Listen?

In the civilized cultured loving and caring society, people might take this word of 'LISTEN' to be "Someone or a voice needs to be heard or be listened, and people should being sympathetic in listening to someone else 'agony', or 'difficulty', or 'misery', or 'unhappiness', or 'painful sorrow', or 'hurts', or 'broken heart', or 'suffering', or 'grumbling', and etc."

It's normal for people to share each other's life experiences, ideas, thoughts, feelings and emotions, either we want to tell our stories or we want ourselves to be listened by others, as well as we want to be a listener to listen to other people's stories, whether it's something 'good' or 'bad', 'happy' or 'unhappy'. People like to connect and stay connect with other people by chatting regularly or catching-up once in a while to show that they care. And it would be seen as abnormal or inhuman or cold, if one doesn't involve with such human social activities. We will feel lonely, isolated, abandoned, helpless, unworthy, unloved, not good enough, unhappy, depressed, disappointed, frustrated, or meaningless, if we think there's nobody there to listen to us, or nobody wants to share with us.

People would think and believe that as human beings, people should be caring and sympathetic to be there for other people when people need someone to be there to listen to what is troubling them. Caring people like to ask other people whom they think they might be 'disturbed', or 'troubled', or 'hurt' by something, "Do you want to talk about what is troubling/disturbing/hurting you? I'm here to listen. Maybe I can help you." It's selfish, uncaring, unthinkable, non-compassionate, inhuman, or wrong, if we don't ask about other people's 'problems', or 'unhappiness', or 'painful sorrow', or 'suffering', and etc. Or it's 'bad' or 'unhealthy' if one observes silence of thoughts, actions and speech.

No doubt that by expressing, or talking, or grumbling, or bitching about our 'frustration', 'disappointment', 'dissatisfaction', 'troubles', 'problems', 'difficulties', 'misery', 'grief', 'hurts', 'painful sorrow', 'agony', or 'suffering', and etc, to other people may or may not give certain degrees of momentary relief to the 'suffering' or 'unhappy' or 'troubled' minds, but it won't help the minds to be free from what they think is their 'suffering' or 'unhappiness', even if the people who listen to them might try to give them some 'advice', or 'guidance', or 'care', or 'comfort' that they think might can relieve their 'pain' or 'solve' their problems.

Sometimes, talking or complaining about what we think is our 'problem' to some other people actually creates further complication to the existing 'problem' and could generate some other unnecessary 'problems' to ourselves and other people. The listener of other people's problems becomes a 'problem maker' or has a 'problem' in the end. We asked for advice from others, and someone was being very kind to listen to us and give us some advice and we took the advice, but when things didn't turn out to be the way that we expect it to be, we blamed other people for giving us their 'bad advice', or we blamed ourselves for trusting the wrong person and taking the 'bad advice'. This is due to most minds are impure, are not free from egoistic selfish desires, attachment, expectation and incorrect thinking.

In the path of yoga and meditation, we are learning to be a listener. It's not so much about listening to other people's 'problems' or 'unhappiness' to 'share' their 'problems' or 'pain', to say 'nice things' to comfort them, or to give them 'good advice' with the intention to help 'solving' their 'problems' (which is nothing wrong, but none can share, or solve, or take away another person's ignorance and suffering), but it's to learn how to open and quiet the mind to listen to the Dharma in here and now, and allow other people to also learn to listen to the Dharma, to be free from the root cause of all 'problems' and 'unhappiness'. There's no 'problems' that need to be solved at all.

People think that the person who is 'troubled' or 'hurt' needs a listener to listen to their 'pain', and this person will have less pain or no more pain, but in yoga, this person needs to be the listener, to know what is really going on in its own mind.

If one truly is 'disturbed', or 'troubled', or 'hurt' by something and they think that they need some help or guidance, instead of looking forward to talk and share about what they think is disturbing, or troubling, or hurting them, to be listened by some other people, to have someone there to share their disturbed feelings and thoughts, to get love and support from other people to feel better about themselves, one should learn how to be in solitude and silence, quiet the restless mind and try to LISTEN to the DHARMA.

If one TRULY LISTENS to the DHARMA that is here and now, with an open and quiet mind, one will realize or see the truth of the real cause of all their misery, trouble, problem, unhappiness, grief, painful sorrow, agony, or suffering. One doesn't need to talk or complain about anything or doesn't need anyone to be there to share or listen to one's 'problems' or 'suffering', as there is none.

Being yoga teachers teaching yoga and meditation to others, is about teaching and guiding them on how to see and listen to Dharma, or how to perform self-inquiry to attain self-realization to be free from the cause of suffering - ignorance, egoism and impurities. This is wisdom and compassion. Or else, talking and listening to each other among the teachers and the students can easily turn into a scene of 'corruption' and 'complication', especially if the minds are not yet free from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

For example: The teacher is being 'loving' and 'caring' to share and listen to the 'troubled', or 'heart broken' and 'vulnerable' student's 'problems' and disturbed 'feelings' and 'emotions', and this 'troubled' or 'heart broken' and 'vulnerable' student feels a lot of affection, love and care from the teacher, and unwittingly 'fall in love' with the teacher, passionately. Or, the student becomes sensitive and suspicious towards what the teacher says and does, as the student would feel 'disturbed', 'betrayed', or 'attacked', when the teacher talks about the similar issues in front of other students as part of the teachings in general, but the student might think that the teacher is talking about him or her personally, and is exposing his or her personal issues, feelings and emotions that he or she doesn't want to expose to any other people.

In yoga, the teachers don't really need to know what are the students' personal issues that they think they have. It doesn't mean that the teachers don't care about other people's suffering. It's because all issues derived from the same root of ignorance, egoism and impurities. The teachers just need to guide the students towards how to free their minds from the root cause of all 'problems' and 'suffering' - ignorance, egoism and impurities, and allow the students to work their own way, in their own pace and effort towards self-realization and liberation, without the need to 'know' or 'listen' to each individual's different types of 'issues' that are 'troubling', or 'disturbing', or 'hurting' them.

When we attend a silent meditation retreat, there's no talking or discussion with another person or teacher about what we think is our 'problems' or 'suffering', all we do is quieting the restless mind to allow the mind to see the truth of things as it is. It's about knowing one's mind and realizing the truth of suffering and rooting out the root cause of suffering. The past and the future doesn't exist. No matter all our experiences from the past to the present were/are good or not good, happy or unhappy, pleasant or painful, deserving or undeserving, the only reality is the present moment, and even this present moment is impermanent. It's about letting go egoism of all forms of attachment, identification, clinging, craving, aversion, desires, judgment and expectation, and thus be free from all sorts of impurities, and hence be free from suffering.

If people think they have 'issues/problems' that involve other people whether in a relationship, or in a family, or in the workplace, or in the community, people should try to talk directly to the person/people involved to find the best solution. By talking, or bitching, or complaining behind people's back to a third party doesn't help, even though one might get some sympathy, agreement and supports from the third party who doesn't really know what is going on. People who truly practice yoga and meditation should stay away from such worldly activities.

We think and believe that "I have 'serious' problems in my life that are really difficult to deal with, that are more important than anything else. I am a victim of other people's bad and wrongful behavior. I deserve some sympathy, love, care and support from other people. If not, I'll feel depressed, meaningless and hopeless, and either I want to 'hurt' myself or some other people to express or to relieve my suffering." It's the ego that thinks 'my problems and suffering' are bigger and more important than anyone else problems and suffering. If we practice yoga and meditation, we allow the mind to be opened and we will see that what we think is our 'serious' life problems are truly nothing being compared to many other people's suffering in the world. We'll start to let go what was troubling us that we thought we couldn't let go before. And this is the beginning of compassion.

If people couldn't understand this teaching, or if people don't agree with this teaching, that's their freedom of thinking and belief.

Practice yoga of self-inquiry and self-realization, and be free.

Observe all the names and forms as they are

The worldly restless impure egoistic minds keep looking for stimulation of inputs and outputs.

It doesn't like to observe names and forms as they are.

It projects quality and duality onto all the perceived names and forms based on its likes and dislikes influencing by its thinking and belief.

Through remembering what it perceived or what it knows, it judges, compares and expects.

It clings, craves, rejects, agrees, disagrees, wants, doesn't want, creates and destroys.

It has many forms of desires and great ambitions.

There's aspiration and intention to perform actions and inactions motivated by its desires and ambitions.

It has 'passionate' aspiration and intention to 'share' what it knows and has, and 'share' what others know and have.

There's nothing wrong with that, just that the mind is not free.

Even the mind that projects 'good' and 'kind' quality onto itself, desires to be 'good and kind' and thinking 'positively and optimistically', and performing good and kind actions to benefit the world, is not necessarily be free from selfishness. The one who thinks "I am not selfish. I want to be unselfish." and recognizing other people are being selfish, is not necessarily be free from selfishness.

"I want the world to be good and I want to make the world good, so that I and my loved ones can have a good world to live in and have a good life."

It's everyone's freedom for what they want to think and believe, and what they want to do with their life existence.

Silent the restless mind, abandon 'positive thinking' and 'optimism', be free from desires, and even the desire to be free from suffering, if one truly wishes to realize yoga.

Positive thinking and optimism is just an counteract for 'negative thinking' and 'hopelessness'. It's not the truth nor the end of suffering.

If 'God' exists, 'God' doesn't have intention to make anyone or anything to be good or bad, positive or negative, happy or unhappy.

There's neither positive nor negative, neither good nor bad, neither happiness nor unhappiness, neither elation nor depression.

Dharma doesn't need to be shared, if one knows Dharma.

Peace and love doesn't need to be shared, if one knows peace and love.

Be free from aspiration and intention, if one truly wants to realize yoga.

Don't be ambitious.

'Sharing', 'connecting', 'giving' and 'receiving' are reflections of separateness.

'Sharing', 'connecting', 'giving' and 'receiving' don't exist in oneness.

Who is sharing with whom? Who is connecting with whom? Who is giving? Who is receiving?

Be free.

The ego exists in all and everyone and anyone

The ego, or more precisely, the idea of 'I', exists in all and everyone and anyone, whether educated or non-educated, intelligent or non-intelligent, knowledgeable or non-knowledgeable, religious or non-religious, wealthy or poor, men or women, young or old, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, yoga practitioners and non-yoga practitioners, yoga teachers and non-yoga teachers, and so on.

If the ego can easily be eradicated, then the entire world would be in peace and harmony.

Though it's not easy, fear not. Keep practicing. Root out the ego and egoism, patiently and diligently.

The entire worldly cultural, educational, religious, spiritual, social and political system is all about empowering the ego and egoism. It is normal and the right thing to do for human beings to empower self-identification, self-image and self-achievement. It would be wrong and strange if one abandons self-identification, self-image and self-achievement.

Even in the world of yoga which is 'supposed' to be all about starving the ego and eradicating egoism and separateness, but now mostly is all about empowering the ego and fueling egoism and separateness.
"I am a yogi."
"I am a healer."
"I am an experienced/good yoga practitioner."
"I am an experienced/good yoga teacher."
"I am X or Y brand yogi."
"I am a Christian/Muslim/Buddhist/Hindu/Atheist/... yogi."
"I am a certified and qualified yoga teacher."
"I am a yoga teacher affiliated with such and such yoga alliance or yoga association or yoga school."
"I have been practicing and teaching yoga for how many years and have taught in such and such yoga schools/ashrams and have taught how many yoga students."
"These are my yogi family/friends/brothers/sisters/gangs."
And all kinds of 'yoga brands', 'yoga lineage', 'yoga schools', 'yoga festivals', 'yoga retreats', 'yoga courses', 'yoga healing products', 'yoga health food', 'yoga apparels' and 'yoga accessories', and so on.

"Do not associate. Do not build ashrams. Do not hoard disciples. Do not mix. Live alone. Walk alone. Eat alone. Meditate Alone." - Swami Sivananda

Being peaceful and compassionate doesn't mean that the body and mind don't experience unpleasantness

Whether we feel comfortable or uncomfortable being in a yoga pose or in a particular position, or in a situation in life, it has nothing to do with peace and compassion.

Being peaceful and compassionate doesn't mean that the body and mind don't or won't experience or perceive unpleasantness.

One can be peaceful and compassionate as one is, unconditionally, being undetermined or undisturbed by all the impermanent changes of the condition of the body and the state of the mind, and all the perceptions of pleasant and unpleasant sensations, sights, sounds, smells, tastes and thoughts.

If one can only be peaceful and compassionate when one perceives or experiences pleasant names and forms, and doesn't perceive any unpleasant names and forms, but then one won't be peaceful or compassionate when one perceives unpleasant names and forms, then that is just the momentary state of the ignorant egoistic mind being 'peaceful and kind' or 'peaceless and unkind' being conditioned and determined by the qualities of names and forms, it's not the unconditional peace and compassion that one realizes from being free from ignorance and egoism.

The one who is free, will be peaceful and compassionate as one is under any condition or situation, no matter what is the physical condition or the state of the mind, whether it's pleasant or unpleasant.

Be free.

Yoga retreat is not about running away from the reality that we don't like and don't want

Not running away from or denying, but confronting the reality that is not the way that we would like it to be, and being aware of this life existence, the world, the society and the surrounding environment is not necessarily 'all good' or perfectly the way that we would like it to be, or the way that we think it should be, with wisdom and compassion, without aversion or fear towards the reality that we think is 'not all good', or 'imperfect', or 'challenging', is our yoga practice.

Living in the world as we are, being aware of all kinds of uncertainty, insecurity, unrest, cautiousness, defects, or imperfection in all aspects, and knowing how to remain equanimous and be at peace, without fear and worry, without being over-powered or determined by the reality that is not necessarily the way that we would like it to be, is what yoga practice is about.

This isn't about trying to be 'strong'. 'Strength' has a limit, and is conditional. But wisdom and compassion is unconditional and unlimited. Those who know the law of nature, of cause and effect, impermanence and selflessness, they don't need to be strong or be positive.

Joining a yoga retreat is not about running away from the reality that we don't like and don't want, to be in a 'safe and peaceful place' without 'bad people' or 'things that we don't like and don't want', and be surrounded by 'good people' who are like-minded and doing things that make us feel good and happy and meaningful.

People might think that yoga practice or yoga retreat should be conducted in a 'special place' or 'out of the world place', free from any 'bad energy' or 'bad elements', thinking that 'yoga retreat' means moving away from the imperfect world, or running away from everyday life's duties, responsibilities and cares, to have a few days or few weeks of 'intentionally induced perfect form of reality' of 'peacefulness' or 'calmness' or 'problemlessness'. No doubt that being in a desirable 'conditional reality' will give momentary relief or peace, but this doesn't help us to be free from 'fear', 'disturb', 'restlessness', and 'suffering' when we go back to our everyday life living among the society or in the world that is not necessarily the way that we would like it to be, that is not in our control to be the way that we would like it to be.

A real yoga retreat allows us to learn how to live in the world as it is, performing all our actions, duties, and responsibilities without attachment, identification, or expectation, without fear and worry. It's learning about the mind and all its modification, about suffering and the cause of suffering, about how to transcend all kinds of 'suffering', 'restlessness', 'impurities', or 'fear', and how to confront the reality of life existence in this present moment that is not necessarily the way that we would like it to be, or the way that we think it should be, without fear and worry, and have peace wherever we are, unconditionally, being undetermined by all the impermanent changes in the qualities of names and forms.

Yoga, or unconditional peace, being free from ignorance and egoism, is not limited to a particular 'place', or 'space', or 'activity', or 'condition', or 'quality', or 'name and form'.

Being positive and optimistic, denying or ignoring all kinds of 'ignorant and unpleasant behavior and happenings' in the world, in the society, or in the surrounding environment, and persistently thinking and believing that everyone are good, there's no bad people; everything is good, there's nothing bad; life is all good, there's nothing bad; the world is all good, there's nothing bad, and etc, doesn't change the reality that we don't like or don't want to be the way that we would like it to be.

It's like sweeping and hiding all the dust and rubbish under the cupboards and sofas, so that they are not in sight, it doesn't mean that the room is all cleaned. And no matter how many times we sweep the floor, and throw out all the dust and rubbish out of the room, there will always be dust and rubbish accumulating here and there from time to time, unless everyone who enter the room stop bringing in dust and rubbish into the room. This is the same as looking after the mind. We do our best to 'clean up' the mind regularly and persistently, but impurities will still exist from time to time, until the root cause of impurities (ignorance and egoism) is uprooted completely.

When there's no problem, there's no need to anticipate a problem. When there's a problem, confront it, without fear and worry.

Be free.

Words of wisdom are neither good nor bad

Words of wisdom are neither good nor bad. They are just what they are. They have no intention or quality to be useful or useless, to be meaningful or meaningless, or to be enlightening or disturbing.

Words of wisdom can be useful and meaningful and enlightening for those who are aware of ignorance in oneself, but they are useless and meaningless and disturbing for those who are not aware of ignorance in oneself.

All minds that are under the influence of ignorance and egoism are being conditioned or influenced by many different types of egoistic thinking and belief that are being imprinted into the mind since the birth of this life existence coming from family and cultural background, religious background, parenting, schooling, social mixing and interaction, social medias, commercial values, political influence, and all kinds of information sources, to live life, to think and feel, to act and react.

Most of the time, we don't really inquire the truth of everything that were passed down to us from generation to generation, and everything that we come in contact with, and we usually put our 'trust' onto 'reliable' or 'respectable' sources to feed or occupy our minds with many different information and ideas, until we start to doubt about something and then we would question or investigate the truth of it, to find out whether it's true, or not. But that usually won't happen until we got into trouble and suffer for the consequences of our own 'incorrect' or 'ignorant' understanding, thinking, belief, way of living, conduct and behavior.

If people don't question the truth of everything, everyone just live life, think and feel, act and react as how they were being told, or educated, or influenced by the elders, parents, caretakers, friends, society, communities, groups, associations, gangs, politicians, religious authorities, school teachers, philosophers, business people, and so on.

In Yoga and Buddhism, one has to question the truth of everything including all the teachings or scriptures of yoga and Buddhism, of what all the teachers said and taught. The real teachers won't be insulted, or disrespected, or humiliated when the students neither agree nor disagree with what the teachers taught them, but being independent and diligent to perform self-practice and self-inquiry to realize the truth of the teachings through self-effort and self-realization.

It's okay if we don't know many things. It won't do any harm if we don't know everything and we are aware of we are ignorant, or don't know the truth of something. But it would be very harmful to oneself and others, if we blind-believe in and blind-agreeing with and blindly sharing information and ideas that we don't know whether they are true, or not.

So as there are many 'yoga teachers' teach yoga to other people according to what they have learned, studied and heard from the yoga courses and yoga books that they have attended and read, just because the books/scriptures/teaching manuals and their teachers say so. Some people don't mind if the teachings are true, or not, as long as they have some ideas of yoga poses practice sequences with some technical information and interesting spiritual stories to teach in the yoga classes to satisfy the people's enthusiasm and intention of joining the yoga classes, and earn a living. And there's nothing wrong with that, and it's everyone's freedom. One is willingly to present something that one doesn't really know what does it really means, while others are willingly to follow something that they don't know where it would lead them to.

The wise never aspire or intent to make other beings to see what they see, or to know what they know. The teachings are everywhere for everyone to take it (practice and realize), or leave it.

Be free and be happy.

Wisdom vs intelligence and accumulated worldly knowledge

Wisdom reflects peace and freedom from suffering. Meanwhile intelligence and accumulated worldly knowledge in a person doesn't necessarily guarantee that one will be peaceful or free from suffering.

One doesn't need to know 'the knowledge of how to build a house' to have peace and be free from suffering. Knowing 'the knowledge of how to build a house' doesn't guarantee that one will be peaceful and free from suffering. Though one can use 'the knowledge of how to build a house' to benefit oneself and others. Being a doctor with the knowledge of medicine and all kinds of illnesses, and using this knowledge to be doing something useful for one's and others' health condition also doesn't guarantee that one will be peaceful and free from suffering. Being a psychologist with the knowledge of psychology and all kinds of psychological illnesses, and using this knowledge to benefit oneself and others also doesn't guarantee that one will be peaceful and free from suffering.

Intelligence and accumulated worldly knowledge is neither good nor bad and it can be used for something good or bad under different 'intention', and it's uncorrelated with peace and wisdom.

Wisdom is one with peace. They manifest in oneness.

When there's peace, there's wisdom. When there's wisdom, there's peace. And vice versa.

Whenever one finds 'peace' in any particular quality of name and form, or experience, or action and inaction, or the result of action and inaction, or object, or space, or place, or condition, or situation, then very soon this 'peace' will change and disappear.

It's the same as compassion is uncorrelated with 'passionate love' towards the world and the worldly names and forms.

People talk about 'love the world' and 'love for peace in the world'. But without wisdom, this 'love' towards 'love the world' and 'love for peace in the world' is merely a form of passionate attachment and affection (derived from ignorance and egoism) towards worldly names and forms that are impermanent. Out of 'love' towards the world and desiring 'peace that we want' in the world, people 'desire' to make the world to be the way that how we would love it to be, and would 'destroy' any 'obstruction towards having the world to be the way that how we would love it to be' at any cost. The by-products of this kind of 'love' about 'love for the world' and 'love for peace in the world' is restlessness - a mixture of happiness/satisfaction/meaningfulness/peacefulness/victory/strong (when the world and the experience of the worldly names and forms are being the way that how one would love it to be) and unhappiness/dissatisfaction/meaninglessness/peacelessness/failure/vulnerability (when the world and the worldly names and forms are not being the way that how one would love it to be).

Out of 'love' towards what we believe as 'peacefulness', 'kindness', 'good' and 'right', we 'hate' what we believe as 'peacelessness', 'evilness', 'bad' and 'wrong'. 'Hating' what we believe as 'peacelessness', 'evilness', 'bad' and 'wrong' is nothing to do with compassion.

 

Compassion is not about 'accepting', 'allowing' and 'supporting' what we believe as 'peacelessness', 'evilness', 'bad' and 'wrong' either. But, it's freedom from 'the suffering' of 'hatred', 'anger', 'dissatisfaction', 'disappointment', 'craving', 'aversion', 'hurt', 'regret', 'guilt', 'violence', 'ill-will', 'ill-thinking', 'animosity', 'vulnerability', 'offensiveness', 'defensiveness', 'obsessiveness', 'possessiveness', 'fear' and 'worry', being undetermined or undisturbed by what the worldly passionate minds believe as 'peacelessness', 'evilness', 'bad' and 'wrong'.

The wise abandon 'love' towards the world of worldly names and forms that are impermanent, but resting in unconditional peace of wisdom and compassion.

Open-mind that exists along under the presence of compassion and wisdom is void of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance.

Open-mind born out of compassion and wisdom reflects awareness towards ignorant situation and knowing how not to get into unnecessary ignorant situations and the consequence of that, being free from ignorant thinking/action and the consequences of ignorant thinking/action.

 

There are many passionate minds have misunderstanding towards what is open-mindedness, where they would think and believe that open-mindedness is about 'being optimistically trusting the universe will look after my well-being where I should think and believe in everyone that I come in contact with are all pure, good and kind people without any selfish intention and desire, where I shouldn't have any doubtful/distrusting thinking/feeling towards anyone in order to look after myself and my well-being, by myself, because I think that it's 'bad', 'wrong', 'closed-mind', 'unfriendly', 'ill-thinking' and 'being selfish to look after myself by protecting myself from mistreatment/harm', and I don't want to have 'ill-thinking' towards anyone or 'being selfish to look after myself by protecting myself from mistreatment/harm'. I strongly believe that I myself, am a pure, positive, generous, kind and loving being, that I only will be loved by everyone and will be void of any mistreatment or harm, as I love the universe/God and the universe/God loves me', and thus, ignorantly coming in contact and dealing with ignorant beings with impure intention and desire, and getting involve in ignorant situations/events that give rise to mistreatment/harm to oneself. This is actually ignorantly 'encouraging' mistreatment/harm or crimes to be happening.

Keeping the hand away from close contact with fire to avoid getting injured/burnt is not 'bad', 'wrong', 'ill-thinking', or 'being selfish'. By not keeping the hand away from close contact with fire, but deliberately keeping the hand in close contact with fire, thinking that it's 'bad', 'wrong', 'ill-thinking' or 'being selfish' to keep the hand away from fire, and I want to be 'open-mind' where I should believe in the universe or God will protect me from any harm, is ignorance, or mere stupidity.

Being compassionate, friendly and open mind towards all beings doesn't mean that one should be ignorantly and wittingly letting oneself to be taken for granted/advantage by those with selfish intention/desire, or giving the opportunity for others to misbehave and endangering oneself to be mistreated/hurt by the ignorance of others.

Open mind towards all without judgment is more about being opened towards everyone could be kind or unkind, depending on the current state of their minds, without judgment of 'This is a kind person' or 'This is an unkind person'. One doesn't need to trust, or distrust, or mistrust anyone for anything.

This is similar to where the teaching of 'surrendering' in Yoga is also being misunderstood by many passionate minds in the same way. 'Surrendering' in Yoga is about surrendering the ego and egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, performing all our duties and actions without attachment, renouncing the fruit of actions, being dispassionate and desireless. It doesn't mean that one doesn't need to be responsible for one's actions and the consequences of actions, or doesn't need to be responsible to be looking after the well-being of oneself and those under one's care. Such like, driving on the road. One needs to be attentive and stay alert while driving, and be responsible to follow the traffic rules, and watching out for 'reckless drivers' or 'other road users'. 'Surrendering' doesn't mean "Ah, I surrender to God completely. Everything is God's will. Whatever will be, will be. I must not have 'ill-thinking' towards anyone that some of the drivers might be driving recklessly. I shouldn't have 'negative thinking' about there could be 'unexpected objects/animals' might be on the road that I need to watch out for. I don't need to drive carefully with attentiveness or stop at any traffic lights and junctions, and without watching out for the other road users or any unexpected objects/animals on the road, and I will arrive safely at my destination without any problem." That is ignorance, or mere stupidity.

Be free.

When there's doubt whether in the yoga asana practice or in life

When there's doubt whether in the yoga asana practice or in life, especially in relationships, we learn to take responsibility to make decision for ourselves, either we go beyond the doubt and endure whatever difficulty or challenge that we think we are dealing with, and make some adjustments to adapt and accommodate whatever difficulty or discomfort, proceed with what we want to venture, or, if we think we can't go beyond the doubt, we can let go what we would like to do or have, without regret or guilt towards the decision that we made, no matter what is the outcome or consequences of our decision made.

When we attempt to perform certain yoga asana poses that we are not familiar with and there's doubt towards our physical ability or fear of the risk of injury, we learn to take the responsibility to make decision for ourselves, either we go beyond that doubt and proceed with the attempt to perform the yoga poses without tension or fear or struggle or pushing the body beyond its limitation, especially when the body is capable and is ready to do the poses, but the mind has doubt and fear, and it doesn't matter if we still can't do the yoga poses after we have tried our best, or if we think we can't go beyond that doubt, we think and believe that our body is not capable or is not ready to do the poses, we can let go of trying to perform those yoga poses in this practice session. There's no regret afterwards towards the decision that we made for ourselves.

It's really not important whether we can perform all the yoga poses, or not. It's about learning how to deal with fear and doubt while we perform the yoga asana poses. It's okay if we can't go beyond the fear or doubt in this present, but we can try again in the next practice, or the next next practice, it doesn't matter if one day finally we can perform the yoga poses without fear or doubt, or we still can't do them even after many attempts for many years. It's really not important and it has nothing to do with the realization of unconditional love and peace.

It's the same as in life situations, especially in relationships. When there's doubt in a relationship and we are not sure whether we want to continue to be in the relationship, or not, we can either go beyond the doubt and do our best to develop unconditional love, patience, tolerance, acceptance, adjustment, adaptation and accommodation to over-come whatever difficulties that we think we are encountering in a relationship, or if we think we can't go beyond the doubt, if we think we can't have the unconditional love, patience, tolerance, acceptance, adjustment, adaptation and accommodation to continue the relationship that is challenging for one or both parties, we can just let go of the relationship, even though we think we love the person in the relationship with us, as loving someone doesn't mean that we have to be in a relationship with that person, to 'keep' the love, the person and the relationship to be mine and ours.

Sometimes we have to let go a relationship out of love, real love. As loving each other doesn't necessarily mean that two people are suitable to be sharing a life together in a relationship or living together under the same roof.

It's okay if we are aware that we are not as loving or kind as what we would like us to be. We don't have to love anyone, because most of the time, we don't even love ourselves, we only love what we like and what we want. And it's okay if we don't love anyone or ourselves, as long as we are aware of it. It's okay if we realize we don't really love the person in the existing relationship with us. And it would be better to be aware of "I don't love you" than to think or believe that "I love you", but at the same time "I'll do and say things that would hurt you and our relationship, because I don't really love you, but I only love what I like and what I want. And I am unhappy or feel disappointed, angry and hurt when I don't get what I like and what I want in this relationship with you."

There's neither regret nor guilt, once we made a decision and we take the responsibility for the consequences of our decision made.

Some people do not want to make decision for themselves and ask other people to give them advice and make the decision for them, so that, if the consequences of the decision made turn out to be good, everyone will be happy, and if the consequences of the decision made turn out to be bad, they can blame other people for it.

Be free.

Be good, do good?

In the 'civilized' society, it's a courteousness to tell someone, "You are such a good and wonderful person." when we see this person behaves nicely and does something good.

Many people from 'civilized' background would feel awkward or disturbed or unappreciated or discouraged when they come to the traditional yoga ashram, the people from the ashram seldom praise or compliment the visitors/guests/students after they have done something nice or achieve something good in the ashram. They think that these swamis/teachers/workers maybe either are unaware of the visitors/guests/students' good behavior, intention, contribution and achievement, or they are very stingy to give praise or compliment to other people, or they don't want to encourage the people to do more good or achieve higher results, or they don't appreciate the goodness and achievement of other people. They expect 'nice' reaction from other people, such like, "You are good!", "Well done!", "Thank you!", "You are so nice!", "You are such a lovely and helpful person!", and etc.

This expectation towards particular 'nice' reaction from other people is coming from ignorance and egoism. It's the ego that wants and needs to be acknowledged that they are good, that they have done something good, that they have achieved something good, so that they would feel being appreciated and encouraged for their good action and effort to continue to be good and do more good. There's nothing wrong with this worldly egoistic courteousness. Just that those who truly practice yoga and know what is yoga, they won't judge anyone or empower the ignorance and egoism in the people who come to them to learn and practice yoga.

Those who are free from ignorance and egoism don't need any acknowledgement or appreciation or encouragement from others to be good, to do good or to achieve something. Only those who are not free from ignorance and egoism would need acknowledgment, appreciation and encouragement from others to motivate them to be nice, to do good, or to achieve something, or else they would feel disappointed, discouraged. By giving them what they want (acknowledgment, appreciation and encouragement), might encourage them to do good and to improve, but it doesn't help them to be free from ignorance and egoism, instead it is empowering or strengthening the ignorance and egoism in them. This is not what compassion or kindness is about. It doesn't help the society or the world to be better even though there are some 'nice' people trying to do 'nice' things in the world under a condition that their action and effort are being acknowledged and appreciated. And it doesn't guarantee that these 'nice' people won't be doing anything that would generate 'disharmony', 'problems', or 'inconvenience' to themselves and other people.

Most of the time, we behave differently and do things differently according to the state of the mind that is impermanent.

When the mind is in a calm and happy state, we are more patience, tolerant and accommodating, and we might behave nicely and do nice things for ourselves and other people. But it doesn't mean that "I am a good person." It's the same as for other people. It doesn't mean that "They are good people."

When the mind is in a disturbed and unhappy state, we are impatient, intolerant and unaccommodating, we might behave badly and do hurtful things to ourselves and other people. But it doesn't mean that "I am a bad person." It's the same as for other people. It doesn't mean that "They are bad people."

It's just people with impure mind functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism.

If one truly wants to be good and do good, it's not so much about trying to behave nicely and do something nice to please other people or to make other people feel good and happy, but it's to free the mind from ignorance and egoism and impurities, to stop generating ignorant actions and reactions out of the disturbed, dissatisfied, disappointed and unhappy state of mind, and thus, one stops generating unnecessary disharmony, or problems, or inconvenience to oneself and other people.

Those who are free from ignorance and egoism, there's no judgment towards oneself and others as good or bad. Everyone is just what they are, as they are, in the present. There's no attachment or identification, carving or aversion, or discrimination towards the recognition or acknowledgment of 'good people' or 'bad people'.

If people don't like, or don't want, or disagree with this teaching and practice of yoga, that's their freedom.

 

Most people believe that "People should be nice to each other and say nice things to each other and show appreciation and encouragement for goodness in people to encourage them to do more good." But, it doesn't stop people from saying 'bad' things about other people behind people's back, or behaving hurtfully out of the disturbed unhappy state of mind, when their desires and don't desires are not being gratified. People would feel disappointed and discouraged to do good or improve, or some even intentionally behaving hurtfully to express their disappointment being over-powered by bitterness and resentment, if they don't get the 'nice' reaction that they expect from other people, to be acknowledged, to be appreciated, to be praised and complimented for what they have done and achieved that they think is good and deserving. That's courteousness of a 'civilized' society.

Most people think and believe that it is a 'normal' human's behavior, but it's indeed a form of mental illness. The mind that is free from ignorance and egoism, that is mentally healthy, that is understanding, it doesn't behave in such way.

Be free.

Take good care of the body and mind?

Learning and practicing yoga actually is also about learning how to take good care of the overall well-being of the body and the mind in everyday life, but without attachment and identification towards the impermanent condition of the body and the mind.

It's not just about doing some yoga asana and pranayama and meditation practice for a couple of hours a day regularly as a form of taking good care of the body and the mind, but more importantly in the rest of the time in everyday life, when the body and mind are not performing physical postures, breathing exercises, concentration and meditation practice, we need to know how to live in simplicity, how to conserve energy, when to take rest, when to work more, when to work less, when to eat more, when to eat less, how to relax or let go, how to stop generate unnecessary tension into the body and mind, how to stop pushing the body and mind beyond its limitation, and etc, to truly taking good care of the overall well-being of the body and mind.

Out of laziness, or stinginess, or particular obsessive compulsive disorder, or great ambition, or sociable personality, or caring personality, or lack of self-control and self-discipline, or some other issues, people might not rest well, eat well, work well, or relax properly, and the body and mind are either being in a state of lethargic or agitation due to accumulated strain and stress or restlessness, even though people try to do yoga asana and pranayama and meditation practice regularly. It's like, now we sweep and mop the floor, and then, we bring more dirt and dust onto the floor, and repeat this process again and again.

When the condition of the body and mind be affected by the improper or imbalanced way of living, the mind becomes tired, cloudy, unfocused, short-tempered, depressed, irritated, impatient, aggressive or anxious easily. This will affect the yoga asana and pranayama and meditation practice, as well as the ongoing function of all the support systems in the body, the sleep quality, the mood, the thinking faculty, the clarity of the mind, the physical mobility, the health condition, the energy level, and the relationships with everyone and everything.

Learn how to live a simple yet balanced lifestyle is as important as doing the yoga asana and pranayama and meditation practice regularly. Simple yet balanced lifestyle has nothing to do with the commercial products of branded and trendy hype of 'luxurious organic living', or 'organic clean eating', or 'calorie counting eating', or 'precise daily consumption limits of different food intake', or 'health and fitness products and supplements', but it's about incorporating the teachings of yoga of 'Do our best', non-attachment, non-identification, desireless, dispassion, right discrimination, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison, non-expectation, renunciation, seclusion, solitude, silence, concentration or one-pointedness, contentment, generosity, forgiveness, patience, determination, perseverance, acceptance, adjustment, adaptation and accommodation into everyday life activities, to stop or minimize accumulation of unnecessary tension into the systems.

If one knows how to live a simple yet balanced lifestyle, if one knows how to conserve energy and doesn't put unnecessary stress or strain into the body and mind, there's no tension accumulated, and there's no need to go anywhere or do anything to release tension, as there's none.

"I am so busy and so stressed and so tired. I have not enough time to eat or sleep properly. I have so many friends and relatives. I need to care for so many people in my life. I have so many personal and social functions I need to attend. There's so many things I want to do for myself and for everyone. My mind can't turn-off. I would love a holiday but I will need time and energy for it, as I would be exhausted after coming back from holiday doing all the holiday activities and eating so much. I know I need complete rest. I need to stop doing things, physically and mentally. But then I will feel so guilty and unhappy if I didn't manage to do my fitness workout everyday, if I didn't meet up with my friends to stay connect, if I wasn't there for my friends who need me to listen to their problems and complaints, if I didn't achieve all my daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. So how?"

It's everyone's freedom for what they want to do with their life or how they spend their time and energy.

Be free.

Ignorant towards ignorance

The power of ignorance is so great that the mind doesn't even know it is under the influence of ignorance, thinking that it is wise or smart enough, or it is wiser or smarter than others. And the ego doesn't like to hear or be pointed out that it is the product of ignorance, and would feel offended or humiliated or intimidated.

Those who are aware of there's ignorance in themselves would be able to learn and evolve.

Be free.

The power or function of memory is neither good nor bad

Most people, are interested in boosting the power or function of the memory. So that one can remember as much as possible all the knowledge and skills that one has been learning, to do things, to remember everyone and everything that one has come in contact with from the past to the present. Otherwise, for most people, there's no meanings or values in life existence, if one doesn't remember any knowledge or skills that one has been learning and doesn't remember the people/relationships that one has come in contact with and are related to. They want to remember 'love' and 'happiness' and 'goodness' and 'achievements'. People want to remember everyone and everything, and be remembered by others, to be existing, to be meaningful, to be alive.

Meanwhile some people try their very best to forget all those unpleasant/unhappy/painful/hurtful memories that are disturbing and hurting them in the present now.

This power or function of memory is neither good nor bad. It has its benefits to humanity and some defects as well.

If a mind is free from ignorance and egoism, this mind can make use of the power of memory to remember all its learning and knowledge or skills to be doing something that would benefit oneself and others without attachment, identification, judgment, or expectation. One will not have craving or aversion towards the past pleasant/unpleasant experiences/feelings, and will not be disturbed or determined by being aware of the memory of all these past pleasant/unpleasant experiences/feelings, in the present now. There's no judgment or expectation towards oneself or others based on the past pleasant/unpleasant experiences/feelings. There's no suffering or miseries exist in this egoless mind.

Due to ignorance, the ego clings onto the past memories of pleasant/happy and unpleasant/unhappy experiences/feelings.

When remembering the pleasant/happy/accomplishing/satisfying experiences/feelings that are already gone and don't exist in the present, there is suffering/unrest/dissatisfaction derived from missing and craving towards all those pleasant experiences/feelings.

When remembering the unpleasant/unhappy/painful/hurtful/fearful/regretful/guilty/disappointing/dissatisfying experiences/feelings, that are already gone and don't exist in the present, there is suffering/unrest/unhappiness/painful sorrow/hurts/fear/regret/guilt/disappointment/dissatisfaction derived from aversion towards all those unpleasant experiences/feelings, continuously be disturbed or determined by all those unpleasant experiences/feelings, which is unnecessary.

And due to ignorance, people don't just want to have a good and highly efficient function of the memory to remember the past of this life existence from birth till the present which one could barely remember a little bit of here and there without the precise/exact details, there are also many people who 'believe' in various/countless past lives before this life existence, and they are not just very interested in knowing/finding out what were their past lives, but they are also be disturbed or determined by what they think they know about their past lives. And not just that, they also very interested in knowing/finding out what will be their future lives, and be disturbed or determined by what they think they know about their future lives.

When people are dissatisfied with and don't want to confront the reality that they perceive in the present, they try to runaway from this reality that they don't like and don't want, by imagining they have a better/nicer/happier reality in the past or in the future, being in an imaginary reality that they prefer, that they created for themselves, and somehow they might feel better and safer being in that imaginary reality. That's their freedom.

People's minds are already very busy/restless being disturbed and determined by the perceived experiences in the present now, not to say, to also be disturbed and determined by the past memories and the future imagination/anticipation/projection/expectation/speculation. "This is who I was and this is what I am and this is what I will be."

People are being disturbed and determined mentally/emotionally/physically by the ignorant/egoistic attachment and identification towards the desires of craving and aversion, judgment and expectation towards all the perceived names and forms or experiences, whether it's in the present, or remembering the past, or imagining the future.

Maybe people's life in the present is not complicated/excited/busy enough, life is so dulled and bored, that's why people try very best to bring back the past and project into the future, to spice up their life in the present?

So, if past lives exist, and someone somehow 'recalls' some good/pleasant/joyful/meaningful and bad/unpleasant/hurtful/painful/fearful memories of one's past lives, and then so what? Missing the past pleasant past lives experiences and people whom one loved very much in past lives? What if one finds out that the people whom one loved very much in past lives are now one's greatest enemies whom one hates and hurts very much in the present? Or be disturbed by the past unpleasant past lives experiences and people whom had hurt one very much in past lives? What if one finds out that the people whom had hurt one very much in past lives are now one's best friend or lover or family or respected personal whom one loves very much in the present?

It's truly unnecessary.

And so, when one truly realized the truth of what is going on in this mind, and goes beyond all the memories of past pleasant/unpleasant, or rightful/wrongful, or good/bad experiences/feelings, being free from attachment and identification with the past, the last moment and before, then there will be complete freedom in all the relationships with everyone now, in the present, it really doesn't matter what happened just now, or yesterday, or last week, or last month, or last year, or last 20 years. It's only the present moment. And even this present moment is impermanent. And this is actual lasting liberation that comes from the realization of the truth, it's not the same as the momentary 'high effect' of numbing the mind through drugs and alcohol intoxication.

People, including some yoga and meditation practitioners, who like to relate YOGA and MEDITATION or HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS with getting high through drugs and alcohol intoxication, are only trying to momentary escape/runaway from suffering or miseries that they don't want. They'll go back to their suffering and miseries again, once the numbing effect of the drugs and alcohol disappeared. That's their freedom for what they want to do with their body and their mind. It's neither right nor wrong. But, yoga and meditation or higher consciousness has nothing to do with getting high through drugs and alcohol intoxication. People who truly practice yoga and meditation and have gone beyond the attachment or identification with the life existence of the body and the mind don't need to get high or momentary relief by taking drugs or alcohol, as they don't need to escape or runaway from suffering or miseries, as there's none. There's no craving for the momentary pleasant sensations/effects/relieves coming from the effect of drugs and alcohol.

If people couldn't understand this, or one understood this, but one dislikes and disagrees with and doesn't want this liberation due to the mind is conditioned to think in certain ways or believe in certain beliefs, or one understood this, but one couldn't let go attachment and identification, that's their freedom.

It's okay whether the power or function of memory is good or not so good. It's okay if the mind couldn't remember this or that. It's okay if the mind couldn't remember everything and everyone as it was and as it is. It's okay if the mind remembers some past unpleasant/unhappy experiences or feelings. It's okay if the mind couldn't remember some past pleasant/happy experiences or feelings. It's okay if the mind couldn't remember someone who is somehow related to this body and this mind.

Be free.

People's power?

People's power is no doubt very powerful, of course. There's no doubt that other than the greatest power of nature, it's the people's power that is so powerful and influential that it influences the condition or situation of the world, in a country, in a community, in a company, or in a family, through their thinking and behavior, making the world a better or worse place to be in. But what is influencing the people's thinking and behavior is more powerful. And so, what happen if ignorance, egoism and impurities is the power that influencing many people in the world to think, behave, act and react?

Even those who think they are good people who want to be good, who do good actions and don't do bad actions are not necessarily be free from the influence of ignorance and egoism and impurities. If the mind thinks and feels, "I am disturbed, disappointed, frustrated, threatened, depressed, angered or hurt by something that I think is bad, negative and wrong", know that this is ignorance, though there's nothing wrong with this reaction of thinking and feeling in such way reacting towards certain perceptions of names and forms that the mind believes as bad, negative and wrong. The power of ignorance is so great that the mind doesn't even know it is under the influence of ignorance, thinking that it is wise or smart enough, or it is wiser or smarter than others. And the ego doesn't like to hear or be pointed out that it is the product of ignorance, and would feel offended or humiliated or intimidated.

The wise won't be disturbed nor determined by the ignorance of others of all sorts of ignorant thinking and behavior, or what the mind thinks and believes as bad, negative or wrong. If one will be disturbed and determined by the ignorance of others of their ignorant thinking and behavior, or what the mind thinks and believes as bad, negative and wrong, or be disturbed by the condition and situation of the world that is not how one would like it to be, then this mind is under the influence of ignorance.

One can choose not to be disturbed or determined by the ignorance of others of all sorts of ignorant thinking and behavior, or not.

The wise don't have any intention to change the world. They allow everyone to be free from ignorance, or not, through everyone's own interest and effort. If people are not interested in freeing their mind from ignorance, that's their freedom.

Even the enlightened liberated beings can't change the world or take away the ignorance in others or remove ignorance from the world. If not, the world is already be free from ignorant beings/thinking/behavior. One can only free one's mind from ignorance through self-initiative, self-effort, self-discipline, self-inquiry and self-realization.

If there are people have the great ambition to be 'superhero' to change and save the world, that's their freedom.

The YTTC or Yoga Teachers Training Courses is about being a platform for truth seekers who are interested in attaining liberation from ignorance and suffering to learn and practice yoga to become their own teacher to perform self-practice/Yoga Sadhana, to attain self-realization and independence, and when one is free from ignorance and suffering, the world will have less a being under the influence of ignorance. And one can share one's self-realized knowledge of yoga with others, where yoga asana practice is one of the many practices to purify and quiet the mind to prepare the mind for meditation. But nowadays, many YTTC are not about developing serious self-practice or Yoga Sadhana to free oneself from ignorance and egoism, but, it's mainly about to be equipped with some 'teaching technical information' for 'teaching yoga (asana exercise) classes' to most people who are not really interested in the elimination of egoism through the practice of silence, desireless, dispassion, self-discipline, self-inquiry and self-realization, but more interested in empowering egoism and gratifying their worldly passionate desires of craving and aversion especially towards enhancing physical health and fitness level, physical appearance and ability through performing the yoga asana exercises, while some others are interested towards developing mental psychic power for different reasons or intentions.

"I have been doing some yoga regularly for some time. Now, I want to learn and do more yoga. Can you teach me?"
"Really?"
"Yes! I am really interested to learn to do all the yoga poses that I am still not able to do. I also want to know what are the different muscles groups that we use in the different yoga poses and their specific benefits related to health and fitness. I hope to become a yoga teacher to teach yoga classes someday. I need to make my body healthier, fitter, stronger and more flexible so that I can do lots of the yoga poses to be qualified to join the yoga teacher training course. I also want to feel better about myself, because right now, I am not very happy with myself, my yoga practice, my physical appearance, my health and fitness level, my job, my life and my relationship. Many yoga teachers say yoga can gives us lots of benefits to improve health and fitness, and make us look good and feel good about ourselves, and become superhuman with superpower to do anything that we want to do with our body and mind. They say yoga can make our body stay young and strong, that we won't get sick and we can defy aging. They say by doing yoga we can defy gravity and we can fly. And they say practice yoga can also have all our desires come true. I want a better life, a better body, a better relationship and a better job. I really want to learn and do yoga!"
"I can teach you yoga. But first, you will need to let go all these desires of what you want and don't want."
"This is not the yoga that I want to learn and do."
"Be happy then."

Life and Death

Some wish to live

Some wish other people don't die

They spend time, effort and money trying to escape sickness, old age, decay and death

Some wish to die

Some wish other people dead

For different reasons

It's everyone's freedom of wish

It's neither right nor wrong

It's neither good nor bad

It's neither positive nor negative

The liberated mind goes beyond life and death

There's no craving or aversion towards life or death

There's no desire or intention to live or continue existing

There's no desire or intention to die or cease existing

Allowing nature to be what it is, as it is

Allowing one's life or other's life to flow to where it is, as it is

Allowing one's life or other's life to stop at where it is, as it is

May all be free from suffering

Be free from craving and aversion towards life and death

The sky is just what it is

The sky is just what it is

It's neither blue nor grey

It's neither day nor night

It's neither bright nor dark

It's neither high nor low

It's neither big nor small

It's neither calm nor turbulent

The eyes can only see what they see

The eyes can't see beyond what they can see

What the eyes see are not necessarily the truth of what they are

The mind can only knows what it knows

The mind can't know beyond what it knows

What the mind knows are not necessarily the truth of what they are

And above all

The sky is not even 'the sky'

'I' is not even I

Be free

Joyful and peaceful as it is, unconditionally

There's nothing wrong and it's very common that most minds will feel good, happy, contented and peaceful when the mind experiences something that will make it feels good, happy, contented and peaceful, or when the mind comes in contact with qualities of names and forms that it likes and wants and doesn't come in contact with certain qualities of names and forms that it doesn't like and doesn't want. And the mind won't feel good, happy, contented or peaceful, or it will feel bad, unhappy, discontented and not peaceful when the mind doesn't experience something that will induce good, happy and peaceful feelings in the mind, or when the mind doesn't come in contact with the qualities of names and forms that it likes and wants, and when the mind comes in contact with the qualities of names and forms that it doesn't like and doesn't want.

The mind that is not free from ignorance and egoism will always be conditioned or determined by the presence or absence of certain qualities of names and forms or all the mind perceptions of names and forms through the senses to feel good, happy, contented and peaceful, or not.

The mind that is free from ignorance and egoism will be joyful, contented and peaceful as it is, unconditionally, being uninfluenced and undetermined by all the perceptions or experiences of different qualities of names and forms that are impermanent. There's no fear or grief when this mind is approaching death or when someone who is related or closed to this mind is approaching death. This freedom doesn't come from the momentary effects of drugs or intoxication numbing the mind, but coming from the realization of the truth of life existence of the body and mind. There's no clinging onto any names and forms, including existence and non-existence. Those who are not free from ignorance and egoism couldn't comprehend this and they will perceive or recognize this as a form of 'coldness' or 'heartlessness' or 'abnormality' or 'inhuman' or 'wrong'. That's their freedom of life and thinking.

If there is thinking or identification of "I am happy and peaceful because ..." or "I am not happy or peaceful because ..." Then know that this mind is not free. It doesn't matter if the reason of being happy and peaceful is 'something is good', or 'everything is good', or 'life is good', or 'health is good', or 'the state of mind is good', or 'relationship is good', or 'children are good', or 'job is good', or 'people are nice', or 'the world is good and peaceful', or 'yoga practice is good', or 'meditation is good', 'the teacher is good', 'the class is good', or 'weather is good', or 'food is good', and so on.

There's nothing wrong with "being grateful and thankful, contented and happy when there is something good", but the mind is still not free yet. When "there is nothing good" or "there is something not good or something bad", but the mind is still peaceful as it is, then this mind is free.

There's no "I am happy and peaceful because ..." or "I am not happy or peaceful because ..." when the mind is free from ignorance and egoism. This egoless/selfless mind itself is unconditional peace. It doesn't need to feel or be peaceful.

The liberated mind being free from ignorance and egoism and suffering is unconditioned or undetermined by any qualities of names and forms to be happy and peaceful, or not, being aware of all the impermanent changes of all the perceptions of names and forms, without attachment, identification, desires of craving and aversion, judgment or expectation, allowing all the names and forms to be there as they are, to be what they are, but all these names and forms have no intention or quality to induce happiness and peacefulness or unhappiness and restlessness, without intention to change or control all the names and forms to be the way that 'I' like it to be, or the way that 'I' think it should be.

It's the ego that wants to feel good, happy, contented and peaceful, and doesn't want to feel bad, unhappy, discontented and not peaceful. It's the ego that has lots of ceaseless desires of craving and aversion waiting to be gratified in order to attain good feelings and the sense of happiness, or to escape bad feelings and the sense of unhappiness. If the desires of craving and aversion are being gratified, the ego feels good, happy, contented and peaceful. If the desires of craving and aversion are not being gratified, the ego feels bad, unhappy, discontented and not peaceful. The mind is free as it is, when the ego is annihilated.

To know the truth or the root cause of suffering or unhappiness is neither complicated nor difficult. But to have the willpower to be able to free the mind from ignorance and egoism seems to be very challenging for many. And it's okay. That's why the yoga practice is here, without judgment or expectation, keep practicing non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison and non-expectation to be free from ignorance and egoism.

Contemplate on this, and be free.

If people don't like or disagree with or don't want this unconditional peace and happiness, but they prefer to be determined by the gratification of desires of craving and aversion through coming in contact with or non-coming in contact with certain qualities of names and forms that they like or dislike and want or don't want to feel good, happy, contented and peaceful, or not, and if people prefer to take drugs or intoxication to get momentary relieving or numbing effect to deal with unhappiness, discontentment, disappointment, hurt, guilt, regret, grief, depression, painful sorrow, meaninglessness, loneliness, fear or suffering, that's their freedom.

It's everyone's freedom to be free, or not

There's only now

And even this now is impermanent

Why cling onto what the mind thinks (in now) it experienced in the past (remembrance of the past that doesn't exist in now)

Missing the pleasant experiences and the contact with desirable objects of names and forms

Craving for the pleasant experiences and the contact with desirable objects of names and forms

Be disturbed and influenced by the past unpleasant experiences and the contact with undesirable objects of names and forms

Be disturbed and determined by wild imagination, anticipation, projection, speculation and expectation towards the future (doesn't exist in now)

Be disturbed and determined by what the mind perceives/experiences in now that is also impermanent

It's everyone's freedom whether they want to cling onto the past experiences, the present experiences and the future anticipations, or be free

Not clinging/attaching onto the mind perception of all pleasant/unpleasant experiences or the contact with the objects of names and forms that are impermanent

There's no clinging, craving or aversion towards the past, the present and the future

There's no dissatisfaction, disappointment, hurt, regret, guilt, depression, meaninglessness, loneliness, anger, hatred, animosity, anxiety, fear and worry

There's no egoistic identification and desires - I am this and I am not that / I want this and I don't want that

One makes use of the present condition and ability of the existence and function of the body and mind and the opportunity that is available now to be doing something for oneself and others, but there's no attachment or identification towards all actions and the fruit of actions

If something needs to be done in now, do it

If something cannot be done in now, let it be and let it go

Be free

*This freedom has nothing to do with whether the body can perform some yoga poses or is performing some yoga poses, or not. Or, whether the mind knows this or doesn't know that. Or, whether the mind knows and performs some rituals of spiritual or religious or cultural practices, or not. Or, whether one believes or disbelieves in 'God'. Or, whether 'God' exists, or not.

This freedom is available to all, if the mind is free from ignorance and egoism, it doesn't matter whether people believe or disbelieve in 'God', whether 'God' exists or doesn't exist. If the mind is under the influence of ignorance and egoism, one is not free, it doesn't matter whether one believes or disbelieves in 'God', whether 'God' exists or doesn't exists.

This freedom is the realization of impermanence and selflessness of life existence.

If people don't like or disagree with or don't want this freedom, if people prefer to be passionate towards the worldly life of all the past and present experiences and future expectation, and attach onto their actions and the fruit of actions, to gratify all the passionate desires and enjoy all the emotional ups and downs, full of self-justification and hypocrisy in mingling and social interactions, while blaming and criticizing everyone and everything (including oneself for being not good enough) that they think is bad and wrong for their mind reactions of dissatisfaction, disappointment, hurt, anger, unhappiness, fear and worry towards all their unpleasant/undesirable experiences, that's their freedom.

Take good care of everything to appreciate everything, but without fear of losing anything

Non-attachment doesn't mean that we don't take good care of anything. We take good care of everything - life, the body and the mind, the environment, the house, the relationships, the family, the world, and etc, to appreciate everything that we think is good - good life, good condition, good health, good experiences, good feelings, good environment, good living area, good relationships, good family, good situation of the world, and etc, but without attachment towards everything and without fear of losing anything that we think is good.

When we perform the yoga poses, we pay maximum attention, be vigilant and take care while coming into the poses, while holding or staying in the poses and while coming out or releasing from the poses, in a relaxed manner, without tension of fear, craving, aversion, judgment, comparison, or expectation.

It's about relaxing the body into the postures without forcing or struggling, and quieting the restless worldly egoistic judgmental and expectational mind that keeps judging its performance and expecting certain results from all its effort to perform certain actions. There is minimum risk of injury, even if one couldn't execute the yoga poses in so called 'correct or perfect alignment' due to certain limitation, if one knows how to relax while performing the yoga asana practice, and respecting the impermanent condition, ability and limitation of the body as it is, without forcing or pushing the body to go beyond its limitation. The risk of injury will still be there, even if one knows how to perform all the yoga asana poses in so called 'correct or perfect alignment', if one performs the yoga asana practice under the influence of ignorance and egoism, full of tension of judgment, comparison and expectation, and doesn't respect the condition, ability and limitation of the body as it is, by forcing or pushing the body to go beyond its limitation. The body and the mind is not able to be relaxed due to trying to comply to the standard of 'correct or perfect alignment'.

It's really not important whether the body can perform all or some or none of the yoga poses. One doesn't need to be able to do any yoga poses at all to free the mind from ignorance and egoism and suffering. Being able to perform many of the yoga poses in 'perfect alignment' regularly for a long time also doesn't guarantee that one is practicing yoga or is free from ignorance and egoism. The yoga asana practice is just one of the tools to help to influence the state of the mind, to balance the mind, to quiet the mind, to prepare the mind for meditation. If one doesn't know how to let go of the ego and egoism, and is full of passionate desires of craving and aversion, then even if one has been doing yoga asana practice in 'perfect alignment' for many many years and attained all kinds of health and fitness benefits from the regular yoga asana practice, but the mind is not free from suffering being disturbed and determined by all the perceptions of qualities of names and forms.

In the process of performing the yoga poses, it's mainly about letting go the ego and egoism of attachment, identification, desires of craving and aversion, judgement, comparison and expectation, to renounce the actions and the fruit of actions, to realize the truth of impermanence and selflessness of the life existence of the body and mind, to allow the restless mind to be free from restlessness, to be in silence. It's nothing to do with how 'good' the body can do the yoga poses, or how many yoga poses the body can perform in 'perfect alignment', or not.

Perform all the yoga poses in a relaxed manner and accepting the body as it is, without forcing the body to go beyond its limitation, without judgment, comparison and expectation. There's no need to think about how one should look or feel in the yoga poses because everyone has a different body and limitation, and everyone might look and feel differently while performing the same poses. And how we look and feel in the yoga poses is impermanent because the physical ability and limitation will change from moment to moment. We don't have to look like other people, or the teacher. The body might feel strong, flexible, light and comfortable in one practice, and it might feel weak, stiffed, heavy and discomfortable in another practice performing the same poses or exercises.

It's the same as in life, we are aware of the existence of certain risks, we pay maximum attention, be vigilant and take care while performing any tasks, in a relaxed manner, without tension of fear, craving, aversion, judgment, comparison, or expectation.

If there's something we need to deal with in the present, we do our best to deal with it instantly in a relaxed manner, without fear. If we can't or don't know how to handle it, we let it be and take it as it is, without fear. There are things that we can do and there are things that we can't do, and it's okay. And what we can do or cannot do in the present, is impermanent.

Be free.

What muscles groups are being used in the yoga poses has nothing to do with the realization of yoga or selflessness

There are many 'yoga teachers training courses' emphasize on training the 'yoga teachers' with the knowledge or information about anatomy and physiology for performing and teaching the yoga poses, while there are yoga teachers who emphasize on explaining the different types of muscles group that are being used in the different yoga poses or exercises, as well as the different types of benefits of the yoga poses in their yoga asana classes, and there are yoga practitioners who want to know what type of muscles group that they need to engage in order to perform the yoga poses, and of course, they want to know the different types of benefits that they would get from performing the different yoga poses.

There's nothing wrong or bad with this emphasis on the knowledge of the mechanism of the physical body and the benefits of the different exercises in fitness training, but this is pulling the mind away from the yoga teachings and yoga practice about letting go egoism of attachment and identification with the existence and the function of the body and the mind, and letting go attachment and identification with the actions and the fruit of actions, to annihilate ignorance and egoism to transcend suffering, to realize yoga or selflessness or unconditional peace and compassion, where all these realization has nothing to do with the physical condition, appearance, fitness level, performance, ability and limitation, or the knowledge of fitness training and its benefits.

One doesn't need to know the names and forms of the muscles and their specific function, to have peace and be compassionate.

One doesn't need to know which muscles groups are being engaged in order to hold a spoon and pick up a spoonful of food and put the food into the mouth and chew the food and swallow the food. One doesn't need to know how to engaged a specific muscles group to move the legs forward or backward to walk or run or kick or jump or turn upside down. One doesn't need to know which muscles to be engaged to smile or to frown.

There's nothing wrong if people are interested to know the names and forms and the functions of the different muscles and muscles groups, and there are many books about fitness training, anatomy and physiology or biology for them to study about the mechanism and function of the physical body, and all these knowledge can be helpful in the improvement of the quality of life, but the realization of yoga or liberation from suffering has nothing to do with the accumulation of knowledge or the quality of life. People might be highly knowledgeable and have a higher quality of life, but might not necessarily be free from ignorance and egoism and suffering.

The doctors can use their medical knowledge of the physical body to cut open the body to find out the disease inside the body, and take it out for us, and fitness instructors can use their fitness training knowledge to provide us with health and fitness advice and an efficient health and fitness training program to make the physical body fitter and healthier, but no physician or fitness instructor can cut open our mind to find out the 'disease' inside the mind, and take out the 'disease' for us. Having a super fit and healthy physical body also doesn't guarantee that our mind will be free from ignorance, egoism and suffering.

Ask a physician or fitness instructor, "Which muscles groups are being engaged in order to free the mind from ignorance and egoism and suffering, to know the truth, to realize selflessness, and be peaceful and compassionate?"

Be free.

The function of memory and the existence of 'I'

The existence of 'I' is very much influenced by the function of memory to remember all or some of the relationships and experiences with everyone and the objects of names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses, and the accumulated knowledge and skills through remembering all its learning and training from the past till the present, with all kinds of imagination, anticipation, speculation, projection and expectation, plus all the thought activities of pleasant and unpleasant reactions of feelings and emotions towards all the good and bad, desirable and undesirable experiences.

If the mind couldn't remember certain experiences in the past, it won't relate itself with those experiences and will have no identification with those experiences. At some points, the mind might confuse some wild imaginations and the dreams that it remembers as part of the life experiences that it thinks it experienced in life. Under the function of memory, most of the time, the mind doesn't remember things exactly as they were. A lot of the details of the memories are doubtful and confused. And the ego attached onto these blurred memories of the past to be identifying as 'I', and judges itself and everyone and everything based on these memories.

If the function of memory doesn't exist, or the mind couldn't recall all that it perceived of what it saw/heard/smelled/tasted/felt/thought/knew/acknowledged/learned/experienced/practiced/acted/reacted/acquired/possessed, or what it liked and didn't like towards all the perceived names and forms, there's no remembrance of an existence or identification of 'I' and any relationships with anyone in the present. Whatever was being processed in the mind wasn't being stored as a conscious memory to be recall into the present, though there will be subtle imprints of all the present reactions of craving and aversion towards all the perceptions of names and forms being stored in the subconscious mind where all these subtle imprints of craving and aversion would bubble up to the surface of the conscious mind during the deep mind purification process, when the mind stops reacting with craving and aversion towards all the perceptions in the present.

Without memory storage of what it perceives through the senses and what is being processed through the thinking faculty, the mind won't remember a continuous/permanent identity that attached onto some qualities of names and forms that comes with certain accumulated knowledge, experiences and relationships with everyone to be identifying as "This is what I was/am from the past till now." This mind won't be influenced by any particular ethnic and social background, culture, knowledge, idea, practice, thinking, belief, or learning, to apply any judgment, comparison, or expectation that based on the memories of past experiences of accumulated knowledge, ideas, beliefs, actions and reactions towards all the mind perceptions of names and forms in this existence now, such like, "I had this before. This was good, I liked this. I want this again." or "I had that before. That was bad, I didn't like that. I don't want that again."

Even though there might be spontaneous reaction of craving or aversion towards the mind perception of names and forms in the present now, but then, the mind won't be able to remember this experience and its reaction of craving and aversion towards this experience. All experiences will appear to be something new or unknown to it. The desire of craving and aversion on the conscious level are very much influenced by the memories of the past pleasant and unpleasant experiences. "I experienced this before or I know this, I remember either I had liked this and I want this again (craving), or I didn't like this and I don't want this again (aversion)." Meanwhile, the subtle desires of craving and aversion that continuously bubble up to the surface of the conscious mind which the memoryless mind doesn't remember or doesn't know what they are or where they come from, but somehow there are ceaseless reaction of craving and aversion towards all the names and forms being generated due to these subtle imprints of desires.

If the mind developed awareness towards the existence of these subtle desires of craving and aversion, without attachment towards these desires or identification with them, or it is uninfluenced by these existing subtle desires to generate more reactions of craving and aversion, this mind is free.

That's why for those who take seriously in the path of yoga and meditation, the practice of renunciation and seclusion, reducing and restricting mind inputs of all sorts, or the contact with objects of names and forms, or social interactions and activities in the world, is a very important observation to minimize and restrict the accumulation of subtle imprints of under current desires even if the mind has no awareness or memories of all its reactions of craving and aversion towards all the perceptions of names and forms.

It's everyone's freedom for what they want to do with their worldly life existence of the impermanent and selfless body and mind.

For those who are absolutely okay with the impermanent and selfless function of the body and mind, who are free from clinging and craving towards good condition and free from aversion towards bad condition, and aren't disturbed or determined by all kinds of suffering in the world of names and forms that derived from ignorance and egoism and impurities, they don't need to practice yoga and meditation, as they are free as they are.

Be free.