Worldly identifications with names and forms

There are many things that we like to do in life and there are things that we don't want to do. There are different duties and responsibilities come along with our many different worldly identifications with different names and forms. Depending on the limited conditions, we can be anything or anyone that we want to be, and perform as many actions as possible under different worldly identifications, but all these different identifications with different names and forms, and what we do and don't do in life through the body and mind, are not who we are.

When one realizes the truth of selflessness, one will be free from separateness, loneliness, offensiveness, defensiveness, aggressiveness, pride, arrogance, hurts, guilt, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, violence, ill-will, ill-thinking, fear, worry, painful sorrow and all sorts of restlessness or impurities. As long as our minds are not free from ignorance and egoism and impurities, all our actions will also be influenced and determined by egoistic attachment, identification, desire, judgment and intention, and we will always be disturbed by the fruit of actions.

When one is free from ignorance and egoism, one will be able to either perform or abandon all kinds of worldly actions, duties and responsibilities, without being determined by all actions (both actions and inactions) and the fruit of actions.

Be free.

What is strength and power for the ego, is being weak in yoga practice...

The ego wants to get what it wants. It won't satisfied or happy unless it gets what it wants. It would be disappointed and unhappy if it doesn't get what it wants, or if it gets something that it doesn't want.

The ego feels strong and powerful when it gets what it wants.

But, this is indeed being weak in our yoga practice.

The mind is being over-powered by the ego and give in to the egoistic desires of craving and aversion.

Yoga enthusiasts with the strong egoism may feel satisfied and happy when their desires of craving and aversion are being gratified, through getting what they like and not getting what they don't like, and attaining physical strength and flexibility through the regular yoga asana practice, but then it's indeed a form of weakness as well as obstacle on the path of yoga towards the realization of selflessness and unconditional peace.

Yoga practitioners can be performing actions very seriously and determinedly towards achieving something, but all these actions and effort can be free from egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, and expectation. The mind is peaceful as it is regardless of what is the outcome of the actions and effort. There's neither satisfaction nor dissatisfaction, allowing the fruit of action being what it is. And all are impermanent.

Om shanti.

Want to teach yoga?

Teaching yoga is not about trying to convince other people to believe in the teachings of yoga, or to persuade other people to like yoga and practice yoga, or recruiting many people to be our yoga students and joining our yoga classes, or to set as an example for others to imitate us, or to build a yoga empire. The students shouldn’t follow or imitate the teacher, or blind-believe in the teachings of yoga or what the teacher taught them. It’s guiding the students to be free from egoism, and allowing them to be free from attachment and identification towards any thinking and beliefs including the teachings of yoga, but to investigate into the truth of everything, to attain self-realization.

 

Everyone may or may not need some guidance, but it’s up to everyone’s free will to change their own thinking and behavior by developing self-control and self-discipline over their own thinking, actions and speech, and attain self-realization be free from ignorance, and realize unconditional love and peace, and stopped hurting themselves and others. The teacher doesn’t and can’t control or change the students, but can only give them guidance and encouragement. The teacher and the student will meet at the right time and the right place naturally when the time has come, without the influence of egoistic selfish desires.

There’s nothing wrong when people think that when they feel unhappy or angry, feel hurt and disappointed, it’s nothing to do with their own ignorance and egoism, but instead, it’s everyone and everything out there that are bad and wrong that give them unhappiness and suffering. There’s nothing wrong when people believe in God or disbelieve in God. It is everyone’s freedom of thought, actions and speech. But when people start to have strong attachment and identification towards what they think and believe, there arise separateness, discrimination, prejudice, hatred, violence, fear and unrest in their minds towards others who are different from them. Some people even enjoy being angry and violent. They won’t feel good unless they get angry and violent.

If people don’t like to practice yoga about letting go of the ego, attachment and identification, no one can force them. The teachings of yoga teach about everyone purifying their own thinking, actions and speech, but respecting others' freedom of thinking, actions and speech, for what they want to do with themselves, their lives, their bodies and minds. Everyone takes the responsibility for the consequences of their own actions and inactions, for what they believe and disbelieve, for what they want and don’t want. No one can control or purify other’s mind. It is up to each one’s effort and free will to control and purify one’s mind. There's no condemn in Yoga towards anyone who doesn’t like the teachings of yoga, or who doesn’t want to practice yoga as it is, or who misunderstands about yoga, or who criticizes yoga. Anyone can take up any yoga practice and practice anyway that they like, or do whatever they like with yoga, or they can stop practicing yoga for any reasons. There’s no condemn, or sin, or punishment.

Those who practice yoga, they don’t condemn nor criticize. Vice versa, those who condemn and criticize, they don’t practice yoga. We share yoga out of compassion, not out of egoism thinking that “Yoga is good for everyone. Everyone should practice yoga, and practice properly in a particular way, or else they are insulting the sacredness and purity of yoga.” One type of medicine may cure a person’s illness but may not necessarily has the same effect on another with the same illness, or would it cure some other form of illnesses. People react differently towards the same medicine and have different tolerance towards certain side-effects of that medicine which appear differently on different people. Some people may be a good friend for many others, but may not be a good partner or good parent. 

 

There are people dislike and disagree with the teaching and practice of yoga. That is their freedom. We can’t expect or force everyone to like yoga and practice yoga as it is. There are people who never heard about the teachings of yoga and don’t do any yoga practice in a particular name and form, but they are selfless, compassionate and peaceful beings. And if yoga is something sacred and pure, how can it be insulted or contaminated by anything at all?

Some people kept modifying the traditional yoga practices into many different new styles and versions to suit the preferences of what people like and don't like, what they want and don't want. Though there's nothing wrong with that in terms of business marketing strategy and customer service and value, but then the yoga teachers are not really teaching yoga, and the students are not really practicing yoga. Instead it is empowering the egoism, attachment, identification, worldly thinking, ideas and habits, and empowering the desires of craving and aversion of the egoistic mind. 

 

When we practice yoga, we stop giving the egoistic mind what it likes and wants. No doubt that sharing yoga is about sharing love and happiness. Yoga teachers are there to guide the yoga students on how to attain unconditional love and happiness by letting go of the egoistic desires of craving and aversion. It's not about giving them what they like and want, or don't give them what they don't like and don't want, to gratified their desires of craving and aversion, to make them feel loved and happy. They feel loved and happy is because they are getting something that they like and want, and/or are not getting anything that they don't like and don't want. It doesn't help them to be free from the desires of craving and aversion, to realize unconditional love and happiness. When they are not getting what they like and want, and are getting something that they don't like and don't want, they will feel dissatisfied, disappointed, angry, resent, unhappy or miserable. This is moving away from what yoga is about.

Though there is a very significant teaching of yoga about seeing God in all and everything, that God exists in all and everything, but one doesn’t need to believe in God or spirituality to practice the teachings of yoga. For those who don’t believe in God, this teaching can be taught as seeing the one same universal consciousness of all and everything, which is the truth of impermanence and selflessness, that there’s no ‘I’ or individual existence exists in everything or in all the impermanent changes. For those who don’t believe in God or the one same universal consciousness, this teaching can be taught as seeing the element of teacher in all and everything to teach us something for realizing higher understanding about worldly life existence, and be grateful and thankful for all kinds of good and bad experiences. Those who truly implement this teaching in everyday life wouldn’t be disturbed or determined by all the pleasant and unpleasant experiences, and wouldn’t generate anger or hatred towards anyone or anything, but they would respect the law of impermanence in all the different qualities of names and forms, and respect all the different types of thinking, beliefs and behaviors that exist in the worldly community as they are. This teaching leads us to peace and harmony in ourselves and not generating violence, anger and hatred in ourselves and into the world. But if our minds are over-powered by strong egoism and have pride and arrogance about ourselves and our thinking and belief, we would find this practice impossible or very difficult, unless we are ready to let go of our ego, pride and arrogance.

Peacelessness and disharmony manifest and exist in our minds are deriving from the strong egoism, pride and arrogance, attachment and identification, desire of craving and aversion, greed and discontentment, fear and worry, and all kinds of impurities empowered by ignorance or corrupted thinking and belief in the mind. One also generates unrest and disharmony into the surrounding environment when one isn’t peaceful and harmony.

 

If every being is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, naturally the society will be free from separateness, discrimination, prejudice, hatred, violence, fear and unrest. If we want peace in the world, we must have peace in ourselves. Having peace and harmony in oneself is the only effective way to help the world to be in peace and harmony among all the different qualities and diversities. By being violent, angry and hating others and happenings that we don’t like and disagree with, and provoke anger and hatred in other people to also be angry and hate those whom we think they are bad and wrong, it wouldn’t help the world to be peaceful and harmony as how we would like it to be, but instead, we contribute so much unrest and disharmony into the world, it doesn’t matter how good and right we think we are.

When we know what is yoga, we will know that teaching yoga has very little to do with qualification and certification coming from attending 'internationally recognized' yoga teachers training courses. Yoga teachers training courses are for people to learn to become their own teacher. When one realizes the teacher within oneself, one will know that everything and everyone are teachers to teach everyone something. One will be free from discrimination and hatred towards anyone and anything, and will respect everyone and everything as they are. And naturally, one can also guide other people to become their own teachers out of self-realized unconditional love and peace, without the need of any certifications or acknowledgement from anyone or any 'internationally recognized' organizations.

It doesn’t matter whether we know the names of the yoga poses in English or Sanskrit, or not, or what are the benefits of the yoga exercises, or what particular type of yoga that we practice, because yoga practice is not about gaining the benefits from the yoga exercises at all, and by knowing the names of the yoga poses and performing what particular type of yoga have nothing to do with the realization of unconditional love and peace. It’s about letting go of attachment, identification, expectation, craving and aversion towards all our actions and the fruit of actions, or towards the yoga practice and the result of the yoga practice.

Yoga is about realizing compassion and selflessness through the practice of dispassion and renunciation towards worldly objects, values and ideas, discrimination of what is real and unreal, eliminating the ego and quieting one's restless modification of the mind, and be free from all kinds of attachments, identifications, desires of craving and aversion, and impurities. And all these practices have nothing to do with the impermanent condition and ability of the physical body to perform the yoga poses, or how many years we have been doing yoga exercises, or how much yoga exercises we had done, or how many yoga poses we can perform and whether we can perform the yoga poses in perfect alignment, or not. It’s also nothing to do with all the physical health and fitness benefits that come along as side-effects from the yoga practice. All these names and forms cannot guarantee or determine whether we know about yoga or not, whether we are practicing yoga or not, whether we can teach yoga or not, and whether we are free from ignorance and egoism, and be liberated from suffering, or not.

Many people including many yoga enthusiasts don’t like to hear about the practice of dispassion and renunciation. They give themselves many reasons to justify themselves that they don’t need to be dispassionate, instead they promote passionate way of thinking and living. They said follow all our desires and live passionately. There’s nothing wrong with having desires and being passionate towards worldly life existence, self-image, ideas, ambitions and social activities, and everyone has the freedom to choose what they want to do with their life existence, but then it isn’t what yoga practice is about.

Dispassion towards worldly objects, ideas and activities helps to render the mind calm and quiet to be able to perform self-inquiry to know the truth of 'I', or what the mind thinks and believes as 'who I am'. Passion invigorates strong attachment and identification towards worldly life existence, the function and ability of the body and mind, and passionate desires of craving and aversion. Instead of quieting the mind, annihilating the worldly ideas, and eliminating the ego, it is stimulating the mind, strengthening the worldly ideas and empowering the ego. Passion hinders the mind to see the truth of things as they are. But if people enjoy being passionate and don’t mind being restless constantly swaying between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, that’s their freedom.

Dispassion doesn’t mean that we have no love or feelings. It is respecting and loving the world and everyone as they are, without selfish desires or expectations, discrimination of likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, without attachment, identification, craving and aversion, where the world and everyone are not necessarily the way that 'I' would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be.

Passion is loving the world and everyone with selfish desires and expectations, discrimination of likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, attachment, identification, craving and aversion. It’s 'I' love my world to be the way that 'I' would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be.

When one is free from ignorance and egoism, then there’s no difference between passion and dispassion. One can live and perform actions passionately in the world, but is undisturbed and undetermined by one’s actions and the fruit of actions.

The realization of selflessness will allow us to be undisturbed or undetermined by whatever the mind perceives through the senses, and remain equanimous and be at peace unconditionally. When one has realized unconditional love and peace, one won’t be intentionally generating thoughts, actions and speech that will hurt oneself and others under any circumstances, which is compassion. And the realization of unconditional love and peace has nothing to do with the knowledge about anatomy and physiology, or the physical condition and ability and alignment to do the yoga poses.

Everyone can practice yoga and share the wisdom of yoga and its practice with anybody, when they are free from ignorance and egoism and have realized unconditional love and peace through their own persist and sincere practice. They don’t need a piece of commercialized paper to allow them to share love and peace with others. Those who haven’t realized unconditional love and peace in themselves, they can’t share love and peace with others even if they have been attending many yoga courses and possess many pieces of 'internationally recognized' certifications. Those who think and believe that they need to attend professional yoga courses and acquire a few pieces of paper to accumulate credits to allow them to share love and peace with other people, then they don’t really know what is yoga, where their minds are still being influenced very much by the worldly egoistic objects, values and ideas, and being determined by the qualities of names and forms.

May all be happy, be peaceful, be free.

Om shanti.

Want to practice yoga? (3)

The basics of yoga practice :-

1.) Leave our personal thinking and beliefs only to ourselves. Put away all the conditioned personal thinking and beliefs when dealing with other people in the world and learn to be open-minded and respect all others for being different from us, or having different thinking and beliefs from ours.

2.) If we are fussy people about something or many things, throw these fussiness away whether instantly or gradually.

3.) If we are highly sensitive towards certain sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations or thoughts, then try to practice tolerance and forbearance towards all the names and forms that will annoy or irritate us or our minds. Certain physical allergic reactions are biological, where we need to avoid coming in contact with certain things that we are allergic to, or there might be some drugs or medicine that can counter those allergic reactions, but quite many physical reactions are a form of manifestation deriving from the corrupted or ill-thinking minds. Clean out all the rubbish in our minds can eliminate many types of sensitivities/allergies where drugs or medicines also can't cure.

We may or may not know that ourselves are being difficult occasionally or frequently. We learn to recognize them and throw those difficult habits and behaviors away, and stopped being a difficult person for ourselves and others. We learn to be aware of ourselves for being difficult, and we might intentionally or unintentionally generate inconveniences and difficulties to other people who come in contact with us directly or indirectly. Without judgment or expectation, we do our best to change ourselves to be less difficult.

We also learn how to deal with other people who are having difficult personality and behavior that might intentionally or unintentionally generate inconveniences and difficulties to other people who come in contact with them directly or indirectly, with compassion. These difficult people are suffering from their own difficulties as well. We learn how to tolerate all the difficult people and difficult situations, without judgment or expectation, without being disturbed or determined by all these difficult experiences, without losing our patience and tolerance, and learn how to adjust ourselves to accommodate the difficult people and situations, while remain equanimous and be at peace.

May all be happy practicing yoga.

Om shanti.

Want to practice yoga? (2)

All kinds of different yoga practices serve the purpose of influencing and purifying the mind preparing the mind for self-inquiry, or contemplation upon the truth of "Who am I?"

To practice yoga is not necessarily that we have to be doing some yoga asana exercises. Yoga asana practice is one type of the many yoga practices. Some people just do Japa and chanting alone. The practice of Japa and chanting generates harmonious vibrations to serve the purpose of influencing and purifying the mind. Some people just perform selfless service to eliminate egoism and attachment. Some just practice living in the present moment as they are. Some spend most of their time on contemplation. Some focus on observing their thoughts and have self-control over their actions and speech at all time. Same as all the other practices. Some people combine a few practices. Some practice all of the practices. But in the end, all the practices are related to one another when being practiced with non-attachment, non-identification, dispassion, right discrimination, desireless and free from craving and aversion. Ultimately is to free the mind from impurities to see the truth of names and forms as it is, and be free from suffering that derived from ignorance.

Yoga asana and pranayama practice is using the physical body and the breath as tools to influence our mind, to balance the mind, to purify the mind, to calm the mind, and eventually allowing the mind to be able to perceive the truth of things as they are under a pure and calm mind, and be free from egoism and ignorance, going beyond the body and mind, to transcend suffering and be at peace.

Yoga asana practice is very different from the commercialized yoga fitness exercise classes. It’s beyond the physical fitness training. It isn’t about training the body to be able to perform complex exercises or challenging the physical body to go beyond its limitation to become super fit, flexible and strong. We don’t have to be physically fit, strong and flexible to perform the yoga asana practice. Naturally, it enhances people's health and fitness level as one of the by-products when it's being practiced regularly. There's nothing wrong when people use the yoga asana exercises as a form of fitness training. Just that enhanced physical health and fitness level have nothing to do with the realization of unconditional love and peace. One can be very healthy and fit physically, but the mind can be not free from egoism, ignorance, impurities and suffering.

There are yoga centres that teach traditional yogic and meditation practices combine with the practice of dispassion, right discrimination, six fold virtues and the yearning for liberation that would gradually lead to the annihilation of egoism and ignorance. But most of the yoga classes we come across everywhere in the world are only about yoga asana and pranayama practice, and many are about using yoga asana practice as a form of fitness training to achieve fitness results, which isn't a bad or wrong thing.

By doing some yoga asana and pranayama exercises regularly without the practice of dispassion, right discrimination, six fold virtues and the yearning for liberation, will bring some physical and mental benefits to the practitioners, but it doesn't lead to the annihilation of egoism and ignorance, or be free from unhappiness and suffering. And thus, although people might have been practicing yoga and pranayama practice regularly, but if they still have strong attachment and identification with the worldly existence of the body and mind and are over-powered by the desires of craving and aversion, and have attachment towards their action and inaction and the fruit of action, then they would still be disturbed and determined by all the perceptions of name and form and have no peace, as the mind is in a state of restlessness being disturbed by ceaseless impurities arising and passing away in the mind due to the constant reactions coming from the ego towards all the perceptions of name and form generating craving and aversion towards what it likes and dislikes, agrees and disagrees with.

It's not about how much good health, good feelings, physical strength and flexibility that we gain from practicing yoga, but whether there are less impurities and restlessness in the mind. There are less anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, pride, arrogance, ill-will, feelings of hurt, fear and worry. There are more peace and harmony. In the end, there's only unconditional love and peace, be free from egoism, ignorance, desires and suffering.

Traditionally, yoga asana practice is about holding a few different basic postures in stillness and at ease for as long as we are comfortable at. It’s knowing and respecting the limitation of this physical body without generating attachment, identification, craving and aversion towards its impermanent condition and ability. The skill, stamina, strength and flexibility will gradually develop as we practice regularly. In the beginning, when we first put our bodies and minds in certain positions that they aren’t familiar with, there will be certain degrees of discomfort or struggle and we need to exert great effort to perform the yoga asana practice. We need to endure the discomforts and be patient and persevere in our practice until one day the practice becomes steady and we can hold each position effortlessly for a prolong period of time.

There are many different variations of yoga poses that sprung from six basic positions. Yoga asana practice combines with the practice of pranayama serves the purpose of influencing the mind in different ways without using any external influences such like drugs or from another being, but using our own physical body and the breath as the tools. The purpose is mainly to balance and calm the mind so that the mind isn’t being overly elevated or depressed, while purifying the energy centres and channels, and unblocking any blockages, releasing physical, emotional and mental blockages. Instead of exerting energy in strengthening worldly ideas, desires and identifications, yoga practice is channeling the energy for realization of the truth, rendering the mind calm and pure to perceive the truth as it is.

The six basic positions are:-
1.) Inversions like headstand, shoulderstand and plough.
2.) Forward bends like sitting forward bend and standing forward bend.
3.) Backward bends like fish pose, cobra pose, locust pose and bow pose.
4.) Twists like sitting twist, standing twist and lying twist.
5.) Balancing positions like crow pose, peacock pose and tree pose.
6.) Side bends like standing side bend and sitting side bend.

May all be happy, be peaceful, be free.

Om shanti.

Want to practice yoga?

The world is changing at its own speed and cause. There are human minds evolving towards higher and purer consciousness of thinking and living, and there are many more human minds evolving towards deeper ignorance, and moving further away from purer consciousness of thinking and living.

Almost all and everything is being manipulated into something that is not what it really is, by our own mind perception of names and forms functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism, influenced by certain impurities and the conditioned thinking and beliefs in the mind.

That includes Yoga and Buddhism's teachings and practices and their purpose.

We have the great opportunity to come in contact with the teachings of yoga and practicing yoga whether internally or externally, or both. Many people are interested to learn and practice yoga under different intentions and motivations. Meanwhile many people are interested to teach yoga for many different reasons. It should be a very good thing. But somehow, something is not quite right as well, even though there's nothing incorrect about all the different perceptions, understanding, thoughts and ideas, and all the impermanent changes and evolution in all these perceptions, understanding, thoughts and ideas. But the process of sharing all the different perceptions, understanding, thoughts and ideas coming from what the minds think what they know, has been creating more confusions or misunderstanding towards all and everything.

Everyone think they know something that they think they know. There are lots of things that we don't know, but our existence is merely based on what we (the thinking mind) perceive through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and the thinking faculty, influenced by what the mind thinks and believes what things are, and influencing us to think and behave and interact with the world in a certain way. Even the higher intellectual minds that are creative and innovative can be functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism also, and believing in something that is not necessarily the truth of what things are.

Knowing and accumulating lots of knowledge through studies and scientific researches about this and that also doesn't guarantee that one is or will be free form ignorance and have peace.

The existence of yoga, its teachings and practices are neither good nor bad. Pure minds don't need yoga. Pure beings with pure minds don't need to practice yoga. Yoga exists for impure beings with impure minds. But impure intentions coming from impure minds have somehow been manipulating yoga into different ideas and concepts. Even yoga enthusiasts with high intellectual minds might also be influenced by ignorance, and have been manipulating yoga into something what it is not. But, there's nothing wrong in that either. The world is evolving in such way.

Nowadays, it's not so much about attaining absolute purity and enlightenment, but merely trying to uphold right thinking, right understanding, and right effort, to allow everyone to have certain degrees of peace and harmony within oneself while living in the midst of many corrupted minds, impure thinking and ideas.

The basic practice of yoga is about allowing all the knowledge that we think we know about all and everything to be there as they are, but without attachment onto all these knowledge to be identifying as who we are, nor allowing them to interfere with the process of seeing the truth of things as they are. It's about freeing the mind from perceiving, analyzing, judging and understanding everything based on what the mind thinks it knows and believes what things are.

Want to practice yoga? It's not just about learning and doing some yoga poses and getting some health and fitness benefits. But, through learning and performing the yoga asana practice, we learn to observe the perceived reality in the present moment now without attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, or expectation, and seeing the truth of things as they are.

 

Are you ready to let go of what you think you know and what you believe in?

Om shanti.

Be free, we don't need to be someone important to be happy and peaceful...

The one who needs to be and feel 'I' am someone important, and keeps looking forward to possess certain qualities of name and form to be attached onto and to be identified as who we are, to be better and greater, to feel meaningful and happy about oneself or one's existence, is the ego.

The ego wants to be recognized, acknowledged and remembered as somebody 'important' or 'great'. Some egos want to be recognized and remembered as bad and evil. As long as we attach onto either good or bad qualities to be who we are, we are not free.

Be free from the ego. We don't need to be important or great, whether in good or bad qualities, to be who we are. It's knowing how to love and accept the impermanent body and mind as they are, without expecting ourselves to be identified as somebody whom we are not, that makes everything meaningful. It's not about 'I' want to be important, or 'I' want to do something great, or 'I' want to feel meaningful, or 'I' want my existence to be meaningful. We do our best by making use of the present condition and ability of the physical body and the thinking mind, to serve oneself and others, but without identification with all the qualities of name and form that we have or don't have, without attachment towards the impermanent condition and ability of the body and mind, what the body and mind can do and can't do, and all the past and present actions and inactions.

One can be free from the ego and still performing lots of beneficial actions in the world, for oneself and others, without identification of 'I' am good, or important, or great, without attachment towards 'I' am performing good, or important, or great actions. Without the desire or intention of 'I' want to serve humanity, or 'I' want to feel good and happy and meaningful.

Be free.

Selflessness and selfless service is not the same as self-sacrifice

Selflessness and perform selfless service is the main part of yoga practice. It's about performing action without egoism. There is no ego or 'I', and hence, there's no attachment or identification with the actions and the fruit of actions. Selflessness and selfless service is not about self-sacrifice. It's not about sacrifice 'myself' to put other beings before 'I'. They are two different things.

One can be performing many actions including yoga practice, rituals and self-sacrificed actions, but one isn't practicing yoga if one doesn't know what is performing action without egoism.

Be free from the idea of 'I' sacrifice 'myself' to put other beings and their benefits in front of 'I' and 'my benefits'. But there's no 'I' or 'my benefits' to be sacrificed for other beings. There's no separation. There's no this being and other beings. Be kind to others is being kind to oneself, and be kind to oneself is being kind to others.

There's no sacrifice.

Om shanti.

Treat others the way that how we would like to be treated?

"Treat others the way that how we would like to be treated?"

Though this is a good and positive thinking we hear very often from here and there, but we are not free, as we still have expectation towards how others should treat us the way we would like to be treated in return. We will be very disappointed if after we treat others the way that we would also like to be treated the same by them, but they don't. And most of the time, they don't.

Even when we think we have shown lots of love and cares to another being, it's not necessarily that this being will treat us the way how we treat them, or how we would like to be treated in return. 

Be free. Just be ourselves. And let others to treat us the way that they want to treat us. It's their freedom of thinking, action and speech.

We can only appreciate if others treat us the way we like them to treat us, and if they don't, let them be.

Om shanti.

May all be happy and peaceful as we are...

There's nothing wrong with being happy when we are doing something that we like to do, or being with people whom we like to be with, or being at places that we like to be at, or achieving something that we like to achieve. We should appreciate and enjoy all these names and forms that we like when they are here.

If we are still happy and peaceful as we are, when all these names and forms are not available to us in the present moment, we realize the freedom of non-attachment, and unconditional peace and happiness that is beyond all the egoistic likes and dislikes, craving and aversion towards any names and forms.

May all be free.

Solitude and Silence...

Silent retreat.

A period of solitude and silence to allow one to love oneself unconditionally.

Spend time with oneself, turning inward, quieting the mind, moving away from worldly passionate desires, clinging and cravings, to know oneself, to love oneself.

Though immerse in solitude and silence, one is not lonely or bored. In fact, one is full of peace and joy being independent on any external impermanent names and forms to be happy, confident and meaningful.

When one loves oneself, one will appreciate all the love, appreciation and companionship from other beings, but one doesn't dependent on the love, appreciation and companionship from others to be happy, or confident, or meaningful, or not. One also will love others without any attachment or expectation, as one doesn't need to depend on love, or appreciation, or companionship from others to be happy, confident and meaningful.

This is different from ego-centred love. Ego-centred love is when one only loves what one’s ego desires, likes and wants, but don’t know how to love oneself, or others. In this case, one loves oneself and others unconditionally.

If one doesn't love oneself, one is always looking, clinging and craving for love, appreciation and companionship from others to escape loneliness or boredom, or to be happy, confident and meaningful. One also will not know how to love others, as one will have attachment, clinging, craving and expectation towards others, as one is dependent on the love, appreciation and companionship from others to be happy, confident and meaningful. One will be dissatisfied and unhappy when the love, appreciation or companionship that one craves for is not available.

May all be free.

Love and Relationship

One might be in a relationship with another one, but there’s no love.

One might have love for another one, but there’s no relationship involved.

One might think and say to another one, “I love you.”

It will be true if it is unconditional and won’t change even though impermanent changes occur in everything and every moment.

It is not true if it is conditional and will change when impermanent changes occur in certain things and through time, with a mixture feelings of affection and love with anger, hatred, jealousy, unhappiness, hurt, dissatisfaction, disappointment, doubt, fear and worry.

One might think and feel that one loves another one, but the truth is, one only loves what one likes and wants. One doesn’t love the one whom one thinks one loves. Neither does one loves oneself.

There is only egoistic personal desires, craving and clinging onto what the ego likes and wants in most relationships that involve mixtures feelings and affliction.

Only when one is completely be free from egoism, then one knows how to love oneself and love another one, without egoistic personal desires, craving and clinging.

Most people have one or many relationship, but without love, they attach and cling onto one another for getting what each likes and wants. When either one or both didn’t get what they like and want, the relationship breaks apart.

When two beings are being together, without clinging or rely onto one another for gratifying personal desires, it is love that keeps them stay together naturally.

If one of the two beings in a relationship doesn’t have love, then there will be affliction arise in this being when one doesn’t get what one likes and wants from the relationship.

May all be free.

Something beautiful and rare...

When two people in a relationship have gone beyond egoism and attachment, personal cravings and desires, the relationship will be only joy and happiness. Such relationship is beautiful and rare.

Freedom in love relationship?

Freedom in love relationship is when our love comes to a point that we don't want anything from the one whom we love, but only wish him or her to be safe and happy.

Love relationship is a training ground for letting go...

If we truly love someone, we need to be able to let go of expectation and attachment towards the love we have for him or her. Allow him or her to love us as he is, as she is.

The one who truly loves us will not do anything to hurt us without us expect anything from him or her. If he or she doesn't want to love us and wants to go, we will let him or her go, wishing him or her peace and happiness, even though it's not easy, it might be painful.

If someone we love very much would do things that will hurt us, it means that he or she doesn't love us or appreciate us at all. We can't do anything about it. We have to accept that he or she doesn't love us.

What's the point holding on strongly towards someone who doesn't love us and doesn't appreciate us, who doesn't respect the existing relationship with us, who doesn't care if it will hurt us out of selfishness and passionate desires?

Once we develop compassion towards ourselves, we will let go of our love towards him or her, and just allow him or her to be what he is, what she is. We will treat and love him or her as a friend who doesn't appreciate someone who loves them, not as my lover or my partner. Then whatever he or she does will not generate hurt in us anymore.

If we feel hurt when we realized the one whom we love doesn't really love us, is because we think and expect the one whom we love will love us, and if he or she loves us, he or she won't do anything to betrayed our love for him or her. But that is a selfish thinking and expectation. We can only allow him or her to love us out of his or her free-will, then without our expectation, he or she will love us without us ask him or her to love us. Out of their own free-will and self-control, they won't do anything to hurt us because they love us. And that is freedom.

When we allow the one whom we love to love us as he is, as she is, it doesn't mean that we should allow him or her to intentionally doing things that will hurt us, if he or she doesn't love us. It's not okay. But we can choose to let go of this love relationship that is meaningless.

We don't have to love someone who doesn't love us. And that itself is loving ourselves and the one who doesn't love us, by letting go the love we have for him or her. If we still feel hurt, it's because we couldn't let go the love we have for the one who doesn't love us, even though they might tell us they love us, but they don't really love us, because they only love what they like and what they want from us. Why do we want to be hurt for loving someone who is selfish and doesn't deserve our love?

If we couldn't let go, we generate tension in ourselves and the person in the relationship with us, whether the one in the relationship with us loves us or doesn't love us. We won't be peaceful or happy being in a tensed relationship, even though we think we love him or her very much.

When we rise above the pain of letting go the one whom we love, our hearts find love and peace that come from loving our loved one unconditionally.

Do not be jealous with other people's relationship that is full of joy and happiness, and think that it's not possible to have such flawless and beautiful relationships in this world. When two people have gone beyond egoism and attachment, personal cravings and desires, the relationship will be only joy and happiness. Such relationship is rare but it exists.

Letting go...

The one who loves us will love us without us expect him or her to love us, or won't do anything that will hurt us. The one who doesn't love us will not love us, no matter how much we love him or her. We need to love ourselves and let go the one who doesn't love or appreciate us.

Om shanti.

About insult or disrespectfulness...

There is a public dispute about some people took some nude photos on the top of a 'sacred' mountain and being blamed for the earthquake that has taken some lives and caused some damages.

Every living being is being born into this world naked.

When someone feels insulted or disrespected by something, it is the mind that projects the quality of 'insult' or 'disrespectfulness' onto certain names and forms that is responsible for the mind to feel being insulted or disrespected upon coming in contact with what the mind projects and believes as 'insulting' and 'disrespectful'.

There are people who believe nakedness is something highly sacred. And there are people believe it is something truly insulting and disrespectful towards sacredness.

Whether the mind believes nakedness is something sacred or something insulting and disrespectful towards sacredness, it's just something that the mind wants to believe what it is. Nakedness itself is neither sacred nor insulting towards sacredness.

If the mind is dirty, then nakedness meant something dirty for this being. But it is not what nakedness truly is.

If the mind is sacred, then nakedness meant something sacred for this being. But it is not what nakedness truly is.

Nakedness is just what it is.

Nakedness has no quality to be something 'insulting' or 'disrespectful', but coming from the mind thinks and believes that "being naked" is something 'insulting' and 'disrespecting', and it intentionally wants to be insulting or disrespectful by being naked to insult or disrespect others.

Something truly sacred or pure cannot be contaminated by any impurities.

If something claimed to be sacred can be offended and threatened by something that is 'impure', 'insulting' and disrespectful', no one should go near to that thing that claimed to be sacred.

If the 'God' is 'someone' easily be offended and be threatened by impure and ignorant human being's ignorant behavior, and will get very angry and will hurt those ignorant beings out of anger and hatred, what type of 'God' is this?

If a mind is not pure, full of evil and corrupted thinking and ill-will, this mind is being 'disrespectful' and 'insulting' within itself, towards itself, even if it puts on sufficient, respectful or decent clothing on the physical appearance.

Living in the world with so many different human beings with different thinking and beliefs, we should try to respect other people's conditioned thinking and beliefs for what they think is respectfulness, appropriateness and sacredness.

That's why some wise people try to stay away as much as possible from some other human beings to avoid unintentionally 'insult' or 'disrespect' certain people, and generate unnecessary tension.

Those who are pure will not have any interest to insult or disrespect anyone, nor be determined by other people's intentional or unintentional insult or disrespectfulness.

Om shanti.

The truth is still what it is whether we agree or disagree with it...

The truth, it is not necessarily something pleasant for the egoistic mind, or the way that the egoistic mind would like it to be.

It is the freedom of every mind to have certain thinking and belief, to be conditioning the mind to think in certain ways and to believe in certain beliefs, to influence our action and reaction, or how we behave.

There's nothing wrong for the mind to generate agreement and disagreement towards everything that it comes in contact with, based on how the mind thinks and what the mind believes what things are.

It is the natural habit of the prideful egoistic mind to argue and criticize about something that it disagrees with, for being different from its own thinking and belief, to prove that this is right (my way, my thinking and my believe) and that is wrong (other ways, other thinking and other beliefs). Or else the world would be quiet being free from argument, dispute, criticism and condemn.

Argument, dispute, criticism and condemn coming from the prideful egoistic mind about certain thinking and beliefs are right and good (my way of thinking and my belief), and all the others are wrong and bad (anything else that is being different from my way of thinking and my belief), is subjective and pointless.

The same object, some say it's beautiful, some say it's ugly, based on their own standard of what is beauty and what is ugliness. It is individual projection from each mind to label everything into this and that. The object is just what it is. It is neither beautiful nor ugly. There's nothing wrong with some minds think it's beautiful, and some minds think it's ugly, but it is not the truth of the object.

When we start to let go of attachment towards a particular type of thinking and belief including the thinking and belief in our own minds, as well as all the teachings of all kinds of different philosophy of life existence, we start to see things as they are. There's no right or wrong, good or bad, but just being different. And everyone takes full responsibility for the consequences of their own freedom of choice to take up certain thinking and belief to live their lives, for how they want to think and what they want to believe.

If we expect everyone else in this world to also comply to the same thinking and belief that we attached to, we'll get frustrated, unhappy, angry and hating when they are being different from us. It is coming from our own attachment and expectation, it's not because we are right and they are wrong.

Yoga is about to free the mind from ignorance and egoism through the practice of renunciation, dispassion, desireless, non-attachment, non-identification, and realize non-duality, oneness or non-separateness, or namelessness and formlessness.

Some people including those who think they are practicing yoga or teaching yoga, might dislike and disagree with this teaching and practice. And it's okay.

Those who don't practice yoga because they dislike and disagree with the teaching and practice of yoga, and so, they don't.

Those who love to practice yoga or want to teach yoga, but, they would prefer the yoga that they want to be practicing or teaching, to be the way that they would like it to be, or to be what they think it should be. They don't want to hear or talk about renunciation, non-attachment, dispassion or desireless. And there's nothing wrong with that, and nothing to be arguing about. They have the freedom to think and believe in what they want to think and believe. They are practicing yoga, just that not as what it is, but how they like it to be.

That's the point of what yoga is about. It's oneness, non-separateness, namelessness and formlessness. It is beyond all the different qualities of name and form. There's no prideful egoism, attachment, identification, judgment or expectation, and hence there's no argument, criticism, or condemn.

If someone disagrees with what has been said here, they can't say anything.

Either they say something to argue or criticize, or they don't say anything, not arguing or criticizing, it also shows that there's nothing wrong with this teaching.

If they want to say something about their disagreement on this, and want to argue or criticize about this, it proves that this teaching is true, that every prideful egoistic mind that attached to certain thinking and beliefs, will want to argue and criticize about something that it disagrees with for being different from its point of views based on how it thinks and what it believes.

If they don't say anything, it also proves that this teaching is true, that there's nothing to be argue or criticize about. It is not about what is being said here is true, or not true.

Those who truly practice yoga don't argue or criticize about something that the mind disagrees with for being different from its own thinking and belief, based on how it thinks and what it believes.

Whether the mind agrees or disagrees with something, it is still what it is. Whether we think and believe the apple is tasty or not tasty, the apple is still what it is. It doesn't has the intention or quality to be tasty or not tasty. But coming from each individual's likes and dislikes towards different tastes, different minds have different opinions towards the same taste. It's the same for all the other names and forms of sights, sounds, smells, sensations and thinking.

Any thinking and belief, no matter how good and right we think they are, it is still within the subjective point of views.

Go beyond all the different thinking and beliefs, and realize the universal truth, that everything is just what it is with different names and forms. And beyond all the different names and forms, all is one, there's no separateness. There's no superiority nor inferiority. The mind rests in silence, at peace.

But the ego doesn't like this at all. It prefers the distinctiveness between superiority and inferiority, and ceaselessly strives to make itself more superior than others, and to maintain that superiority. It doesn't like to be in silence, or to be at peace. It enjoys restlessness, stimulation or excitement. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Those who don't like and disagree with this teaching are free to think what they want to think, to agree or disagree with anything, to debate and argue about everything.

May all be peaceful.

Be free.

Can't expect others to love us if we don't love ourselves...

Love ourselves is when we know how to free our minds from ignorance and all the by-products of ignorance. Being free from ignorance, we will know how to be kind and compassionate towards ourselves, and towards other beings who are not free from suffering due to ignorance.

It's nothing to do with self-pampering in pleasurable physical or mental enjoyments.

Although we might attain some fleeting satisfaction and happy feelings by regularly improving or upgrading our knowledge, professional skills, physical appearance, health and fitness condition, social and financial status, to attain higher quality of life or living standard, or by indulging in pleasurable physical or mental enjoyments, we might still be restless and be disturbed by impurities, if the mind is not free from ignorance and its by-products.

When the mind is free from ignorance, we do not expect others to love us, to feel being loved, but allow others to love us or not, out of their freedom.

We can't expect others to love us when we don't even love ourselves, or expect those who love us to love us in certain ways that we want them to love us, when we keep harming our body and mind with so much impurities derived from egoism, attachment, identification, desires, craving and aversion under the influence of ignorance, whether being aware of it, or not.

May all be free.

Mind the mind of oneself...

Mind...
Doesn't know about itself.
Doesn't know how to manage the impurities, feelings and emotions.
Being unhappy, lost and confused by the impurities, feelings and emotions.
And complains about its unhappiness.
But, it still wants to be busy minding other minds, and constantly looking for faults, clashes and conflicts.
It doesn't want to manage its own problems, but it wants to create problems for others.
If 'I' don't have peace and happiness, 'I' also want to make sure other minds to share my restlessness and unhappiness.

If a mind is being busy engaging in observing, restraining and purifying itself,
if a mind is resting in peace,
it doesn't have the excess time and effort nor interest to mind about other minds.

It allows other minds to mind themselves,
to think and believe what they want to think and believe.
to say what they want to say.
to do what they want to do.

And be free...