Know our minds...

The mind never showed interest in something that was always there until the moment it sees, or found certain qualities that it likes, or admires, or attracted to, which directly or indirectly existing along with that particular thing, it starts to show great interest in that thing.

Just like in any kind of relationships among people, including friendships. We never showed interest in some people whom we know for a long time, until the moment we start to see, or found certain qualities that we like and interested in, which directly or indirectly existing along with these people, and then we start to show interest in these people.

This indicates that we don't really like or interested in these people as they are, nor interested in these people for being who they were in the past, or who they are in the present moment, but we only like and interested in some qualities that we like, and which drawn our mind's attention and interest.

Look within, and rest in our very own nature of unconditional love and peace. Love all beings as they are, be free from craving, longing, attachment, possessiveness, projection and expectation. We will never feel disappointed and hurt, or be disappointed and hurt by anyone or anything, when we start to understand how the mind works.

Only those minds that are free from ignorance and egoism know how to love others and be loved by others as it is unconditionally, in any relationships. All the others are just loving their own desires for what they like and want, selfishly...

Be happy.

Beautiful nature around our new home and yoga studio...

We have been busy with moving our home and yoga studio to a new location, as well as running on going yoga retreats in the past three months, and haven't got the chance to look around the neighbourhood. Last week, we have the whole week off. And so, we have the opportunity and free time to wander around the neighbourhood, and we discovered some of the beautiful nature that we haven't seen before.

May all be free, be peaceful, be happy.

Pride and arrogance is a great obstacle for self-realization

Pride and arrogance is part of the plays of the egoism. The ego takes prides in certain qualities that it possessed and what it can achieve whether it is worldly achievement or spiritual achievement. Arrogance co-exist with pride as the ego thinks and believes that by having the qualities and achievements that it has, it is somehow more superior, greater and better than others.

This is like the 'header' wind that is pulling the aspirants further away from self-realization. It's like the aspirant is looking at the destination (self-realization) with a binocular (pride and arrogance about certain good qualities and spiritual achievement), thinking it is already very close to the destination, but actually it is still a very long long way to go and require greater effort, especially with the wind pulling it back from moving forward towards the destination.

Pride and arrogance will dissolve naturally when the mind is able to let go of worldly and spiritual identifications and letting go of attachment towards qualities of names and forms to be existing, to be somebody, to be acknowledged, to gain liking, support and approval, or to attract attention.

The termination of pride and arrogance is the dawn of right conduct, right view and correct understanding. This is like the 'lift' wind that helps to push the aspirants closer towards self-realization with less effort.

Om shanti.

Video - my daily yoga asana practice (13) 8x speed-up version

May all be free, be peaceful, be happy.

Video - my daily yoga asana practice (12) 8x speed-up version

May all be free, be peaceful, be happy.

Video - Keep practice

Keep practice...

Good as it is...

Something or someone that is 'good' doesn't need self-justification, announcement, branding, marketing, promotion, or to seek acknowledgement, agreement, support, liking, praise, compliment, or appreciation in any forms. It doesn't need to prove itself or to convince anyone that it is good.

It is good as it is.

Someone will acknowledge and appreciate it naturally if they see the good in it.

If others don't see the good in it, it is useless to justify its goodness, or to convince anyone that it is good.

Be free from the play of the ego. 

A lot of times, something that is really good would be perceived by many minds as 'bad', and vice versa, in this world of ignorance and egoism. Those who understand this, could be performing actions or not performing any actions in this world, and there's nothing wrong or selfish if they are not performing any visible actions. Not performing any actions, is also an action. Inaction under certain circumstances could be contributing to world peace and harmony, while igniting the quest towards wisdom and compassion in some other minds, intentionlessly.

Om shanti.

Teaching yoga? (2)

The teachings of yoga, the purpose of the yoga classes, and how the yoga teachers teach the yoga classes, are to allow the yoga students to :-

• Become their own teachers

• To know/see the truth by their own self-realization through self-inquiry (Insights)

• Develop self-awareness and mindfulness

• Develop dispassion (Vairagya) and right discrimination (Viveka)

• Develop non-attachment and non-identification

• Develop purity of thoughts, actions and speech

• Develop calmness

• Develop magnanimity

• Develop forbearance

• Develop self-discipline and self-control

• Have right livelihood, right view, correct understanding

• Be self-reliant

• Be vigilant, determined, persevered (stamina)

• Be patient and tolerant (strength)

• Be able to adjust, adapt, accommodate (flexibility)

• Be able to let go of the desire to interfere with the reality, or to control everything to be the way that we like it to be, or to change other people to be the way that we think they should be

• Be simple and content

• Be truthful and straightforward

• Be forgiving

• Be observant towards what is going on in the mind

• Be open-minded

• Be free from blind-faith, blind-belief, blind-agreement, blind-following towards any practice, thinking and beliefs, including the teachings and practice of yoga

• Be free from being conditioned by past pleasant and unpleasant experiences or happy and unhappy memories

• Be free from being conditioned by future imaginations, anticipations, projections, speculations

• Be free from judgment, comparison, expectation

• Be free from craving and aversion

• Be free from egoism

• Be free from duality

• Be free from both worldly and spiritual attachments and identities

• Be free from impurities - Anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, pride, arrogance, feelings of hurt, feelings of guilt, regrets, agitation, depression, anxieties, doubts, fear, worry, ill-will, ill-thinking, violence, wickedness, selfishness, stinginess, and etc

• Be free from restlessness

• Be free from ignorance and suffering

• Be free from actions and the fruit of actions (Inaction in actions - Selfless-actions)

• Be free from the cycle of birth and death (Stop producing good and bad karma through the realization of Selflessness)

• Realize oneness, non-separateness, non-duality, attributelessness, namelessness, formlessness (Neither good nor bad, neither positive nor negative, neither happiness nor suffering, neither right nor wrong)

• Realize Selflessness / ego-lessness

• Realize unconditional love and peace (Compassion)

• Rest in silence

Om shanti.

Home cooked vegetarian food recipe - Tofu with herbs and home made tomato sauce

Here is another new vegetarian cooking recipe for our yoga retreats guests here in Langkawi.

Tofu with herbs and home made tomato sauce (serve 2-3 people)

5-6 blocks of firm tofu, cut into inch size cube, season with a heap teaspoon of salt, drained off the excess liquid after 10-15 minutes

4-5 tablespoons home made tomato sauce (Click here for the recipe)

1 medium size onion, chopped finely

1 small red or green chilly, remove seeds and chopped coarsely

2 cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely

1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

Some dried herbs - Rosemary & Thyme

Black pepper to taste

A bit of cooking oil

A bit of water

x x x x x x x x x x x x

Heat up the non-stick wok in medium heat.

Add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil into the hot wok, sauté the tofu until lightly browned. Put aside.

Add tiny bit of oil and add in onion, stir well until slightly soften, and then add chopped garlic and chillies. Stir evenly until the onion browned and fragrant.

Add 4-5 tablespoons of homemade tomato sauce, a bit of water, black pepper, dried herbs and balsamic vinegar.

Add in tofu. Stir evenly until the sauce thicken.

Remove from the heat.

Serve hot with rice, or as a snack on its own.

Bon Appétit!

Teaching yoga?

Teaching yoga is not about teach what other people want us to teach, or teach what we like to teach.

It is also not about teaching yoga with a particular brand name, or a particular style of yoga asana practice.

It is purely teaching yoga as it is.

It's not teaching the information that we have accumulated from reading, watching and hearing about yoga.

It is teaching what we have realized from within.

Om shanti.

May all be free...

It doesn't matter if we think we have been practicing yoga and meditation for a long time, or we think we are smart, friendly, caring, good and kind people, it doesn't determine that we are free from ignorance.

Ignorance leads to corrupt thinking and understanding. Corrupted thinking and understanding strengthens ignorance.

It's not easy to be free from ignorance and egoism, but be determined, don't give up, keep practice.

Om shanti.

Unconditional love and peace is within us, but for some people it appears to be so far away...

Yoga is about realizing unconditional love and peace. It's nothing to do with attaining good physical condition, physical strength and flexibility, good health, longevity, or worldly happiness.

It is right here in this moment, right here within us, but somehow, for some people it appears to be so far away, that we need to take a long time and to go a long way to reach it.

It's because it is beyond the mind perceptions of names and forms, it is beyond all the qualities of names and forms, and unconditioned by any qualities of names and forms. That's why it appears to be very far away, or it's almost unreachable for some people, as the untrained egoistic and impure mind is unwittingly and unceasingly attached onto all the qualities of names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses from moment to moment, being busy or restless all the time, and constantly looking for love and peace in the qualities of names and forms that is impermanent, and this is what make it appears to be so difficult to realize the unconditional love and peace that is always here.

Just like the mind is always busy looking at objects of sights via the eyes, recognizes this and that, admiring this and that, desiring this and that, but it doesn't and couldn't see itself. It doesn't know itself.

If this love and peace is determined by the qualities of names and forms, is influenced by what we eat or don't eat, or what we do or don't do, or what we have or don't have, then it will be so easy for everyone to attain this love and peace. If so, by eating certain types of food, and doing certain types of activities, and having certain types of objects will allow us to be peaceful and compassionate. But, it doesn't, as unconditional love and peace is undetermined by any qualities of names and forms, uninfluenced by energy and elements, and unaffected by what we eat and don't eat, what we do and don't do, or what we have and don't have.

The state of mind will always be determined by qualities of names and forms, be influenced by energy and elements, and be affected by what we eat and don't eat, or what we do and don't do, or what we have and don't have, but the unconditional love and peace is not part of the impermanent states of the mind being influenced by energy and elements. It is beyond all the different states of the mind that are impermanent.

On top of that, it's not determined by the egoism of who we think we are, or what we are, or how we are, or where we are. It is also nothing to do with the physical health and fitness condition and abilities to do this or that. It is nothing to do with how much knowledge we know about this and that. It is nothing to do with all the pleasant and unpleasant life experiences. It is nothing to do with whether our behavior is nice or not nice, good or not good.

The love that is in a form of feeling, of affection towards certain qualities of names and forms that we like and agree with, and the peace that is coming from the mind being influenced by energy and elements, being determined by what we eat or don't eat, what we do or don't do, what we have or don't have, is conditional love and peace that is impermanent. It is not the unconditional love and peace as mentioned in the teachings of yoga and meditation, which is unlimited and unconditional, which never increase nor decrease, that doesn't exist or cease existing due to cause and effect.

Go beyond the mind perceptions of qualities of names and forms, go beyond all the different states of the mind, by practicing non-attachment and non-identification persistently, freeing the mind from egoism, ignorance and impurities, without craving for a particular state of mind, without aversion towards a particular state of mind, allowing the selfless state of mind being impermanent, while being undisturbed, unaffected, uninfluenced, and undetermined by the mind perceptions of names and forms, and realize this unconditional love and peace, and be truly free.

Just like a movie is being determined and influenced by many different elements and efforts from many people to make it into a movie, to be available on the movie screen for people to watch, but the screen is not affected, or disturbed, or influenced, or determined by the movie that is being projected onto the screen.
 

When there's attachment, peace is absent. Peace is there as it is upon the absence of attachment.

 

All kinds of yoga and meditation practice is for developing non-attachment while witnessing the selfless modification of the mind. Unattached towards the action, and unattached towards the fruit of action.

 

Om shanti.

Discrimination or hatred towards those who discriminate others?

We are not any different from those whom we think they discriminate others, when we discriminate them for discriminating others.

And hence, if we truly are against discrimination, how can we discriminate anyone?

Embrace silence. Rest in silence.

Be happy.

Most people like to do some 'yoga', but very few are interested to let go of egoism, attachment, identification and desires of want and don't want...

Most people like to do some ‘yoga’, but very few are interested when come to serious yoga practice to eliminate ignorance and egoism, to let go of attachment, identification and desires of wants and don’t wants (craving and aversion).

Especially when one is deeply attached to certain thinking and beliefs to be who ‘I’ am, and takes pride in being somebody with such and such qualities of names and forms, one will generate intense rejection towards the yoga teachings and the yoga practice about letting go of egoism, attachment, and worldly identification with qualities of names and forms. They enjoy being attached to certain qualities of names and forms, and be influenced by passionate desires to motivate them to live life ‘meaningfully’.

Even yoga teachers might also have identification as somebody who practices yoga and teaches yoga, and generate attachment towards the yoga practice and the action of teaching, and attached to the fruit, or the results of the yoga practice, or the action of teaching to be who ‘I’ am, attached to what ‘I’ do and what ‘I’ am receiving from the yoga practice, or from the action of teaching, whether with or without awareness of it.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone is free to decide what they want to do with their lives, and what they want to do with their body and mind.

If anyone is not interested in some or all of the teachings and practice of yoga, but only interested in doing some yoga exercises for attaining some health and fitness benefits, they can put aside all the yoga teachings and the yoga practice that they don’t like, or don’t agree with, and be happy. Maybe one day later they might come in contact with the moments that they might pick up what they have left behind, or not. It really doesn't matter.

Om shanti.

Think again, if we think we are compassionate beings...

Real compassion is unconditional love, acceptance, forgiveness, tolerance, forbearance, patience and respect towards all beings without discrimination of likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, based on what our minds believes what things are and how things should be. The mind is completely free from egoism, identification, attachment, judgment, expectation, craving, aversion, and all sorts of impurities like anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, feelings of hurt, feelings of guilt, regrets, ill-will, ill-thinking, fear and worry...

So, think again, if we think we are compassionate beings and identify ourselves with the quality of a 'compassionate being'...

Om shanti.

Letting go of certain thinking, beliefs and superstitions that doesn't lead us to unconditional love and peace...

One of the means of yoga practice is to free the mind from being conditioned by any kind of thinking, beliefs, and superstitions that doesn't lead us to unconditional love and peace, but, instead it generates unnecessary disharmony, fear and worry in us and in our relationships with everyone who comes in contact with us.

It takes a lot of courage and a little bit of insecurity in the beginning to let go of certain thinking, beliefs and superstitions that hinder us from realizing unconditional love and peace. It seems like we 'believe' that as human beings, and being part of the community of the world, we have to hold on to certain thinking, beliefs and superstitions to be who we are, to live our lives, to be existing in this life form.

But once we allow ourselves to step beyond that line, we will see the freedom beyond all the qualities of names and forms.

May all be free.

Pratyahara - Withdraw the senses from the sense objects

When we observe the practice of Silence or Mauna, we are restraining the mind from going out through the senses to chase after the objects of the senses, of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations and thoughts, and thus reducing comparisons, judgments, expectations, imaginations, anticipations, projections, scheming, plotting, arguments, justification, and etc.

This is part of the yoga practice of Pratyahara - Withdrawal of the senses from the objects of the senses.

When one limits or reduces the activities of the sense organs and the senses, the mind has less objects to perceive, to compare, to judge, to comment, to argue, to generate likes and dislikes, to generate agreements and disagreements, to generate desires of wants and don't wants, to expect, to be disturbed, to be restless, and thus it helps to allow the mind to quiet down to the maximum.

It is being care 'less' about the world and the surrounding beings and things. Most important it is being care 'less' towards what the mind thinks and feels. Some might think and judge that this is a 'selfish' behavior or practice for being 'uncaring' for what is going on in our surrounding environment, about other beings and happenings. But it is not so at all.

This is a great noble action to take care the well-being of oneself, so that when one is liberated from ignorance and realize unconditional love and peace, one can contribute to the society by being at peace, without generating disharmony and violence in oneself or into the surrounding atmosphere. And hence, one is able to care for the world efficiently.

The untrained mind is always chasing after the objects of names and forms to be stimulated, to enjoy, to be existing, to express, to be acknowledged, to take pleasure in the sense objects of names and forms.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the mind wants to see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think, unceasingly chasing one after another one. It is always busy with seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking. And thus the mind is ever restless. Restless state of mind doesn't allow the mind to see the truth as it is.

And hence, in the beginning, we need to limit and reduce the inputs of names and forms to quiet the mind, by withdrawing or retreating the senses from the sense objects, to allow the mind to have a break from seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking, to have moments of stillness to see the truth. When the mind starts to see the truth as it is, then there is no need to limit any kinds of inputs, as the mind won't be chasing after the objects of names and forms anymore.

The mind is aware of all the sense objects of names and forms perceived through the senses, but without generate attachment, identification, clinging, craving or aversion. It doesn't take pleasure in the sense objects anymore, it doesn't need to be acknowledged, to be stimulated, to be existing, but it is resting in peace, in silence.

Om shanti.

Non-comparison and non-judgment...

Not long after the teacher mentioned about let go of comparison during the yoga asana practice, the student saw the teacher was teaching some of the movements being different from some other teachers, and started to compare and asked the teacher, "I saw you bring the feet in when you do this. My teachers at home said we should not bring the feet in."

The teacher replied, "Your teachers must have their good reason why they tell the students that they should not bring the feet in while doing this movement. There's nothing wrong in their teaching.

In the yoga asana practice here, it's about using the yoga asana practice to help to balance and quiet the mind, to prepare the mind for meditation, to free the mind from ignorance and egoism, identification and attachment, craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation. It's nothing to do with achieving the perfect physical alignment at all.

If by having perfect alignment while performing all these yoga exercises will bring peace and compassion, then all those people who perform physical movements with perfect alignment are all peaceful and compassionate, be free from unhappiness and suffering, be free from anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, feelings of hurt, feelings of guilt, fear and worry.

People who don't have the flexibility or strength to put their bodies into so call perfect alignment in the yoga asana practice can still be free from ignorance and suffering, realize unconditional love and peace, if they know what is non-attachment and non-identification, if they know how to free the mind from egoism and all sorts of defilements and impurities, and realize the truth, be free from ignorance.

It depends on each individual whether they will be comfortable or not in any physical movements. Everyone has a different body and different physical flexibility and limitations. We cannot tell the students that they have to do the movements in such and such way. By bringing the feet in or not in this movement, has nothing to do with peace and compassion. It's about whether your body is comfortable or not while performing all these movements, and it's about do what your body can do in the present moment now without forcing your body to go beyond its limitation. It's not about trying to imitate other people especially the teacher, to be doing the exercises exactly the same like how other people do. We might be doing the same exercises, but everyone might look differently from one another."

When we see two things that appear to be different, the mind is conditioned to make comparison and judgment, to decide which one is right, and then the mind will judge the other one that is different from this one must be wrong then.

But the truth of everything is that they are neither right nor wrong. Everything has their different reasons to be existing.

Once we know how to train the mind to let go of this habit of comparing and judging, we will start to see the truth of things as they are, and be free from ignorance.

Om shanti.

What happens when we feel 'touched' or 'moved' by someone or something?

We might think it is because we are admiring or appreciating some 'nice' qualities in others that is deeply 'touching' or 'moving', or we think it is because other people show us and others unconditional friendliness, assistance, acceptance, forgiveness, loving kindness, or simply being nice to us, which we didn't expect to be receiving, that make us feel 'touched' or 'moved'.

What happens is, in that 'touching' moment, we are reconnecting with those 'nice' qualities that exist in us but somehow we might have forgotten, or suppressed, or denied for some time, most probably because we think and believe that we have to be selfish, defensive, aggressive, hard and mean, when things get rough in life, or when we feel threaten by someone or something. We are actually being 'touched' and 'moved' by the unconditional love that was always there in us. And that allows us to 'see' or 'recognize' those 'touching' qualities in others, and generate such admiration towards other people having such 'touching' qualities that actually comes from within us.

When we think we are 'touched' by someone or something, it is not the intention of that person or that thing to touched anyone's heart, but it is coming from ourselves realizing the similar qualities in us that allows us to reflect them on another person or onto something.

That's why within the same situation, some people feel touched, but some others don't.

Om shanti.

Yoga in the commercial world and practicing yoga while living among the society...

The means of yoga is to attain annihilation of the egoism, realize unconditional peace through the self-realization of the truth, be free from ignorance, and thus transcend suffering.

The mission of yoga being spread into the society of the commercial world is for the sake of world peace. It's not so much about getting some health and fitness benefits from performing the yoga asana exercises. Though there's nothing wrong about that.

World peace has to start from individual peace that is unconditional, undetermined by physical conditions and abilities, or qualities of names and forms. When one has attained unconditional peace in oneself, one is no longer being affected nor disturbed by any impurities or disturbance that exist in the world. One will be free from ill-will and violence, and will not generate disharmony in oneself or into the surrounding atmosphere. And this is how yoga contributes to world peace.

Yoga practice is about self-awareness, self-discipline, self-control, self-restraint, self-transformation, self-realization. It's not about to convert other people to abandon their existing beliefs or religious practice, and to believe in the teachings of yoga and to take up the yoga practice, nor to change other people to behave the way that we think they should behave, nor to change the world to be the way that we think it should be.

Yoga practice is eliminating the egoism and ignorance through the practice of non-attachment and non-identification, and letting go of craving and aversion. All these yoga practice can be integrated into any existing beliefs or religious practice that one already has, without interfering with what one used to believe and practice.

While allowing the existing beliefs and practice to be there, one also allows the mind to be opened. One learns how to stay detached from the existing beliefs and practice, without identification with the beliefs and practice to be who 'I' am. One also doesn't attach towards the teachings of yoga, but will perform self-inquiry inquire into the truth of everything, including the existing beliefs and practice, as well as the teachings of yoga.

For many people, it is not that easy to have the determination and perseverance to perform serious yoga practice (Sadhana) while living among the society in the commercial world, unless the aspirant has developed a strong foundation of non-attachment (Vairagya) and right discrimination (Viveka). As there are many distractions around that will hinder one to immerse into the yoga and meditation practice especially if the aspirant has not yet developed a strong foundation of non-attachment, non-identification, right discrimination, self-discipline and self-control. One might be influenced by the worldly thinking and beliefs, and easily swayed into the worldly passionate desires and greed.

Most of the contents in the worldly social conversations in everyday life are strengthening worldly ideas, identifications, desires and attachments. It is empowering the egoism without us being aware of it. We tend to move away from the path of yoga and meditation, while thinking that we are pure enough, and we love yoga very much.

And thus, it is quite useful for someone who truly wants to be free from ignorance and to realize unconditional peace, by having the company of the wise (Satsanga) if there is one, or by attending yoga and meditation retreats once in a while, provided that these yoga and meditation 'retreats' are about the yoga and meditation practice, and it's not about indulge in luxury sensual enjoyment 'treats'. It can help to remind ourselves about Dharma, and to re-ignite the desire to attain liberation (Moksha).

Om shanti.