Quality of life?

Quality of life is not determined by life conditions, wealth status, health status, possessions, social status, success in education or career, relationships, material and sensual enjoyments, physical conditions or abilities, and etc.

Without the correct understanding about things, or not knowing the truth of things, all these impermanent good and bad qualities of names and forms do not guarantee us peace and happiness. We still can be dissatisfied and be disturbed by anger, hatred, greed, jealousy, dissatisfaction, disappointment, pride, arrogance, agitation, depression, fear and worry, and etc, as we have attachment, craving and aversion towards things that we like and dislike, things that we agree with and disagree with...

Peace of mind doesn't come from good quality of names and forms. It is going beyond the identification with all these impermanent good and bad qualities to determine who we are or what we are... It is non-attachment towards all these names and forms. We are able to accept the reality of everything as it is, not necessarily the way that we like it to be or what we think it should be...

Only when we are not attached to, nor determined by all these impermanent qualities of names and forms of good and bad, positive and negative, happiness and suffering, as who we are or how we should feel, then we can fully make the maximum out of this life existence...

We are leading our life to do our best in what we can do with this life, this body and this mind. But if we depend on all these impermanent qualities of names and forms to determine us, then it will be the opposite, we will be lead by all these impermanent changes of names and forms...

We will never have peace or be truly happy as we will be forever restless and dissatisfied because the nature of life and all the things that come along with life are impermanent. Even if everything is the way that we like it to be in the moment, we might feel satisfy and happy about all these good quality of names and forms that we like and want in the moment, but this satisfaction and happy feelings are not pure. It is a mixture of dissatisfaction, fear and worry. It's because everything is impermanent, constantly changing. And we have attachment towards this good quality of things to feel good and meaningful. Due to craving and clinging towards all these good quality of things, we don't want them to change into something else that we don't like, but we couldn't stop all these things to go through changes or impermanence... Eventually when all these good or happy things changed or disappeared, we feel dissatisfy, disappointed, lost and empty...

And even if we don't experience any things that are not good in the moment, we are still full of aversion towards bad things, bad happenings or bad conditions. We are full of fear and worry even though nothing bad is happening now. We are disturbed by imaginations and anticipations about bad things, bad happenings and bad conditions that might going to happen on us...

There is no peace no matter everything is good now and nothing bad is happening, because we cannot avoid fear and worry and dissatisfaction that derived from attachment, craving and aversion, due to being ignorant about the truth of things. If we are able to let go of craving and aversion that comes from attachment towards the qualities of names and forms, then naturally peace and happiness is here, unconditioned and undetermined by all the impermanent qualities of things...

That should be the guideline for quality of life (existence)... It is not determined by whether our living condition is abundance or scarcity (in terms of all the basic needs and wants in life, such as food, clothing, shelter, things, education, career, wealth, possessions, relationships, friendships, enjoyments, physical health and abilities, and etc...). People who live a life of luxury and enjoy high quality things don't necessarily have a high quality of life. A monk who renounced the worldly way of life, or even a man living on the streets can have a high quality of life. People who have very good physics, health condition and physical abilities don't necessarily have a high quality of life. People who have poor physics, health condition and physical abilities can have a high quality of life. We are able to live life to the maximum and meaningfully without being determined by the different qualities of things, conditions, situations, physical conditions and abilities, and etc, that we have or don't have...

There is nothing wrong with people who believe in accumulation of wealth, good condition of health, good physics and abilities, success in relationships or career, material possessions and sensual enjoyments as the foundation of happiness and value of life... There is nothing wrong also with people who believe in contentment, generosity and kindness as the source of happiness and value of life... It can be anything depending on what we really want. At the end it is our own choice and believe in what we want and whether we are going to be happy with what we want and what we can achieve... Most people don't really happy or be satisfied with what they want... Some people think having more things in life will be happy but not necessarily. Some people think having less things in life will be happy but not necessarily... It is up to us whether we are satisfied and be happy with what we have and what we don't have in the present moment now...
  
Happiness and value of life is not to be judged or determined by how the society think or believe what happiness and value of life are... Our life is centered on how we feel and think, and not how other people feel and think... This is not selfishness or being unthoughtful... Everyone is responsible for themselves for how they feel and think... Even if other people intentionally throw some abusive words and actions towards us, we don't have to be disturbed or determined by it... We can choose to move away... We can still be peaceful as we are... When we are not happy and angry about certain things, it is coming from our own mind... It's not caused by what other people say or do. We are not happy and angry is because what other people say or do is not something that our mind can agree with or it is not how our mind like it to be...

Be confident in our own belief and our belief should not be influenced or shattered by the thinking and belief of the society...

Om shanti. 

Non-attachment or non-identification?

Yoga asana practice without collaborate with the yoga philosophy is just a form of physical movement... We can still be restless and have no peace. When we implement yoga philosophy into every actions, no matter it is yoga asana practice or any forms of action that we perform in daily life, perform all our actions without attachment towards the actions and renounce the fruit of actions, then all these actions are not merely physical movements but it is Sadhana that will bring us to unconditional love and peace...

This is non-attachment or non-identification with the doer of actions.

There is no "I".
There is no "I" am performing actions.
There is no "I" am or will be receiving the fruit of actions.

Hearing of philosophy vs implementation of philosophy

Hearing, or reading, or studying, or talking, or discussing, or debating about tonnes of philosophy about the mind and the ego is useless, unless we implement the philosophy into our everyday life existence.

The yoga philosophy or the teachings of yoga is there for us to implement them into our everyday life existence to realize the truth about suffering and how to transcend suffering. Suffering exists due to the veil of ignorance in the egoistic mind. Once we let go of the ego and egoism, and remove the veil of ignorance, there is no suffering, by knowing and accepting the truth about all and everything is subject to selfless impermanent changes.

Yoga and meditation practice is changing the habits of the mind, changing how we think and behave. It is not about changing other people’s thinking and behavior to become like us, or become something that we can agree with, or to change the world to be the way that we like it to be. If we don’t like our mind being in a state of “dissatisfaction”, or “disappointment”, or “unhappiness”, we change how our mind reacts and feels towards whatever we perceive through the senses, and transform this disturbed, unhappy, or uncomfortable state of mind into something “contented”, or “peaceful”, or “happy” that we prefer it to be. Nobody can change our mind for us, but ourselves.

If we think we are happy with the way that we are, and think that our thinking and behavior is fine, that we don’t need to change anything about our thinking and behavior, then there’s nothing wrong about it. But when we start to feel dissatisfied, disturbed, or unhappy with how we feel or think about ourselves and other people, or feel disturbed, offended, hurt, and angered by how other people feel and think about ourselves, then know that it is our own responsibility for “being happy with the way that we are”, and it is us who decided that we don’t need to change anything about our own way of thinking and behavior. Be happy with our own decision made. Nobody is going to punish us if we don’t want to change our own habits of the mind. If we ever feel unhappy or disturbed, it is coming from our own ignorance towards the truth of things. It is due to the veil of ignorance, we generate unhappiness or inflict suffering unto ourselves and maybe some others as well.

If we are happy with our mind being in a state of dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, agitation, anger, resentment, restlessness, or unhappiness, then be happy with it. But then, we also need to be responsible not to "blame", "condemn", "punish", or "hurt" other people and things, out of this disturbed, ignorant, impure, and violent state of mind.

Om shanti.

Women vs men?

Why do women want to think and feel that their biggest enemies are men, that they are in competition with men, or they have to compete with men? It is not necessarily so... Even if a woman has been abused by men in the past, she shouldn't think and feel that all men are her enemies now and forever...

Free ourselves from being conditioned by past unhappy experiences that continue influence our present relationships with other people... Let go of bitterness, revenge, anger and hatred towards anyone whom had hurt or abused us in the past, and move on with complete openness of the heart and mind...

Being strong vs real strength...

We think that we need to be strong, hard and aggressive to protect ourselves from being bullied or hurt by other people... But if we are really that strong, why do we still need to "be" strong, hard and aggressive to "protect" ourselves?

That means we are not really strong. We "pretend" to be strong. This is due to low self-esteem, not trusting ourselves, and need to depend on some external "protection shields" of being hard and aggressive to "protect" or to defend ourselves from potential bullies and hurts. Because of this sense of defensiveness, we will become offensive even before other people try to "bully" or "offend" us. In fact, nobody has the intention to bully us, it is our own fear and projection, thinking that "All these people are going to bully me, and so, I have to defend myself, I need to be strong and aggressive, so that I attack them first before anyone attacks me..."

Those who are truly strong, they don't need to show that they are strong by being hard, aggressive, offensive or defensive. Instead their whole being projects gentleness and calmness.

Real strength comes from compassion and wisdom. It is being compassionate and wise. It is being free from doubts, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, pride, arrogance, low self-esteem, aggressiveness, violence, offensiveness, defensiveness, agitation, depression, fear, worry, craving, aversion, and attachment towards qualities of names and forms... There is no fear towards other people's harshness, aggressiveness, bully or "potential" bully, offensiveness, arrogance, jealousy, criticism, condemn, slander, unfriendliness, and etc...

We are able to tolerate, adjust, adapt, accommodate, withstand, forbear and accept...

We are able to accept the reality of the present moment now as it is, not necessarily the way that we like it to be. We are able to adjust, adapt, accommodate, withstand and forbear any uncomfortable conditions and situations that we don't like or disagree with...

We are able to perform actions without being influenced by any impurities in the mind. We are able to perform actions to help everyone including ourselves to evolve, to be peaceful and happy...

We are able to perform all our duties and responsibilities without attachment, without judgment, comparison and expectation. We perform actions and renounce from the result or the fruit of actions...

This is real strength.

We don't need to be hard, aggressive, offensive or defensive to "protect" ourselves from getting bully or hurt from anyone...

It doesn't matter what are the behaviors, actions and reactions of other people towards us, it is our own ego doesn't like or disagree with their behaviors, actions and reactions, and feels irritated and unhappy about them. It is our ego that feels that we are weak, but we don't like to be weak and don't want other people to think that we are weak, and so we "pretend" to be strong, by being hard and aggressive to defend ourselves from any potential "attacks" from anyone...

No one can bully or hurt us but our own mind creations of fear. It is our own mind being ignorant and influenced by impurities... It is absence of compassion and wisdom.

Whenever we feel irritated or getting angry about other people's offensive behavior, it is ourselves being defensive... We feel offended by other people's actions and speech... It is coming from being low self-esteem and feel being intimidated by other people's confidence all the time. This intimidation is not coming from other people. No one can intimidate us unless we allow that to happen by being low self-esteem. It is our own low self-esteem thinking that other people are trying to press us down, or bully us, or hurt us... Even if other people have the intention to intimidate us, but it won't affect us if we are truly confident...

If  we don't like other people to contradict with our actions and speech, we like and want other people to agree and support our actions and speech, as we will feel irritated, frustrated and unhappy when other people don't like and disagree with us or our actions and speech, but out of our own offensiveness and defensiveness, we constantly contradict with other people's actions and speech, criticize and attack other people with harsh speech and aggressiveness, then how can we expect other people not to be offended by our own offensiveness and aggressiveness? And when other people feel offended by our own offensiveness and aggressiveness, and react by being aggressive towards us, and we criticize them as "aggressive people" who bully and hurt us, and blame them for causing us painful sorrow and unhappiness?

When we start to attack other people with aggressiveness to show that "I am stronger than you, and I won't let you bully or hurt me...", then make sure that we will take full responsibility towards the consequences of our aggressive behavior... Don't blame other people for being aggressive towards us.

And if there's somebody is being aggressive towards us even though we didn't offend anyone intentionally, we can choose to be gentle and remain calm, and move away... Allow this person to express what he or she wants to express, and let him or her be irritated and unhappy for being aggressive. We don't have to disturb our own peace and happiness by throwing back aggressiveness towards him or her... Or we can choose to feel offended and start to be aggressive and offensive to defend ourselves and be irritated, frustrated and unhappy.

Om shanti.

Being angry with other people's violent behavior?

The mind is the source of happiness or unhappiness... When we are angry with other people's violent behavior, aren't we also behaving exactly the same of whom we are angry with? Ourselves are also committing violence.... No difference. How can we judge and criticize other people for committing violence when we ourselves are as violent as them?

Om shanti.

Yoga Teachers Training Course and Certification?

After attending the yoga class, the student told the teacher, "I will not come back for classes tomorrow. I know all the things that you said and taught in the class is true and good. I read from many yoga books about all these yoga philosophy. Your teaching is not different from the books. I know the word "non-attachment"... But my yoga master said that we have to start with perfecting the physical body with asana practice. And only when the physical body is perfected, then only we start practice pranayama, then we practice concentration, then we practice meditation, then the yoga philosophy will come to us. We should not listen to, nor study and practice yoga philosophy, nor perform pranayama, nor concentration or meditation, before our physical body attained perfection... Your yoga class teach about yoga philosophy. Your yoga class consists of pranayama, meditation, inverted pose, balancing pose, forward bends, backward bends, twists and side bends. Our "x" yoga only do one type of practice in one day. If we practice backward bends in that class we don't do forward bends. Your sun salutation is very different from ours. I don't want to do your type of sun salutation. I don't want to disappoint my yoga master. The "x" yoga is the only yoga I want to practice. I don't want to learn any other kind of yoga practice. I don't want to get confused with other yoga practice. I really need to practice my "x" yoga asana. It is very important to me because I need the certificate from my yoga master. I need this certificate because I need it to work. I want to work as a yoga teacher... You can see from the facebook about the yoga teachers training course certification from my yoga master..."

The teacher said, "Do you think all the yogis in the world have certificates? Do you think Buddha had a certificate for him to share and teach Dharma to the world?"

The student replied, "They don't need certificates. But I need a certificate. I am not like them... I need the yoga teacher training's certificate from my yoga master for me to work as a yoga teacher to teach yoga..."

"What do you think yoga is?"

"I show you what we do in our yoga class... We bring the feet apart about 4 feet wide with the four points of the sole of the feet touching the floor firmly. Then we inhale lengthen the spine upward with arms stretch out to the side and this foot turn to the side, and then as we exhale we bring the body to one side with this hand supporting on the shin, or put our hand on this block while the other arm extending over the head. And we stay in this position for 8 to 10 breaths...."

"Good... Most important is that you are happy with yourself and what you want... Sorry we don't teach this "x" yoga. I wish you good luck in your yoga practice and best wishes to you and your family..."

Om shanti.

Fear?

Fear will not leave us, nor go away, nor disappear even if we installed security system in the house, or installed additional steel gate at the front door and steel bars on all the window's frames, transforming our house into a "prison"... As fear is in our mind, it follows us every moment no matter how, where and when...

Especially if this fear is directed towards people, not just people, but particular "coloured skin" people... Thinking, or believing, or imagining, or anticipating that all these particular "coloured skin" people are going to harm or hurt us and our loved ones, or invade our home, or steal our properties, then no matter where we are, being inside or outside our "prison" house, we will still be haunted by fear all the time...

We are "imprisoning" ourselves with imaginary fear 24 hours a day...

We just need to "install" wisdom and compassion in our heart, and free ourselves from imprisonment of fear and imagination, and free all other innocent people who were being "accused", or "judged", or "condemned" as "potential criminals" by our fearful imaginary mind... Our "imagination", "projection", "judgment" and "fear" towards these particular "coloured skin" people, are not any less crime committing than those who are actually committing crimes... Ourselves are criminals.

Be fearful towards the ignorance, ill-wills, ill-thinking and impurities in our own mind, fear not anyone whom we project as "potential criminals" by our own "wicked" ill-thinking, imaginations and anticipations...

Om shanti.

Confidence? Success? Happiness?

In this world of names and forms, when we talk about happiness, somehow we will relate it to how successful we are in life, which also leads to how confident we are in order to be happy, whether we relate happiness to being successful in life or not...

As what we usually believe in our mind, is that success is very much relate to confidence even though confidence is not a guarantee of success. We believe that confidence is the key to success. But, sometimes, we are not confident at all, but still we are able to be successful in what we want to do, unless we don't act at all... Sometimes maybe we are very confident, but it doesn't mean that we will be successful in all the things that we want to do.... Above all, whether we will be successful in what we want to do or not, we still can be confident without being affected by whether we are successful in what we want to do or not...

Confidence doesn't guarantee success, and success doesn't guarantee happiness. Why? As long as we identify ourselves with the impure mind and the selfish ego, we will still be affected by ignorance and impurities in our mind, affected by craving and aversion coming from the ego, then no matter how successful we can be, we will still be in miseries, full of fear and worries, anger and hatred, pride and arrogance, dissatisfaction and disappointment. There is no peace. How can there be happiness?

In the untrained mind, usually we will feel good and happy (or confident) when we are able to do what we want to do, or attain what we want to attain, or else, we will be feeling bad and unhappy (or not confident) if we couldn't do what we want to do, or couldn't attain what we want to attain... But this is not real happiness. This is just impermanent good feelings that fluctuate according to the qualities of names and forms, or determined by the conditions and abilities of the body and mind...

There is nothing wrong to put some make up on the face or the body, or to wear certain style of clothing, or decorate the face and body with some accessories and ornaments.

Just know that all these qualities of names and forms that we apply onto the face and body, are just some appearances with certain style of image that we try to apply onto this physical body and telling ourselves and the world, "Hey! This is me...", but it doesn't determine us for who we really are.

We can allow our ego to enjoy itself by changing the physical appearance through changing how we look and what we wear, but without attaching to the ego to identify as who we are, nor allowing the ego to determine whether we will be happy or not, as confidence, thinking and feelings are "products" derived from the ego attaching to the qualities of names and forms to think and feel good or not. But know that this is just the function of the ego. It is not who we really are.

We are who we are. We are not the ego. The ego is not us.

The ego needs to look good to feel good. The ego needs to be successful to be confident. Our true nature doesn't need to look good to feel good. Our true nature doesn't need to be successful to be confident. It is always peaceful and truthful as it is. It doesn't need to be confident, to think positive, or to feel good.

If we attached to the ego, or identifying with the ego as us, then we will believe or think that we need to depend or rely on how we look, or what we wear, or what we can do and attain, to be confident, to feel good and be happy about ourselves and our life, and we don't know the unconditional true confidence which is not coming from the physical appearance, physical condition and physical ability, nor determine by how the mind feels whether it is positive or negative feelings. That real confidence is our true nature being aware of the truth of things as they are, and not being determined by all the impermanent changing qualities of names and forms, nor being determined or influenced by the impurities that are arising and passing away in the mind.

The conditional confidence that comes from physical condition, ability and appearance, and which is influenced by the state of mind as well as achievements or success that we could attain in life, is impermanent. It is forever fluctuating and will fade away eventually. It is not real.

How can we hang on to something that is not permanent, not real, to be "somebody" who we identify as who we are, or what we like us to be?

True confidence is a state of being that is being free from ignorance or impurities like doubts, anger, hatred, jealousy, pride, arrogance, dissatisfaction, disappointment, craving, aversion, fear and worry, etc... It is not what we think "confidence" is, which built on how we look, how we feel, what we have, what we know, what we can do, where we are, or who we think we are...

It is only when we are not attached to all these impermanent qualities of the condition and ability of the physical body and its appearance, stop identifying with the ego, stop identifying with the qualities of names and forms, then our whole being will be naturally "confident" as it is, which is unchanging or unmovable. We don't need anything nor do something to give us confidence. There is nothing can take away this unconditional confidence which is our true nature, because it is the truth, being free form ignorance, doubts or any impurities, uncontaminated by the qualities of names and forms.

That is unconditional confidence that is beyond the qualities of the body and mind...

Realize this and be free, be truly confident as we are, not because who we think we are, or how we look, or how we feel, or what we have, or what we know, or what we can do, or where we are...

I am that I am. I am not this nor that. Without qualities. Fearless. Doubtless. Unconditioned and unlimited by names and forms...

We don't need to be "pretty", or "beautiful", or "slim and fit", or "strong and flexible", or "successful", or "famous and influential", or "in good health", or "in good relationships", or be "positive", or be "happy", or be anything that we relate to what we think "confidence" comes from.

Om shanti.

Empowerment for women?

Someone suggested that I write something about empowerment for women.

First thing that came into my mind was, why do we condition and limit ourselves as "women" or "men" or any particular gender? Why do we limit ourselves as "women" or "men", and condition ourselves that we should behave, think and express ourselves as "women" or "men", and can only be empowered in certain ways specifically for "women", or just for "men"?

 

Any types of empowerment don't need to be existing in the first place, not to say, women empowerment, if the minds are free from ignorance and egoism.

If we practice the teachings of Yoga Vedanta about attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness, non-dualism, non-separateness, oneness, or "all is one", in our everyday life, there will be no problems or less problems than what we think we have now in the world that derives from the perception of separateness due to ignorant egoistic attachment and unnecessary identification with the qualities of names and forms.

We are what we are, and all minds are existing and functioning under the law of impermanence and selflessness, unconditioned by the different gender and sexual characteristics or physical appearances. The only difference is whether the mind is free or not free from the influence of ignorance, egoism and impurities. We can think, or act, or express ourselves freely without conditioning ourselves that we can only think, act, or express ourselves in certain ways restricted by the different gender and sexual characteristics or physical appearances. Although the worldly human affairs are being conditioned by such limited thinking and belief, as well as under the human made law of constitution in different countries, has been creating so much social/cultural/religious/legal discrimination among the different names and forms due to many human beings in the world are not free from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

This is not about denying the gender or sexuality of women or men, or neither women nor men.

We are aware of our physical body having female or male gender and sexual characteristics and it is being conditioned by hormonal distributions and changes to have certain bodily functions according to the respective genital organ that our body has. But, the capability of our mind to think, believe, act or express, can be free without being restricted or conditioned by the different gender or sexual aspects and appearances.

We can also be aware of, and be able to accept the fact that there are certain things that the female or male physical body can and cannot perform. Different genital organs have their own duties to be performed or to be carried out. But, one who knows non-attachment and non-identification towards the body and the mind is not determined by the different duties/functions or dysfunctions of the different genital organs.

Other than these physical restrictions due to having specific genital organ in our physical body influencing the hormonal system as well as our emotions and feelings, we can be free to be "what we are" without being restricted by the specific genital organ and physical appearance that generate the qualities of name and form that categorize us into "women" or "men". Ignorance, egoism, impurities and suffering don't discriminate whether one is a woman or a man, or neither woman nor man.

We acknowledge and respect our body as it is, but we do not identify ourselves with the physical body and conditioning/limiting this life existence as the existence of "women" or "men", as the nature of all beings is without qualities of name and form, attributeless, nameless and formless. We are what we are. The consciousness is neither "women" nor "men". We might recognize or identify ourselves as a specie called "human beings", and even this name and form of "a specie called human beings" is not the truth of who/what we are.

Once the minds are free from being conditioned by the differences of the qualities of name and form, we are who we are or what we are. We are neither "human beings" nor "non-human beings". We are neither "women" nor "men", nor "neither women nor men". The mind perception of a worldly life existence is not determined by all these qualities of name and form. We are not being conditioned by how worldly minds believe that how "human beings" should or shouldn't think and behave, or how "women" or "men" should or shouldn't think and behave in certain way respectively.

Once we let go of the attachment and identification of "I am a woman or a man, and I should think, act or behave like what a woman or a man should think, or act, or behave, then naturally we are just what we are." We are free. We don't need to be empowered to be a woman or man with certain empowered qualities, strength, ability and achievement.

Only when we are totally being free for being "we are what we are" and not being restricted or labelled as "women", or "men", or "human beings", or any other identifications with particular name and form, the sense of separateness disappears. There's no discrimination or separateness between ourselves and what we think or believe that is different from us, that are not being the same specie or having the same quality of name and form like us.

We accept ourselves as we are, without the need of having competition or comparison between "women" and "women", or between "women" and "men".

We accept everyone as they are, not because they are "women" and they behave like "women" or "good women", or they are "men" and they behave like "men" or "good men".

We let go of expectation towards we, or other people, as "women" or "men", should think, act or behave in certain ways according to the particular type of gender or sexual organ and physical appearance that our physical body has.

This allows everyone to be free to be what we are, not because we are "human beings", or "women", or "men", or any other "names and forms".

There is no difference in terms of how to be truly confident or be truly happy in life between "women" and "men", or between all the different qualities of name and form.
 

When we are ignorant about the truth of who/what we are, and conditioning or limiting ourselves as "this" or "that" of particular names and forms, it indicates that there is no difference between "women" and "men" when the mind is under the influence of ignorance, egoism and impurities. When we have desires of craving and aversion, we are the same. When we are jealous or angry, we are the same. When we feel hurt and disappointed, we are the same. When we have fear and worry, we are the same.

Under the influence of ignorance and egoism, we will be conditioned by the thinking and belief about we should think, act and express in the way that we think or believe what a "good woman" or a "good man" should think, act and express, or else, we are "bad" or "not good" women or men.

It doesn't matter whether we are human beings or non-human beings, women or men, young or old, healthy or unhealthy, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, having or not having a religion, or having different beliefs and values, or having different cultural backgrounds, or knowing different languages that we can understand and speak, or having different points of view and different ways of doing things, or having different nationalities, skin colours, or body shapes, or sexual appearances/orientations, or having different lifestyles, personalities or characteristics, when we are under the influence of ignorance, we all are the same.

 

When we realize the truth of things and be free from ignorance and egoism, we are the same. When we are in a state of peace and happiness, or in a state of disturbance and painful sorrow, we are the same.

By practicing Yoga Vedanta in life, we let go of what our mind is being educated or informed about what is worldly "success", "happiness", or "meaningful life". We let go of what our mind is being conditioned to believe or think what is "good and bad", "positive and negative", "happiness and suffering", "meaningfulness and meaninglessness", and etc. The truth of things is that everything is just what it is. It is not something "good or bad", "positive or negative", "happiness or suffering", "meaningful or meaningless".

When we realize the truth of things and are able to accept the reality as it is, without judging or categorizing the objects of names and forms as "good or bad", "positive or negative", "happiness or suffering", "meaningful or meaningless", then we will not be affected, or influenced, or determined by the forever changing qualities of name and form that our mind perceives and experiences from moment to moment, through the senses of what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think. We will not generate attachment and identification towards the qualities of name and form. There is no craving or clinging towards what our mind used to believe or perceive as something "good", "positive", "happy", or "meaningful". There is no aversion towards what our mind used to believe or perceive as something "bad", "negative", "suffering", or "meaningless".

This is the state of non-duality, non-separateness, oneness, attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness.

This is because real peace and happiness, or true confidence is unconditional or unlimited. It doesn't come from the qualities of name and form that are subject to selfless impermanent changes. It's not determined by the different appearances or conditions or ability/disability of the physical body, or the objects and experiences that we come in contact with, or the names and forms that our minds perceive through the senses.

Real peace and happiness and confidence is not attained from what we think or believe is "strength", "success", or "achievement".

 

Out of ignorance, we think and believe that "strength", "success" or "achievement" is related to peace, happiness and confidence, that if we possess the "strength", "achievement" or "success" that we want, we will be peaceful, happy and confident, and vice versa. We are being conditioned to think and believe that only when we are able to do what we want to do, go where we want to go, be what we want to be, and achieve what we want to achieve, we will be peaceful, happy and confident. Or else, if our wishes and desires are not being gratified, if we don't possess what we like and want, we won't be peaceful, or happy, or confident.

We also have different points of view about what is being categorized as "achievement" and what is not. Some people take being successful in relationships as "achievement" in life. Some take being successful in career as "achievement" in life. Some take doing volunteer works as "achievement" in life. Some take accumulating wealth and power as "achievement" in life. Some take having a happy marriage or happy family as "achievement" in life. Some take having a "beautiful", "healthy", "strong and flexible body" and "super fit body" as "achievement" in life. And so on.

There is nothing wrong with setting all these "objects" or "qualities" as goals that we want to achieve in life. But then we will be conditioned and limited by all these impermanent qualities of name and form to be happy, peaceful and confident, or not.

If we can let go of the conditioned way of thinking and belief about what we think who we are, how we should think and behave, and what we should possess and achieve in life, then the real confidence is there as it is, where the mind is undetermined by any qualities of name and form, about whether we are "women" or "men", whether we are "good" or "not good" according to the standard that we categorize everything into "good" and "not good", whether we are being "successful" in life, or not, or how we look, or what is our worldly self-image, or how many "achievements" we had attained, or how other people think of us and judge us as "this" or "that".

We are limited by what our minds want to believe what things are. If there's identification with the modification of the mind and association with the egoistic likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, craving and aversion, desire and expectation, we (the thinking) will be determined by all these conditions that come from our own mind, to be happy or not, to be confident or not, to feel meaningful or not.

For example, we are being educated, or told, or informed that having fair and smooth skin is "beautiful" in Asia, and if our skin is dark and not smooth, then we think we are not "beautiful". If we attached towards what "beautiful" means in this commercial world of beauty products, naturally we will be conditioned by the term "beautiful", and we want to look and feel "beautiful". We will be determined by our skin colour and texture to define whether we are "beautiful", or not. We will suffer from low self-esteem, dissatisfaction, disappointment and unhappiness about ourselves, if our physical body image and appearance does not comply with the worldly standard or belief about what is "beautiful".

If we are free from this ignorance about what is "beautiful" and free from the desire of looking forward to be "beautiful", whether it is to feel good about ourselves, or to attract other people's liking and attention, or for pleasing other people so that they will accept us and love us, or to get support and acknowledgment from certain people or groups in order to feel confident and meaningful about ourselves and our life existence, then we will be happy and confident as we are, regardless of whether we are "beautiful" as what the worldly standard and belief about what is "beautiful", or not. We accept ourselves as we are, regardless of whether we possess the quality of "beautiful", or not. We don't need to be "beautiful" the way that the world categorized what is "beautiful". We are neither "beautiful" nor "not beautiful". We are what we are, and we accept and love ourselves as we are.

True confidence is unconditional. It's unlimited by the qualities of name and form. When we realize true confidence, we can perform all our duties and responsibilities without fear and worry. We are not determined by "success" or "failure" to be happy, or not. We can do our best in whatever we want to do, but without being affected or determined by the result, or the fruit of our actions. We don't push the body and mind beyond its limitation, and hurt the body and mind in the process of achieving certain qualities of name and form in order to be happy and confident, or to feel meaningful. There's no low confidence or high confidence. There's no low self-esteem or pride and arrogance.

Real peace, happiness and confidence are not determined by whether we are "successful" in life, or not, whether we achieve what we want to achieve, or not, whether we can do what we want to do, or not, whether we get what we like and want, or not, whether we live in "good" conditions, or not, and whether our relationship with somebody is "good", or not.

Real peace, happiness and confidence are unconditional and unlimited. By knowing the truth of things and about ourselves (the thinking), we accept and love ourselves and other people as we are, as they are, without expecting ourselves to be what we want us to be, or expect other people to be what we want them to be.

 

Women, don't need to be empowered. Neither does anyone need to be empowered for anything. All just need to be free from ignorance and egoism, realizing selflessness and compassion and unconditional peace.

Be happy.

Yoga workshops?

Strength, flexibility, stamina and skills to perform the asana poses are not attained just by a few hours of practice in a workshop, but consistent practice regularly after attending a workshop, will bring tremendous improvement in all these elements.

Peace and compassion is not determined by how fit and strong we are physically, but with a strong and healthy body it allows us to perform yoga sadhana and karma yoga selfless service for ourselves and other beings to evolve in life.

Om shanti.

Yoga practice (Sadhana)?

Yoga practice (Sadhana), not the common one or two hour(s) yoga class in yoga studios or yoga clubs, is not something that like a leisure activity that we call "hobby" or "things that we like to do", but it requires strong commitment, forbearance, determination and self-discipline...

Be happy.

Yoga teachers?

A person who can teach a "good yoga class" with some "good or correct techniques" on asana, pranayama, chanting, and meditation practice, who knows about anatomy and physiology about this physical body, it doesn't make him/her a yoga teacher if he/she doesn't know what is chastity or self-control in his/her personal life. A person who leads a life of purity in thoughts, actions, and speech, who is free from passionate lustful desires, can guide other people to live a life of purity in thoughts, actions, and speech, and to be free from passionate lustful desires, is not different from a yoga teacher, even if he/she cannot or doesn't teach other people to do asana, pranayama, chanting, or meditation practice, and doesn't know anything about anatomy and physiology about this physical body...

做人不须要太执着...

做人是要讲到“尽量”做得到。不须要太执着。很多时侯，我们尽了能力去做，但是很多事情不轮到我们去想怎样就怎样。如果太过固执于对自己和他人必须说到做到的话，有时侯，做不到时，因为尊严把自己或他人逼得下不了台，害得自己或他人做出伤害身命的行为，那又何苦呢？不值得为了自己或他人讲了却做不到，而失去了保贵的生命或伤了与亲人朋友的感情，并不值得呀。。。 做人不须要太执着。尽了能力去做就好。。。不须要为了固守做人的规则而看不开，伤了感情或生命。。。

Video - my daily yoga asana practice while travelling in India (5)

This is part of my daily yoga asana practice while travelling in India. This is a 4x speed up version.

Video - Yoga asana practice while travelling in India - Handstand

This is part of my daily yoga asana practice while travelling in India.

Video - Yoga asana practice while travelling in India - Padma Kakasan

This is part of daily yoga asana practice while travelling in India.

Video - Yoga asana practice while travelling in India - Vrschikasan / Scorpion

This is part of my daily yoga asana practice while travelling in India.

Video - Yoga asana practice while travelling in India - Variations of Kakasan

This is part of my daily yoga asana practice while travelling in India.

The truth of things is not necessarily what we think it is...

If our mind is being contaminated or influenced by so many impurities such like anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, pride, arrogance, disappointment, fear, worry, craving and aversion, and etc, then whatever we perceive in the mind through the senses of what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think, is not necessarily the truth of things or it is not what we think it is... Instead we will project our own imaginations onto things base on what our mind wants to believe or think what it should be, but it's not really what it is...

It is like when one person wears a red tinted glasses will see or perceive something blue as purple colour, and another person wears a yellow tinted glasses will see or perceive something red as orange colour, but it is not the truth of what it really is...

When our mind is being influenced by one or many impurities, then whatever we perceive through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind of what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think will be contaminated by these impurities. It is not necessarily what we think or believe what it is...

And so, if our mind is not free from impurities, then how can we judge and criticize anyone or anything with this contaminated impure mind?

And when a mind is pure, is being free from impurities, then this pure mind will perceive the truth of everyone and everything as it is, without any judgments or criticisms... With a pure mind, there is no perception of qualities of good and bad, but everything is just being what it is... All dualities or qualities of names and forms disappear. And hence, what is left is just what things really are. They are not something good or bad. They are not something positive or negative. They are not something happiness or suffering.

When the mind is pure, there is no more craving towards something that was being perceived as "good, positive and happiness" through "the impure mind". There is no more aversion towards something that was being perceived as "bad, negative and suffering" through "the impure mind". And hence, there is no restlessness or unhappiness or fear and worry that arise due to craving and aversion is not being gratified, as there is no craving or aversion...

This is true freedom. This is what all the yoga practice is about. It is for us to purify the mind to eliminate impurities, so that the mind is able to perceive the truth of things as it is, and be free from craving and aversion which derive from ignorance and attachment towards the qualities of things that come from projection of the impure mind onto the names and forms that it perceives, which is the cause of restlessness and unhappiness.

Just by being good doesn't guarantee us peace and happiness if the mind is not free from impurities. We can be doing a lot of good actions and try not to do any bad actions, but still we are not really peaceful or happy because we are still being affected or disturbed by anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, agitation, depression, pride, arrogance, craving and aversion, fear and worry, if we are identified with the impure mind or the ego, and thinking that "I" am experiencing all these reactions of the mind towards whatever it perceives through the senses, as the mind attached to the qualities of these names and forms, and generates craving and aversion towards qualities that it likes and doesn't like... It is only when the mind is free from all these impurities, craving and aversion, naturally peace and happiness is there...

Om shanti.

Be happy.