The topic of today is highly philosophical, yet practical. It is essential to understand it so we know what to do to be healthy and free. Please be ready during this presentation to be able to do 6 practical breathing and relaxation lessons. Make sure you have space to lie down, and that your room be ventilated.
1. Lie down in sarvasana posture and learn to breathe abdominally, without pillow or with pillow. Get a pillow ready, the more it is heavy it is better.
2. sit up either on chair or cross legged on the ground and learn to breathe and relax sitting up.
3. while sitting up, learn Kapalabati breathing (cleansing of the lungs) .
4. learn basic Anuloma Viloma basic, alternate nostril breath, without retention and with retention.
5. lie down again, and learn to breathe and relax along with positive affirmations. 6. Last, learn tense and release and complete guided relaxation.
Why the topic of today?
The truth these days of Corona virus pandemic is we loose ourselves and our minds drifted in confusion. We are stressed and we have tendency to not breathing correctly. We panicked and reacted this way or another. The news of the world took our well being away, thought by thought, breath by breath. We are caught up in the alarming and contradictory news. The world seems to be negative and conflictual. The focus nowadays is “disease”, not “health”. Our key words are “ death count”, “wear masks!” , “wash hands!”, “social distancing”, “ go back to normal”, “ the old normal”, the “new normal”.
Today I like to introduce you two new key words: “breathe and relax”! a new motto “breathe and relax!”
Why breathe and relax are two important practices to remember at all times?
Breathing is life affirming. It reminds us to stay healthy, body-mind-spirit while living.
Relaxation is be detached from the illusory world of our mind. So…breathe and relax!
Disclaimer: right breathing and right attitude towards life will not prevent you from getting the virus, but it will boost your immune system and your quality of life and even if you get sick, you will be stronger to heal and you will be more equipped to know what to do to help yourself.
Switch it around: Think of Health and not of disease!
Health is our birthright! We are the master of our health, we are not victim.
Our life is worth living, therefore struggle to attain true health and to remain positive. This inner affirmation about our worthy life is a good start to help us struggle for self improvement. Breathe for your life! Relaxation gives us life !
Life is sacred, need to see the sacredness in our life and in life surrounding us. This right attitude will bring health in our life.
You are equipped and supported by Mother Nature, remember her, go back to Nature. Happy Mothers’ Day!
Go back to basics… and build up resilience and increase our immunity the natural way! We are equipped with the Power of conscious intention.
Our Thought power is in our hands! Negative thoughts spread like virus. But we are Master of our destiny.
Focus on Health and not on disease. You can build your health !
We are essentially free. Focus on our innate freedom! All is good. We are strong and courageous. Everything happens because we have lessons to take away!
Think of the analogy of the lotus flower :
The lotus is a beautiful and very fragrant flower that grows out from the mud. The lotus is the symbol well used by meditators. The lotus represents spiritual life It is the theme of this webinar: “ How to live in the world of pains and sufferings and be free!” In other words:” how to live out our karmas and be free!”
What is the true nature of the world?
There is no objective world. The world seems to be external to ourselves. But the world is in fact a projection of our mind, according to the yogis. The world is the stage where our karmas will be played out.
We are not living in the same world. Depending on our karma we will perceive the world differently.
From another point of view the world is a creation of God. Both ways of explanation say that it is not material or objective, not something we can control or see with our worldly mind but it is a matter of consciousness.
Our mind’s projections are called “the world”: We are attached to our projections of our ideas about people outside of ourselves. Our repeated mind projections create an idea that the world is solid and real.
As we keep remembering our past experiences as recorded in our minds and as we keep projecting them out or as our consciousness keeps choosing the same outcome, we replay more or less the same scenario and the world appears as objective.
This projected world seen as solid and real outside of ourselves consists of objects. We live in the world of objects and we forget that they are the products of our minds and consciousness at the first place. These objects are perceived by our senses therefore the world we live in is termed a “sensual world”.
Who am I? I am not the objects of my perception and attachments.
The objects of our perception (and attachments) can be:
Our body
people or things: people can be our family and friends, things can be our home and work environment, familiar landscape or our possessions.
phenomena of nature, made of the five gross elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether). These gross elements exist in their subtle form in the mind.
But Who is the subject, the perceiver?
I am. We are, our True Self is. Objects are multiple, but the Self is One: The key to find peace at all times is to remember the One consciousness in all people, things and phenomena of nature.
Objects change while consciousness remains same. The body changes, ages and dies but consciousness remains untouched.
How to live in the world, find the subjectand be free?
The idea of the world creates duality and separation. Unless we develop equal vision and see that it is all One, all God, it is better to not be lost in the world. We need to rethink our concept of the world to be free from separation. This is why yogis turn inwards in the beginning of the journey. They are not being egoistic but need to start from their own consciousness.
Our lesson is to detach from objects to realize our inner truth or Atman. The Atman is the Self present in all. It is not changing, stable and ancient, perfect and free, all pervading and all knowing. Sensual world is not real: Yogis turn inwards and transcend the sensual world to perceive the Self beyond the projections of the mind.
The Self is the subject: Realize your Self at all times as the consciousness underlying all things. The subject is beyond the senses, beyond duality and is Sat-Chit-Ananda.
The Self is found in the here and now: In the here and now we can access our consciousness, free from the imprints of the past or the projected future.
As a result of karma, we never lived in the here and now: Meditation frees us from karma by bringing us to the here and now. The play on the stage of the world is our karma.
Lessons from Master Sivananda (photo)
Swami Sivananda says that the world is your best teacher. There is a lesson in everything.
His last words: “remember, forget! “ (remember the Self, God and forget everything else)
He sees the world with one eye and contemplates the Self with the other eye
Lessons from Siva, the first Yogi: (photo)
He is often depicted with eyes half closed and half open. This represents an ideal state of mind that yoga practitioners want to achieve, of being “in the world and out of the world”, seeing the world of names and forms and changing phenomena that we live in, and at the same time seeing the essence of it, as opposed to seeing the manifested world as devoid of spirit and intelligence.
He also is depicted with the third eye open. This means that we are encouraged to see the world with our eye of intuition, or with a mind that has been purified of its lower propensities such as anger, greed, lust, hatred, jealousy and envy. Intuition is higher than intellect. Intuition can be developed only when we transcend duality, or the left brain/right brain split. It includes devotion, or pure love, while intellect might miss half of the picture if there is no pure love in the thinking, or when the thinking is motivated by the ego.
Lessons from Mother Nature! Happy Mother’s Day!
Nature even though is outside of ourselves is close to our hearts: We can easily commune with Nature and find our Oneness with Nature. We feel less lost in the world of nature than the world of our mind. We have a symbiotic relationship with Her. This is our spiritual relationship with God or with the Divine Mother.
Tuning to Nature is a positive way to live in the world: It is easier to find ourselves in the world of nature out of the busy-ness of cities where chaotic and confused human thoughts are bouncing on each other. Nature is God’s mind Projections: Tuning to Nature makes us humble and opens our hearts. It helps us to surrender the egos and calm our minds. (For example a disturbed mind gains much by working in the garden, walking in the sun or swimming in the river).
Nature is powerful (example storms, floods, snow fall, extreme weather conditions) but it is easier to surrender to Her and accept that she is the teacher of our ego. Modern science tried to control and manipulate Her at high prices.
The Sivananda Yoga of synthesis is the wonderful way to attain that sublime state of mind.
It combines in daily life the yogic techniques from the classical 4 paths of Yoga. We just need to immerse ourselves in the theory and practice of Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga, plus the philosophy of Vedanta and the techniques of self enquiry of Jnana Yoga. Tools for living in and out of the word: Serve, give, love, purify, meditate, realize.
However, remember what Swami Sivananda said: ” one ounce of practice equals tons of theory!“.
Let’s practice!
1. Breathe and relax lying down: In sarvasana posture and learn to breathe abdominally, without pillow or with pillow. Get a pillow ready, the more it is heavy it is better.
2. breathe and relax sitting up: sit up either on chair or cross legged on the ground.
4. Balancing breath exercise: learn basic Anuloma Viloma basic, alternate nostril breath, without retention and with retention.
5. Breathe and relax either lie down or sit up again, along with positive affirmations applying the 4 paths of Yoga
Karma Yoga–
Breathe and relax! May all karmas become Selfless service.
Breathe and relax! I detach from the results of my actions.
Breathe and relax! I Purify my thoughts and emotions to be free from karma.
Breathe and relax! I am not doing anything.
Breathe and relax!I am not running away. I am doing my duty while I breathe and relax.
Breathe and relax! I Stop doing actions confirming my separateness.
Bhakti Yoga–
Breathe and relax! ILove God in all!
Breathe and relax! I accept and Self surrender to everything as God’s will . Breathe and relax! I sublimate my emotions and I am detached from my emotions.
Breathe and relax!I amPure Love and I open my Heart to all of Creation. Breathe and relax! My devotion to the Divine makes me see beyond the objects to see God. I see God in the world.
Breathe and relax! I am free from all emotional identification and attachment.
Breathe and relax! I have faith. I am humble and capable of letting go of my own ego.
Breathe and relax! I am compassion for others and for my self.
Raja Yoga/ Hatha Yoga–
Breathe and relax! I am free from efforts in all of my postures or asanas.
Breathe and relax! I balance and purify my prana and calm down my mind.
Breathe and relax! my understanding and intellect are becoming clearer.
Breathe and relax! I am dissolving my sense of separateness of Body/Mind in this Meditation.
Breathe and relax! I am detached towards the thoughts in my mind.
Breathe and Relax! I slow down my impulsiveness and my reactive tendencies and my thoughts become clear.
Breathe and relax! I am balanced and content. I practice pranayama to balance myself.
Breathe and relax! I am neither active nor passive. I am neither left brained nor right brained.
Breathe and relax! I am free from stress, I am free from my personality.
Breathe and relax! I amneither logical, linear nor emotional, artistic
Breathe and relax! I am neither male nor female.
Breathe and relax! I am neither sun nor moonenergy
Breathe and relax! I am not going out searching neither going in hiding. Breathe and relax! I am the lotus. Fragrant and beautiful and free.
Breathe and relax! I am neither referring to past nor future
Breathe and relax! I am in the Here and Now. I am content to be in the present. I Let go of the past story.
Breathe and relax! I am my eternal Soul and I accomplish everything while being. I am One.
Jnana Yoga –
Breathe and relax! I practice Self Enquiry : who am I? while relaxing.
Breathe and relax! I detach from my body/mind. I am detach from my false self .
Breathe and relax! I am living, I am alive, I am detached.
Breathe and relax! I am learning my lessons and I am free from ignorance.
Breathe and relax! I assert my own Self in the face of a changing world. Breathe and relax! I assert what is True about my own Self and I get out of the projected world of my mind.
Breathe and relax! I detach from everything. I am the Self that is Pure Love. It is not rejection.
Breathe and relax! I Amfearless.
Breathe and relax! I See Divinity in my own Atman – I see the Truth about my own Life
Breathe and relax! I am pure consciousness in everything, in all situations and all things.
Breathe and relax! I see with the 3rd eye, the eye of intuition. I see intuitively with my inner spirit.
Breathe and relax! I see unity behind all things. I go beyond the preconceived ideas of the mind about myself, people and things.
Breathe and relax! I am beyond what I like and what I dislike. I am not seeing what my ego wants.
Breathe and relax! I reconcile the split, the separation inside and outside; here and there; this and that ; me and God; you and me, Good and bad. Breathe and relax! I remain centered dwelling on my own Self. Nothing can touch me, affect me. I am fine, I am perfect. I have always been fine even when I thought I was not fine I was fine.
Breathe and relax! I AM.
6. Guided relaxation : learn tense and release of muscles and gradual auto suggestions.
Wake up , take away points:
What is the main thing in question here during COVID time ? Our respiratory system, the very life we breathe in is being threatened.
To deal with it , what do we do? Affirm our life! Our birthright! breathe more! relax more! Be in the world (breathing) and out of the word (relaxing) .
This is the solution to all questions.
We dedicate our breathe to the health and the awakening of all… Om Trayambhakams …
The talk today is about Self Healing and Healing of the environment using Yogic principles. The word Yoga here implies classical Yoga taught holistically in a philosophical traditional background and not just modern urban commercial exercise Yoga taught in a hectic stressful environment. This is an appropriate topic in the context of our public and personal health and immunity crisis due to the outbreak of Corona virus. We just celebrated the 50th Earth day in the middle of the pandemic. We also face more and more Mother Nature protests in forms of global warming, tidal waves, droughts, forest fires and floods.
Our urban and artificial societies are more and more sick and dependent on drugs and medication, feeding on processed food with little prana and creating health problems such as obesity, cancer, cardio vascular and digestive problems, and most recently respiratory problems. Our minds are full of disturbed media scenes of sex and violence, instead of experiencing mountains, sky, water and plants around us. Our world leaders are themselves alienated from nature and our corporations motivated by short term profits, lead us away more and more from our peace and health.
Overall we are externally driven, feeling unstable and empty. Again, we revisit the the old idea of the correspondence between individual health, public health and health of the planet we live in and what can we do about it? How do we balance ourselves in a world out of balance? How to keep our faith and hope and do the right thing in this world in crisis? Together let’s explore the philosophical and practical foundation for a life in Total Harmony with Nature and let’s face our spiritual ignorance(avidya) at the root of our mistaken identity and mistaken perception of the environment we live in.
There will be a few sections to our talk today:
What is Health according to classical Yoga? What is Healing? what is Self Healing?
What are the principles to follow and certain behaviors to abstain from in order to address the root causes of our physical-mental spiritual ill health?
What are the behaviors to adopt in order to improve our energy and our body-mind-spirit health?
How do we apply these principles to the environment? How do we harmonize with the world of nature and with the Cosmic Spirit behind it? Let’s get familiar with some examples of restrictions and observances we can follow when come to the environment.
Vedanta philosophy applied to the environment. Is there any difference between the inner and outer reality? The individual and the collective energy? How to reconcile material universe and spirit? How do we solve the problems of division, separation and lack of unity? How do we practice unity in diversity?
What is Health?
Swami Sivananda said that “the laws of health are the laws of nature and they should not be violated. He said that there is an intimate connection between the mind and the body. And all diseases take their origin in the mind. The pains that affect the physical body are called secondary diseases, while the vasanas that affect the mind are termed mental and primary diseases. If bad thoughts are destroyed, all bodily diseases will vanish. Treat the mind first. Mental health is more important then physical health. “
Ayurveda says that the prime cause of disease is forgetfulness of our true Nature as Spirit. This means that when we are forgetful, we identify with body and mind vehicle as ourselves and make wrong decisions about lifestyle or about our path to happiness, thus we bring upon ourselves stress and tension leading to diseases. Yoga talks about holistic healing, i.e. healing of body mind spirit.
What is Healing? What is Self Healing?
Yoga talks about the free flow of prana and changing our vibratory level. Ayurveda talks about restoring balance and health getting back to Nature. Vedanta talks about rememberance of our True Self (the Atman) as the ultimate Truth and to have an attitude of detachment towards what the body and mind can come up with as reality. Healing means ceasing to forget ourselves in our constant identification with the body and mind.
Healing means to realize that we are Pure consciousness behind all things including our body.
Healing means ceasing to identify with our separated-ness but to see the Oneness. Healing means to cease to identify with our vehicles, and to see
through the veils of consciousness (our body, our prana, our mind, emotions and senses, our intellect and ego). At the same time, healing means connection with Nature and not just indulgence in technology. The Healing journey is a long way. In that journey, we need self aware teachers and leaders who have found the way to peace themselves.
Self Healing means Self Realization, realization of our divine connection with nature and spirit in nature. It implies changing of one’s own consciousness and lifestyle to come closer to the Truth.
The opposite of it is, getting lost in the habits and mental grooves of the past, getting lost in the restlessness and the desires in an unceasing pursuit of external happiness, and getting lost in the promise of more power in a more advanced technological society. The yogic guidelines for conscious self-healing help us to correct our thinking and isolated feeling, alleviate our sufferings, become clearer in our perceptions of our own self and love of others, and bring us closer to true Health, Peace and Self realization.
Self Healing success is when we are able to break through the chain of karma. In other words, success is being able to retrain ourselves not to repeat the same pattern of conditioned behavior which binds us. The reason why we are not happy comes from the fluctuations of the mind and the constant replaying of its unhealthy patterns. The mind keeps projecting thoughts and emotions that were gained through past experience and reacts to them, thus keeping us bound in the mirage of its own creation. We experience the roller coaster of our mind and emotions and miss out on the rewarding and fulfilling experience of being our own peaceful, loving, happy, present, blissful Self.
2. The foundations of Yoga: the yamas (restrictions) and niyamas (observances).
The yoga masters have given us guidelines for conscious self-development that go to the root cause of our suffering by consciously correcting the course of our actions. We train ourselves in two ways: on one side guarding ourselves not to misbehave, thus repeating our patterns leading to suffering (these are the yamas); and on the other side, actively cultivating positive attitudes and helpful conducts (these are the niyamas). Thus we straighten out our mind, squeezing the impurities out of our mind from both sides, the “not to do’s” and the “to do’s”.
The mind in its pure state is capable of reflecting our beautiful Self or Atman in all situations, in ourselves and others. By purifying the mind, we alleviate our ups and downs, our inner turmoil and conflicts, and we feel free. Otherwise we struggle to remember ourselves and spend our energies in distractions and forgetfulness. The ideal is reached when there is no more forgetfulness of Self and one relaxes in the Peaceful Being.
The Yamas and Niyamas are universal guidelines that if followed will improve our lives in the long term and help remove obstacles stemming from our karmic tendencies, character defects, and bad habits. These guidelines address the fundamental egoistic and desiring nature of ourselves. One might find a character defect more dominant than another but working with one will bring light to the others as well. No one can be exempt from working on oneself.
In the same manner, we expect everyone to follow the rules of traffic, driving on the proper side of the road and observing traffic signals. The Yamas (restrictions) and Niyamas (observances) are to be consciously practiced in thought, word and deed. However, it is important to realize that these self healing guidelines do not turn into judgment to be interpreted as rigid moral rules. In Truth, the Selfis One. The bottom line is that we are one Universal Spirit in myriad expressions.
3. What are the principles to follow and certain behaviors to abstain from in order to address the root causes of our physical-mental spiritual ill health?
Yamas: Restraints (The Things Not to Do)
1/ – Ahimsa: Ahimsa is the practice of controlling the emotion of anger. Anger comes from selfish desires or expectations unfulfilled. Selfish desire comes from our failure to recognize our fulfillment in the True Self, and our looking for happiness in external objects or situations. Ahimsa means restraining oneself from the reactive tendency to be angry when one’s desires are not met, or the tendency to abuse others and enter into conflicts or wars.
Raja yoga methods to deal with anger: The antidote of anger is contentment or letting go of expectation, accepting that, “It is not my will, but God’s will”. The practice of Non violence requires calmness, courage, self control, self restraint and the practice of serenity. Practice of ahimsa leads one to develop good quality of the heart and leads one to develop mercy, kindness, unselfishness, patience, forgiveness, pure Cosmic Love, compassion, perseverance and peace. If we practice ahimsa, we will be able to maintain durable, positive and loving relationships. To note that one can act out of dharma-righteousness in the spirit of selflessness without being violent or selfish.
Karma Yoga methods: Do service to others to develop love and equal vision instead of basing one’s life on one’s needs, desires and egoism.
Bhakti Yoga methods: Connect with the secure and fulfilled Divine Love. Trust that the Divine has a plan for each person and surrender to the Divine Plan. Contemplate and glorify the Divine Mother, God, Nature, the Universe. Find acceptance. Practice of listening, giving, serving, humility, remove pride, cultivate devotion and practice friendship with all.
Jnana Yoga methods: Do self enquiry. Remind of the SatchitAnanda Atman beyond desires. Discriminate and detach from situation that causes irritations. Seeing the big picture.
2/. – Satya: Satya means truthfulness– It deals with our fear of not meeting our goals, in the eyes of ourselves or others. Fear comes from attachment. We will not be afraid if we do not have any attachment. In truth, we can not gain nor lose anything externally – either name, fame, prestige, position or love because we are already perfect in ourselves and we can not be greater or smaller then what we already are.
Applying Satya, we refrain from the tendency to exaggerate, to manipulate others, or to tell lies in order to achieve an egoistic goal. Sincerity, honesty and straightforwardness will help to simplify and clear the mind, thus achieving inner peace. Purity, Peace and Truth are synonymous terms. Truth comes in the form of righteousness, justice, harmony, ahimsa, harmlessness, forgiveness, impartiality, transparency, desirelessness, modesty, goodness, renunciation magnanimity, nobility, devotion, compassion.
The opposite of truth is deception, falsehood, dishonesty, exaggeration, twisting, egoism, lies, crookedness, manipulation, meanness, dissimulation, cowardice, fear, lack of courage.
Benefits of truthfulness: Health, fearlessness, freedom, clarity, wisdom, strong faith and absence of anxiety. Lies and fearful living create blockages t the flow of prana.
Raja Yoga methods: Calm and clarify the mind through the 8 limbs to discern the truth within that is beyond all concepts of the mind.
Bhakti Yoga methods: Be transparent and humble. Surrender to God’s will. Keep love and faith while cultivating Satsanga with truthful and virtuous people. We count on God to give us what we deserve or need and not what we desire. Making amends, atonements, confessions asking for forgiveness and humble attempts to come closer to the source of Being that is Truth.
Karma Yoga methods: Surrendering of doership and offering of the results of one’s actions, staying even in success or failures will remove fears and anxieties which can lead to lies. The motivation is being kept pure.
Jnana yoga methods: enquire into the nature of ephemeral gains. Examine the attachments and the tendencies of the mind of likes and dislikes. Contemplate and discriminate between the truth and untruth, the real and the illusory, the Self and the Not self. It is the beginning of Healing.
3/ – Brahmacharya:
Brahmacharya is control or sublimation of the sensual and sexual drive and deals with the emotion of Desire and Lust. Through practicing brahmacharya, we can restrain the tendency to seek sensual pleasures as the goal of life, and to misuse our sexual energy–which is be converted into spiritual energy. This guideline advises us to avoid sexual misconduct and to regulate our impulses, question our motives, and help bring clarity to our human interaction. Applying Brahmacharya in our dealings with others, we will be able to transform our emotional and desirous nature into a fulfilling relationship with the Divine, based on devotion and pure love.
The sexual instinct is the strongest instinct in us, stemming from the instinct of reproduction. It involuntarily prompts a person to the sexual act for the preservation of his species. It is in reality, the creative force in man. It comes from Rajas; Sexual energy can be transmuted into spiritual energy by pure thought. The practice of Brahmacharya is the practice of Purity, to be practiced along with ahimsa, and satya. It is a dynamic conversion process, not a matter of suppression or repression. The reproductive energy is transmuted and transformed into Ojas Shakti or spiritual power.
Truth can not dwell where passion lives. The Atman is sexless.
Raja Yoga methods: By right diet, asana, pranayama, turning inwards of the senses, concentration on sublime thoughts, meditation, japa, worship, the sexual energy is converted into Ojas Shakti.
Bhakti Yoga methods: By intense devotion to one’s pure ideal, the energy of desire for union can be sublimated into pure love.
Karma Yoga methods: By dedicating oneself to the service of the ideal divine beloved, one can elevate this instinctive self-serving energy of desire into the selfless impulse to do good for a larger whole.
Jnana Yoga methods: By seeing the other as one’s own Self, one can disassociate with the idea of a desirable mate. Through the sophisticated development of pure intelligence, we can discriminate between the mental habits of accumulated instinctual lifetimes and the Atman. The practice of Purity allows us to aspire to taste the super sensual Atmic bliss. Healing of the Mind and the emotions that leads to the recovery of the True Self often starts with the calming of passion.
4/. Asteya: non stealing, not taking what doesn’t belong to you.
It is alsonon-covetousness. It deals with our tendency towards jealousy and envy. Observing this guideline will counteract our tendency to give in to our desires, or think that satisfying material desires is the goal of life. It will help us to be content, knowing that what is supposed to come to us by our own karmas and merits will come naturally, without our manipulation or intervention.
Raja Yoga methods: be content with simple life, count your blessings, practice of giving instead of taking or stealing.
Bhakti Yoga methods: See someone’s happiness as your own. Keep good relationships and pure love. Surrender the ego.
Karma Yoga methods: Accept our karmas, and do our duty, let go of results. Understand that it is better to work through one’s own karma rather than someone else’s karma.
Jnana Yoga methods: Know that all is impermanent and desires are illusory and changing.
5.- Aparigraha:
Aparigraha means non-accumulation or non-acceptance of bribes. It deals with our tendency towards greed. Observing this guideline counteracts our tendency to think that the more we attain or possess, the more we will be safe and secure. It further guides us not to forfeit our soul to the material life, and to cultivate an attitude of detachment towards material possessions. Leading a simple life allows the spirit to remain light, detached and self-reliant. It also helps us in our dealings with others to be strong and free as others can manipulate our weakness by bribery.
Raja Yoga methods: The opposite of greed is charity, austerity, sacrifice, simplicity and renunciation. Avoiding distractions, keeping discipline and focus will help avert the tendency towards indulgence in what one’s likes.
Bhakti Yoga methods: connect with the secure and fulfilled divine love. The sublimation method is to give in charity to spiritual or humanitarian institutions.
Karma Yoga methods: Actively helping the downtrodden, the poor, lonely and forgotten.
Jnana Yoga methods: Patanjali said that the conquest of greed leads to one’s true meaning of life and the knowledge of the purpose of birth. The purpose of birth is Self Realization, to see Spirit in Matter. Accumulation of matter and negligence of Spirit lead us away from this truth.
What are the behaviors to adopt in order to improve our energy and our body-mind-spirit health?
5 Niyamas: Observances (The Things to Observe or to Do)
1, – Saucha: Saucha is purity. This observance will help us to counteract impurities in our bodies, minds, and outer environments, and help us come into deeper contact with our true selves. By purifying the emotions and thoughts, which are like coverings over our eyes, we can begin to see more clearly and gain a truer perspective.
Raja Yoga methods: The practice of the 5 points Yoga life(asana, pranayama, relaxation, diet, positive thinking, meditation) nurtures sattva and purify the mind and heart.
Bhakti Yoga Methods: Devotion and humility purify the heart and bring pure love. Devotion and love help one to overcome hatred, guilt and grief.
Karma Yoga methods: Selflessness purifies the ego and its likes and dislikes, its attachments and aversions. By helping people with the same problems as yours, one gains perspective and regains the sense of Self Worth.
Jnana Yoga methods: We can be lost in the feelings of guilt, shame or grief. However, difficult it might be, remember the pure, the brilliant, the limitless, the stainless atman, untouched by any happenings and impurities. Try to forgive the past and feel strong in the present. Remember that the mind is a distorted, imperfect instrument for seeing the true Self and reality. Remember the false self, the ego, that is attached to its own impurities. Remember not to forget ourselves, to turn within and to remember ourselves. This will dispel darkness and brings about light.
2/. Santosha: Santosha is contentment. This practice will help us counteract the tendency to look externally for happiness and become dissatisfied with our lots in life, rather than counting our blessings. Through practicing Santosha, we begin to realize that God’s grace is always with us.
Raja Yoga methods: The 5 points Yoga Life helps to calm the restless mind and turns it inwards. Concentration and meditation thin out the mind activities.
Bhakti Yoga methods: Praise the wisdom of the Supreme and know that all is taken care of. Surrender to God’s will and accept all as Prasad.
Karma Yoga methods: Serve others less fortunate then yourself, think of others who are more sick then you, this will keep the mind contented.
Jnana Yoga methods: See the whole world as your own home, and the wealth of Nature as your own wealth. Remove the I and mine and you will be contented.
3.- Tapas: Tapas means austerity. This practice will help us to counteract the belief that comforts of the body and mind are the goals of life. It will help us avoid imprisonment in the sensual, limited life that is governed by the mind and the senses. Tapas will help us to assert our supremacy over the mind and emotions, freeing us and give the power back to the spirit. All practice of self restraint to turn the mind inwards is tapas. The world under lock down is practicing tapas. There are many forms of tapas. Bear insults, injury persecution, discomfort and fatigue are all forms of tapas.
Raja Yoga methods: all 8 limbs of Raja Yoga can be considered as training tapas. Meditation is the highest form of tapas.
Bhakti Yoga methods: Keeping the emotions controlled for the sake of Pure Love is emotional tapas. Keeping faith and loyalty instead of doubts and changing loyalty are mental tapas. Listening to scriptures, mantra chanting are tapas.
Karma Yoga: Serving all, willingly, at any time, all the time is tapas. Adapting oneself to the needs of service is tapas. Doing any kind of service whether one likes it or not is tapas.
Jnana Yoga methods: Keeping vigilance in Self Enquiry is tapas. Keeping discrimination, detachment, self remembrance are all forms of tapas.
4. – Swadhyaya and Ishwara Pranidhana: Self Study and Self Surrender: Swadhyaya is the study of scriptures. Doing this will help us to counteract the idea that only what we can see and what people tell us about ourselves is true. The scriptures, on the contrary, tell us of a reality beyond the normal perceptions and glorify the true Self; they will inspire us in our search for Truth.
– Ishwara-pranidhana: Ishwara-pranidhana means self-surrender to God or a higher power. Self-surrender counteracts our tendency to think that we are the best and the top, that we have all the powers and that we are controlling our lives. With this egoistic bend of our mind, we do not have to adjust or accept something that is not to our liking, so we blame and resent instead of trying to see the big picture. Practicing self-surrender will help us work through our karmas by practicing acceptance and knowing that everything happens for a reason.
How do we apply these principles to the environment? What is the relationship between self healing and healing of the Earth? Examples of restrictions and observances when come to the environment.
The prana that we bring through Yoga practice has a healing effect upon our environment as well as ourselves. Self healing and healing of the Earth happen simultaneously. Yoga framework, the Yamas and niyamas, can become the spiritual guidelines for the ecological movement.
Yoga can contribute an integrate way of working with the forces of life to aid in the process of purification (Saucha) of the planet, as people become more still and content (santosha) , less indulgent and weak, being able to cooperate with Nature (Tapas), becoming more and more aware of the interdependence of things ( through study of sacred scriptures) and last but not least, by being able to surrender to the Supreme Being, thus not thinking that we as specie is the Master of the Universe (ishwara pranidhana).
As we elevate ourselves, and align ourselves with yogic principles, we as a collective can act responsibly and respectfully, abstaining from creating harm to the environment and others (ahimsa), we come close to the truth of Oneness of all Beings (satya), we control our desires and passions (brahmacharya) , we become content and respectful, not taking what doesn’t come to us naturally (asteya) and most importantly we are refraining from greed (aparigraha) which is at the root of so many environmental harmful activities .
By bringing in these higher sattvic energies, and staying away from rajasic and tamasic energies, Yoga has the potential to help the world. The most remarkable things I have seen being reported during these days of global lockdown are the diminishing of city pollution (Himalayas ranges are being seen from Delhi!), the appearance of wild animals even though apparently the dancing dolphins in the canals of Venice was fake news, they were being spotted nearby in the waters but not in the canals of Venice.
Yoga movement hopefully is moving from just simply self concerned exercises to conscious improvement of our lifestyle, our way of eating, sleeping, entertaining ourselves and consumption. Yoga and Ayurveda lifestyle automatically connect all with Natural methods of self healing by elevating our consciousness how to increase our supply of prana through the elements and how to balance ourselves.
Automatically Yoga and Ayurveda lifestyle will reduce the impact upon the environment when people follow vegetarian diet and stop the cruelty to animals and exploitation of our natural environment. Yogic lifestyle value simplicity and self restraint and automatically affect the way we consume and the excesses that come from a consumer society. Hopefully, the days and months under locked down, help us to curb our desires and needs for more stuff and help us realize that we can survive on the bare minimum and be healthy and happy. We need to contemplate on the meaning of what is “essential” need and what is “non essential”.
Classical Yoga teachers and Ayurveda lifestyle counsellors can promote the distancing from artificial living, the returning back to nature and to Earth as well, the simple living and high thinking in ashrams and retreats out of town, in beautiful nature, the self sufficiency on the land, the gardening and producing of our own food from our organic garden.
Examples of what we can do to observe Yamas and niyamas and positively influence our environment:
Ahimsa: avoid injuring the environment, adopt a vegetarian lifestyle, driving, flying and traveling less; buying local organic food or producing our own, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle, compost, buying bulk, avoiding packaging.
Satya: follow up as much as possible in thoughts, words and deeds the ecological considerations by examining daily our choices.
Brahmacharya – do not indulge in the senses and sexual abstinence.
At the base of our desires for consumption is our instinct of reproduction. The problem is we never have enough reproductive success as we are never satisfied with our reproductive success. People desire limitless wealth, status, and power because those instincts helped our ancestors survive & achieve reproductive success. We can’t depend on how we feel (by doing what comes naturally) to achieve satisfaction. Modern society innovations intensify competition for wealth, status and power causing greed, crime, grief, hatred, disappointment, depression, and environmental destruction.
Asteya- do not steal: Simply taking what we think we need, without thinking about how it arrives to us, what may be destroyed as a result, how we may be taking from others, including future generations, is stealing. Try to find healthy, green products, ethical products according to scientific ratings. Example www.goodguide.com Each product is given health, environment and society scores 1-10
Aparigraha – do not be greedy: Live simply, avoid accumulating things, de-clutter, recycle what you do not use, live beneath your means.
NIYAMAS (OBSERVANCES) APPLIED TO THE ENVIRONMENT:
Saucha – cleanliness and purity, both inner and outer. We are what we eat, so we are encouraged to only eating fresh, organic food, preferably grown ourselves or nearby. Working to clean up the oceans, the lands, and our environment, reduce production of trash, abstain from non recyclable trash.
Santosha- be contented: Avoid over consumption.Avoid falling for illusory differences between products. Accept and appreciate that which is provided by nature, eat local seasonal food; Know your local herbs; Wait for the sun to shine to clean clothes so it will be possible to line dry them; Appreciate abundance of power on sunny days and avoid activities that require power on overcast days, use a solar oven to cook food on sunny days.
Tapas – perform austerities: Austerity means curtailing the insatiable demands of the senses. Fasting. Only eating local seasonal food. Adjusting to seasonal temperature changes instead of using air conditioning. Avoid bottled water which is convenient but bad for the environment.
Swadhyaya: self study and study of scriptures: Become more and more aware of our collective wrong doings and our karmic imprints: learn how things are produced, merchandized and consumed, trashed or recycled, and try to find alternatives.
Ishwara Pranidhana: keep being humble and realize the interconnectivity of things in nature. Surrender to God’s will for us in everything and live respectfully and in harmony with the powers of the divine mother in Nature, instead of willfully create for ourselves a discarded, isolated, egoistic, unaware, sensual, lack of devotion, artificial life. Realize higher powers of consciousness present in all things. Keep connection with it and find peace and contentment is the key to yogic ecological living.
Vedanta for Ecological living:
Remember unity of life. -Unity in diversity. – Remember our mental habits to repeat our tendencies (in this regard, yamas and niyamas help to rebuild our course of actions). Remember the illusory nature of our perceptions which keep us in the same cycle of reactions (story of seeing the snake instead of seeing the rope). Remember that we are Satchitananda Atman, not a victim, not a consumer, not separated and alien, but the peaceful, powerful, supported at all times by Divine consciousness, self reliant and self delight Self.
Vedanta philosophy applied to the environment is sustainable bridging our well being with the well being of Nature and others. There is no difference between the inner and outer reality. If we elevate one, we elevate the other. If we become self conscious, we will elevate the environment and heal the Earth. If the Earth is taken care of, we will also be taken care of. Individual efforts influence the collective energy and collective awareness influences our personal effort.
Vedanta philosophy by addressing the root cause of our individual and collective suffering and recognizing our spiritual ignorance the source of it, solve the problems of division, separation and lack of unity between groups and nations. The root cause of our suffering is our false identification with our culture, national boundaries, political leaderships, gender and race and forget our common oneness.
Bringing out the ecological and planetary importance of Yoga and Ayurveda is the real mission we need to undertake. This will benefit all of us now – our societies in stand still under lock down, but also will benefit our future generations. At this poignant time, let’s practice the yamas and niyamas as guidelines of high thinking and high living and not as dogma and moral rules which bring divisiveness, arrogance, judgment and holier than thou attitude.
Let’s become compassionate and forgiving. Let’s teach more Yoga, Ayurveda and Vedanta to the masses. And let’s bow in gratitude for favors and support received from the Divine Mother seeing each other and all beings as brothers and sisters sharing the same earth, same sky, same water. Let’s celebrate our unity in diversity!
Let’s pray to the forces of Nature… This is the classical vedic mantra:
Shanti Mantras:
Om sham no mitrah sham Varunah ̣(may the sun be good to us)
Sham no bhavaturyamà (may the God of the Waters be good to us)
… you are indeed the visible Brahman. I shall call Thee just. I shall call thee Truth. May that protect me. May That protect the teacher. Om Peace, peace, peace.
In
this time of pandemic, our global society is suffering in many levels. Even if
we can carry on with our lives and we are not directly affected by the virus,
the news, the images and statistics are haunting. This is an attempt to
summarize what we can make use of from the tool box of Yoga techniques, the
philosophy and tradition of Vedanta, and the guidance of Ayurveda Vedic healing
science, as well as Jyotish, the science of karma and of timing. These tools
can be applied for all conditions, – either for a medical responder from New
York, or a mother with kids out of school to care for at home, or a regular
student of Yoga already on the path of self healing and self – transformation.
What is suffering?
The
nature of our human condition is suffering (dukha). There are many teachings on
the nature of our afflictions and sufferings. Sufferings can be of different
types: (1) physical and emotional discomfort and pain we all experience due to birth,
old age, sickness and death, (2) the suffering of change, when we cling to the
impermanent expecting it to be permanent, (3) and the suffering of existence
when we have to endure the fruits of our karma.
Swami
Sivananda said “the gap between what you
want and what you got is suffering”.
Patanjali
said in Raja Yoga sutras 2.15 “every
action brings pain due to the anticipation of loss, new desires, or conflicts
arising out of the interaction between the mind and the three qualities of
Nature” and in 2:16 “the misery that has not yet manifested should be avoided”.
Bhagavad
Gita guidance: 2:14 “Endure the pairs of
opposites from contact with the sense objects. Everything has a beginning and
an end”
2:38 “Live life, stand up and engage in
the struggle with your own lower tendencies and karmic results with
equanimity”.
12:17 Sri Krishna guidance “He who
neither rejoices, nor hates, nor grieves, nor desires, renouncing good and
evil, and who is full of devotion, is dear to Me.”
The
motive for spiritual practices and disciplines is freedom from suffering. Yogis
talk about freedom from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth. They talk
about liberation from ignorance, emancipation, enlightenment or attainment of
Self Knowledge. Yoga talked about the 4 paths of Yoga to attain moksha, freedom
from suffering. In fact, all Vedic sciences are based on the same idea, how to
devise ways to facilitate liberation, the ultimate goal.
What is Vedic knowledge?
These
4 systems Yoga, Vedanta, Ayurveda and Jyotish are part of what is called Vedic
Knowledge.Vedic Knowledge comes from
the vedas, the oldest scripture of mankind and offers a universal view of life
from physical to psychological well being to unleashing our highest creativity
and deepest awareness. It is relevant to us today, in this exceptional times,
to get inspiration from vedic knowledge in order to understand where we came
from, where are we now and where are we going towards?
How Vedic knowledge is relevant in the
world of today?
The
pandemic has brought us close together as we are facing a common invisible threat
and are learning from each other. Through the Internet, we are now in
communication with individuals and cultures throughout the world that were
regarded as foreign and alien not long ago, and we are also learning about the
intricate web of nature through the planetary ecology. We can no longer ignore
Climate change and recently, during the epidemic when everyone is obsessed with
the virus itself, many conscious leaders of the world brought together the idea
of Climate change and Corona virus. They pondered: What we did to nature and
our planet that would bring about the epidemic? We need to step out of the main
stream blame game, is it a Chinese virus or an American virus, who did what and
when, cease the denial attitude and together take the opportunity to deeply
question ourselves of our own responsibility in the problem humanity as a whole
is facing. This is a time to be meditated upon.
The
world is sick. Similarly, the world is like a sick individual. When striked by
disease, we went through 3 phases. For example, a cancer patient or a sick individual
would forcibly be staying at home and rest, stop all activities and rest, do automatically
“social distancing” and rest. Does this sound familiar?
The sick individual would ask the question in
the beginning: “why me?”, “How can this happens?”, “When will I be cured?”, “When
can I get back to my life as before?”. Our world is asking those questions.
Further
along, the questions turn into: “what is the relationship between my mysterious
disease and my lifestyle or what I did in my life?” In the same manner, the
world as an organic entity would asks: “what is the relationship between the
fierce corona virus outbreak and what humanity did as a whole?”, “What kind of lifestyle
we are indulging in?”, “what are our impacts on the environment?”.
Later,
the question would turn to: “This is a sacred opportunity, how can I learn from
this disease? How do I truly heal? “; “how can we heal as humanity? how can we
restore our connection to ourselves and to the earth? “. Instead of blaming,
and rejection, we become grateful and aware.
We
realize more than ever our interdependence, our oneness. To echo Vedic scholar
and author, dr. David Frawley, he said that “we are no longer content with
older cultural models caught up in nationalistic concerns that do not address
all humanity and the whole of life”. This is the time for rising above the same
consciousness that has created the corona virus and move towards conscious
living, in harmony with our own Self and with Nature. This is called Yoga. Yoga
as a conscious Yoga Life, not just a physical system of exercises, but a traditional
holistic system of life integrating body-mind-spirit, with roots from India.
Vedic
sciences (Yoga, Vedanta, Ayurveda and Jyotish) are based on the same
principles. This is not the context to go deep into each of these sciences but
to bring to the attention to all, that they are not different and separated
sciences, they are tightly interrelated. They are not old sciences, out of
fashion, but they speak clearly in the world today. It is uncanny that we see
these teachings reverberating everywhere in the messages we received in the world
today:
To make the world
healthy, turn within and stay home.
To save lives,
stay still, self quarantine, stop moving.
Sacrifice the old
habits of turning outwards for distractions, be responsible, calm down, relax,
be content.
To heal the outer
world, heal ourselves first.
The answer lies
within, do not look for it outside.
Happiness and
Health are within, cease to look for them outside.
We are powerful
beyond measures. Together we win, divided we perish.
The Self and the
Universe are integrated.
Unity in Diversity:
truth is one, paths are many.
The micro cosmos
and the macro cosmos mirror each other.
What we
experience is a universal dance of matter and consciousness.
In this context, health workers, warriors on the front
line are quickly learning their lessons and in the best scenario, they become
de facto teachers either they are aware or not. They can elevate themselves on
the battlefield and learn precious lessons, showing examples to many. Not only
health care workers, but anybody who become touched by the depth and dimension
of the current world suffering, and specially yoga teachers, can all become
leaders of humanity towards the Light, or liberation from suffering. Health
workers can become Yogis and not traumatized victims to the disease, and Yogis
can become healers actively working to uplift consciousness. In this context,
the Sivananda Yoga Health education program started 3 years ago, becomes very
relevant and helpful.
I. How
Jyotish, the science of light (vedic astrology) can help us to alleviate suffering?
Jyotish or Vedic astrology is the science aiming to
bring light into the karmas experiencing as specific intricate situations. Vedic astrology would help to see the
relationships between aspects of our life, help us to detach and teach us to be
patient in our attempt to be free from suffering situations.
Everything in our life is the manifestation of our
karmas. It is not the truth about ourselves. The more you are detached from the
identification with aspects of our karmas, better it is. Seeing the 12 areas of
our karmas as outlined in Jyotish,
helps us to be aware of our purpose and tendencies (1.our birth in this body
and our general intention in life, our life force and overall character, 2. Our
resources and support system, 3. Our communications and free will, 4. Our heart
and emotions, 5. Our education and intelligence 6. Our weaknesses 7. Our
partnership, 8. Our deep psyche 9. Our dharma and faith, 10. Our career and
Contribution 11. Our gains and 12. Our losses.).
The karmas even though felt real and painful, are
changing by nature. Vedic astrology teaches us the cyclical nature of the unfolding of karmas, represented by the dashas
and transit system.
We are not our minds and our likes and dislikes: As you think is what you become, as you think, is
what you see. We do not live in the same world because our minds are different.
We can understand people’s mindset so we do not suffer from expectations
unfulfilled, and we can adapt ourselves and accept people for who they are,
thus removing instances of suffering from relationships in our life.
The moon (the mind) is important in Jyotish. We
can alleviate our suffering by recognizing out mental tendencies. It is our perception of reality that creates
reality. The countenance and behavior of our mind and emotions color everything
we come in contact with. Suffering comes from our minds.
For example, there is
the tendency of the mind to be alone, thinking in own head and not engaging or
cooperating with others, creating isolation and loneliness (moon alone),
disposition of the mind to be perfectionistic (moon mars Saturn), pessimistic
and depressed (moon Saturn), fast and angry (moon mars), unsupported (hemmed in
between malefics), optimistic open and dharmic (moon jupiter), fearful and
desirous (rahu moon), edgy and spacy (moon ketu). There is dark moon, bright
moon, weak moon and too emotional moon.
Vedic astrology shows us our ego from the disposition
of the sun. Our ego brings about suffering, why we have
difficulty in self assertion, or too much self assertion, when we have too much
dependence on relationships and too much independence. The sun also represents
the government, and our relationship with authority.
Not knowing our purpose and motivation bring suffering.
Vedic astrology can show us our deeper motivation when we come in this life, and why we feel sometimes
that our life is not the life we are meant to live. It shows the motivation of
the soul and how the soul plans to work out the karmas of this life. It shows our areas of completeness and
maturity and our areas of weaknesses and future growth.
Suffering comes
from our unresolved inner conflicts,
the unfulfilled areas of our life. Jyotish gives insights into how to mitigate
these tendencies from past.
Vedic astrology
when understood properly can help us becoming more aware of our journey and helps us to avoid suffering coming from making
the same mistake. It shows us that our
destiny is in our hands and in contrary of popular belief, it shows us that
we can always do something to improve our situation, that nothing is desperate,
it is difficult but this too shall pass.
Vedic astrology
shows us our inner motivation, kama
(enjoyment), artha (wealth), dharma (righteousness) and moksha (liberation) so
we can consciously evolve in our motivation.
Vedic
astrology shows us the timing of heavens. It is the science of time.
Example today is
Akshaya Titriya an auspicious day to start a spiritual project, when both sun
and moon are exalted.
II. What Ayurveda has to teach us to free us
from suffering?
Ayurveda is the science of life. It is the traditional
system of medicine from India which is based on the theory of the 5 elements.
Ayurveda teaches us to honor the wisdom behind the processes of nature manifesting
as our own our health and wellbeing. It prevents us from diseases by teaching
us how to live peacefully with our body and our environment.
Ayurveda points
out that we are to manage our doshas in order to be healthy. (doshas are biological humours known as Vata,
Pitta, Kapha which essentially are the powers of air, of fire and of water).
They are not perfect and they are constantly changing. Doshas are primarily
disease causing factors.
Ayurveda teaches
us the virtue of balance, understanding of our constitution and balance between
the doshas, between the energy of action and movement of Vata (ether and air),
the energy of transformation, conversion, and metabolism of Pitta (fire and water)
and the energy of construction, lubrication and nourishment of Kapha (water and
earth).
Ayurveda aims at
reducing excess doshas as disease causing factors. Ayurveda goes to the root
cause of our imbalance, aims at treatment of the dosha behind the disease not
simply the disease itself.
Ayurveda taught
us to recognize our strength and weakness in our mind-body type and live a
healthy lifestyle accordingly.
Lifestyle change
leads to wellness. For acute diseases, a
clinician is required. Changing in lifestyle (food, sleep, sensual inputs ,
relaxation and activity etc..) can improve quality of life and leads to health
and well being and not disease. It is important that we learn how to eat
vegetarian non harmful food.
In a deeper level, Ayurveda helps us to
balance the subtle energies of Prana,
tejas and ojas that are the Master forms of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. We knew that
Prana can be strengthened through pranayama, Tejas increases by the practice of
mantra, of concentration and intuition.
Ojas is the energy of sustenance and is increased through a rich
nutritive vegetarian diet, ojas enhancing herbs, adequate rest and relaxation
and by cultivation of faith, devotion, compassion and endurance and most
importantly by contacting the inner Soma or nectar of bliss. Consequently, it
is said that the world is missing ojas,
thus the occurrence of corona virus, because the food is not sattvic (pure,
natural and wholesome), lack of rest and relaxation, and lack of faith and
devotion and endurance by too much rajasic activity, and lack of connection to
higher Self which brings happiness and contentment. The shelter at home order
is received by many as a permission to
slow down and rest, meditate and connect with our blissful self.
Ayurveda helps us
to optimize our connection to nature and teaches us to live according to the
time of the day and the time of the seasons. We learn to follow our daily
routine and to adjust our life according to the times.
Last but not
least, Ayurveda, not only addresses proper nutrition, but also the relationship
between food and elimination, as well as the necessity of giving the body rest
and detoxification. By slowing down, the
world is detoxifying.
III. What
Yogic techniques and philosophy we can use daily and in case of emergency?
From Yoga science,
we understand that the body-mind are our instruments and not ourselves. We take care of our vehicles and we are not
the vehicles. We are the master of our vehicles. The physical body is not meant
to live forever. Its function is birth, growth, decay and death. This perspective alleviates greatly our
suffering due to attachment to the body and identification with it.
We also know that
the mind is our instrument only, that what we feel or our character,
personality are not our true selves. This allows us to navigate the mind and
not become a victim to it. Our emotions can be overwhelming but we are not our
emotions.
We learnt how our
inner instrument works, how to make use of our higher faculty of intellect to
discriminate on the right action to take for progress in life and self
realization. We knew that we are not our senses, and our subconscious habits,
we learn to assert our power of choice.
Yoga taught us
techniques to move our prana and unblock any blockages that can lead to tension
and diseases. Asanas properly performed move our prana and induce well being,
specially when relaxation and concentration and proper breathing are there.
The scripture of
Yoga declares that by increasing our prana (life force) and by the purification
of our subtle channels through pranayama, we can destroy diseases and live a
vibrant life.
The most valuable
teaching of Yoga is the knowledge how to increase our vibrational wavelength through
pranayama and how it alleviates suffering immediately through the change of our
thought quality in our mind.
Another precious
teaching of Yoga is the teaching on concentration. How we can be free from
suffering simply by keeping our minds one pointed. By doing so, the peaceful,
blissful self can be revealed.
We have a
direction to guide our endeavors. In all aspects of our life, we try to stay
away from tamas (inertia, pulling down), we calm down rajas (action, egoism, passion)
and we nourish sattwa (purity, balance, wisdom, harmony). The teaching of the
gunas is invaluable to guide our external life and our inner life.
The deeper
teaching of Yoga comes from the 4 paths of Yoga teaching. We go to the roots of
our sufferings by transforming our Karma through Karma Yoga; by sublimating our
desires and emotions through Bhakti Yoga, and by
controlling our minds with meditation (Raja Yoga) and
last by detaching from the sense of false self to embrace the Truth within. In
other words, healthcare workers can for example, accept internally the lessons
of life and death, do the duty and let go of expectations and results, keep
focusing and meditating while in action and know that there is another picture
than this one, a level of beauty, of perfection untouched by anything, which is
residing right in our heart.
When overwhelmed,
relax into God’s love and care, detach from the dramas, breathe into the pain,
exhale and let go, surrender to God’s will and let go of one’s will.
IV. How
Vedanta philosophy helps us to alleviate our suffering?
Vedanta
philosophy teaches us that all sufferings come from our forgetfulness of Self.
It teaches about
the nature of our immortal spirit and how to realize it in our lives.
It teaches the
nature of our changing illusions and misperceptions.
It points out to
our ultimate oneness in consciousness.
It points out to
a reality that is perfect, which we intuit in our soul.
We learn to
change perspective in our thinking and see things differently.
Life is real and
death is real but both are unreal, two aspects of the same reality that is
beyond life and death.
Practicing
Vedanta, we learn to think correctly about ourselves and the reality by
learning to discriminate between the real and unreal, the self ad the not self.
We learn to lose ourselves to find ourselves. The ego is not real; it can be an
obstacle.
Vedanta philosophy
encourages us to detach from what we think we are, to remember our eternal Self
and and not losing ourselves in the unreal.
All things
changing are unreal in essence. It is just an appearance, projected by our
mind.
We learn to step
back and see the bigger picture, and cease to take things personal.
We do not know
who we are but we know who we are not.
By knowing who we
are not, what remains is the truth.
By detaching from
our minds, which function out of the past and the future, we can be ourselves,
in the eternal present.
Happiness is not
in this world, turn within and find the Atman, the Self that is Sat chit Ananda
bliss absolute.
We do our duty,
fulfill our karmas, do the best we can but at the same time
Know that perfection and fulfillment are not to be
found in this relative world.
CONCLUSION:
– All Yogic
sadhanas, all Vedic sciences are wonderful tools helping us navigating our
lives and becoming stronger and more sattvic, so to ultimately realize
ourselves and be free from all suffering due to our ignorance.
The Yogis say: Ignorance is death, freedom of the soul
from ignorance is liberation, self realization and conquest of death.
The topic of today is a complex topic, we will try our best to
talk about how to bring meaning to our lives no matter what circumstances we
found ourselves in. The two words of Karma and Dharma are charged with meaning.
Considering we do not know if everyone in the audience has the same
understanding about this, we will go a little bit in details, about karma and
dharma to describe the cause of our existence – according to ancient Yogic
philosophy- and what we are supposed to do to make the best out of our life. We
need to see “the big picture” to become wise resulting from this expanded
vision.
During the threat of a
pandemic Covid 19 upsetting life all round us, during this crisis situation,
where we have to fall back to survival mode, it seems futile to ask such
question. Yet it is precisely during these times, that we need to focus on
finding new grounds, new ways and to realign ourselves differently and discover
new territories and possibilities about ourselves and our potentials.
What is karma and How
karma works?
Karma
comes from Desires.
Karma means Action and the results of action. Thinking is action.
Any thought will bring about a reaction.
You experience the present life as a result of the past coming into the
present. Karma is law of cause and effect.
Some karmas (or karmic situations) seem to be good and some are appearing to be
negative. The theory on Karma, explains that “We reap the fruits of the seeds
we grow. Good actions bring its own results and bad actions bring its own
consequences. There is no accident or haphazard things in this world.” I know this seems cruel and some of you might
rise objections as to why some people would have to die from Corona virus now,
alone in hospital grasping for air, some people would have to perish while
helping others on the front line, some people have no shelter to shelter under
and some others can afford have all the medical care to fight off the disease.
The Root Causes
of Life’s Struggles
Life doesn’t end with death, according to Yogic philosophy. We
need to look deeper into the cause of our struggles or luck which might come
from beyond this life. The law of cause and effect, when applied can be very
simple: If we enjoy peace and health now, it is because we have contributed to
peace and health of someone sometime.
If we suffer from loneliness, it is we have created isolation in
somebody. If we face a situation that
seems like a choice between being selfish and survive or being compassionate
and humble and risking our lives, it is because in the past when confronted
with these situations we have always chosen the former. We are being given this same choice again in
order to choose differently. Similarly,
if we feel that lying or manipulating a situation will be to our advantage, we
need to choose honesty and straightforwardness and find strength in having good
character, of doing the ethical thing.
Genuinely helping another person to attain more material comforts in
their life will manifest in yours as a boon of good fortune.
Take Responsibility of
your life and choices.
Karma does not work differently at work, in private life. There
is also a group collective karma. You
are born in a certain era, certain society, certain level of technological
development. Everything is interrelated. By improving your character at work
you improve your happiness at home. By
improving your relationships at home you improve your business as your energy will
flow better.
Cultivating contentment with what you have already been given
releases you from the karma of constant restlessness of desiring more. Giving
freely and charitably results in greater wealth coming your way. Stinginess, in the contrary, brings with it a
sense of lack, of never having enough.
Maintaining pure intentions, which come from your heart, brings lasting
peace of mind; whereas, sometimes following the head and other times the heart
brings confusion, fragmentation, and problems in the future. Seeking inspiration from the wise people
while avoiding back-biting and gossiping attracts supportive people that will
be key to your success. In the same manner, negativity, divisiveness, and
bringing your competitors or coworkers down will return to you in the form of
stress and fear. Inflexibility and
desire for control bring you more situations that you can never control. But, letting go of the need for control and
realizing that you may not be aware of subtler forces at work gives insight into
the interconnectivity and self-regulating nature of creation. Everything is, in fact, perfect; we just
often fail to see it. Cultivating belief
in this truth brings great peace and relaxation.
The twelve areas of Karma in this life.
The more you identify with your karma, the more your
karma becomes real.To be free from it you have to know it, so
you don’t identify with it. These are 12 areas of karma, intertwined with
each other.
The
body:
The body is said to be a
battlefield where the karmic lessons are learnt. From the seed of karma, sprout
out the body and mind.
With the body you
inherit certain psychology pertaining to the
gender.
When you are born you
are born in a body belonging to a certain race
and culture. The collective karma will come with it. You are born white, yellow or black. The
karmic condition comes with it, depending on the era you are born in.
You also inherit from
the moment you are born a certain amount of life
force. Some are born healthy with lots of life force.
Some are born weak, not
so healthy. Some are born with fire element constitution, prone to action. Some
are born with water element, prone to emotions. The karma with the body is
already there, male, female, strong, weak.
The family, relatives and resources.
Then you have the karma
of the family, the relatives, people that you live with in your early life. You
might be supported or not supported. You
have karma of having money or not having money no matter what you do.
your karma relating to your
abilities in communication and your self will or not. Your relationship with
siblings.
Relationship karma with your emotional
heart and happiness, your mother, and your home, house and property.
Then you have the karma with your
children, your physical children or your creativity, which is your children in
an abstract manner.
This is the karma about your health
and diseases and challenges.
You have karma with your partner
either easy or difficult.
You also have difficult invisible
karmas, hidden. This relates to the energy within the psyche, the area of
spiritual insight or death.
You have karma with your Guru, your
spiritual teacher, your father and also your dharma, your faith.
. Ten is your karma with work, career,
your name and fame, place in society, in some cases frustrating, some cases
fulfilling.
You also have karma with your friends,
your community, your gains
And losses.
In these different
karmas, you would have to detach and find yourself.
In relationships and in
work, in gains, or losses, at home or in society, in your creative intelligence
or in your emotions, you would have to
observe the plays of karmas and find your Atman Self through it.
You would have to find
Your Self in Others in these different areas of your life.
Karma, Destiny and
Self effort
In life, we always have free
choice even though these choices are limited. It is said that the present
life and its circumstances is the result of past lives thoughts and actions.
What happens today is already predetermined even though we do not know from
when and and how things will manifest. However, this is not a fatalistic view.
In the contrary, we remember that challenges
in this life are opportunities for growth and for success in the future.
We might have free will but we need to think well about our
choices so that what we do leads us to peace and happiness and not to suffering.
When we are acting out of past habits and are powerless to change our character
and attitudes, we are actually bound and not free. Yoga teaches us Self effort
to control the mind and realize the True Self and be conscious and wise about
our choices, thus eventually free us from the tendency to produce the same
mistakes.
Managing karma implies that:
1. We care about our present duty,
2. We keep our eyes on our total and ultimate self-development,
3. We accept all tests and challenges in life as only temporary.
There is no Good karma and bad karma. Try to be free from all karma
Life is not only
challenges but there will be some good things happening and some bad. Life is a combination of both good and bad
karma. That means certain conditions
that we are born in are easy, things that we didn’t have to do anything and yet
they came to you.
There will be favorable
conditions according to what we wish and desire and there will be the
unfavorable conditions that we have to struggle with.
Keep even mind in all
conditions, in fact, good or bad karma is just karma. In reality there is no good or bad. There is no good life, no bad life, no
superior life, no lucky life, no unlucky life.
It is just specifically your
life and then you have to learn from it in order for you to be free from all karmas.
Life
is a series of pluses and minuses. You have to see the condition from the
inside, to understand the plus and minus in the karmic bank balance of your
life, not from the outside. From the inside means from your level of
consciousness. Your journey is the journey of Self Realization, towards
absolute consciousness of Oneness.
In this journey, you can record your debts as
the things that you yet have to learn, and credits as the things you have
learned.
Credit giving (+) Selfless actions, study, introspection, meditation. Anything
that helps us bring awareness will give us credit; Follow dharmic rules of
conduct is accumulating credits. Any action that will make us wake up is
credit.
Debits adding (-) : anything the makes us become more ignorant will give us debt. Any
action that will make us become thicker in our ego separation and illusion is
debt.
The balance of plusses
and minuses shows your progress and the accumulation of plusses can bring about
a total payment of all debts i.e. liberation from karma.
What means working out karma and paying karmic debts?
It means experiencing
the difficulties and slowly learning who the Self is and who it is not. For example,
regarding relationship karma, you have to go through the different flavors or
aspects of these relationships in order for you to learn the real lesson of
Pure Unconditional Love that is your Self. You would be selfless. You would learn Self Love that also includes
the other.
Suffering means learning.
Is suffering a must when
you are learning from karmas? Suffering
is subjective and is related to your reaction towards your karmas, therefore it
will be there as an incentive for you to learn.
Sometimes you want to
escape from suffering and not learn, for example you would escape in addiction,
in disease, in self pity and in blaming. Then you are not learning your karmic
lessons and you are diving deeper in the same way of seeing yourself and
others. However, life is a school and there is some kind of progress even
though different situations seem to be very different, but there is progress.
Paying debt, alleviation of karma is gradual:
Karmas are being understood slowly. You change
roles so you will learn. You suffer, so you will learn.
Alleviation of karma
means that you will refine your ideas about how you think about things. You
will become selfless and detached, and you would turn karma to dharma. You would take a distance and will not to
take yourself too seriously, be detached and remember that the True Self is the
Self and nothing can touch it, hurt it or taking anything away from it. You
will keep your peace of mind. You will
forgive and offer everything up in karma Yoga.
Your life is a result of karmas from past but you have choice
in the present.
In the present time, when you are aware, you
can do something about alleviating your karma.
You would have the choice, either reproduce the same situation as the
one you inherit from past karma,
or become wise about
karma and not reproduce again another karmic situation in the future. Sometimes
the lessons are intense and lots of issues come up at the same time. The
intense purification the world is going through during the corona virus
pandemic is an example when the karma is accelerating and we have no choice but
to face it. Try to see all these challenging situations under the view of karma
and try to be more aware of the consequences of our actions and rise to the
task.
You learn something but you create new debts.
In the process of paying
up your karmic debts goes very deep. It takes long term training to control the
mind and to stop reacting to the karmas, and create new karmas. For example, you
are locked up and you do not understand why you can not move about and do what
you desire. You fail to understand the universe’s lesson to you and others to
turn inwards and to change consciousness. You got depressed or upset and do
wrong actions.
Life is like a circle,
the wheel of karma, you learn something but you create new debts. It just goes on and on and on. You learn something. You don’t learn
something. You learn something. You don’t learn something. You just go on and on and on, classroom to classroom,
from lifetime to lifetime learning.
What is Karma Yoga?
Karma Yoga is the way to
work through karma by changing your sense of your self and the identification
with your actions.
In Karma Yoga your
motivation needs to be pure. Motivation stems from the heart, the true inner
feeling.
Develop
the attitude of being an instrument only, be detached.
Offer
the results: In praises or censures, in success or failures, keep the mind
even. It’s not about me, it’s not about them.
It’s not about whether I like them or they like me, it has nothing to do
with this. You offer the results of your
action, that means you offer this karma up in order for you to continue to progress.
Do
the best you can: Make effort but learn to let go.
Do
your duty and persevere, this too shall pass. Your karma dictates to you your specific
duty. There is no accident, no duty is an accident. If you follow your duty you
learn even though it is difficult. At every station in life, you have specific
duty. Follow the discipline of your duty and you will be learning greatly. Many
doctors and nurses actually now are going through intense karma doing their
duty, even risking their lives to save others. They are on the front line, like
in a war.
This reminds us of the
sublime teaching long ago of Arjuna, the warrior-disciple in conflict who
receives on the battle field the revelation about the immortality of the soul, the
teaching on karma yoga and duty and the self knowledge in action.
Every karma is unique
You can only understand
your own karma; you cannot understand another person’s karma. You can look at someone else’ s life so that
you can learn from them. The scriptures
say it is much better that you focus on your own karma and not someone else’ s,
even though it is easier for you. Let’s
say you have a situation that is really difficult for you to deal with, but a
friend will look at you and say,” I don’t know why you have such big
problem about this. If I am you, I’ll do
this, I’ll do that.” In karmic
difficulty, it is as if you are blind while another person can see your problem
easily. It is said that you can take
people’s advice, you can hear other people, but you yourself have to deal with
it. So don’t compare, it is not necessary to compare.
Turning karma to Karma yoga and find your life mission:
Dharma
is right living, right action.
Karma
Yoga attitude helps you to turn your karma to Dharma.
You can turn your karma
to karma yoga by being selfless and dedicating your service without
expectation. Your selfless service is unique to you. For you, it turns your
whole attitude around and touches your soul.
It opens your life up to new horizons.
Then,
you turn your selfless service into your life mission when you understand that
this sublime attitude has to be kept throughout life.
You cannot solve the
problem on the same level of consciousness that created the problem at the
first place, so your life mission is to go back to this place of selflessness
that will set you free.
Examples:
A
homeless abandoned woman opens shelter for homeless women and teach the women
self esteem and self confidence.
A
grieving wife due to lost of beloved husband to disease, speaks out about the
virtue of love beyond death, and becomes selfless worker to help people with
disease.
A
person becoming jobless and bankrupt due to economy crisis turns into a founder
of a company helping people to express creativity and improve earning through
wise capital ventures.
A
scientist who lost family due to virus now dedicates life work to study viruses
and to find cures and vaccines
A
political critical activist wanting always things to change now dedicating
oneself to nourish and care for ecology, relying on the grace of the Mother
Nature.
Take care of your duty in the present and the future will be
taken care of:
Dharma is duty. It is transforming your karma into an unselfish duty. It means putting the ego at the service of
others and the greater good. Not
thinking of ourselves first and only, but sharing in everyone’s happiness,
being an honorable contributor to the betterment of society, and opening
oneself to the whole of creation will turn karma into dharma. It will improve life in all aspects. The result is not necessarily immediate,
however; patience and knowledge of how karma works will see you through to the
benefits.
Yoga teaching says try
to be good and to do good all of the time no matter what the situation is.
Karma can be understood and released. Growing spiritually
requires that we turn our karma into dharma.
Dharmic Life Brings
Happiness
Happiness comes from Peace of mind and unhappiness comes from a
restless mind.
Yoga teaches the practice of restraint of thought waves to find
contentment and break through the karmic accumulation.
In the pursuit of happiness, we made many mistakes, and created endless
karmas. In our feverish world of competition, where everybody is looking for
answers outside, we believe that our happiness is in material possessions and
sensual comforts. We think that our happiness has to be at the expense of
someone else happiness so we compete and make sure we get the best place, the
best part of the cake. We fear that
someone else happiness is at our expense, and become jealous and envious. We do
not see the intangible, the spiritual, the sublime and divine. We believe in
external success and not in internal peace as success, thus we are being pulled
in all directions by our ambitions and desires and the disappointments, angers
that follow desires.
Yogis affirm that in order to find happiness, we need to achieve
peace of mind first. This means that we need to eventually recognize that there
is no end to desires, that the objects desired in fact are our own projections
of our own illusions externally. We eventually learn to turn within, avoid the
love and hate, the ups and downs, the
dual tendency of attraction and repulsion, always running towards
something and running away from something.
This is when Yoga and meditation come in our life, as we catch
the taste of peace and understand finally that it comes from within, and decide
to consciously make an effort to be calm and focused within.
How Yoga helps?
Classical yoga attributes equal value to self-effort and
relaxation. In Sivananda Yoga class,
students learn to come into a posture with control, hold it while breathing
into any discomfort or tension, and slowly come out of a posture with
control. There is relaxation and
breathing in between the postures and accent on self-awareness throughout.
Postures lead to Meditation. So,
practicing these teachings regularly will help to slow down and realize that
seeking happiness outside of ourselves leads us nowhere. Yoga shows us a way
out. By practicing regularly, your life
mission will be revealed to you.
Happy Easter! On this
meaningful day symbolizing renewal,
awakening and eternal life, we are being reminded of our infinite
potential, infinite inner resources and perfect love which always wins. This
holiday celebrates the meaning of life and this is the time for us to remember
the beauty and sacredness of our lives. Swami Sivananda said that the true goal
of life is to get back to the source from which we came. Just as rivers flow
restlessly till they join the ocean, the ultimate source from which they got
their supply of water, so too, we would be restless here till we become one
with the Peace in the True Self deep within.
In this constant flowing
journey of life towards Self realization, there are transitions and challenges
that we need to face graciously, taking these as opportunities for growth.
So we will be talking about:
1.how life is constant transition
2. how life has a positive direction, going in and up (and
not going out and down).
3. In this journey, we are
struggling but we are always progressing.
The more the struggle, the stronger we become.
4. We have the power of choice, we are not victims to
circumstances. In any given circumstances we still have the choice to move
forward in life. We need to exercise our power of choice.
5. Seven stages of conscious self transformation and
renewal. How to renew yourself consciously.
6. When our egos are rigid,
we have difficulty making choices and making decisions, paralyzed by fears and
anxieties. We can learn to make our life easier for ourselves by learning
faith, trust and detachment. Mistakes
are only stepping stones to success for a person who is aware and working
on himself.
7. Adversity is a perception. You can return to your untouched self.
You are the master of your destiny. The Self is supreme. Nobody did this to
you. Learn to become strong and accept the game of life. You and your
experience are one. “There is no world out there besides you”.
8. Everything is an opportunity for practice.
We are constantly in transition
Life is a journey. There is a
direction to life. We are always in transition, between stages of life. There
is a lesson to be learned at every step. Try to not get lost in the appearances
and illusions of life. Our destination is to realize our inner peace that
always has been here.
Different times of
transition:
Between life
times (this life is only a chapter in the book of your life. Everything is not
permanent.). Step back from your life and recognize the theme of this life.
Between stages of
life. According to our age and our maturity, we move through 4 stages of life,
we learn our duties at different stages: student stage, householder stage,
retirement stage, renunciation stage. Our struggles often reflect the lessons
we need to learn at every stage. We also learn that our psychology and needs
evolve with each stage of life.
Between occupations:
Our ideal occupation is the one reflecting our inner state of being, from being
unconscious with no self awareness, instinctive living, survival thinking and living only for enjoyment, to the idea of
a self centered self, making the best out of separated life, to being more
responsible of our fellow beings and our actions, and last, to becoming selfless, understanding our oneness and
acting out of the vision of oneness.
Between gunas,
moving from tamas (darkness), to rajas (activity) , to sattwa ( purity,
balance, wisdom) . Our journey is the journey of purification where we unveil
ourselves from our own veils and recognize the light and knowledge within.
Between periods
of our karmas . Our lessons are learnt in time and following sequences. According
to vedic astrology, our lives revolve from one karmic expression to another,
from dasha period to another where we have to learn : self confidence (sun);
psychology and emotions (moon), action and energy (mars) , intelligence and
reasoning (mercury) , righteousness and wisdom (Jupiter) , devotion and
enjoyment (venus) ,
Self
discipline and forbearance (Saturn), desires and compulsion (rahu) , detachment
and renunciation (ketu). Everything is set up by heavenly energies for us to
learn. The lesson of enjoyment is 20 years, the lesson of self discipline is 19
years, the lesson about desires is 18
years, the lesson of intelligence is (16 years) , the lesson of wisdom is 16
years, the lesson about the mind and emotions is 10 years , of energy and
action is 7 years, detachment is 7 years, ego self is 6 years.
Between seasons and weathers: Like the season revolving, winter gives rise to spring, spring to summer, summer to fall and return to winter. Life is cyclical. We just have to step back and enjoy the seasons changing and revolving. The changes of temperatures and weathers affect the moods, and our health. This contemplation helps us to accept change.
Between hours of the day: the changes we feel might reflect not only the changes of seasons, but also the changes of energies between periods of the day, the sunrises, sunsets, the middays. Doing things in the right timing would influence the outcomes.
Between waking, dreaming, deep sleep. Our daily landscape also keeps revolving between our different states of consciousness, the waking, the dreaming and the deep sleep state. The idea is to learn to become the observer, the witness to all these changing phenomena inside and outside of us.
In fact, we are always
transitioning and we indeed never stay still. We renew ourselves constantly. According
to Master Sivananda, “Life is a school,
in which every sorrow, every pain, every heart break brings a precious lesson.
The world is your best teacher, there is lesson in each experience. The world
is the best training ground.” Learn to be in the world and be untouched by
the world like the lotus flower growing out of mud.
The journey of life is going in and up,not out and down
“In” means inwards towards
our peace within and “out” means loosing ourselves in external concerns. “Up” means
feeling light and content, “down” means feeling restless and dissatisfied. Recognize
your path and renew yourself!
– from impurity to purity: learning to
accept challenges and pains as growing pains, we are cleansing ourselves from
our impurities , allowing the light and peace to shine from within when we
learn better behavior .
– from hatred to cosmic love: learn to hate less and love more every
day then we will be moving in the right direction.
– from death to immortality: If we think that we are the mortal body, we will be
gripped by the fear of death. By changing consciousness and by going deeper
within ourselves through Yoga and meditation, we become more detached from the
body and can feel the freedom and lightness coming from our eternal spirit.
– from imperfection to perfection: we might be disappointed at ourselves for not being
perfect or judging other people to be less then perfect. Eventually, we mature
and know that perfection can not be attained in this world. We do the best we
can in this relative life, and at the same time realize a level of ourselves
and of life that is perfect. Ultimately, we realize that all is at all times
perfect. We stop to try to make a better past, and live solidly in the present
where perfection can be found.
– from slavery to freedom: we might think that we are victim and that
we are bound in our lives to do things we do not like. We might have a wrong
sense of what is true freedom. Swami Sivananda said that freedom does not mean
eating anywhere you like, going anywhere you like, speaking anything you like
…it is found in self discipline. We are in fact slave to our desires and
senses. Yoga helps to slowly turn our bad habits to positive habits and realize
our true inner freedom.
– from diversity to unity: wegrow
when we learn to see the unity in the apparent differences. Example: seeing the
suffering of the whole humanity and not just one nation over the other. The
test we are going through now as a global community brings us closer together.
We are moving from the sense of separation to the sense of interdependence.
Open our minds and hearts to accept differences. Become less judgmental.
– from ignorance to eternal wisdom: we are learning to control our mind and emotions and
become wise amidst chaos and controversies. We learn to see the bigger picture
of our life and learn to avoid to repeat the same mistake and to create new
karma.
– from pain to eternal bliss: we learn from our pains and know that we have somehow
have forgotten ourselves looking for happiness in a wrong place. We eventually
learned that happiness is within and the answer lies within. We breathe, relax,
reconcile and forgive ourselves and others in order to be free from our pains.
– from weaknesses to infinite strength: Due to our weaknesses, we
have fears and attachments, and we create pain to ourselves and others. Life
journey teaches us to be stronger and stronger to face more and more demanding
challenges. Everything is a test of your strength and faith.
We have the Power of choice
We need to exercise wisely our conscious intelligence over our instincts and emotions
In that journey towards more
awareness, we exercise our intellect but often times we are being pulled in the
opposite direction by our habitual lower
mind. We want to learn and to grow but we are caught in our habits and
attachments. Our emotions pulled us to
the past and to the future but resist the guidance of our intellect. We forget
ourselves in the past and the future unable to live fully the present. We find
ourselves unfulfilled and stuck because we wanted to return to the secure past
and have difficulty to venture into the unknown. We are missing out our present
which is the key to our freedom.
We need help to make changes.
People with higher mind, who have
been where we have been can support us in our journey. Our conscious choice can
be backed up by our higher mind or the higher mind of somebody.
The seven steps of conscious change
Seven steps to transform our impressions in the mind.How to renew ourselves. How to work with our mind’s tendency to repeat itself. When we leave an old pattern for a new one, we enter the transitional ground that can be unsettling. We often resist new patterns for fear of losing identities we have carefully constructed. It is like a more evolved version of the old self, eventually leading to our true nature. We keep refining and purifying our mind patterns into healthier designs. It will become easier and easier.
1. -set
intention
2.- commitment to “work” on the unhelpful habit.
Conscious will to resist falling back on old habits, in crease in awareness,
bringing inner wisdom and light.
3.- slowing down to observe the mind, allowing greater
reflection and insight. Yoga practice helps you to slow down.
4.- awareness of unseen force that can hold us captive
in old samskara.
5.- fearlessness: tolerate unpleasant sensation – like
grief or fear of loneliness.
6. – envision new pattern. Visualize the new
discovered self when you do Yoga practice, when the mind slows down and relaxes.
7.- Practice. Understand what can trigger a relapse.
Difficulty to make decisions and to make choices come from fears
Mistakes are stepping stones to success.
When our egos are rigid, and
when we have inner conflicts, we have difficulty making choices and making
decisions, paralyzed by fears and anxieties. We can learn to make our life
easier for ourselves by learning faith, trust and detachment. Mistakes are only
stepping stones to success for a person who is aware and working on himself. There
is no such thing as mistake for a seeker, there is only lesson.
Adversity is a perception
Return to your untouched self. There is no others. There is no world besides you. You are the master. It is easier to say then done. In this time of adversity for many, it would be difficult to resort to wisdom of the Self and try to see the “rope” instead of the scary “snake” – to use the famous vedantic analogy. However, equip with this spiritual strength, knowing that all is well in reality, we can find courage to face the snake, face the worst imaginary outcome. Adversity can be a good trainer.
we
need to train ourselves to be strong, no matter what. In adversity, we need to get mentally ready
for what’s coming. We are not catastrophizing, only facing hardships in order
to do the right thing and not running away in fears.
By
negative visualization, we can mentally prepare for the hardships in life.
We
must face the hardship by imagining the worst outcome. Seeing the worst doesn’t
mean you are resigning your fate to it. In fact, it is the opposite. By seeing
the worst, you won’t bury your head in the sand and run from it in fear. So visualize the details of the possible
negative scenario: Imagine you lose your mother, or your son. Imagine, you lose
your job or your business is bankrupt. Let’s face the bad news and let’s come
up with the positive way to think about them. Let’s get ready “there is no way
out, there is only through”.
Confinement: This is the time to
turn inwards. Do inner practice. Meditate, become aware of your thoughts that
you have neglected when busy.
Overwhelm: Tasks changed,
parenting duties are overwhelming when schools closed. This is the time to get
to know your kids better. And be creative in terms of tutoring them and keeping
them structured.
Life plans changed: Events cancelled or
postponed. It is OK. We will appreciate the event better when the time comes.
It is not the worst thing.
Sickness and disease: I might get sick. I
might even die. It is OK. Death is not the end of life anyway. But if Karma is
the reason why I am in this body, I am not sure that I have completed my karma
I am in now, so I ask myself, am I ready to die or not? The prospect of death
will give meaning to this life. Death is not the only problem, there is death
when I am sedated with the ventilator machine that will take away my capacity
to be aware and to pray. And I know the last thought determine the next birth.
I rather be conscious, breathe the yogic way, light and slow and deep as much
as I can and die ready with the mantras and prayers on my lips. If I survive, I
might have to face being sick for weeks. It is OK. There must be meaning for me
being alive. I will fulfill my mission sooner or later.
People around me will
get sick and may be will die. Estimates are 40-60% of americans will be sick
and the US will have more than a million death. It is OK, it is not my will, it
is God’s will.
There will be riots when
people get desperate. It will happen but, it will not be that common so I do
not need to worry about it now. More often we will see people coming out of their
comfort zone to help. This is the opportunity for me to help others.
There will be scarcity of
commodities as there will be disruption in the supply chain. It will be short
term shortage. We will be fine with simple living. In Yoga and Ayurveda, you
can live very simple of kitcheree (rice and mung bean) and some vegetables. We
have had too much food, too much variety that come from all over the world. We
can return to the garden. Our health and appreciation of life will increase.
Economy will enter a recession. Consumer spending habits will
fundamentally change. It is OK. We do not need more stuff and this situation makes
that very clear. We do not have to consume and consume.
Borders will close. We will not be able to travel the way we did. It
is OK, by turning inwards and controlling our desire and imagination we learn
to be content with ourselves, with nature and people around us. We can connect
to people around the world more than ever by Internet.
There will be tension between countries. It is OK , the nations will
work their alliance with each other out. It is a game that changes all the time
anger, blaming, judgmental attitude,
rigidity , procrastination, blaming, lack of will, intolerance, lack of self
control , failures in turning the mind and senses inwards, lack of self awareness
, practice of being here and now, practice of doing little by little .
CONCLUSION
Keep flowing with life with
faith and fortitude. If you practice acceptance, awareness and detachment, you
will enjoy life for what it is: a school and a play. You will become better and better at it. You
can lose everything, but the main thing is you are not losing yourself! Swami
Sivananda said : “Any amount of zeroes have no value, unless you add the 1
before them”.
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