Intensive Yoga Retreat in Tamilnadu South India with Marc and Meng Foong from December 1 - 9, 2012

We will be running an intensive yoga retreat in Tamilnadu South India by the end of the year from December 1 - 9, 2012. 

Limited to maximum 12 participants only.

Anyone who is interested please contact us for more details at yoganow@hotmail.com.

Please click on this link to our website for more details http://www.yoganowmalaysia.com/yogaretreatinindia.html

Om shanti,

Marc and Meng Foong 

欢迎你们参加马克和明凤在印度南部塔米尔纳杜12月1 - 9日所举办的南印度瑜珈之旅。任何有兴趣的人，请与我们联络yoganow@hotmail.com以了解更多详情。
只限制最多12人。

Mahishaasura Mardhini

A very peaceful piece of chanting to share with you...

 

महिषासुरमर्दिनिस्तोत्रम् Mahishaasura Mardhini


Ayi giri nandini, nanditha medini, visva vinodini, nanda nuthe , Giri vara vindhya shirodhini vasini vishnu vilaasini jisnu nuthe , Bhagavati he shiti kanta kutumbini bhoori kutumbini bhoori kruthe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 1


Suravara varshini durdhara dharshini durmukha marshini harsha rathe , Tribhuvana poshini shankara toshini kilbisha moshini ghosha rathe , Danujani roshini ditisuta roshini durmada shoshini sindhu suthe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 2


Ayi jagadamba madamba kadamba vanapriya vaasini haasa rathe , Shikhari shiromani tunga himaalaya shringani jaalaya madhya gathe , Madhu madhure madhu kaitabha ganjini kaitabha bhanjini raasa rathe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 3


Ayi shata khanda vikhandita runda vitundita shunda gajaadhi pathe , Ripugaja ganda vidaarana chanda paraakrama shunda mrigaadhi pathe , Nijabhuja danda nipaatita khanda vipatita munda bhataadhi pathe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 4


Ayi rana durmada shatru vadhodita durdhara nirjara shakti bhruthe , Chaturavi chaara dhureena maha siva duta krita pramathaadhi pathe , Durita dureeha duraashaya durmati daanava duta krutaanta mathe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 5


Ayi sharanaa gata vairiva dhoovara veerava raabhaya daaya kare , Tribhuvana mastaka shoola virodhi sheerodhi kritaamala shoola kare , Dumidumi taamara dundubhi naada maho mukharee krita tigma kare , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 6


Ayi nija hunkriti maatra niraa krita dhoomra vilochana dhoomra shathe , Sama ravi shoshita shonita beeja samudbhava shonuta beeja lathe , Shiva shiva shumbha nishumbha mahaa hava tarpita bhuta pishaacha rathe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 7


Dhanuranu sanga ranakshana sanga parishphura danga natat katake , Kanakapi shanga prishatkani shanga rasadbhata sringa hataa batuke , Krutachatu ranga balakshithi ranga ghatadbahu ranga ratad batuke , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 8


Suralalanatha tatheye tatheye kritabhinayodara nrityarate, Ritakukurat kukutogadadhi katalakutohala danarate, Dhimikitadhi kitadimidhnidho mridanga nidarate, Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 9


Jaya jaya japya jaye jaya shabda parasthuthi thath para vishva nuthe , Bhana Bhana Bhinjhimi Bhin kritha noopura sinjitha mohitha bhootha pathe , Natitha nataardha nateenatha naayaka naatitha naatya sugaana rathe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 10


Ayi sumanah sumanah sumanah sumanah sumano hara kaanthi yuthe , Shritha rajanee rajanee rajanee rajanee rajanee kara vakra vruthe , Sunayana vibhramara bhramara bhramara bhramara bhrama raadhi pathe, Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 11


Sahita mahaahava mallama tallika mallitha rallaka malla rathe , Virachitha vallika pallika mallika bhillika bhillika varga vruthe , Sita krutha phullisa mullasi thaaruna thallaja pallava salla lithe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 12


Avirala ganda galanmada medura matha mathangaja raaja pathe , Tribhuvana bhooshana bhootha kalaanidhi roopa payonidhi raaja suthe , Ayi suda theejana laalasa maanasa mohana manmatha raaja suthe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 13


Kamala dalaamala komala kaanthi kalaakali thaamala bhaala lathe , Sakala vilaasa kalaa nilaya krama kelicha latkala hamsa kule , Alikula sankula kuvalaya mandala maulimi ladbaku laali kule , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 14


Kara muralee rava veejitha koojitha lajjitha kokila manju mathe , Militha pulinda manohara gunjitha ranjitha shaila nikunja gathe , Nijaguna bhootha mahaa shabaree gana sadguna sambhrutha keli thale , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 15


Katita tapeeta dukoola vichithra mayookha tiraskritha chandra ruche, Pranatha suraasura mauli manisphura damshula sannakha chandra ruche, Jithakana kaachala mauli padorjitha nirbhara kunjara kumbha kuche , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 16


Vijitha sahasra karaika sahasra karaika sahasra karaika nuthe , Kruta sura thaaraka sangara thaaraka sangara thaaraka soonu nuthe , Suratha samaadhi samaanasa maadhi samaadhi samaadhi sujaatha rathe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 17


Pada kamalam karunaa nilaye vari vasyati yonu dinam sa shive , Ayi kamale kamalaa nilaye kamalaa nilayahsa katham na bhaveth , Tava padameva param pada mityanu sheelayatho mama kim na shive , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 18


Kanaka lasat kala sindhu jalai ranu sinchi nute guna ranga bhuvam , Bhajathi sa kim na sachi kucha kumbha thatee pari rambha sukhaanu bhavam , Thava charanam sharanam kara vaani nataa mara vaani nivaa si sivam , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 19


Tava vimalendu kulam vadha nendu malam sakalam nanu koola yathe , Kimu puru hootha pureendu mukhee sumukhee bhirasau vimukhee kriyathe , Mama thu matham siva naama dhane bhavatee kripayaa kimutha kriyathe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 20


Ayi mayi deena dayaalu thayaa krupa yaiva thvayaa bhavi thavya mume , Ayi jagatho jananee krupa yaasi yathaasi thathaa nubhi thaasi rathe , Yadu chitha mathra bhavathyu raree kuruthaa duruthaa pama paa kuruthe , Jaya jaya he mahishaasura mardhini ramyaka pardhini shaila suthe 21


Thank you for the nameless one who has posted the words on the internet where I copied from...


Om shanti.

About yoga teachers and teaching yoga...

"Yoga teachers" are those who had found the inner teacher within themselves, and are free from ignorance and restlessness, and are sharing the path of unconditional love and peace with other beings, out of compassion, without egoism of attachment, identification, craving and aversion, and expectation. They don't need to tag themselves as "yoga teachers" or "certified yoga teachers" or "certified yoga teachers with many years of experience" or "yoga teachers who came from which yoga school" or "yoga teachers who learn under which Guru". As all these names and forms and qualities are irrelevant. There is nothing wrong or bad with all these worldly perception of names and forms and qualities for "sharing" the path towards unconditional love and peace, but they mean nothing to those who have gone beyond names and forms and qualities.

The worldly minded need to see or hear all these names and forms and qualities about such and such, about this and that, but all these names and forms and qualities are meaningless on the path towards unconditional love and peace. Even though all beings have different backgrounds or experiences, and have different levels or degrees of ignorance or realization, but the unconditional love and peace in all beings is the same, no differences. It doesn't change, or increase, or decrease, or disappear due to the different degrees of impurities or ignorance. It is unaffected or uncontaminated by actions and inactions in different life experiences. And hence, there is no judgment towards anyone or anything. As even a so called "good person" who did a lot of good actions and didn't do any bad actions, it doesn't guaranteed that this person is in peace and happiness, or is free from ignorance, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, pride, arrogance, dissatisfaction, disappointment, animosity, hurts, offensiveness, defensiveness, fear and worry.

It is about unattached towards what the mind believe as "good" and "bad".

It doesn't mean that we can do a lot of "bad" actions but will be free from the consequences. Some people misunderstood this teaching and take it as an excuse to justify our wrong doings that will hurt ourselves and other beings, and do whatever we feel like doing but being irresponsible for our actions. But what we didn't know is that we did all the "good" or "bad" actions with the identification as the doer and the enjoyer of the actions, and we have selfish intentions coming from the ego with attachment and expectation towards our actions and the result of our actions. "I did this." or "I didn't do that." or "He/she/they did this." or "He/she/they didn't do that."

Whether our intention or expectation to perform or not to perform any "good" or "bad" actions is to attain some sort of good feelings, or excitement, or satisfaction, or pleasant sensations, or to express unhappiness, dissatisfaction, anger, jealousy, disagreement, or due to reactions out of fear and worry, we are still being affected and disturbed by our/other people's actions and inactions, and the result of our/other people's actions and inactions.

That's why even though if we did a lot of good actions, try to be good and do good and try not to do any bad actions, we can still be not peaceful, unhappy and constantly being disturbed by anger, hatred, jealousy, pride, arrogance, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, restlessness, fear and worry that arise in our own mind, which has nothing to do with all the qualities of names and forms that we perceive through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind.

We "expect" that, if we do good, we will "receive" something good in return, and we will not "receive" any bad in return. But when this is not happening according to what we think it should be, we will be so disappointed and unhappy. We identified ourselves as "good" people who do good, and being proud and arrogant about ourselves for being good, and we might also expect other people to do good, and if other people don't do good, we'll get unhappy and frustrated, and judge them as "bad" people, and we are "good" people who do good, and we deserve to be here, and those who are "bad", they don't deserve to be here. And so on. Being so unhappy being disturbed by what other people do (bad actions) and don't do (good actions).

Just like in a yoga class while everyone is doing the same exercise but not everyone will be looking the same as everyone has a different body type with different degrees of strength and flexibility and different types of physical limitations. But all these differences of qualities and names and forms cannot determine whether one is peaceful and another one is not. Love and peace is nothing to do with whether we can perform all the yoga exercises in a "perfect body alignment" or not. It is not about if our feet is pointing at certain degrees and angle, and we will be guaranteed peace, or else if our feet is not pointing at that certain degrees and angle, and we will not have peace.

Teaching yoga is sharing the wisdom of yoga with anyone who is looking for unconditional peace, and guiding other beings on how to find the inner teacher within themselves and be free from ignorance and restlessness. If we haven't realized our own inner teacher yet, and have not found peace and are not free from ignorance, then how can we "teach" or "guide" other beings to be free? Even if we have an enlightened Guru sitting in front of us, to teach us or guide us, but it is still our own effort to realize love and peace. If we are reluctant to let go of ignorance, there's nobody can remove ignorance for us, not even an enlightened being can take away another beings suffering or ignorance.

Real yoga teachers don't need the title of "yoga teachers". They don't need to be "trained" to "become" "yoga teachers". They don't need a specific time and space to share and teach yoga. They are naturally "yoga teachers" when they are in peace and they have the "opportunity" to be there guiding other beings towards unconditional love and peace.

Out of compassion, it is a very natural action to share and guide other beings onto the path towards unconditional love and peace.

It is not so much about "I want to be a yoga teacher and I want to teach yoga." or "I want to teach these people and these people will learn from me and will be benefited from my teaching and sharing." and then we go to a yoga school, to learn how to do some yoga poses and some other yoga practice, and learn how to organize a yoga school or to teach a yoga class, and then pass the exam, get one or many recognized certificates, and start teaching yoga or run a yoga school.

There is nothing wrong or bad to have a specific time and space for people to participate in yoga classes performing yoga practice, as the "conditioned" lifestyle in the world nowadays, as well as the "limited" time and space that people have in their working and living conditions, there is a need to have some sort of organized time and space for people to come together to learn and practice yoga. But love and peace is beyond that conditioned and limited time and space of the timing and the hall for performing yoga practice. Yoga practice is happening in our mind wherever we are, at anytime, in any situations and conditions, every moment.

It is not so much like "Oh, it's a one hour class, and it is a "certain style" of yoga, and so, I have to teach this class with these certain practices in such style within an hour." or "Oh, it's the day for "particular" practice, and so, today I perform this "particular" practice." or "Oh, today our intention/Sankalpa is forgiveness, and let's practice forgiveness today."

Beside having a fixed "routine" that we perform everyday to gain maximum result by performing repetitive practice of the same "routine" and to develop continuous and steady mind concentration, to make it into a natural habit for yoga practice regularly, yoga practice is being performed according to the present condition and situation of what the body and mind need in this present moment. It can be very different from moment to moment. If we have nose blocked now, we stop performing heavy asana practice, do some light practice and maybe perform neti kriya to help to ease the nose blocked. And if we are low energy now, we can perform some asana practice that will boost up our energy level. If we are agitated now, we can perform some yoga practice that will calm down our mind and balance the energy field. Maybe in the same class, some people need to do more forward bends, and some people need to do more backward bends, and some need to perform longer relaxation, in that present moment. And all the yoga practice is to develop non-attachment towards the body and mind by letting go of the ego, develop mindfulness, concentration and steadiness, to allow the mind to be quiet to meditate upon the Truth. And this is not limited by specific time and space. It is happening from moment to moment, continuously.

It is also not so much about going to one particular yoga centre and attending one specific type of yoga class, nor it is about going to different yoga centres attending different types of yoga classes, follow whatever the teacher/teachers tell us to do in the class, but it is more about getting to know the practice through our own experience, to know what is going on in this mind and realize the inner teacher within us (The mind is its own highest teacher), and know what we are doing and what we suppose to do, without the need of following instructions from the teacher for us to perform our practice. This requires inner strength and flexibility like self-discipline, patience, perseverance, determination, adjustment, adaptation, acceptance, accommodation, tolerance, cheerfulness, truthfulness, solitude, silence, and etc.

It is not about "I can only practice yoga in a particular yoga centre, in a particular yoga class under the instruction of a particular teacher, or in certain type of comfortable condition and environment, or else I can't practice yoga, or I don't know what should I do by myself."


A real yoga teacher is allowing the students to learn to be their own teacher and stop depending on him or her to practice yoga. This might be contradicted with the policy of many yoga schools and yoga centres as that is part of their source of income, sustaining people to keep coming back for the classes, as well as attracting new people to join the classes and continuing to come regularly. And some might bring up more different types of  new "yoga practice" or "yoga classes" to make more "interesting" courses for attracting more people to "invest" into ongoing refresher courses or further studies. And some like to use the phrase of "There is no ending of learning, and we need to keep learning until our last breath." Well, there's nothing wrong with keep learning, but it doesn't mean that there has to be in a classroom with a teacher giving instructions and a group of people follow the instruction of a teacher to do the yoga practice. And if the mind is free from ignorance and suffering, this mind doesn't need to learn anything or practice yoga or meditation.

Teaching yoga is to allow people to come to a point where they can stop "learning" and "practicing", when the mind is free from ignorance and realize unconditional love and peace.

We need to look for peace and happiness (for example, performing yoga practice), because we are not peaceful and are not happy. If we are peaceful and happy, we don't need to do anything to be peaceful and happy (the end of yoga practice). We are peaceful and happy as we are. It is our true nature. It is not coming or accumulating from doing something or not doing something. It is by stop attaching or identifying with the body and mind, which is not "I".

Teaching yoga is the person himself or herself has realized the Truth about unconditional love and peace from within, and be free from ignorance, and naturally he or she knows what and how to share with other beings who are looking for unconditional love and peace, by guiding them on how to realize the inner teacher within themselves that will lead them towards unconditional love and peace. Yoga teachers cannot "give" love and peace to the students, or "make" them peaceful and happy.

Maybe by showing loving kindness to people can "make" them feel good and being loved, but it won't take away their root cause of unhappiness - ignorance. Everyone has to remove ignorance through their own effort and be free from unhappiness that derives from ignorance, and realize the unconditional love and peace within themselves, and be truly happy as they are. When a person is truly happy from within, then whether other people are nice to him/her or not, he/she will still be happy. Because his/her happiness is not coming from the conditional impermanent objects of names and forms from the outside. When a person has not found the happiness from within, even when other people are nice to him/her, even though he/she is "smiling" and "laughing" in front of other people, he/she will still be unhappy, being dissatisfied or disappointed with himself/herself, or with other people, or with life, or with the world, and so on.

Some people might think that only those who have been practicing yoga for some time and they already know about yoga, and are having a strong and flexible physical body to be "good" in performing most of the yoga poses, are qualified to attend yoga teachers training course. But it's not really like that. Anyone who doesn't know anything about yoga, or have never done any yoga practice before, or doesn't have good physical strength and flexibility, can go to a yoga school or ashram and participate in a yoga teachers training course, as the objective is not about trying to become a yoga teacher, but to learn more about yoga and its practice, and devote ourselves into the practice and realize the effects or benefits of the practice through our own effort and realization, and to realize unconditional love and peace from within, and be free from ignorance, and then naturally we'll know how to guide other beings on how to be free form ignorance and realize unconditional love and peace.

We don't "learn" to "become" yoga teachers, or "learn" how to teach yoga, or "learn" how to "become" a "good" yoga teacher. We don't need to call ourselves "yoga teachers", or judging/tagging ourselves as "good" or "bad" yoga teachers. If we still have doubts in our own practice, then obviously we are not ready to "teach" or "guide" others towards liberation from ignorance, but of course we can still teach other people to perform some yoga exercises for attaining health and fitness benefits. If we know what we are doing, then even though we are not "perfect", we can share our knowledge and experience with others, as we are walking on the path of yoga together, learning, practicing and sharing at the same time. At one moment, one might be the teacher of the others, and vice versa. There is no superiority or inferiority.

Everyone and everything is our teacher to teach us about the universal truth of impermanence and selflessness, it's not only human beings in a specific manners and background can be our teachers, nor only things that are in specific conditions can teach us something. But above all, look beyond all these qualities of names and forms, and find the inner teacher (the higher Self) within the mind (the lower self), who is the only one and always there every moment with us, for us, guide us towards unconditional love and peace. When we realize this inner teacher within us, all and everything is our great teacher (including the people and things that we don't agree with and don't like).

It is not about teaching a yoga class according to the guidance and information written or printed in the yoga books, or teaching the class by imitating some other yoga teachers' styles of teaching, but teaching the yoga class with the wisdom that we realized from our own sincere practice, knowing what are the effects of the yoga practice through our own direct experience, and how these yoga practice can help us in realizing the unconditional love and peace that is already there in us. It is not about "Well, according to what the teachers said or what the books told us, and this is the Truth we should all believe in and follow and practice."

If we still need to rely on doing something, or experience something, or possess something, or attain something, or eat something, or drink something, or smoke something, or see something, or hear something, or smell something, or taste something, or feel something, or think about something that we like and agree with, for us to feel good, or to be happy, or to be confident, or to feel meaningful, then know that we still need to keep practice or keep purify the mind to realize the wisdom of unconditional love and peace that is not coming from all these external worldly names and forms with different qualities that our mind likes and dislikes, agrees and disagrees with.

Teaching yoga and practicing yoga is not about to feel good, or to be happy, or to be confident, or to feel meaningful. It is going beyond the attachment towards the yoga practice with intention and expectation to feel good, to be happy, to be confident and to feel meaningful. The one who needs to feel good, to be happy, to be confident and to feel meaningful, is the ego. And yoga practice is to free the mind from this ego and egoism.

Here is a link to a blog post written by one of the students who is now teaching and sharing yoga with many others - http://yogakee.blogspot.ie/2012/06/becoming-yoga-teacher.html

Om shanti.

Having fun in the French Alps - Samoens

I was enjoying my time here in the French Alps with some fun practice at the retreat centre Dojo de La Piaz in Samoens while all the others went out...

French Alps - Chamonix

 

In the French Alps running a yoga retreat... Breath taking scenery and fantastic weather... Love and peace from France, be happy.

Watching the ego, every moment...

Sometimes we might say this, "I want my teacher to be like this with such and such "image" and "qualities" that I like and agree with... I don't want my teacher to be like that with such and such "image" and "qualities" that I don't like and don't agree with..."

And, "I want my teacher to teach me the way that I want to be taught or like to be taught..."

Or as a teacher we might say this, "I want to teach the way that I want to be taught or like to be taught..."

Can we "see" how the ego plays in these "thoughts expressions"?

It is all about "me" or "I", "What I want" and "What I like"...

A student comes to a teacher to learn something from the teacher, but the student is expecting the teacher to "meet up with" his expectation about how the teacher should teach and what to teach? Or else, he will judge and criticize about this teacher is a "bad" teacher...

Knowing that we need to learn about something from somebody whom we have not known yet, we will have an intention to look out for a teacher... But, naturally we will start judging the teacher from his "appearance", his "speech", his "character", his "background", his "lineage", his "teachers", his "experience", his "success", his "name and fame", his "qualifications", his "knowledge", his "poise", his "way" of teaching, or his "way" of doing things, before we "choose" him and "accept" him as our teacher, because we would like to have a "good" teacher... We are "judging" this person/teacher whether he is "qualified" and "good enough" to teach us or not...? We are trying to find a teacher that fit into our "imagination", "standard" or "expectation" about how a "good" teacher should be like, or "the type of teacher" that we like to have... Or maybe the teacher is also looking at the student whether this person/student is "qualified" enough to learn from him or not? The teacher is trying to find a student that fit into his "imagination", "standard" or "expectation" about how a "good" student should be like, or "the type of student" that he likes to have...

Hmmm...

It seems like we think we "know" more than what we think anybody knows (and among these people that we "judge", is the person who we will choose to be our teacher)... That's why we are so arrogant to think that we are "knowledgeable" enough to judge whether anyone is, or will be a good teacher or not... If so, how come we still need to look out for a teacher, if we think we "know" more than all these people out there when we start "judging" them?

If we are sincere and humble, we will see everyone and everything as our teachers, and we will respect all teachers without any judgment and expectation, and not "categorizing" and "labeling" them as "good" or "bad" teachers... We will take the teacher as he is and accept the teacher as he is, even if he is not the way that we think he should be...

If we truly know what is humility, it is also because we have found the greatest teacher above all, our higher Self... But not everyone has met this teacher yet, and still searching for a teacher or teachers...

There is no good or bad about the way of how the teachers teach, there is only whether the students are being humble and open-minded, or being proud and arrogant, and closed-minded...

As the one who is truly humble and open-minded will not criticize about anyone or anything, especially his teachers... And since all is his teachers, there is nobody or nothing to be criticized about...

And as a teacher, if he is humble and compassionate enough, he won't be judging the students as "good" or "bad" students, nor judging himself as "good" or "bad" teacher... And if the teacher is humble and wise, he won't be affected nor determined by how the students "judge" him, whether the judgment is "positive" or "negative", "praise" or "condemn"...

If the teacher is selfless, he is not identified with the image or identity as a "teacher", not to say the tags or labels of "good" and "bad"... He is not attached to his action of teaching, and is not attached to the fruit of his action of teaching...

Watching our ego, every moment...

Watch out, when we have this idea of "I am a good teacher" or "I am a good student" or "I am a good person", or "I want to be (acknowledged as) a good teacher" or "I don't want to be (acknowledged as) a bad teacher"... So much judgment coming from ourselves judging ourselves... When in yoga, we are supposed to be practicing letting go of all judgments and identifications to know what is selflessness...

To whom, we are good? To whom, we are bad? In whose standard, we are good? In whose standard, we are bad? Judge by what? Judge by whom? The universe doesn't judge anyone, who are we to judge ourselves or anyone, or to be judged?

Be happy.

Om shanti.

Yoga retreat and guided tour in Tamilnadu South India with Marc and Meng Foong, December 1 - 9, 2012

We will be running an intensive yoga retreat in Tamilnadu South India by the end of the year from December 1 - 9, 2012. 

Limited to maximum 12 participants only.

Om shanti,

Marc and Meng Foong 

欢迎你们参加马克和明凤在印度南部塔米尔纳杜12月1-9日所举办的南印度瑜珈之旅。
只限制最多12人。

Who is practicing yoga and meditation?

The one who needs to perform yoga practice and meditation is the impure restless mind... If the mind is free from impurities and restlessness, there is no need of any yoga practice or meditation to act as purification "tools" to "purify" any impurities or to "calm down" any restlessness in the mind, as there is none...

The one who has no self-control needs to develop "self-control" to control itself... But the one who is already self-controlled doesn't need any act of "self-control" to control itself...

The mind is not peaceful and is not pure, and thus it needs yoga practices and meditation to be peaceful and to remove impurities.

The mind is affected and influenced by impurities and ignorance, and thus the mind needs to be free from impurities and ignorance.

The mind is affected and influenced by energy and elements, and thus it needs to be purified and be controlled through choosing what types of inputs or influences that have certain types of energy and elements...

The mind is experiencing restlessness, dissatisfaction, low confidence, unhappiness, fear, worry and is suffering, and thus the mind needs to attain peace, contentment, confidence, happiness, to be free from fear and worry, and to be liberated from suffering...

The mind needs spiritual practice such like yoga practice and meditation to be peaceful, to be pure, to feel good and be good, to be positive, to be happy and to be liberated...

The mind is affected or disturbed or determined by whatever it perceives through the senses. It is affected or disturbed or determined by what it sees, hears, smells, tastes, touches and thinks... But the selfless consciousness is not affected nor disturbed nor determined by all the names and forms that the mind is experiencing or perceiving from moment to moment...

If there is no mind, there is no perception of names and forms, there is no world, there is no happiness and suffering, there is no good and evil, there is no positive and negative, there is no liberation and non-liberation...

The selfless consciousness is unconditional, unchanging, and is beyond qualities of dualities (it is neither pure nor impure, neither good nor bad, neither positive nor negative), it doesn't need any spiritual practice like yoga practice or meditation to make it pure and good, or to make it peaceful, or to make it positive, or to make it happy, or to give it liberation...

The selfless consciousness is unaffected nor influenced by energy and elements, and thus energy and elements have no influence power to influence or contaminate or change what it is...

The sentence about "We" need to practice yoga and meditation to attain purity, wisdom, compassion, peace, and to be liberated from unhappiness and suffering, is just the mind (As "we" are the idea of 'I' identified with the modification of the mind, and so, "we" need to practice yoga and meditation to attain liberation or peace...).

The minds that realized the Truth of selflessness, and know the selfless consciousness, and have gone beyond the modification of the mind, they don't need to perform any yoga practice or meditation to attain "anything", as the selfless consciousness is all peace, and it is beyond all the qualities of pure and impure, good and evil, positive and negative, happiness and unhappiness... It is not tainted and not contaminated by any qualities of dualities in the mind, which is not "us", and thus it doesn't matter the mind is pure or impure, positive or negative, good or evil, happy or unhappy, it has nothing to do with the selfless consciousness...

The selfless consciousness doesn't need to be purified... It doesn't need to be good or do good or feel good... It doesn't need to be peaceful and happy... It doesn't need to be positive or strong... It doesn't need to develop wisdom and compassion...

The selfless consciousness is not bound by the presence of ceaseless births and deaths, of selfless impermanent changes, which is the nature of all kinds of selfless impermanent names and forms, where inevitable suffering of restlessness arise in the restless mind under the veil of ignorance, and so, the mind needs to attain liberation, but there is no suffering of restlessness in the selfless consciousness, and so, it doesn't need to attain any "liberation"...

The selfless consciousness is not being affected, nor influenced, nor disturbed, nor determined, nor tainted by good and evil, positive and negative energy, actions and inactions that come from the body and the mind... And thus it is not bound by all these things, or objects, or experiences, or relationships, or names and forms that are related to this selfless impermanent life existence under the functions of the limited and conditional body and mind...

Realize the selfless consciousness of what all and everything are, and the mind will realize that there is no need to perform any spiritual practice to be liberated... And there is no "I" in all and everything... There is no "I" am experiencing "this and that"... There is no "I" am good or evil... There is no "I" am positive or negative... There is no "I" am pure or impure... There is no "I" am happy or suffering... There is no "I" am peaceful or not peaceful... There is no "I" am performing actions or inactions... There is no "I" am enjoying the fruit of "my" actions or inactions... There is no "I" am liberated or need to be liberated...

This "I" is the non-existing idea of 'I' or the ego, occupying the selfless modification of the selfless mind... And the mind is conditional and limited, selfless and impermanent...

As long as there is still an idea of 'I' identifying with the body and the modification of the mind, and attached to this life existence as "I" and "All that "I" am experiencing, who is performing actions and inactions, and who is enjoying the fruit of "my" actions and inactions...", then this mind needs all kinds of spiritual practice such like yoga and meditation to be liberated from ignorance, impurities, restlessness and suffering...

The body and the mind will be benefited from the yoga practice and meditation, to be healthy and peaceful... But, the selfless consciousness doesn't need any benefits from the yoga practice and meditation. It is all peace, without birth, changes, growth, decay, old age, illness and death...

By bringing the body and the mind to perform yoga practice and meditation, is being kind and compassionate towards this body and mind... When the body and mind is in harmony and peace due to the effect of the yoga practice and meditation, naturally it will be benefiting the world, as there is less a being in the world to generate disharmony and unrest into the world due to the mind is in a suffering state of unrest and disharmony...

Om shanti.

Keep practice...

A yoga student was very excited coming into headstand after practicing regularly and told his teacher, "Teacher, I can stand on my head now!"

The teacher asked him, "Are you now free from anger, desires and worries?"

The student answered, "Not really..."

The teacher compassionately said to him, "Keep practice..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is reflecting about peace, desire-less, compassion and wisdom is nothing to do with whether we can stand on our head or not, or whether we are able to do and achieve what we want to do and achieve or not...

"Keep practice" also doesn't necessary mean keep practicing the asana poses until we manage to perform the asana poses, or we can hold the poses longer than before, but what it really means is, keep practicing non-identification and non-attachment, and even after we devote lots of time, efforts and energy into our yoga asana practice, we are not attached to the efforts nor the fruit of the efforts...

What's the point if we are now able to perform the asana poses that we were not able to perform in the past, but we are not free from continue being disturbed and conditioned by anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, ignorance, fear and worry that derive from attachment and identification with the body and mind?

When anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, ignorance, fear and worry are subjugated due to non-identification and non-attachment towards the body and mind, the yoga student doesn't even need to announce that he is now free from impurities... So as yoga asana practice. The yoga asana practice is supposed to be rendering our mind calm and pure, to prepare the mind for meditation upon the Truth... It is not about how good we look and how good we feel in performing the asana poses... it is accepting the physical ability in the present moment now as it is, and knowing that even this condition and the ability of the physical body now whether it is in good or bad condition, it is impermanent... We do not identify with this impermanent condition and ability of the physical body to perform the yoga asana poses... There is nothing to be excited about when our body is able to perform certain asana poses after some practice, and there is nothing to be frustrated about when our body is not able to perform the asana poses even after a long time of practice...

After we are able to catch our feet with our hands in the sitting forward bend, we'll ask, "What next?"

After we are able to balance on our hands in Bakasan or Kakasan, we'll ask, "What next?"

After we are able to stand on our head and our hands in headstand and handstand, we'll ask again, "What next?"

Then we try to stand on the head without hands support, and we'll ask, "What next?"

Maybe we can try to invent more challenging poses then? Such like "one finger handstand" since many yoga teachers like to say that "everything is possible", just need to keep practice... Kindly note that this physical body has its limitations and is conditioned by impermanence. We cannot force the body to go beyond its limitations or else we will be injuring the body, but what the sentence "everything is possible" means, we can go beyond the identification with the physical body and be free from being conditioned by the conditions and ability of the physical body, that we are not determined by this physical body, as we are not this body and this body is not us. It is just an instrument for us to realize this Truth...

This craving for "What next?" can keep going until the moment our body is not able to do any poses any more... Then we'll start to realize that this ceaselessly chasing after the sense of achievement that come from being able to perform the asana poses, is not what we are looking for, after spending years and years in trying to perform all the yoga asana poses...

This voice that keep asking "What next?" is coming from the never satisfied nature of the mind...

That's why even though if our physical body is capable to perform many complicated asana poses, it never bring us to real unconditional contentment, as we have wrong identification with the impermanent body and the dis-satisfactory mind... Always not satisfied, always wanting more and more, just like drug and alcohol abuse, one dose is not giving any effects anymore, we need double dose, and then triple dose, and so on....

As all these achievements in performing the asana poses are "dis-satisfactory" in its nature - impermanence".

If during and after the yoga asana practice, whether we are able to perform the yoga asana poses or not, but we are not identified with the ability of the physical body in performing the asana poses, and there is no expectation whether our body will be more flexible and strong or not after the practice, nor expecting our body will be able to perform the asana poses much better in the next or future practice, nor expecting what are the benefits from performing the asana poses, nor expecting ourselves will be more peaceful and calm... But, allowing all the benefits, strength and flexibility, skills to perform the asana poses, peacefulness and calmness to come by itself naturally as it is, not because we are expecting any of these to happen the way that we want it to be, then this will bring us towards unconditional peace...

In traditional yoga class, the teacher doesn't tell the students what are the benefits when they perform the asana poses, as yoga asana practice is supposed to help us in developing non-identification with the body and mind, and non-attachment towards our actions or efforts, not attaching to or not expecting for the fruit of our actions or efforts. And even if the students don't know what are the benefits from doing the asana poses, the benefits will still be there as it is, it won't disappear nor decrease...

The practice of intention-less which is the key to the practice of non-expectation and non-attachment, is to let go of any intentions, even if it is good intention... If there is a good intention, we attach to the idea of "we are doing something good", and will "expect" someone will be benefited from this good intention, and "expect" something good in return... Attachment is there... We are not free yet.

This is to eliminate the craving habit of the egoistic mind of "I want something good... I don't want something bad..."

And by practicing yoga asana together with the practice of non-attachment in the mental level, will definitely bring us towards freedom, or unconditional peace and real happiness that is not being conditioned by any qualities of names and forms...

This is the yoga practice while performing the asana poses or while trying to learn to perform the asana poses...

Able to accept the condition and the ability of the physical body in the present moment now as it is and allow the benefits to come and improvement to happen naturally as we practice regularly everyday few hours a day, without  identification, attachment, judgment, comparison and expectation...

This is Karma Yoga being perform onto ourselves... Being kind and compassionate towards ourselves by bringing our body and mind to concentrating in a few hours of yoga asana practice daily... As all the yoga asana poses require huge amount of concentration in the present moment now, and this will not let the mind wanders into the past or the future within the time of practice, and there is no opportunity for the body and mind to get involve in immoral or unkind thoughts, actions and speech... During the time of practice, we are controlling and restricting our thoughts, actions and speech, and this is already benefiting the world by not committing any selfish, harmful or negative thoughts, actions and speech into the surrounding environment. This is being kind and compassionate towards the world...

Beside controlling and restricting the thoughts, actions and speech as our main practice by devoting our energy, effort and time into yoga practice as many hours as possible everyday in life, another main reason to perform all the yoga practices (Not limited to Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, Kriyas, study of the scriptures, chanting and prayers, selfless service, developing divine qualities such like patience, perseverance, will-power, determination, courage, positive thinking, cheerfulness, generosity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, sexual energy conservation and channeling for spiritual realization, acceptance, adjustment, accommodation, adaptation, forgiveness, non-judgment, non-comparison, non-expectation, non-attachment, non-identification, letting go, and etc...) is to purifying, unblocking, balancing, conserving, generating, and channeling the energy fields in the body for spiritual realization or self-realization...

But all these practice has to work with letting go of desires and attachments that come from the ego... Such like, having the idea of "I am doing this practice, so that I will gain such and such benefits or achievements..." or "I am practicing "non-attachment", so that I will be free from suffering and unhappiness..." It doesn't bring us to peace...We can be performing all these yoga practices for many hours everyday for many years, but as long as we have attachment and identification with the doer of the actions and the enjoyer of the fruit of the action, we are not free and be restless being disturbed by what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think...

The body and the mind will be benefited in performing the yoga practice, but... Our true nature doesn't need all these benefits to be what it is or to "make" it peaceful... It is unconditional peace... The mind needs the yoga practice to experience peace, but our true nature is always peaceful...

There is no "I". There is no practice. There is no fruit of the practice. There is no "I" am doing the practice. There is no "I" will be enjoying the fruit of the practice...

The ego gets a momentary excitement and the sense of success or achievement when it gets the benefits or results as what it was expecting while performing any actions... And the ego gets disappointment and frustration and sense of failure when it doesn't get the benefits or results as what it was expecting while performing any actions...

Such like, "I did a lot of yoga practice, and thus I am healthy, strong and flexible and I feel good..." or "I didn't practice much or didn't practice at all, and thus I am not so healthy, not strong and not flexible, and I don't feel good..." As all these identification and expression is coming from the egoistic mind - the idea of "I" and all that "I" experience and all that "I" get and don't get from "my" actions and inactions, good and bad actions... It is the mind feels good or doesn't feel good... It is not us. We are just the observer or the witness being aware of what the mind is experiencing from moment to moment through the body with the functions of the sense organs and the senses, which is being conditioned by impermanence, the qualities of names and forms, thought patterns, actions and inactions, and speech...

So, whether our body can perform all the poses level by level or not, or our body cannot perform many of the yoga poses, it really doesn't matter... As What the body capable to do and not capable to do, it is just the body... And the condition and ability of the physical body to do this or that, is nothing to do with the unconditional real peace that comes from our true nature...

A person who's body cannot perform headstand or handstand can still be selfless, peaceful, wise and compassionate...

Some people ask, "Why some people can do all the "complicated" yoga poses and some people cannot do the "simplest" yoga poses?"

Simply it’s because whether their body can do or cannot do these poses, depends on their individual physical condition and abilities, as well as the state of their mind. Everyone has very different physical condition and physical abilities from one another. Everyone has a different state of mind from one another… And through constant practice, their body will gain physical and mental strength, flexibility, stamina, confidence, faith and courage, and might be or will be able to perform some or all of the asana poses, simple or complicated… But whether their body can do or cannot do these poses, is nothing to do with whether they will be peaceful or not…

Another effect that comes from holding the body being in the yoga poses for a period of time, can help to influence the energy fields in the body effectively, either activating, stimulating, energizing or calming and balancing… And this will make the body and mind feel good during and after the practice, but again this is just the body and mind experiencing some impermanent conditional good feelings… And if the mind is rendered calm and still during or after the asana practice, that is the moment to meditate and contemplate on the Truth, and not getting lost in attachment of craving and clinging towards that good feelings and pleasant effects of the asana practice…

And to render the mind calm and still doesn't need to have a strong and flexible body to perform the most complicated asana poses, but just by performing some very simple poses that even a sick person with weak bones and muscles also can perform will give the same effects of calming and stilling the mind... It is through will-power and breath control...

People who are flexible and strong can be peaceful if they know non-identification and non-attachment... People who are inflexible and not strong can also be peaceful if they know non-identification and non-attachment...

People who are flexible and strong can be not peaceful if they don't know non-identification and non-attachment... People who are inflexible and not strong can also be not peaceful if they don't  know non-identification and non-attachment...

At the end, no need to compare or compete with anybody in the yoga asana practice, as liberation or peace is not attain through comparison or competition... It is not like, "I am better than you in performing the asana poses, and I can do more asana poses than you can, and so, I should be more peaceful, selfless, wise and compassionate than you..."

This is the test - If now everything happened is all good and according to what we wished for, and so we are peaceful and happy... But if one day, we experience some "bad" things that we don't want and don't like in our life, and we will be disturbed or determined by it, and are not peaceful and not happy anymore, then know that we still need to keep practice...

Om shanti.

Yoga is about eliminating the ego to realize selflessness, but how?

Teaching yoga, not about teaching some yoga asana poses or exercises as fitness exercise class, but teaching and guiding the minds on how to develop non-attachment, non-identification, letting go of the ego, and how to transcend the mind and the body, transcend “suffering”, “restlessness”, “dissatisfaction”, “unhappiness”, “fear”, “worry”, and etc, via yoga practice (not limited to yoga asana and pranayama practice), to realize the one same nature of all beings – selflessness, that also lead to the realization of real peace that is unconditional, is not like doing a business selling a “product” or “service” to the people such like in the fitness, health and beauty industry, or in the modern “yoga” industry where there are so many varieties of “yoga classes” and “yoga accessories” on the “yoga market” to satisfy the different interests or desires of the mind… But yoga is only one…

It is not a religion that trying to convert other people to believe and to follow its teachings, or else “God” will punish anyone who does not believe in its teachings and does not follow the practice accordingly… Every beings has the choice or freedom whether to follow the path and take up the practice, or not… Some people take up the complete practice, but many people only want to take up certain parts of the teachings and practice that they like and agree with… And there is nothing wrong with that…

It is our freedom whether we want to be egoistic and ignorant, or if we want to realize selflessness, and be free from ignorance… It is our freedom whether we want to be in peace, or we don’t mind at all if we are not in peace…

We cannot make anyone to understand, or to practice, or to realize according to what we understand and practice and realized.. It is everyone’s freedom…

If someone doesn’t enjoy the food that is not the taste that he likes, then even if somebody want to be nice to him and give him “very good” food for free everyday, it is not going to make him satisfied and happy… Because it is not something that he wants and likes… Some people like to live in restlessness, or else they’ll feel like fish out of water… That's their freedom.

Yoga (selflessness) is not a thing that we can “pay” with some “money” to buy and possess… But it is realizing the Truth of the 'I', by letting go of the ego (giving up pride, arrogance, desires, identities, attachments, likes and dislikes, craving and aversion, and etc). The truth is always here, in this present moment… We don’t need to “buy” it from somebody or from some organizations who claim that they can “make” us “become” anything that we want to be… We are what we are, why do we need somebody else to make us to become “us”?

No doubts that by practicing yoga asana exercises everyday will make our mind feels good, make our body strong and healthy, and be able to enjoy a higher quality of life, but there is no guarantee that all minds that are learning and practicing “yoga” will be liberated, and be free from ignorance, impurities, unhappiness or “suffering”, and is peaceful being undisturbed or undetermined by the impermanent qualities of names and forms… It depends on the presence and absence of non-attachment towards the modifications of the mind, or whatever the mind is perceiving and experiencing from moment to moment, or towards any names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, that will lead us to peace, or not…

It is just the body and mind experiencing some momentary conditional good feelings and good condition as part of the effects of the yoga exercises, but we are not the body, we are not the mind… The body is not “I”, the mind is not “I”. As long as there is still an identity in the mind identifying with the body and mind as 'I', which are impermanent and constantly changing and are subject to conditional circumstances to feel good and happy, or not, being over-powered by the craving towards “good condition” and the aversion towards “bad condition”, then we will never be free… Our sense of well-being swaying up and down according to the conditional changes of qualities… Forever restless… Maybe some people just want to keep working on satisfying the cravings of the body and mind, and enjoying that momentary satisfaction or sense of achievement when they get what they want, and are not interested to go beyond that, it is nothing wrong. Be happy.

It doesn’t guaranteed that we will be free from ignorance after how long and how much we had performed the “yoga practice”… But it doesn’t matter, because regardless of whether we’ll realize the one nature of all beings, or not, it doesn’t change the Truth about what we think we are… Even if we don’t know or realize that the nature of all beings is selflessness, the embodiment of unconditional peace, and even if we are not peaceful in the present moment now, this nature of selfless unconditional peace is always there…

Some beings never done any “yoga practice” before but they are liberated and are free from ignorance… Some people do not practice “yoga” at all, but they are selfless, peaceful and compassionate… Some people did a lot of yoga practice everyday for years but still are not free from ignorance yet… Even if they are learning yoga from some “famous” yoga gurus or teachers… It is not the responsibility of the teachers for anyone’s liberation… Teachers are just being there to show the way (either the right way or the wrong way)… Liberation is coming from the minds themselves, and through their own effort (how much they are ready to give up or let go of attachment towards worldly attachments, identities, possessions, passion, desires, craving and aversion)…

The real yoga practice is about purifying and quieting the mind, where many impurities will arise to the surface of the mind during the process of mind purification, it is not a “nice” and “comfortable” experience in the journey towards true freedom… We’ll start to see the “ugly” side of our personality, or thinking, or behavior, or reaction, when we don't get what we want and are getting what we don’t want… The ego doesn’t like to know or admit about its own selfishness and foolishness… Most “minds” will try to runaway or avoid this uncomfortable purification process, and give in to the desires of craving and aversion (always looking for pleasant experiences, and rejecting unpleasant experiences, to gratified all its desires of likes and dislikes, wants and don’t wants)…

There is nothing wrong if a real yogi who knows the Truth and what is yoga, but does not “interested” or “desire” to “teach” yoga to the public. That doesn’t mean that they are selfish and don't want to share the greatness of yoga with other beings… They don’t “have to” share yoga with other beings intentionally, but that won’t stop them from radiate peace, wisdom and compassion into the universe… Even if they are interested to share and “teach” yoga to the public out of compassion, it is really depending on the minds themselves whether they will be willingly to let go of their ego and egoism, desires, pride and arrogance, and letting go of the identification with the body and mind and worldly self-image, to be open-minded to inquire the truth of everything, and be really humble to practice “yoga” sincerely, or not, and realize yoga by themselves…

There might be many so called "yoga practitioners" and "yoga teachers" in the world nowadays on the yoga "market" or "industry", but how many of us are really a "yogi"? Many who call ourselves "yogis", "yoga practitioners", "yoga teachers" and talk about the teachings and practice of yoga and teach other people to perform the yoga poses, but how many of us are sincerely practicing non-identification with the body and mind, letting go of the ego, practicing non-attachment towards all the qualities of names and forms, realizing the Truth of non-duality, and are desire-less and selfless? How many are truly practicing "yoga" or are just doing some "yoga exercises" for many hours everyday, but not knowing how to be free from being conditioned by the qualities of names and forms, craving and aversion, egoism and ignorance? How many are so called "in love" with "yoga" but continue to indulge in worldly passionate desires, gossiping, slandering, boasting, self-glorifying, telling lies, hypocrisy, mocking, back-biting, complaining, and condemning the yoga teachings that they don't agree with? Some people only fell in love with certain parts of the yoga practice that they like, but criticizing the other practices or teachings that their "ego" doesn't agree with and doesn't like...

Not all of the "experienced" yoga practitioners have already transcended names and forms, and many are still being over-powered by the ego and egoism, still have attachment towards spiritual achievement, physical and mental achievements, attached towards their actions and inactions, and the fruit of their actions and inactions, not to say, those who are still struggling in the ocean of ignorance... Even a well-trained great mind like Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita was once deluded by ignorance, and needed the guidance of Krishna...

A sincere "yoga seeker" who is interested in looking for a yoga teacher to learn and practicing yoga will come to a "teacher" with a humble heart and opened mind, to learn and "serve" under the teacher for purifying the mind and eliminating the ego... During the time of living closely to the teacher and learning from the teacher, the students of yoga will be asked to do a lot of Karma Yoga - selfless service, performing all duties and responsibilities without attaching towards the actions and the fruit of the actions... This will help the students to let go of the ego and egoism of attachment, identification, desire, judgment, expectation, or intention... And when the student's mind is matured enough, when the mind is free from egoism, impurities, desires and restlessness, when the ego is eliminated through performing selfless service without attaching towards the actions and the fruit of the actions, without expecting anything in return for all his actions, allowing the fruit of actions being there as it is, the teachings or the Truth will arise in the pure and serene mind naturally.

The teacher doesn't need to say anything or teach the students anything, but only guides them in daily life performing selfless service for many years to purify the mind and eliminating the ego. As the truth is already there in everyone "waiting" to be realized, it is not coming from or attaining from the outside. All the mind needs to do is removing all impurities and eliminating the ego... Yoga practice like Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana and Dhyana, or so called a glance of stillness in Samadhi, don't lead to "freedom" when the mind is still full of passionate desires and attachments... If the mind of the yoga students is full of impurities and desires and being over-powered by the ego, then no matter how much yoga practice and teachings that the teacher tries to teach to the yoga students, it is useless... It is like a dirty bowl, and we want to put the best clean and tasty food inside it... The food will be contaminated by the dirtiness or impurities...

The basic qualities in a yoga "seeker" are -

1.) Viveka (discrimination of real and unreal)

2.) Vairagya (dispassion or detachment)

3.) Mumukshutva (intense yearning for liberation)

4.) Shat-sampat (consists of the six virtues as below)

   a.) Sama - tranquility of the mind

   b.) Dama - self-restraint or control of the senses

   c.) Uparati - cessation from worldly activities

   d.) Titiksha - forbearance or power of endurance

   e.) Sraddha - faith in God, Scripture and the selfless Self, or the selfless universal consciousness

   f.) Samadhana - concentration or one-pointedness of mind

If a being doesn't have or doesn't develop all these qualities while performing the yoga practice, then by performing the yoga practice doesn't really bring them to peace, but instead it will be empowering the ego, pride and arrogance, desires of craving and aversion, which will lead to more restlessness (the opposite of peace) - Such like "I am a 'lovely princess' after I practiced yoga and everything is the way as I desire, and I am an 'evil monster' when I didn't practice yoga and everything is not the way as I desire..." That is the state of mind changing according to the momentary conditional influence from performing the yoga practice. It is not the unconditional real peace...

When the yoga students perform selfless service in the Ashram, nobody will come and tell them, "Hey, you did a good job," or "Thank you," or "You are a good yogi," or "Well done, keep it up," and etc... This is to starve the ego, not feeding the ego with what it wants... As the one who is longing for or depending on all these response or reaction of appreciation, acknowledgment, compliment, thankfulness, encouragement, agreement, and etc, to make the mind feels good about what it had done, and to motivate itself to perform actions, is the ego... The ego will grow stronger and stronger, if we keep feeding the ego with what it wants...

Without anyone showing appreciation and thankfulness in names and forms, or even, if there is criticism or condemn for their efforts and contributions, it doesn't mean that all efforts and actions are "meaningless"... The sun is always there shining ceaselessly providing light, heat and energy to the universe, whether the beings acknowledge or don't acknowledge about the contribution of the sun... Same as water, air, earth and space... It doesn't matter human beings are being grateful or ungrateful towards their intention-less selfless contribution to the universe, they are always there providing and supporting all and everything to be existing in the universe... They exist for all and everything to be existing without the intention to be there, to exist and to give. Neither there is expectation towards everything will be existing and be grateful because of their existence for all and everything to be existing... And they don't need to be existing at all if nothing exist...

The real appreciation and gratefulness is nameless and formless beyond thoughts, speech and actions... When someone knows how to perform all actions selflessly and compassionately without attaching to the actions or the fruit of the actions, without expecting any response of appreciation, acknowledgment, compliment, thankfulness, or encouragement coming from anybody to feel good about what he had done and to be motivated to perform actions, then this person is free from being conditioned by the ego... This mind is living in the present moment, and radiates peace and compassion without any intentions, and will not be disturbed by the impermanent qualities of names and forms perceived in the mind through the senses...

This practice of renouncing from the fruit of action is being practiced when we are performing all the yoga practice such like yama, niyama, yoga asana, pranayama, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation, chanting, studying the scriptures, and etc.. We do not expect any benefits or rewards in return from our efforts and actions... But we allow all the benefits to be there naturally as it is, not because we expect the benefits to be there the way that we want it to be... There is no identification as the doer of the actions and the enjoyer of the fruit of the actions... The ego needs some kind of benefits or rewards to motivate it to perform actions, but the selfless nature of all beings doesn't need any motivations to be what it is...

When the ego is eliminated, there is neither good or bad, happiness or suffering, positive or negative, success or failure, praise or condemn, appropriateness or inappropriateness, auspiciousness or inauspiciousness, pleasantness or unpleasantness, action or inaction, birth or death, gain or loss...

When the mind is free from the ego, there is no hypocrisy in this mind... Pretentiousness and untruthfulness is completely vanished and absent in this...

Although there are not many real yogis are interested in "teaching" yoga to the public, this doesn't mean that there are no real yogis sharing the wisdom of peace and compassion in the world... Real yogis are not necessarily to be recognized through "fit and strong and flexible" physical body, nor being determined by the skill in performing some yoga asana and meditation poses, or teaching some "yoga classes", nor being determined by how much charity works under certain names and forms that they had performed... They might not be doing any yoga poses or talk about anything about "yoga"... But they are not separated from yoga and meditation every moment... They are meditating beyond names and forms, ceaselessly from moment to moment, and are already identical with the selfless universal consciousness - Selflessness, or Yoga... And without intention, they radiate love and peace to all beings unlimited by names and forms, time and space, without discrimination, judgment or expectation...

Anyone who is completely selfless and compassionate is a real yogi... They do not need to perform "yoga practice" under certain names and forms to purifying and calming the mind, as their mind is already pure and calmed... Anyone who can perform a lot of yoga asana poses beautifully, but is not free from the ego yet, is still being over-powered by impurities, desires, craving, aversion, pride, arrogance, attachments, identifications, judgment and expectation, and has not realized the real nature of selflessness, unconditional peace and compassion, is not necessary a yogi... They are just striving to be a "yogi"... And real yogis don't need to call or tag themselves as "yogis"... There is no identification with any qualities of names and forms...

Selflessness and compassion is nothing to do with physical appearances or the physical and mental conditions and abilities to perform the asana poses. It is not defined by actions and inactions. A real yogi is beyond actions and inactions... A perfected Yogi is also a Jnani, there's no distinction between a yogi and a Jnani, they both are selfless, peaceful, wise and compassionate, and they both can be having certain illness, like chronic disease or cancer, or they might be short-lived, but they are not touched or determined by the sickness/weakness/imperfection of the physical body or the impermanent states of the mind, neither are they perceiving suffering due to the impermanent conditions of the physical body that is inevitably decaying from moment to moment...

Once the mind realized selflessness from performing Karma Yoga - renouncing the fruit of actions, naturally this mind is also devoting to the selfless universal consciousness (Bhakti Yoga), it is radiating wisdom (Jnana Yoga), it is the master of its own modification of the mind (Raja Yoga)... All these paths are not separated from each other when a mind realized selflessness...

In fact, there are plenty of these "yogis" out there disseminating love and peace into the world without posing as "Jnani", "yogis" or "yoga teachers"... They don't make "noise" or "advertise". They don't intentionally show an "image" of "Jnani" or "yogis" or "yoga practitioners" or "yoga teachers" to the world. They might not mix with the "yoga community" or the "yoga association" or the "yoga affiliation" or the "yoga organization" or the "yoga movement"... They might not announce themselves as "yogis". They might not announce themselves as "yoga teachers". They might not give "yoga classes". They might not take "yoga students"... They might not possess recognized "certifications" and "qualifications"... But they are the ego-less liberated compassionate wise beings who transmit the vibration of unconditional love and peace into the universe every moment unceasingly, just by being presence, without any intention or expectation to benefit the world, or try to change the world to be a "better" place, or try to control anyone to behave "accordingly", or "hope" and "expect" the world will change into the way that they want it to be...

In the traditional lineage of yoga, the teacher doesn't really "give" the students what they "want" or "desire" or "expect", but will give them what they need to be free from the ego and ignorance, allowing them to deal with their egos whenever they are not getting what they want or desire or expect... Even if they'll get angry or frustrated because the teacher does not "please" them by giving them what their egos want to see, or hear, or experience, but those are the great moments for them to recognize and root out their egos and to free themselves from the ego... Until their ego is eliminated, their mind is tamed, and is free from the desires of craving and aversion... Meanwhile, the selfless universe will provide all and everything with what they need, without their expectation or "wanting" anything...

In the traditional yoga lineage, the teacher seems like is being "very hard" on the students (more precisely - hard on their egos), but it is all out of compassion... At the end, without the teacher showing us anything in names and forms, our ego melts away. Upon the absence of the veil of ignorance, the Truth reveals itself to us... It is not easy to be a real yoga teacher... But the real yoga teacher doesn't mind. The "yoga teachers" who mind, they are not free from the ego yet...

Om shanti.

本来无一物，何处惹尘埃。。。

人生本来无一物，何处惹尘埃。。。

本来无烦恼，却爱自寻烦恼，搞得自己多愁善感，且给他人带来忧心不安。。。累己累人。

祝大家抛开忧愁悔恨，丢掉过去累积的 “狗屎拉圾” , 潇洒笑看人生本来一场空，不须执着过去与未来。珍惜目前这一刻所有难得因缘，开开心心，欢欢喜喜。。。利己利人。

The practice of non-attachment and letting go - 不执着与放下的修行

Before our body experience changes or perished, we already came to realization that this body is empty in nature, and let it go. 

Before life experience changes or perished, we already came to realization that this life is empty in nature, and let it go. 

Before all the objects, names and forms experience changes or perished, we already came to realization that all these objects, names and forms are empty in nature, and let them go. 

Before feelings and love relationships experience changes or perished, we already came to realization that feelings and love relationships are empty in nature, and let them go. 

Before all our relationships with all other beings and objects in this worldly existence experience changes or perished, we already came to realization that all these relationships are empty in nature, and let them go. 

This way, we are not attached to any impermanent lives, feelings, relationships and objects, be free from fear and worries, and able to be humble, cherish every moment and appreciate all lives, feelings, relationships and objects that come in contact with us now, but without attachment or unwillingness of letting go. Being able to deal with all impermanent changes in life freely in peace. There's no unhappiness and suffering. 

Before life comes to an end, we already see life has ended, and every moment in life in the present moment now, is merely a new chance for us to live life meaningfully... There is no regrets or mourns about the past nor projections into the future, but fully make good use of this present moment now, from moment to moment... 

在我们的身体还没变坏或消失之前，就已经看透身体根本就是空的，把身体看破与放下了。


在所有的生命还没变坏或消失之前，就已经看透生命根本就是空的，把所有的生命都看破与放下了。 


在所有的事物，名称与形像还没变坏或消失之前，就已经看透事物，名称与形像根本就是空的，把所有的事物，名称与形像都看破与放下了。 


在所有的感情世界还没变坏或消失之前，就已经看透感情根本就是空的，把所有的感情都看破与放下了。 


在与其它所有众生与事物的关系还没变坏或消失之前，就已经看透所有的关系根本就是空的，把与其它所有众生与事物的关系都看破与放下了。 


就这样，得以在人生里面完全没有执着任何无常的生命，感情，关系与事物，无担忧恐惧，也得以懂得虚心的去珍惜现在的每一刻，和享受现在我们所接触到的生命，感情，关系与事物，但是却完全没有黏着或不舍得。如此，做人处事就能够拿得起，放得下，无有担忧惧怕，不被成果困绑，轻松自在。轻松平静和自由自在的去面对人生变化无常。完全没有悲哀痛苦。 


在生命还没消失之前，就已经把生命看成已经结束了。然而，现在的每一刻，只不过是我们全新的机会去把生命活得更加充实有义意。完全没有后悔抱怨过去，没有期望幻想未来，但却得以珍惜善用现在的每一刻。。。