We think things will give us happiness, and actually they do! They give us happiness for one second. Like smoking...the person who smokes craves, desires a cigarette. They light up and for one second they are happy because they are free of that desire for the cigarette. The desire itself has been satisfied. And you know, we can substi- tute the cigarette for anything, that Gucci bag, a pair of Nikes, chocolate ice cream, an SUV, etc. We think that happiness is the cigarette, or any other thing coming from the outside. And so, this trains us to believe, that whatever is coming from the outside is giving us this happi- ness, and so we crave more and more. But the truth is, and we would know this if we would stop and deeply introspect (which is what yogis like to do), that the reason that you feel happiness with your cigarette, is that for that second you are free of desire, you are in a desire-less state, and this is the state of your true self. My guru, Shri Brah- mananada Saraswati, said that yoga is the state where you are missing nothing. You are complete and whole. Well, because I am a yogi I tend to be a very prac- tical person. I like searching for causes. Its like John Nash and that movie, Beautiful Mind. He is one of my favorite people, and I think the movie did a disservice to him by placing so much emphasis on his schizophrenia, not on his scien- tific breakthrough about happiness! What his sci- entific discovery revealed was a very yogic mes- sage about the attainment of happiness. It could be equated with Patanjali ́s 46th sutra, Chapter two (sthira sukham asanam YSII.46) Before John Nash, the concept accepted at least by the scientific community was that if you wanted the members of a group to be happy, then each individual should be allowed to pursue their own happiness. And that if each member is allowed their own pursuit, then collectively all would be happy. Everyone would be happy. But Dr. Nash came along, and said, “Yes, ok...but the idea is incomplete. Each individual should pursue their own happiness but (laughs), only if that pursuit doesn’t cause unhappiness to any other member of the group. Wow, that’s radical....meaning it is getting close to the root; the root of the problem of unhappiness. To live harmoniously, we must live in way that is mutually beneficial, and when we are in a rela- tionship which is mutually beneficial it tends to be sustainable. One sided relationships are never sustainable for either party. And so, we as the human species has relationships with all other species based on exploitation: Our relationship with others is one of exploitation. Through this relationship with others we are bound in the wheel of samsara; of suffering and we go around and around taking turns being slaves and mas- ters. We treat all animals are slaves. We think of them as slaves. We talk about them as slaves. We abuse them in horrific ways and we rationalize it by saying, well, it is benefiting us as a species. But violence only brings more violence; it can never bring about any positive benefit. ~ Sharon Gannon, co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 02:55:52 +0000
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