Hello folks, 

 

In last week’s class we reached the sutras that describe the two, practical facets that constitute the inward journey of yoga. We all know that yoga is an internal experience, yet sometimes it is difficult to understand or even feel what that means. 

 

In Sutra 12, Patanjali Rishi explained that abhyasa, practice, and vairagya, non-attachment, are the two wings of the bird of yoga. If we could just manage to do these two things, we could deeply quiet the mind and experience transcendent consciousness.

 

In Sutras 13-16, Patanjali Rishi defines what it means to have an internal practice of yoga, which at the same time address many of the questions we have about yoga practice.

 

What exactly is practice? 

1.13 The effort to acquire a steady, fixed state of mind is called practice 

 

My mind wanders a lot, when will practice change that? 

1.14 After a long time of earnest, well attended, continuous effort, practice attains a firm ground

 

I have goals and desires that I want to fulfill through yoga (like learning how to do difficult postures or new mantras); what about those?

1.15 When the mind loses all desires for objects that it has seen or heard about, it acquires a state completely free from desire, which is called non-attachment.

 

Even when I don’t feel I want objects, I still feel desires. 

1.16 The highest non-attachment is when there is a non-thirst for the gunas (the forces that constitute all nature) due to knowledge of the nature of consciousness.

 

When you experience consciousness, your desire turns towards having that as your constant experience. Desire in and of itself is not bad, it’s what we do with it. To desire the Self or to desire to be of service, for example, are desires that lead towards Self-knowledge, and so do not lead towards more suffering.  

 

If we do not understand desire, then it will rule us. 

 

There is a relationship between desire and objects that arises because of perception. When our perception begins to shift towards becoming more and more aware, so does our relationship with objects. Then the thirst for objects that are not helpful to our inward journey lessen. 

 

The objects of the world are not bad in and of themselves, it is the agency we give them: “If I buy these sneakers, then I’ll be happy,” but that happiness does not last if someone else has the same ones and they look better in them, or has an improved version. The same holds true for emotions. We desire an emotion, say joy, or love, but then when we have an argument and the joy disappears, so does our happiness. If someone else seems happier, we get depressed. Happiness is an object, too. 

 

So, we have to be the owner of objects, and not let them own us, including our thoughts and emotions. To understand who the owner is means to know or experience awareness, which is ever-present in us. A new experience of our bodies, minds, and inner sense of quiet can come quickly when we first start practicing yoga. That, right there, is an experience of awareness, and that is what keeps drawing us in, filling us with a positive desire to learn more, practice more, and experience deeper. 

 

Abhyasa, as practice, means to never give up the practice of awareness. 

Vairagya, as non-attachment, means to always let go of the ephemeral things that seduce you into thinking that they will bring you eternal happiness. 

 

Here's some homework for this week: each day when you begin your practice, of whatever you are practicing, say to yourself, "This is a practice of awareness, and as I do my practice, I will strive to remember (through smriti), that expanded awareness is the purpose of spiritual practice." That expanded awareness could be within your body, mind, emotions, or into the world. See what happens.

 

Thank you, and see you Friday, 12pm!

 

Best,

Eddie