(Sutra 1.1) Now, let’s talk about yoga. (Sutra 1.2) Yoga is attained by removing the noise from the mind (Sutra 1.3) so you can remember who you are. (Sutra 1.4) Because when you forget who you are, you believe you are just a body living in this physical universe. (1.5) Your beliefs can be subjective or objective. (1.6) Beliefs arise from five sources: correct knowledge, false knowledge, imagination, sleep and memory. (1.7) Correct knowledge can be obtained through perception, inference or through others; (1.8) false knowledge is perceiving something as different from what it is; (1.9) imagination is making things up; (1.10) sleep is a time when the mind rests, (1.11) and memory is recalling something that happened in the past. (1.12) You can master and change your beliefs with practice and by not getting attached to them. (1.13) You will have to work on it for a while (1.14) until it becomes a habit, a way of life. (1.15) You should realize that you are not your beliefs and that you can change them. Do not become attached to them. (1.16) Realizing that this whole reality requires you to believe in it for you to experience it is called supreme detachment. (1.17) You can remove your beliefs methodically, analytically, intuitively or via a realization. (1.18) Once these are removed, only pure information – reality – remains. (1.19) This is how things look when you are dead. (1.20) While alive, you must use wisdom, meditation, memory, resolution and faith. (1.21&22) The harder you work, the faster you get results (1.23) Another approach is to look at life from the perspective of the universal consciousness. (1.24) The universal consciousness is beyond all that we can see. (1.25) Only from this perspective can you see how things really are. (1.26) This perspective is always available to the student, and it is the place where the true teacher lives. (1.27) This perspective is represented by the word OM. (1.28) By repeating this sound you call this point of view to yourself. (1.29) When you repeat OM, your attention is turned inwards, which is where you can find this perspective, inside yourself. (1.30) There are nine obstacles you can encounter that will prevent you from achieving this superior perspective. They are: physical illness, mental illness, doubt, a scattered mind, laziness, lack of self control, incorrect beliefs, failing to keep improving in your personal growth and failing to keep the superior perspective once attained. (1.31) You know you are suffering the consequences of one of these nine obstacles if you feel unhappy, depressed, restless or have difficulty breathing in a steady manner. (1.32) The best way to fight the nine obstacles is to meditate. (1.33) When dealing with people, be nice to those who are nice, compassionate with those who are suffering, happy when meeting the wise and simply ignore mean people. (1.34) If you need to calm down, work on controlling your breath (1.35) and focus on what you are doing to prevent the mind from wandering. (1.36) You can also focus your attention on someone you look up to who brings out the best in you. (1.37) Or just let go, chill out and relax. (1.38) Paying attention to your dreams and the message they are trying to give you will also help. (1.39) Focusing on things or activities that you like will help as well. (1.40) By practicing these things you can learn to focus your mind on the very smallest to the most infinite of concepts. (1.41) When your false beliefs are removed, the mind is like a transparent piece of glass. You can see things for what they are. Understand clearly what is in front of you. You cannot be fooled any more. You can see the true nature of things. (1.42) To gain this understanding you need to go beyond words. Words have preconceptions, assumptions and a history that affects what you see, so when you look at something and think of its name, your judgment is affected. (1.43) You also need to go beyond your memory or past experiences so they do not affect what you are looking at now. This would make you think that what you see is like what you have seen in the past and thus you would miss the truth of what is in front of you. (1.44) Words and memories affect your understanding of physical objects, concepts, ideas and beliefs alike. (1.45) As the mind wandering becomes more and more rare, (1.46) you can tell you are on your way to samadhi(oneness), but not at samadhi yet. (1.47) With practice one gets better and better, (1.48) and can live life in the “truth”, according with reality. (1.49) This experience – approach to life - is different than learning from others, or deducing what is going on based on what you can see. You are experiencing the truth. You can live firsthand what is really happening. (1.50) This knowledge - coming from interacting with reality - creates beliefs in you that prevent you from getting false ones. (1.51) When belief disappears, that pure state of mind where you find yourself flowing in reality in synch with what is, and connected to all that is, that is called samadhi, a state of oneness with all.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 09:52:48 +0000
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