yoga. By using many different props that help to reduce certain limitation/discomfort and allowing the body to be doing certain yoga practices more comfortably with lower risk of injury, and getting the specific benefits from performing those yoga practices under the help of props, also doesn't guarantee that the mind is or will be free from ignorance and egoism, even after many years of doing all those yoga practices under the help of props, enforcing strong attachment, identification, craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation.

Before attending the yoga class - "Oh, you'll need to get some high quality yoga attires and accessories, yoga mat and props, especially those bio-organic ecological environmental friendly type of material and production, that will make your practice more comfortable and efficient, and you will achieve maximum results that you desire. Oh, you will also need to get some healthy bio-organic yogic dietary supplements and put on some mystical incense and music in your practice space, maybe download some yoga apps as well, that will detoxify and cleanse your body, mind and soul as you practice yoga in your yogic space." No, you don't need all those things. You just need some basic understanding and common sense to start learning and practicing yoga, and be able to let go, to be free from ignorance and egoism.

Swami Sivananda - "Do not hoard disciples. Do not build ashrams."

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Want to learn and practice yoga? (2)

It depends on whether one is interested to learn and practice yoga for self-inquiry and self-realization to transcend the modification of the mind, to know thyself, or, one is only interested to learn and practice some sorts of physical yoga asana, breathing and relaxation exercises, or, one is interested in both physical and mental practices. 

Just as some 'yoga teachers' of certain lineages emphasize on teaching the physical movements and exercises, as they believe that most minds are not ready or suitable for the mental practices before purifying and disciplining the physical body first (perfecting the body first, then only perfecting the mind), and some 'yoga teachers' of certain lineages emphasize on teaching the mental practices (looking after the 'head', and everything else will look after themselves naturally if the 'head' is perfect), while some 'yoga teachers' of certain lineages emphasize on teaching both at the same time, believing that both practices being practiced together are complimenting each other respectively (a knife needs to have both the handle and the blade to be useful and efficient). And there's nothing wrong as they all have their own good reason.

It's about the different degrees of ignorance and egoism that determining which method is more suitable or less suitable for some.

No matter what is/are the reason(s) that ignited the interest to be learning and practicing yoga, either for self-inquiry and self-realization, or to be doing some yoga asana, breathing and relaxation exercises for maintaining and enhancing physical and mental health and fitness, there are some mental practices that are important even before the start of doing some sorts of physical movements and exercises mainly for health and fitness, for attaining maximum benefits and minimizing the risk of injury, not to say, before the start of the intense mental purification process that leads towards self-inquiry and self-realization.

One might not be able to perform certain kind of physical movements and exercises due to some physical condition or time and space limitation, but one can still be practicing yoga if one knows and is engaging oneself in the mental practices in every moment, regardless of whether one is engaging in some sorts of physical movements and exercises, or not, and regardless of what is the physical health and fitness condition, ability and disability.

One can be doing some sorts of yoga physical movements and exercises diligently and regularly, which is also part of the yoga practices that can be influencing the state of the mind to certain extend, which is also impermanent, but one might not be practicing yoga at all, if one doesn't know and doesn't integrate these mental practices into the physical practices, that eventually leads the perceptive mind to go beyond or transcending the impermanent conditions of the body and states of the mind.

There's nothing wrong if someone is not interested in disciplining the egoistic behavior pattern of the mind for self-inquiry and self-realization, to free the mind from ignorance and egoism, but only interested in gaining momentary benefits and satisfaction from doing some physical movements and exercises regularly, regardless of it's from doing some physical yoga asana, breathing and relaxation exercises or some other forms of physical fitness training. It's just that the mind might still be functioning under the egoistic behavior pattern, being over-powered by the passionate desire of craving and aversion, attachment, identification and expectation, and is still being determined and disturbed very much by the selfless impermanent perception of names and forms being perceived through the senses, of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, and thoughts/feelings/emotions/past memories/future anticipations, that the impure mind spontaneously likes and dislikes, agrees and disagrees with, desires and doesn't desire. And hence, the mind is still restless, even after many years of doing some sorts of physical movements and exercises, while enjoying the momentary benefits and pleasant sensations and feelings deriving from the physical training. These minds would blame others' imperfection and the perceived names and forms that they dislike, disagree with and don't desire, for their own mind reaction of dissatisfaction, disappointment, hurts, painful sorrow, unhappiness or suffering towards undesirable, disagreeable and unpleasant experiences.

A healthy, strong and flexible physical body that can perform many physical actions and movements doesn't and cannot determine a person as a 'yogi'.

Meanwhile, those who are interested in learning and practicing both physical and mental practices at the same time, would be developing essential mental/inner stamina, strength and flexibility that is essential for self-inquiry and self-realization when they integrate the mental practices into the physical practices under the correct understanding and attitude towards the goal of learning and practicing yoga.

One learns about how to observe the behavior pattern of one's mind, to know what is going on in the mind, during the learning process and while performing the yoga practices under certain names and forms. Understanding that those physical movements and exercises as well as the side-effects/benefits deriving from the physical practices don't determine anything, but only serve as tools to help influencing the state of the mind, to help eliminate egoism and quieting the restless modification of the mind, preparing the mind for self-inquiry and self-realization. Understanding that peace, compassion, and the ability to let go, are not being determined by physical condition, ability and limitation. One learns about focusing on one's practice, developing self-reliance through correct understanding and self-inquiry, knowing that the one and only teacher cum practitioner is none other but the mind itself. None can purify and discipline the mind, and remove ignorance from the mind, but the mind itself.

These basic mental practices are indeed the foundation as well as the entire mind purification process of freeing the mind from egoism and ignorance, which is the root cause of restlessness, peacelessness, unhappiness, painful sorrow, or suffering. Upon the annihilation of egoism and ignorance, the mind is free from all these corruptions, where unconditional peace is there as it is, that is uncontaminated, undetermined or undisturbed by the selfless mind perception of names and forms, that is free from identification, or the idea of 'I', 'my' and 'mine'. These mental practices being integrated into the physical practices also help to minimize the risk of physical injury, while allowing the body to absorb the benefits/effects of the yoga asana, breathing and relaxation exercises more efficiently.

It's understandable that many minds are not interested in the mental practices, as it is not a pleasant or agreeable process, and it could be extremely disgusting and painful for the passionate egoistic minds under the influence of ignorance being conditioned strongly by certain worldly thinking and belief. Especially the passionate minds that have strong egoism, or the closed minds that are not opened for anything that is different from their own particular thinking and belief, or the minds that take pride in their 'intelligence', 'education', 'accumulated knowledge', 'origin', 'social status', 'religious status', 'nationality', 'ethnicity', 'achievement', 'profession' and 'life experiences', as well as the disturbed minds that are highly sensitive and defensive, might generate certain degrees of aversion towards the mental practices that meant to be 'weakening', 'breaking' and 'eliminating' the ego, or what the mind thinks and believes, and identifies as 'I'.

And hence, some minds might not be ready or suitable to be practicing such mental practices unless they have certain degrees of awareness, and are willingly to go beyond the aversion/resistance in them, while letting go the ego and egoism that made them think and believe that 'that' is who and what they are, and starting to take responsibility for investigating and knowing what is happening in their own mind, without self-blaming or blaming others for all kinds of corruptions or actions and reactions arising and passing away in the selfless modification of the mind.

1.) Let go past desirable and undesirable/pleasant and unpleasant experiences. Let go future anticipation/imagination/expectation. There's only the present moment, it's impermanent, and there's no 'I'.

2.) Let go any expectation towards oneself, the teacher, the experience, the process, the performance, the practice, the result of practice, the life existence, the relationships, the surrounding environment and the world to be or not to be in certain way.

3.) Let go judgment towards oneself and others, the physical condition/ability and limitation, the mental state/ability and limitation, the teacher, the teachings, the different practices, the consequences of the different practices, and all kinds of names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses.

4.) Let go comparison between one's past and present experiences/abilities/disabilities, between oneself and others, between others and others, between the different types of names and forms (such as between apple and orange), and between the different qualities of the similar type of names and forms (such as between different varieties of apple).

5.) Let go desire of craving and aversion. Allow the perceived reality being what it is, as it is, as it changes from moment to moment. Respect the law of nature and all the impermanent changes as they are. One can still be aware of what is agreeable and disagreeable, but without generate craving/clinging towards what is agreeable and without generate aversion/hatred towards what is disagreeable.

6.) Let go all kinds of identification towards the body and the mind, the existing worldly egoistic thinking and belief, the momentary worldly relationships with all kinds of living beings and objects, the actions and fruit of actions. Observe what is happening in the physical body, what is going on in the mind, and what is happening in the surrounding environment or in the world, without attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation.

7.) Respect the body and mind, and their ability and limitation in the present moment as it is, even if it's unlikable, disagreeable or undesirable to the impure mind under certain worldly standard and expectation, without forcing the body and mind to go beyond its limitation in the present moment.

8.) Just do one's best, regardless of whether in one's daily life, or in one's yoga practice, according to the present condition of the body and state of the mind, as well as the possibility and impossibility being conditioned by the current situation and the surrounding environment, while allowing the fruit of the practice or the action being what it is. Both possibility and impossibility in the present moment will change. Focus on the possibility and let go the impossibility in the present moment, without attachment, identification or expectation.

9.) Let go the existing worldly thinking, belief and values in one's mind. Allow the mind to be opened towards what is already known, yet to be known and unknown to the mind.

10.) Let go blind-agreeing/disagreeing, blind-believing/disbelieving, blind-following, blind-practicing and blind-propagating. Investigate and inquire the truth of everything, of what is known and unknown to the mind, upon coming in contact with all kinds of names and forms, including the teachings and practices of yoga.

11.) Let go the idea of 'I', 'my', and 'mine'.

12.) Let go the sense of origin, belonging, self-worth, self-image, self-esteem, meaningfulness, superiority/inferiority, and etc.

13.) Let go worldly habits of socializing, gossiping, criticizing, condemning, slandering, back-biting, boasting, glorifying, story telling, scheming, plotting, hoarding, day-dreaming, building castle in the air, aspiring, inspiring, or chasing after attention, acknowledgement, love, liking, support, accreditation, praise, compliment, approval, acceptance, agreement, appreciation, connection, interaction and companionship.

14.) Let go discrimination and interference towards the different qualities of names and forms. Embrace accommodation and non-interference. This is living in peace and harmony with all kinds of living beings of different qualities sharing this space of the universe, both known and unknown, near and distance, without the need of building or maintaining worldly personal relationship or friendship. This is nothing to do with selfishness or unfriendliness, but in fact, it's non-discriminating friendliness towards all and everyone, beyond interactive personal relationship or friendship building. One can be kind towards others and helping one another even when one is disagreeable with the others, and without the need of knowing one another personally. What others do and don't do, what others think and believe or don't think and disbelieve, how others live their life, how others act and react, and what others want to do with their body and mind and life existence, is their freedom. Just mind about one's mind, and let others mind about their minds. It's not selfish. It's compassion.

15.) Let go mental and emotional dependence, passion and lust. Embrace mental and emotional independence, dispassion, renunciation, silence, seclusion and solitude. One can still be performing actions (both action and inaction) that benefit oneself and/or others, that contribute to peace in oneself and in the world, while being dispassionate and renouncing worldly affairs and activities, in silence, seclusion and solitude. This is not easy for many egoistic minds, as most people growing up being 'trained' to be mentally and emotionally dependent on 'parents', 'siblings', 'children', 'family and friends', 'community', 'pets', 'anything that represent interaction of acceptance, love and support', and so on, deeply believing that it's wrong, abnormal, selfish and crazy, if human beings are mentally and emotionally independent, where somebody doesn't need to depend on receiving acceptance, love and support from any other living beings to feel good and meaningful about oneself or life existence.

16.) Develop self-management or self-discipline. Choosing and filtering inputs and activities of the body and mind, unless the mind is no longer being determined, influenced or affected by the physical condition, the state of the mind, and any kinds of physical and mental inputs and activities, regardless of depression or stimulation to the mind. Such as one isn't being determined or affected by food consumption, caffeine intake, sleeping pattern/hour/duration, other people's state of the mind, behavior, action and reaction, the surrounding environment, the worldly affairs and conditions, the personal and group relationships, or certain physical and mental activities. This is not discrimination, but it's compassion towards oneself, knowing that oneself doesn't have strong foundation of non-attachment yet, and would easily be influenced and affected by the different qualities of names and forms, either physically or mentally, or both.

17.) Allow the body and mind to take their own time to be relaxed, to release tension, to build up physical and mental skill, stamina, strength and flexibility, to take rest, to recover, to work, to realize, to understand, and to absorb the effects of the practice.

18.) One doesn't need to be perfect, or good enough. One doesn't need to be a hero to save the world from badness. One just do one's best of what is possible and within one's capability in the present moment. What is good or not good enough, and what is goodness or badness, is impermanent. It's not 'I'.

19.) One doesn't need to be super strong or strong enough physically, mentally or emotionally to forbear pain, hurt or unpleasantness up to certain degrees. One just needs to know the truth of names and forms, or knows thyself, or knows what is going on in the mind, to be aware of all kinds of pleasant and unpleasant, desirable and undesirable experiences, without attachment and identification, without being determined or disturbed by the perceived reality that is impermanent and it's not 'I'.

20.) One doesn't need to be able to know everything, or be able to do everything, or be somebody of certain qualities, or be able to achieve anything, or be superhuman with extraordinary ability, or be positive and optimistic, but just needs to be understanding towards and respecting the law of nature, of cause and effect, of selflessness and impermanence. It's okay if the mind is still under the influence of ignorance and egoism, and still perceiving painful sorrow, unhappiness, hurts, dissatisfaction, disappointment, fear, anger, or any forms of suffering. Accepting the mind as it is even though it's not perfect and still doesn't understand many things, or still be determined and disturbed by names and forms, or still can't let go, or still can't do certain things after trying many times. There's nothing wrong with emotion, to laugh or to cry, either with or without reason, but without attachment, identification or judgment. It's impermanent, and it's not 'I'.

The mind that knows this, doesn't attach onto any names and forms, or be able to let go if there's presence of attachment. This mind is fearless. This mind is void of painful sorrow, even though the body is subject to limitation, uncertainty, unpleasantness, pain, illness, injury, weakness, old age, decay, or cease functioning/decomposition/death.

Health is wealth?

It's good that people are appreciating good health and want to invest in attaining and maintaining good health.

Of course it would be good if one can have good health in the mind and in the body.

While, healthy mind without a healthy body is totally fine.

The greatest yogi doesn't necessarily must have a fit and illness-free physical body, but the mind has no attachment or identification towards the impermanent selfless physical body.

Healthy body without a healthy mind is something else.

Do not loose the health of the mind while trying to achieve the health of the body.

Health freak is not what yoga is about.

Want to learn and practice yoga?

Yoga practice is preparing the mind for self-inquiry, inquire towards "What is yoga?", or "The truth of names and forms.", "What is life/worldly life existence?", "What is suffering/the cause of suffering?", or "Who am 'I', or who/what is this 'I' or self cognition/self-existence/self-identity/individual being?"

People could be talking about yoga according to what the Yoga Scripture stated about yoga - "Yoga is the union of the individual consciousness and the universal consciousness." or, "Yoga is the suspension of the modification of the mind." but without direct experience of knowing Thyself, or knowing Yoga.

When people identify and introduce themselves as "I am an experienced yoga practitioner/yoga teacher", or "I have learned/studied/practiced yoga for how many years under such and such Guru/teacher/school", or "I am 200/500 hours certified yoga teacher." it only shows that they don't really know what is 'yoga'. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with being ignorant towards many things under the influence of ignorance. If human beings can be free from ignorance easily, there won't be so much ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in this world.

The realization of selflessness/'I'-lessness/egolessness, or non-duality/oneness/non-separateness/namelessness/formlessness/attributelessness/birthlessness/deathlessness, has nothing to do with whether one had been practicing 'yoga' for how long and how much, or whether one had attended 'yoga teacher training courses' and attained certain 'Internationally recognized/affiliated yoga teacher certification/qualification', or whether one is educated and can converse, read and write in certain language, or not.

Most of the time, when people talk about 'yoga', that they are practicing yoga, that they love yoga, they are talking about the 'yoga' as a form of exercise consists of positions/movements/breath control/concentration/relaxation that gives many physical and mental health benefits, that can help to improve physical and mental health and fitness condition, or talking about some kinds of 'energy channels/centres cleansing technique', or 'sound/vibration/mystical/mantra/energy healing' practice or 'energy exchange', or 'love sharing and hugging', or 'yogic diet', or 'clean eating', or 'organic living', or 'yogic lifestyle', or 'yogic attires and accessories', or 'yoga mats/blocks/straps/cushions/etc'.

When people visualize 'someone practicing yoga', most people would think of someone on a 'yoga mat' wearing certain brand of 'yoga attire' holding a particular 'yoga posture' or doing a set of yoga movements consist of different 'yoga postures' or 'stretches' with or without some yoga accessories such as block and strap, or doing some 'breathing exercises', 'chanting/praying/clapping/dancing/singing with music', or 'meditating in a cross-legged sitting posture holding a particular hand gesture' with incense burning or meditative music background in an out of the world beautiful and peaceful environment, or a group of people happily chatting, cooking and eating 'organic produce', or something to do with 'positive thinking/empowerment'/'relaxation and de-stress methods'/'healthy lifestyle'/'the sense of happiness or meaningfulness', or even, visualizing people with certain appearance such like 'tattooed body', 'dreadlocks' and 'smoking pot'. Just like what people see in the 'yoga videos'/'TV documentary on yoga or yogi'/'yoga posters/advertisements/arts', or in the 'yoga classes' in the 'yoga centres', or on the streets of certain famous 'cities of yoga' in India.

We often hear many 'yoga practitioners' say, "I didn't practice yoga for some time because life was too busy in the past few years/months/weeks/days and I didn't have enough space for the yoga practice. Now that I have more free time and free space, I want to start practicing yoga again." It shows that they have no idea what is yoga and yoga practice even though they might have been doing some 'yoga practice' either by themselves or attending 'yoga classes' for some time.

Yoga and yoga practice is unlimited by name and form, time, space and causation.

Then there are also many 'yoga competitions' that are about 'how good/well one performs some 'yoga postures' or 'yoga movements'. "This person performs the postures/movements better than the others, this person endowed with the strength/the flexibility/the techniques/the artistic/the creativity/the grace/the flow/the endurance/the focus/the effort, and so, this person is the best 'yogi' and the champion/winner of this 'yoga competition'." There are also many 'yoga events', 'yoga festivals', 'yoga shows/performances/demonstrations', or 'yoga international day', and etc.

All these 'names and forms' don't determined that one is practicing yoga, or one knows yoga, or one is a yogi. Those who truly practice yoga, or who know yoga, there's no such idea/identification of "I know yoga", "I practice yoga for how long for how regular", "I meditate for how many years for how many hours/times per day", "I can hold my breath for how long", "I am a yogi", "I am a yoga teacher", "I am a 200/500 hours certified yoga teacher", "I participate in such and such yoga events/festivals/courses/yoga competitions", "I am celebrating yoga international day", "I am a champion of yoga", "I am the best yogi", "This is how a yogi looks like", "Yoga is so good", or "I love yoga."

If someone thinks one knows something about yoga but doesn't really know what is yoga, and wants to approach a teacher asking to be learning and practicing yoga under this teacher, one must 'empty' thyself of what one thinks who/what one is, of what one thinks one had learned/practiced/experienced/known/achieved. Actually, just by 'emptying' thyself, or abandoning the 'self-identification with such and such quality of names and forms', one has already opened the 'door' of yoga, even without a teacher's guidance.

Nothing but selfless impermanent changes of names and forms

What is here?

This is what's going on in the mind and how the body functions while asleep, or this is what the mind perceives through the senses and how the body functions while awake, or this is what's going on in deep sleep, or this is beyond the function of the physical body and the modification of the mind (beyond the three states of sleep, awake and deep sleep) - Turiya. Constant selfless changes of names and forms arising/passing away or forming/deforming are happening according to the law of nature/cause and effect, selflessly, intentionlessly, in the awaking state, sleep state and deep sleep state, but not in Turiya, which is nameless, formless, attributeless, birthless, deathless, beginningless, endless, or mindless/void of modification of the mind/beyond the three states of the mind of the selfless and impermanent worldly life existence.

Upon the annihilation of the modification of the mind that come along with intellect, egoism and memory storage of mind modification/activities consciously and subconsciously, there is nothing here but selfless impermanent changes of names and forms. There's neither 'past' nor 'future', neither 'I' nor 'not I', neither 'good' nor bad', neither 'right' nor 'wrong', neither 'positive' nor 'negative', neither 'meaningful' nor 'meaningless', neither 'enjoyable' nor 'non-enjoyable', neither 'desirable' nor 'non-desirable', neither 'agreeable' nor 'non-agreeable', neither 'attaching' nor 'detaching'. There's no family or not family, friends or not friends, contribution or non-contribution, being selfish or being unselfish, there's no father, no mother, no son, no daughter, no partner, no relatives, no suffering, no end of suffering, or all kinds of separateness and duality, where this is disagreed/rejected/disliked/condemned by many worldly egoistic minds/people as all these names and forms are what they think they are, where they exist as 'somebody' who has an individual self-existence/self-identity that possesses all those names and forms, that has a family/ancestor background and personal relationships with all and everything.

Human beings of higher evolution being endowed with an intellectual egoistic thinking mind that ceaselessly perceive, act and react, desire and don't desire towards the mind perception of names and forms through the senses and processing all kinds of mind perception of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, feelings/emotions/thoughts/imagination/memories/connections/relationships/interactions under the veil of ignorance, that give rise to the idea of 'I', or the ego, that exists merely as a stream of continuous thought-current/though-wave, being there asserting/identifying as 'I', attaching, grasping, discriminating, asserting, liking, disliking, agreeing, disagreeing, aspiring, desiring, craving, longing, learning, knowing, remembering, forgetting, creating, building, connecting, mingling, socializing, interacting, procreating, accumulating, possessing, boring, fulfilling, accomplishing, exciting, enjoying, worrying, frustrating, dissatisfying, disappointing, regretting, hurting, saddening, grieving, sorrowing, depressing, suffering, and so on, reacting towards the names and forms/experiences that the mind perceives/experiences through the senses as well as reacting towards the names and forms/experiences that were being stored as memory, that keep flashing back in the mind in the only existence, NOW, while in-searching for satisfaction, meaningfulness, joy and happiness in the worldly life of impermanent names and forms/self-identity/relationships/achievements/enjoyments/conditions.

The mango tree exists selflessly, and from it, many fruits of mango are being produced selflessly, which possibly reproducing many other mango trees selflessly, that also possibly produce many more fruits of mango, selflessly. The mango tree and the fruits of mango are existing, changing and cease existing, or extinct due to the law of nature/cause and effect, selflessly. Even so, the mango tree and all other kinds of plant also have the selfless survival instinct of surviving and reproducing. Similarly, there is the selfless survival instinct in all living beings of humans, animals, birds, insects, fish and etc, not to say when the human's mind is functioning under the veil of ignorance and an idea of 'I', or the ego, rejecting extinction or non-existence, craving/longing for continuous or prolonged existence. Due to ignorance, living beings in search for continuous or prolonged existence of a self-identity in the physical body and the thinking mind attaching to the quality of names and forms (relationships/activities/achievements/possessions/conditions) that are all selfless and impermanent, and hence, fear, dissatisfaction, meaninglessness and suffering arise in these living beings.

There are constant selfless and restless actions happening as part of the existence and function of the physical body and the thinking faculty that rely on nature providing energy/food/air/water/nutrients/minerals to be existing and functioning, going through forming, growing, balancing, fueling, burning fuel, refueling, hydrating, dehydrating, rehydrating, digesting, nurturing, regenerating, repairing, shitting, peeing, warming, cooling, sweating, decaying, aging, strengthening, weakening, restrengthening, sleeping, dreaming, awaking, perceiving, living, dying, and eventually stop functioning and decompose/deforming. Inevitably restless due to the existence and function of the physical body and the acting/reacting thinking faculty.

Only the minds that are aware of this restlessness would forgo being the slave of ignorance, egoism and restlessness, of pleasure/satisfaction and meaning/purpose seeking through the senses in the impermanent names and forms of a selfless worldly life existence which lead to ceaseless actions/reactions and consequences of actions, or cause and effect, or karma, that power/fuel the wheel/loop of births and deaths, and hence, there arise the intense yearning for liberation from all that, to be determined to attain Self-realization regardless of intense difficulty and obstacle.

Freeing the mind from ignorance and egoism, transcending the three states of the mind of countless births and deaths of restlessness, realize nameless, formless, attributeless, birthless, deathless, beginningless, endless Turiya, or Atman.

Looking for 'Guru' in this era?

Is it important to have a Guru? Yes. But not looking out. Look within.

The one and only real and reliable 'Guru' is the mind itself through persist mind purification and self-inquiry/reasoning the truth of everything to attain self-realization, not someone puts on a 'Guru/Yogi appearance' in the public who claimed to be enlightened 'Guru' with 'supernatural healing power' that can take away your doubt and ignorance to give you 'shortcut' to enlightenment, or heal your pain and suffering. This one and only 'Guru' is with you all the time, you (the mind) just didn't/haven't realize it yet.

There are plenty of 'Dharma teachers' and so called 'certified yoga teachers' in the world nowadays to give people some kind of guidance towards the path of transcending the mind perception of names and forms/births and deaths, but this mind itself is the only real and reliable 'Guru'.

If there is an external 'Guru' of yours, the 'Guru' will come to you when the cause is ripen, without the Guru's intention to be coming to you and without your intention to be looking for someone to be your 'Guru'. If someone comes to you and try very hard to persuade you to believe that "I am your Guru", then you should runaway from this person/being as far/soon as possible. Because real 'Guru' doesn't need to do anything to persuade anyone that this is your Guru. One will know that "This is the Guru", when the time has come. If you still don't know and have doubt, that means the time hasn't come yet.

If people still think and believe that there's somebody who 'looks' and 'acts' like a 'Guru' with some kind of 'supernatural healing power' is a great 'Guru' somewhere in this world, and hoping that this 'Guru' will free them from suffering, or lead them towards enlightenment, that's their freedom of thinking and belief.

Some desperate suffering minds take those with dreadlocks on the head and tattoos all over the body and either be naked or wear orange robes while put themselves in a particular 'yoga pose' or perform some sort of ritual and dance, who are stoned smoking ganja most of the time as 'Gurus'. While some others take those who are the leader of a particular 'yoga community' or 'yoga organization' or 'yoga school' as 'Gurus'. That's their freedom of thinking and belief and action.

Seek the 'Guru' within by developing the basic foundation of self-discipline, self-control, self-inquiry, right discrimination and self-independence, and contemplate upon the instructions from the ancient Scriptures to guide one's mind onto the path of yoga, refrain from misconducts, drugs and intoxicants, practice dispassion and renunciation, retreat into solitude and seclusion, to silent the restless modification of the mind, to move the mind away from worldliness, to annihilate egoism, to contemplate upon the truth of everything and attain self-realization of the truth of Dharma, to realize the one and only 'Guru' which is the mind itself.

It's only those who reluctant to let go worldly ideas, activities, objects, desires, enjoyments, comforts and all kind of relationships will try to find an external superhuman 'Guru' with 'supernatural healing power' in the world in this era.

Those who are passionate, who don't like 'unpleasantness' or 'hard work', and always looking for 'miracles' or 'easy way out' or 'shortcuts' or 'magic pill' to solve all their 'problems', while still indulging in their everyday life worldly activities without letting go their worldly enjoyments, relationships, comforts, desires, habits and ideas, will try to look for an external 'superhuman Guru' to show them 'miracles'. And that's how people are easily be manipulated and exploited in this world that is full of ignorance, greed and lust.

Inquire the ancient teachings and practice of yoga - "NO PHYSICAL TOUCHING", "OBSERVE CELIBACY", "DISPASSION", "RENUNCIATION", "DESIRELESSNESS", "SECLUSION", "SOLITUDE" and "SILENCE".

Take a look at the world of yoga nowadays, is all about 'hugging' to show love and care, and 'touching' especially in the yoga asana class to make 'physical adjustments/corrections' for the students, and then continuing 'hugging' and 'touching' each other outside the yoga class as a form of love sharing and healing process, or even giving and receiving 'special healing touch' or 'special healing massage'.

People say, "All beings need love, touches and hugs. All beings will be sick and die out of touchlessness, huglessness, lovelessness and loneliness." That is part of the worldly idea, belief and practice. It's not what yoga teaching and practice is about.

When the mind is pure and free from lustful desire, there's nothing wrong with physical 'hugging and touching', but how many minds in this world are pure and free from lustful desire? Very few indeed.

How many desperate suffering confused minds were/are being taken advantage or being exploited and abused physically/mentally/psychologically/sexually/financially by greedy lustful people because all these desperate suffering confused minds try to look for and depend on a 'superhuman Guru' to 'guide' them onto the path of enlightenment, to liberate them from pain and suffering, or to 'heal' them from something that they think it has to be 'healed' by a 'Guru' with 'supernatural healing power'?

Everyone was/is looking forward to be 'touched' or 'healed' by a 'superhuman Guru'. And they got/get what they want, in a different way - Some people were/are physically 'touched/molested/raped' by lustful people who claimed themselves as 'Gurus' with 'spiritual enlightenment', where people are being sexually taken for granted/assaulted, wittingly or unwittingly. This is pure ignorance of both parties - People who are looking forward to be 'touched' or 'healed' by someone who claimed to be a 'Guru' with 'supernatural healing power', and those lustful people who claimed to be 'Gurus' who can 'touch' or 'heal' what people believe that need to be 'touched' or 'healed'.

Knowing that all desperate suffering confused minds that are under the influence of ignorance want to be someone 'special' in the world, to be loved by 'someone special', to be treated/healed with 'special love and care' and 'miracles', these 'superhuman Gurus' manipulate and take advantage of the desperate suffering confused minds to satisfy their lustful desire and greed.

When people have the intention to go to a 'superhuman Guru', they have something that they want/expect from the 'superhuman Guru'. "Oh Guru, please bless me this and that." While pseudo 'Gurus' also want/expect something from them, as well.

Those who are peaceful being free from suffering, ignorance and egoism of attachment, identification, desires of craving and aversion and expectation, who are desireless, who don't need to see/experience 'miracles', there's no need to go to a 'superhuman Guru'. 'Miracles' and 'superhuman Guru' are useless to them.

For those who have intense yearning for liberation, all and everything that the mind comes in contact with will naturally become 'the Guru' that allows the mind to see/reflect upon itself (knowing thyself) and seeing the Dharma/the truth of impermanence and selflessness in all the names and forms. 'The Guru' manifests in all and everything, when the mind is ready to 'see'. Be patient, be persevered, while keep purifying and disciplining the mind. Without intention/expectation to find a 'Guru', the Guru is (already) here.

Your own mind and all your mind perception/experiences of everything, your perception/experience of painful sorrow and suffering, your actions and the consequences of your actions, and the self-realization of the selfless impermanent changes within the body and mind through self-inquiry, is your greatest Guru, your real Guru. None other than this mind and the realization of the truth from within, is your 'Guru'.

How to renounce worldly life?

It depends on what does 'worldly life' means to different people. Different people give different meanings towards life existence and have different ways of life. If a particular 'worldly life' having a particular meaning with a particular way of life, under the influence of a particular thinking and belief and values, that would lead the mind away from peace and harmony, or would lead the mind towards restlessness and unnecessary affliction, then one can considerate to renounce the existing way of life, to adopt a different way of life, or changing the habitual mind behavior pattern, that would lead the mind towards more peace and harmony, and have less restlessness and unnecessary affliction.

For some, one's way of life is fine, but there are too many unnecessary disturbance, or distraction, or difficulties that are energy, time and space consuming coming from the surrounding environment of people, activities and happenings, that generate great obstacle on the path of purifying and quieting the restless mind, then one can also considerate stepping back from coming in contact with all these worldly beings, affairs and objects of names and forms, allowing the mind to have the energy, time and space to focus on the practice.

Renouncing worldly life doesn't mean that one is living outside the worldly minded society, to be alone in the wild. As even being alone in the wild, living in a simple and basic condition, it doesn't guarantee that the mind will be or is peaceful, or be free from disturbance, restlessness and suffering due to ignorance, egoism and impurities.

It doesn't mean that one needs to be in a space or a place that is free from 'worldly' or 'non-spiritual' people, and lives among a 'non-worldly' but 'spiritual' community, to be engaging in 'non-worldly' but 'spiritual' activities, like monks and nuns.

It also doesn't mean that one abandons one's existing worldly duties and responsibilities, not working to make a living to support one's life and those under one's care, but to live on the charity of others. Unless one's worldly duties and responsibilities have come to an end, such as being free from looking after old parents or young children.

It's about living in the world among the society as we are, no matter where and how we are and how is the environment, performing all our duties and responsibilities towards oneself and others under one's care out of compassion, making an honest living that supports oneself and those under one's care, but without attachment or identification towards any worldly social and cultural thinking and belief, values and practice or behavior, being free from egoism of passionate clinging onto worldly objects of names and forms, personal and community attachment and identification, desires of craving and aversion, judgment and expectation that based on particular worldly thinking, belief and values, while minimizing, reducing and restricting worldly social networking, mingling, interactions, activities and the accumulation of social connections and relationships, to be observing maximum seclusion and solitude while living and moving in the society among the worldly minded, without being affected, or disturbed, or determined by all the pleasant and unpleasant events or happenings in the world, without being influenced by the worldly social and cultural thinking and belief, values and practice, or behavior.

It's renouncing or abandoning egoism and impurities.

It's renouncing the passionate desires of craving and aversion, the attachment and identification with worldly social and cultural thinking, belief, values and the habitual behavior pattern of judgment and expectation based on those thinking, belief and values. At the same time, respecting others to be what they are, to have their own different thinking, belief and values, and to behave, act and react as they are.

It's going beyond all the impermanent qualities of names and forms of good and bad, right and wrong, positive and negative, pleasure and displeasure, pleasantness and unpleasantness, gain and loss, success and failure, praise and condemn, superiority and inferiority, achievement and non-achievement, auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, and so on.

It's non-attachment and non-identification towards all actions and the fruit of actions. Performing all actions, duties and responsibilities out of wisdom and compassion, and allowing the fruit of actions to be what it is, being undetermined or uninfluenced by the actions and the fruit of actions.

If one can only find peace outside the worldly minded society, void of duties and responsibilities, being isolated from the worldly minded society that is functioning under ignorance, egoism and impurities, but then, while being in the world, living or moving among the worldly minded society and perceiving all the impermanent names and forms through the senses, one couldn't remain equanimous, being disturbed, or determined, or affected by the unpleasant, undesirable and disagreeable events, happenings or disturbance deriving from one's attachment towards the mind perception of names and forms, then one hasn't realize the truth yet, or one hasn't realize yoga.

Live in the world but not let the world live in you.

It's the mental renunciation from worldly thinking and belief, values and practice, and habitual egoistic action and reaction under the influence of egoism. One can live and move in the world, but not let the world influence or determine the state of the mind. 

 

It's the state of the mind, where the mind stops generating craving or aversion towards all the perception of names and forms, being undisturbed and remain equanimous, while performing necessary actions, duties and responsibilities towards oneself and/or others under one's care. The well-trained mind is disinterested in worldly relationships, connections, objects and affairs, while living and moving in the world. It is free from passionate clinging and desire towards worldly relationships, connections, objects and affairs. It doesn't chase after the object of names and forms of the senses to attain the sense of satisfaction or meaningfulness. There's no ungratified desire that is waiting to be fulfilled, as it is desireless.

Those who are peaceful, who remain equanimous under any difficult, unpleasant, undesirable and disagreeable worldly conditions or circumstances, are true yogis.

Have peace, by taming the outgoing restless mind and annihilating ignorance, egoism and impurities, and not by controlling or changing the mind perception of an impermanent world of names and forms to be the way that the ego expects, desires, or likes it to be.

If the mind is super sensitive and easily be disturbed or distracted by the mind perception of names and forms of worldly objects and affairs, as there's no strong foundation of non-attachment towards the mind perception of names and forms, then it would be better for this mind to move away from the society for a prolonged period of time, to minimize as much as possible the coming in contact with worldly affairs and objects of names and forms, to allow the mind to be free from unnecessary disturbance and distraction to conserve energy, and turning the mind inward for self-introspection or self-inquiry. Until the mind develops a strong foundation of dispassion and non-attachment (which will be 'tested' while living in the world), then this mind can live and move among the worldly minded society and coming in contact with ceaseless inputs of impermanent names and forms, but the mind is undisturbed or uninfluenced by all these names and forms.

Be free.

It's not necessarily that one has to practice yoga to realize unconditional peace and love

The ability to let go of undesirable unhappy/painful experiences or to observe unpleasant feelings and thoughts without attachment and identification, or to be undisturbed and undetermined by all the perceptions of names and forms, is nothing to do with whether one practices yoga, or not.

It's not necessarily that one has to be practicing yoga to be free from ignorance and egoism, and realize unconditional peace and love.

There are people who practice yoga, but they are not peaceful, because they are not free from ignorance and egoism. There are people who don't practice yoga, but they are peaceful and compassionate, as they are free from ignorance and egoism. And it doesn't matter whether people think they practice or don't practice yoga, it's the same when people realize peace and compassion when the mind is free from ignorance and egoism.

The peacefulness or calmness that derived from the effect of yoga asana, pranayama and concentration practice, is conditional and subject to impermanence.

Meanwhile, the unconditional peace and love is nothing to do with whether one is practicing yoga asana, pranayama and concentration practice, or not. It is always there, never increases nor decreases. It is not a quality that derives from yoga asana, pranayama and concentration practice. It doesn't belong to those who practice yoga and it exists in all and everyone disregards one practices yoga, or not. Though the yoga practice serves as a tool to purify and quiet the mind to allow the mind to realize this unconditional peace and love that is always there, but not everyone who perform yoga practice can go beyond the mind perception of conditional qualities of names and forms due to deep rooted ignorance and egoism of attachment, identification, craving and aversion.

One can be free and realize unconditional peace and love whether one practices yoga, or not.

There's nothing to be boast or proud about if one is practicing yoga or one has achieved particular results or benefits from performing the yoga practice. Boasting and pride is part of the characteristics of the ego.

Be free.

Disappointment?

Disappointment is coming from unfulfilled expectation towards people, society, objects or experiences about everyone and everything have to be the way that we think they should be, which is based on our family brought up, religious and cultural belief and practice, social ethics, personal thinking and belief, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, as well as desires of want and don't want. It isn't coming from people, society, objects or experiences that we think are 'wrong', 'bad', or 'inappropriate'. All these names and forms don't and couldn't disappoint us or make us unhappy. It's our own mind's reaction that generates disappointment in us towards someone or something that we don't like or don't agree with.

Respect everyone and everything have the freedom to be what they are, even if our mind doesn't like or doesn't agree with them.

After performing actions that we think and believe as 'good, 'kind', and 'generous', allow the result of the actions to be what it is, and allow everyone to show appreciation, gratefulness and thankfulness, or not. There's nothing wrong with people who don't appreciate or be grateful for something that we believe as 'good', 'kind' and 'generous'. It's our mind believing that 'this is wrong' or 'it shouldn't be like this' that generates disappointment in us. There's nothing wrong with the mind feels disappointed towards someone or something, because that is how the mind works under the influence of ignorance.

Practice yoga of non-attachment, dispassion and renunciation, if we truly want to be free from ignorance which is the cause of all kinds of unhappiness and suffering.

Abandon worldly thinking and belief about how human beings or people should or shouldn't behave, act and react.

Love the world as it is, even if it is not the way that we like it to be.

Do our best to help the world to improve, but without attachment towards the actions and the result of the actions.

Be free.

Fear of letting go conditional worldly thinking and belief

It's normal that people have fear towards letting go certain religious or non-religious thinking and belief that influence the way of life and conduct, self-image and personal identity. There is fear of the unknown consequences of letting go those thinking and belief. There is fear of exile, criticism and condemn from the 'group' that we think we belong to. There is fear of being unaccepted by the society. There is fear of non-existence. The ignorant minds constantly seek recognition, agreement, approval, support and acknowledgement from the society to be who we think we are, or who we want to be. This is one of the obstacles that hinders the mind to see the truth of names and forms as it is.

Those who have gone beyond the idea of 'I', or the identification with qualities of names and forms to be identifying as 'I', they don't even attach onto their devotion towards the teachings and practice of yoga to identify oneself as 'yogi', not to say to attach onto certain conditional worldly thinking and belief. Meanwhile other beings can have the freedom of thinking to refer or label them as 'yogi'.

Be free.

Non-attachment?

Minds that perceive and react towards all the names and forms under the influence of ignorance and egoism according to worldly thinking and beliefs, might interpret the practice of non-attachment means being actionless, that we don't care for anything, whether it's about ourselves or the world that we live in, that we shouldn't perform any actions to improve the well-being of our body and mind, and the world we live in, as our mind thinks that all our actions or efforts to improve ourselves and the world are meaningless because the mind gets depressed and frustrated about the impermanent conditions of the worldly existence, that everything will decay and come to an end eventually, no matter how much actions we performed and how much improvement we could achieve, as well as the mind is being depressed about situations that we can't control or change to be the way that we think it should be, or how we would like it to be. But this is just the ego being depressed and feels meaningless and demotivated due to its own attachment, identification and expectation towards it's actions and the fruit of its actions, this is not what the practice of non-attachment is about.

Just like keeping calm doesn't mean being actionless. It's the same as being actionless doesn't mean that the mind is calm and peaceful. One's body and mind can be performing actions but the mind is unattached towards the actions and the fruit of actions, and thus it's unaffected, undisturbed and undetermined by the actions or the fruit of actions, and allowing the fruit of actions to be what it is.

Realize what is non-attachment and be free, disregard whether the body and mind is performing action, or not.

Without attachment or identification with the impermanent worldly existence of the body and mind as who we are, and without attachment or possessiveness towards the world and its impermanent conditions and situations that 'This is my/our world and I/we want my/our world to be like this and not like that', we can be performing actions to maintain or improve the well-being of the life existence of this body and mind and the world we live in, but we do not attach towards the actions and the fruit of the actions, and be unaffected, undisturbed and undetermined by the actions and the fruit of actions. There's neither motivation, pride and arrogance nor depression, frustration, dissatisfaction, disappointment, anger, meaninglessness or demotivation.

If we don't know what is non-attachment and if we perform actions out of egoism with attachment, identification, intention and expectation, then we (the minds) will be affected, disturbed and determined by our actions and the fruit of actions, we will feel motivated, proud and arrogant when we see the results that we want to see, and we will feel depressed, dissatisfied, disappointed, frustrated, angry and demotivated when after we performed actions, we don't see the results that we would like to see, or the conditions and situations are not improving or changing into the way that how we would like it to be, or the way that what we think it should be. We either think that we are not good enough, or we criticize other beings are not good enough, when we don't get the support or cooperation from other beings that we think we should be getting, that we think all beings are obliged to support and perform the actions that we think we all should be performing.

There is nothing wrong when we think we are good beings, we want to be good beings, we want to do good, we think what we do is good, we want the world to be good, and we expect the world to be good the way that we think it should be, but this is not what yoga is about.

Be free to perform actions for ourselves and the world, but without attachment, identification, intention and expectation.

Is yoga a religious practice? (2)

No doubt that in the history of yoga, there are many Hinduism influenced sources, stories, sages and teachings, and many past and present Gurus came with Hinduism background and they practice(d) Hinduism, but, upon the realization of selflessness, one's liberation has nothing to do with Hinduism or non-Hinduism, spirituality or non-spirituality, religious beings or non-religious beings, good beings or bad beings, good karma or bad karma.

One might think that "Since I have done many good actions accumulating lots of good karma, I will be free from suffering." But, it's not necessarily so. One might still experience suffering even after performing many good actions accumulating lots of good karma, as long as the mind is not free from ignorance, egoism, attachment, identification, craving and aversion, and be over-powered by impurities like anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, animosity, ill-will, feelings of hurt, fear and worry.

Yoga is the annihilation of the mind and its modification, transcending all the names and forms, it doesn't matter what types of qualities of names and forms that keep arising and passing away, influencing the impermanent existence, condition and function of the body and the mind.

Suffering and the end of suffering (liberation) is all in the mind, it is not in a particular name and form that the mind perceives through the senses.

When we think we are not peaceful or are suffering, ask ourselves, why we are not peaceful or are suffering.

One starts practicing yoga when one starts to be aware of what is going on in the mind, and the mind takes full responsibility for all the actions and reactions of the mind towards all the names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses.

Suffering and the end of suffering (liberation) doesn't discriminate towards all the different qualities of names and forms which the mind thinks that is who and what it is.

It is due to ignorance, egoism, attachment, identification, craving and aversion towards all the impermanent qualities of names and forms, that generate suffering in the mind.

It is knowing the truth, egolessness, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving and non-aversion towards all the impermanent qualities of names and forms, that free the mind from suffering.

Suffering and liberation is nothing to do with different types of religion, spirituality, culture, education, society, tribe, race, gender, sexual orientation, worldly success and achievements, physical condition and abilities, and etc.

Be free.

Seclusion comes gradually and naturally...

Seclusion for a period of time, is important in the path of yoga and meditation for emancipation, although there's no guarantee of liberation, if it wasn't being carried out with correct understanding and right effort.

It is not the same as somebody who has Anthropophobia or Social phobia, and they want to be alone. Sincere yoga and meditation practitioners who go into semi-secluded life style, or complete seclusion for a few years are not anti-social. In fact they have so much loving kindness for the society that they want to attain liberation through focusing on intense Sadhana, so that they can serve humanity efficiently.

Most minds try to avoid seclusion with many excuses, as the worldly minded egoistic outgoing attention seeking mind doesn't like it.

If we still have some worldly duties and responsibilities need to be carried out, or we still have something that we have to do, or there's something that need to be achieved in this life existence, then we should perform all our duties and responsibilities, and give full attention and maximum effort to pursue all our dreams.

Seclusion, or complete renunciation from worldly social activities and interactions comes gradually and naturally, when Vairagya / dispassion and Viveka / right discrimination is firmly rooted in the mind of the Sadhaka, seeing the highest meaning of human existence is serving humanity by attaining liberation from ignorance and egoism.

Only when one attains liberation from ignorance and egoism, one can truly serve humanity efficiently, without being affected, influenced or determined by all actions and the fruit of actions.

Retreats are supposed to be disciplining the mind and training the mind to get use to seclusion and to move away from worldly ideas and objects. But, many of the yoga retreats in the world nowadays are not about seclusion at all, in fact, it is about ego-pampering, worldly sensual indulgence and gratification of desires.

Om shanti.

Meaningfulness and meaninglessness...

Free the mind from egoism, identification and attachment, then all the actions (including yoga practice) that had been performed, is being performed and will be performed through this body and mind will be free from 'meaningfulness' and 'meaninglessness'.

There is no 'I'.
There is no 'I am'.
There is no 'I am a yogi'.
There is no 'I am a good yogi'.
There is no 'I am practicing yoga'.
There is no 'I am receiving the fruit of practicing yoga'.

It's just actions and the consequences of actions.
It's neither 'meaningful' nor 'meaningless'.

Impermanent changes are happening unceasingly in all the names and forms, but there is no 'I' existing in all these names and forms, nor do 'I' exist in all the impermanent changes.

Be happy.

Yoga practice is not a tool to satisfy our personal desires of wants and don't wants...

Yoga practice is a tool for transcending ignorance and egoism, so that we are able to know the truth, and be at peace unconditionally being unaffected, undisturbed, uninfluenced, and undetermined by qualities of names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses from moment to moment.

When we realize the truth, there's no good and bad, positive and negative, happiness and suffering, right and wrong. Everything is just being what it is. And hence we are able to be at peace, whether the reality is something pleasant or unpleasant, something that we like or dislike, agree or disagree with. We will allow the reality to be what it is. We do our best for the best interest of all beings, but we do not attach to our actions and we renounce the fruit of actions, unaffected, undisturbed, uninfluenced, and undetermined by the fruit of actions, or how others perceive and react towards our actions and the fruit of our actions.

Yoga practice is not a tool to attain some sort of "wishing power" so that we can attain all that we desire and don't get what we don't desire in life. It is not about wish that we will only experience something that is pleasant, enjoyable, good and happy for us, and will not experience anything that is unpleasant, suffering, bad and unhappy for us. It is not about looking forward to change the world to be the way that we like it to be, or to be the way that we think it should be, but it is to go beyond the world of names and forms that is full of good and bad happenings, happy and unhappy happenings, positive and negative happenings, right and wrong doings, that is subject to impermanence, and is limited and conditioned by time, space and causation. It's not about desire or hope everything to be all good as what we believe what "good" is, and desire or hope all the things that we believe as bad, negative, suffering and wrong to be disappearing from the world. We cannot change the world to be the way that we like it to be. The world will change by itself when each and everyone changes themselves, whether towards better or worst.

This doesn't mean that we are agreeing and supporting all the things that we believe as bad, negative, suffering and wrong, but we don't have to be disturbed, nor influenced, nor determined by all these things in order to show love and care for the world. We are dissatisfied, angry and unhappy is because we can't have the world the way that we like it to be. It is about our desire is not being gratified. It's not really about there are bad people and bad things existing in the world. We can't really help the world to be better or improve if ourselves is being disturbed, influenced and determined by what is happening in the world, being angry, hating or depressed.

Yoga practice allows us to see the truth of things as they are, and be free from being conditioned by duality, where the intellect categorizes all the names and forms into different qualities of good and bad, positive and negative, happiness and suffering, right and wrong. Then the ego asserts likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, and generates craving and aversion towards what our mind believes as good and bad, positive and negative, happiness and suffering, right and wrong, and be affected, disturbed, influenced and determined by these perceptions of dualities, and the ego reacts towards all these qualities of names and forms upon coming in contact, or not coming in contact with all these objects of names and forms, and generates satisfaction and dissatisfaction, happy and unhappy feelings, and be disturbed, influenced and over-powered by impurities of anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, pride, arrogance, feelings of hurts, depression, aggressiveness, offensiveness, defensiveness, animosity, fear and worry, and etc that arise to act and react.

When we practice yoga in most yoga classes, we often hear some resolutions in the yoga classes about may our yoga practice brings us good health, success, strength, youthfulness, wealth, happiness and things that we desire, and to be free from sickness, failure, weakness, aging, poverty, unhappiness or things that we don't desire. There's nothing wrong with this, but this is not really why yoga practice exists in the world.

Yoga practice exists for us to realize yoga, or realize the truth of oneness, non-separateness, non-duality, attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness, birthlessness and deathlessness. There's no suffering. There's no fear towards suffering. There's no aversion towards suffering or unhappiness, nor craving towards sensual enjoyment and happiness. All the happiness and suffering that the mind experiences in this world via the existence and function of the body and the mind, is subject to impermanence and is conditioned by time, space and causation, karma, cause and effect, birth and death. We allow all the pleasant and unpleasant experiences to be there as they are, without attachment.

We think we are good people, and other people who are not the same as us are bad, we think we are right and other people who are different from us is wrong. And this happen the other way round as well. Those whom we think are bad and wrong, they think we are the one who is bad and wrong, and they are good and right. The things that we want, are something that they don't want. The things that we don't want, are something that they want. And hence argument, frustration, anger, hatred, animosity, war, fear, worry, unhappiness, suffering, restlessness arise among all the different thinking and beliefs, because each one try to interfere with, or try to control, or try to change one another.

We all share the space of the universe. We don't own this space of the universe we are existing in. We are being "selfish" when we only want to allow beings whom we like and agree with to be sharing this space with us, and we try to change all the beings whom we dislike and disagree with to be the way that we like and can agree with, or else, we want to get rid of them from the world that we are living in. Even if we think we are good and righteous beings, and we want to protect the world from being destroyed by all these bad and unrighteous beings, but we behave not any different from those whom we think are bad and wrong. We cannot allow nor accept other beings who are different from us to be who they are, what they are. We think we are so good and right to have the right to judge other beings, to control and change them to be the way that we think they should be. And when we behave like this, we are not any different from these beings whom we judged as bad and wrong.

When we practice yoga, or any other type of spiritual or religious practice, we like to say we practice love, unconditional love, that we are loving and kind human beings, but how come most of the time, we only can love those whom we like and agree with, but we are angry with and hate those whom we dislike and disagree with, we want them to be punished, to suffer for what they've done, or be condemned to hell? It doesn't sound "right", isn't it? If we are able to love unconditionally without discrimination or hatred, there's no dissatisfaction, disappointment, unhappiness or suffering in us. There is less a being in the world being unhappy and generate disturbing vibrations into the world.

How can we expect a peaceful world when ourselves are not peaceful? How can we spread peace, if ourselves have no peace?

Be free.

Om shanti.