The most natural state of the human heart is that of gratitude. And a grateful, open heart receives everything that impacts it in life, moment by moment, just like the ocean receives raindrops. There’s never any rejection or coveting of any individual drop; just each drop, each part dissolving into the whole.
Similarly, our heart has the innate capacity to open to both suffering and joy with equal acceptance. In fact, this is how it functions best. The heart’s secret is that it wants to feel everything. In order to thrive, it wants to be fully alive in order to learn all that it can from the trials and celebrations of life, but our ego/self has other plans. It encourages and supports all that is agreeable to it and discourages (or tries to block) everything that is not.
As sentient beings, it is nothing short of a miracle that we can experience everything from pain and suffering to happiness and bliss. It’s utterly amazing that we have a consciousness that can experience any feelings at all. Of course, it’s not quite so surprising when the ego/self steps in and grabs hold of the suffering and keeps us there, tormenting us with its blame and insensibility.
The practices of yoga and meditation ask us to confront our suffering directly and stay the course with it, experientially, until it reveals the seed of liberation that it contains.When we move closer to suffering, experiencing it fully, it transforms us and leaves us with an air of expansion and a greater understanding. When we allow this to happen in our lives, we are left humbled, and grateful.
Now, of course this is not easy work because we find it is painful to really, truly feel. It is terrifying to take that leap of faith, assured that on the other side of the abyss of suffering is the promise of a greater wholeness. Our ego tends to wonder if it’s worth the risk, or even possible. But when we soften the heart into non-judgment, then we are as we are. By releasing expectation, life is allowed to arise as it is.Whatever life is moving in you today is a miracle. Receive it with an open heart and you’ll feel gratitude radiate from those parts of you that just want to be?
Gratefulness can also arise by realizing how many things we take for granted. Consider this – the poorest people in America now live with more luxuries than royalty had 100 years ago. We have running water for a shower, it’s even heated! How about indoor plumbing, we no longer need to go out in freezing weather and sit in a stinky outhouse. It hasn’t been very long ago that indoor plumbing was a luxury available only to the very wealthy. We have electricity, which means that we can stay up all night reading and never have to worry about running out of candles. Not even Kings and Queens could do that throughout history.
Try starting each day reflecting on what (and who) you are grateful for. Focus with intent on heart-felt gratitude. Don’t allow “woulda, coulda, shoulda” to come into play, remain a witness, without judgments and you have opportunity to see all the things you have to be grateful for; things like the simple smile of a child, the smell of a flower or the sight of a cloud against the blue sky, or even just the ability to wake up and take a deep breath.
Use yoga practice and meditation techniques to develop your inherent quality of gratitude and infuse your life with a deep sense of peace and joy. And in that place, you’ll have come full circle, finding it very easy to be grateful.
Before we examine whether someone should strive to be “spiritual” or not, we should try to reach an understanding of what is meant by being spiritual.
Spirituality (being spiritual) implies different things to different people. For some people it may mean becoming more religious (religion generally referring to the worship of “God” and/or the various teachings of their accepted faith). When addressing religion, first it should be understood that performing ceremonies and customs is the ritualistic aspect of the religion and not the spiritualistic part, but some people have an inherent need for ceremony, ritual and dogma in their lives.Religion typically places more emphasis on outer forms and outer rituals. Religion often involves a congregation or community of followers that share common beliefs.
Spirituality is less concerned with outer forms and rituals. It tends to be much more private and personal. In its simplest form, spirituality means to look within. For one who is spiritual even the act of worship (or connecting with the Divine) is actually a form of going within, of connecting with one’s own perception, experience and awareness of the Divine (or God).
We often hear reference to “going within” what is actually meant by going within? Going within is basically establishing some sort of connection with something that provides us with an unending source of energy, irrespective of happenings in the outside world. Going within furthers the realization that there is no separation between you and the Divine/God/Spirit/Creator. And there never has been, ever! No matter what’s going on in your life, no matter what you did or haven’t done. You realize that you don’t have to “go somewhere” to be with God (or whatever you choose to call the Divine, Absolute or Supreme).
So why seek to be spiritual?The beauty of spirituality is that when you commit to it, a world of opportunity and new experiences open up for you. The moment you decide that spirituality is for you, it’s as if the doors of enlightenment begin to open and you finally start to see the light.
The truth is that humans beings; in fact, all sentient beings, are inherently spiritual. They just aren’t aware of it yet. One of the saddest and most persistent beliefs in the modern world is that we are merely flesh and bone and that once we die, we go to heaven, or we go to hell or we become extinct. Well, whether you believe it or not, nothing could be further from the truth from a truly spiritual perspective. By aligning yourself with truth, the meaning of life becomes crystal clear, and that life is all about spiritual maturation.
Embarking on a spiritual journey is not about blindly believing in any dogmatic theories or stories that your own personal experience can’t support. Instead, it’s a process; integrating the practice open-mindedness, testing things for yourself, and aligning yourself with truth as closely as you can, all leading to Self-realization.
Spirituality also offers us a way to avoid accumulating stress and emotion (and more karma). Spiritual insights are not dependent on external objects and/or situations. By remaining non-dependent on anything external we prevent any energy dissipation.
When we start being more spiritual, we naturally begin to realize the meaninglessness of most things or issues that we would usually pay undue attention to. We start seeing the impermanence behind superficial material pursuits and their outcomes, and this happens in such a way, that we begin to enjoy the process without building excess mental and emotional baggage.
The impermanence of and meaninglessness behind the search for secular gains becomes a growing realization which, in turn, conserves our finer (subtle) energies that we would otherwise dissipate. The quality of our wants and desires improves from the gross to the subtle level and this establishes a virtuous cycle with every passing day, culminating in an ocean of peace and supreme bliss.
Spirituality offers us the realization that this world and everything in it is constantly changing. This change itself is constant and inevitable, but spirituality provides us with an invisible, yet stable anchor that helps us find our bearings, even during the most challenging times.
This alone, is a sufficient reason to find supreme merit in the spiritual path.The longer you practice spirituality, and the more devoted to it you become, the more it becomes the central part of your life, eventually becoming your very reason for living.
Both yoga and Ayurveda (the Indian Science of Healing) were inspired and developed by the great sages of ancient India, well over 5000 years ago. They were also both created to keep the body and mind strong, allowing students and practitioners to focus on what they considered their most important function, that of discovering the true Self and finding their true purpose in life. Although both these sciences are very old, neither one can be called “primitive.” Their advice is founded mostly on common sense, and has much to teach us about finding harmony and balance in the busy world we live in today.
Yoga happens to be the only science that has placed great emphasis on food, and it has done so for many centuries. There is actually a whole branch of yoga (called “Anna Yoga”) that is devoted to eating those foods that promote health and happiness.
Over these many centuries yoga has continued to develop a concept of a balanced whole-foods diet and an eating philosophy that stays current with changing times. These well established principles of good eating apply powerful techniques which are meant to help in creating and maintaining a strong, healthy body, a stress-free mind and a positive spirituality while living in this crazy, mixed-up world.
Never before has this yogic philosophy of a balanced whole-foods diet been more befitting than today when over 96% of all chronic illnesses and other health disorders can be traced directly to a diet insufficient in nutrition. Studies have shown that Indian civilizations (in the East) suffer less than Westerners from bowel problems, constipation, and indigestion plus a host of other food related disorders such as obesity. And the reason is because the Indian philosophy of cooking and eating draws heavily from the Ayurvedic and yogic philosophy of eating!
Ideally we should choose foods that are:
·Whole-foods in their most simple form possible,
·In season and as close to their source as possible,
·Unprocessed, chemical and additive free,
·In bulk and not pre-packaged.
Shopping for foods that we know are fresh and unprocessed is easier if we take as much of a hands-on approach in this process as possible.It’s always preferable to buy from farm stands and farmer’s markets, where we can meet the people that have grown the produce, which is often picked or harvested that same day.
Eating those foods that are both balancing and energizing will greatly aid and support us on the path of practice we have chosen to undertake.The very best diet for yoga students and practitioners is based on whole-foods, which generally means simple, unadulterated and unprocessed foods.Yogic cooking does not break-down foods into vitamins, minerals, protein, but rather demonstrates that the true benefits of whole-food ingredients can be had only when they are NOT isolated but are kept as true to their natural form as possible. Thus the key to optimal health and well-being is to have a balanced diet, one that ensures that all the faculties of the digestion process (absorption, assimilation and elimination) work efficiently and effectively.
It’s extremely important for us to realize that all 3 of these aspects (absorption, assimilation and elimination) work very well together, for when they work in harmony it’s very unlikely that we’ll suffer from chronic illnesses and all the many other health disorders (including obesity) that are epidemic in modern society today. “Synthetic” and/or “processed” foods (refined sugars, saturated fats/partially hydrogenated oils, fast foods, etc.) create conditions that disrupt this delicate balance, inevitably leading to numerous physical and psychological problems. Over time, the consequences can be dangerous and/or debilitating.
By being more discriminating and remaining consciously aware of how we feel in regard to the dietary choices we make, we’ll find those choices will start to become extremely supportive in our quest for optimal health, wellness and also a boon to our happiness.
Like many other things in life, fear and guilt (in themselves) are neither good nor bad, they simply are. In any given instance, they can serve to further our goals and needs or just the opposite, they can push us further away from them. In any event, they are not to be ignored, but instead, when these feelings arise, they warrant some compassionate reflection; that way we can discover what attributes they possess that might be useful or helpful to us and which ones we should just let go of.
During yoga practice we may find fear to have its place. A healthy fear of injury works well to prevent our egos from pushing us into asanas that we’re not ready for, or it may give us pause when we feel driven to force ourselves to go further into a pose than we should. it seems guilt is not quite as useful in most yoga practice, but now and then, it is that guilty feeling about not practicing regularly that keeps us coming back to our mat. So, as we all have probably realized, it can be a motivator in many cases.
Due to our conditioning, fear and guilt are commonly perceived by us as negative emotions. But come to think of it, they may be not so bad.
Would it be going too far to state that fear and guilt are good? It’s easy to see that both these emotions have played important roles in our evolution, and they continue to do so. They are necessary for our conscious and spiritual evolution, making us more thoughtful and capable of more compassion.
Fear functions well when it comes to instilling in us the necessary respect for life, and often prevents us from behaving recklessly. Almost all young children have fears (like the fear of darkness, loneliness, fear of animals etc.). These fears ensure that the child seeks to remain in safer situations. As they grow older, they gradually shed these fears, evolving beyond them.
Feelings of guilt ensure that we evaluate our thoughts and actions from time to time in order to become better human beings. When we commit a misdeed, or bring harm or suffering to someone or something it is natural for us to feel bad about it. This makes us want to correct it and make an effort not to repeat our mistakes, but rise above them instead. If it weren’t for guilt we would become insensitive, perhaps even ruthless.
Humans are fortunate to have evolved above other forms of animal life. Animals have no guilt but possess lots of fear. As a result they do not evolve as humans do and develop compassion or any understanding of empathy for the suffering of others. But some may protest, saying animals do feel guilt, citing dogs as an example. But this has been proven to be a mistaken notion. Recent studies at Barnard College in New York, uncovered the origins of the “guilty look” in dogs and found that it is a response to the owner’s behavior, and not necessarily indicative of any response to its own misdeeds.
Yoga philosophy teaches us that balanced emotions equal a balanced personality. As in everything else, a balance needs to be there to hold everything in check; similarly excessive (or obsessive) fear and guilt can ruin our personalities.
Excessive, and especially irrational, fears (aka phobias) hamper one’s life. One begins to become afraid without any reason. When fears persist after we should have outgrown them, they should be addressed and if need be treated by a trusted health care professional.
Also, too much guilt, will often lead to a flawed and/or dysfunctional personality. When a person feels guilty most or all the time, they become apologetic about everything. From this an inferiority complex will often develop.
When we’re not able to properly balance and manage such emotions as fear and guilt, it affects our relationships as well as our physical health. Unhealthy, unbalanced guilt and fear lead to excessive adrenalin production, prompting other hormonal imbalances; this in turn establishes the breeding ground for a host of ailments.
Yoga practice fosters mindfulness and compassion that can help you replace negativity with self-acceptance. When you feel physically tight, yoga allows you to breathe into the muscles to relax them. It’s the same when you encounter difficult emotions such as fear or guilt. You learn to inhale and exhale through that too, working toward a place of greater balance, understanding and confidence. Therefore, when properly balanced, the emotions of guilt and fear are beneficial. One should not be overly bothered about them. They are a natural and inherent to our state of existence. As a person evolves spiritually, their usefulness dissolves and they tend fall away on their own.
The essence of all yoga practice is to remain positive in any situation that we find ourselves in. By remaining positive, our interactions with ourselves, others and the world at large become brighter, more productive and perpetuate a feeling of self-satisfaction, often referred to as the “feel good factor.” As a result we become healthier and more peaceful.
So how can yoga practice be used to develop this positive disposition? Simple, there’s a 3-step approach:
1 – Awareness
2 – Acceptance
3 – Attitude
Well now, let’s consider these three factors…
1.Awareness:
We can begin by becoming aware of what we’re thinking and how our thinking process actually works. We systematically train ourselves to be aware at all times of how our mind is working; our thoughts, thinking patterns and tendencies. Practice making this a habit and if it seems difficult, there are two meditation techniques which can be of great help – Antar Mouna and Yoga Nidra. Both these techniques help in the withdrawal of our senses into introspection or silent witnessing.
*Antar Mouna (inner silence meditation) is a pratyahara technique, pratyahara being the first of the four inner limbs of Raja Yoga anddeals with the activities of the conscious mind. Antar Mouna is the development of conscious awareness of all thoughts and mental activity. The technique involves creating, transforming and finally gaining control of the entire thought process.
*Yoga Nidra, generally referred to as “Yogic Sleep” is a 4000 year old guided meditation technique that leads to a deep and exquisite state of supreme stillness and insight where the body and mind can restore and rejuvenate. It can enable you to experience unshakeable peace, even during some of the most difficult times.
2.Acceptance:
Ironically, increased awareness brings about a heightened sensitivity to the issues at hand, where we are at risk of becoming too judgmental and critical of both ourselves or of others. This can set the stage for sending us into a vicious cycle of negativity unless we learn to first accept things as they are.
Develop a stance of “it is okay” to simply observe things the way they are, without being obsessively driven to try to change or control them. Just by being a witness of all that arises establishes an attitude of acceptance that leads to genuine love and real compassion, establishing the “bedrock” of positive thinking.
3.Attitude:
After we have fully accepted what lies within (or behind) our thoughts, we can then start working on how we “choose” to look at any particular situation, person or thing. These yoga techniques are essential in helping us to change our attitude. The Sankalpa (or resolve) that we establish through Antar Mouna and Yoga Nidra assists us in shaping our mind. This resolve in yoga is always takes the form of a positive statement e.g.; “I am becoming more positive every day”. Such positive conditioning when regularly used to fuel the mind will help greatly in shaping a positive attitude.
By regularly practicing these three (awareness, acceptance and attitude), you
Siddhis are the development of super natural powers by a student or aspirant of yoga when they reach the initial level or stage of samadhi called samprajnata samadhi (aka savikalpa samadhi). In this state, we are not fully immersed in the Universal (or Divine) Self. We are connected to it only from the outside and are not “one” with it. So, there is a sense of duality; “I and Universal Self”. It is at this stage that siddhis develop (or arise). There is the common yogic concept of the Ashta Siddhi (eight major siddhis). These are:
1. Anima : reducing one’s body even to the size of an atom
2. Mahima : expanding one’s body to an infinitely large size
3. Garima : becoming infinitely heavy
4. Laghima : becoming almost weightless
5. Prapti : having unrestricted access to all places
6. Prakamya: realizing whatever one desires
7. Isitva: possessing absolute lordship
8. Vasitva: the power to subjugate all.
Although Patañjali mentions the occurrence (and recognition) of 64 minor siddhis and 8 major siddhis (above) in the third chapter of his Yoga Sutras, he is very particular about warning the aspirant not to seek or be distracted by them. These siddhis become great obstacles to evolving spiritually. Patañjali warns that siddhis are not the aim or purpose of yoga practice. They are to be seen as signs that our sadhana is progressing toward the goal of unity (the ultimate goal of yoga). Siddhis are likely to tempt the aspirant, student or practitioner by powers and pride of one’s own achievements. But Patanjali says that the aspirant may be tempted even by the gods (who are jealous of mankind) to prevent him/her from reaching their goal. Steadfastness is the only way and no one should even develop any ego-sense that they are beyond such temptations. States similar to Samādhi can also be gained by various other means (like drugs) but they too are not to be pursued.
The attraction to these spiritual powers or siddhis is a common among spiritual seekers. It is an obstacle that causes us to divert from our path, thus stalling our progress towards Self-Realisation. It is rooted in our egotistic desire for fame and recognition. Because we do not yet have these powers, we can easily assume that those who have them are more advanced spiritually, even though they may be as much a slave to their past conditioning, negative thoughts and emotions as we are.
Even some of the most highly evolved spiritual beings like Swami Rama were not spared from this common desire.
I will close this article with the following story…
In his book, ‘Living with the Himalayan Masters’, Swami Rama told a story that he once met a swami who could shoot fire from his mouth for several feet. Swami Rama thought to himself that this man must definitely be more spiritually advanced that his master. Even the fire-thrower swami said to him, “You are wasting your time and energy staying with your master. Follow me and I will give you some real wisdom. I will show you how to produce fire”.
Swami Rama then went to his Master and told him, “I have found someone more advanced than you, I have decided to become his disciple.”
The Master replied, “I am delighted. Go ahead, I want you to be happy. What does he do?”
Swami Rama told him and his Master requested to meet this fire-thrower swami.
They walked for two days to meet this swami. When they arrived, Swami Rama was shocked to see the fire-thrower swami bowing down to his Master.
Swami Rama asked his Master, “Do you know him?”
His Master explained, “Of course. He left our monastery some time ago. Now I know where he has been hiding.”
At his Master’s request, Swami Rama asked the fire-thrower swami how long it took him to develop this ability. He proudly replied that it took him twenty years of practice to master this unique ability.
Swami Rama’s Master then said to him, “A match will produce fire in a second; if you wish to spend twenty years to produce fire from your mouth, you are a fool. My child, that is not wisdom.”
As Krishnamurti once said; “all these powers are like candles in the sun; they are like candle light when the brilliant sun is shining.”
To quote Eckhart Tolle, “Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, so it’s considered normal. This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from being. It also creates a false mind-made self that casts a shadow of fear and suffering.”
To put things in proper perspective takes real intelligence (Buddhi – to be awake; to understand; to know), not more mind chatter. Then it is possible to realize that thought is only a tiny aspect of our intelligence. Tolle goes on to say: “All the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind.”
The obsessive thinking mind and yoga practice – a bad mix
When the ego-self (established by the thinking mind) is the one performing asana, the mind is actively engaged in self-criticism, comparing your performance with others, thereby judging yourself and those around you. Your mind becomes restless, agitated and engaged in internal conflict while your body is engaged in performing asanas. This internal conflict causes you to be emotionally reactive to whatever is happening at any given moment during your practice and you are engaged in the posture of ego which is contrary to the purpose of yoga – the deconstruction of the ego.
In the Yoga Sutras (1:2) Patajali defines the purpose yoga by saying, “Yoga means stopping the mental modifications.” (chitta vritti nirodah). There is no exact English translation, but roughly translated these Sanskrit words mean…chitta = stuff of the mind, vṛitti = modification (altering perception) and nirodaḥ = to control (find tranquility).
Basically this means that whatever form of yoga you are practicing, the highest priority and the fundamental purpose for the practice is to eliminate mental agitations and emotional reactions. Whenever performing yoga asanas, it is necessary to change from an ego-driven posture that is externally placing the body in a so-called “yoga asana,” while internally, the mind is engaged in conflict. This equates to practicing conflict and calling it yoga. So it stands to reason that in order to convert this ego driven posture into true yoga asana, you need to remove the ego-mind (which is continually engaged by external motivation).
Whenever a student of yoga is able to connect with the part of themselves that is aware beyond any ego-conditioned perception, they have an opportunity to change their reactions to external circumstances. These “knee-jerk” reactions are automatic and unconscious, arising out of the past (or the anticipated future) and can only be dismantled in the present moment. Even though these unconscious reactions tend to happen automatically, there is a part of us that is conscious and can become a witness, thus changing the reaction. When we are able to change our reaction, we can change from our very core and that will change us from the inside, instead of simply altering our external conditions. This is your divine potential, your inherent “Self”. Accessing this Self (or divine potential) has nothing to do with what we’re doing, but how (or from where) we are doing what we’re doing.
Five kinds of thoughts
According to Patanjali, there are only five kinds of thoughts. Although there are countless thought impressions that come into the field of the mind (chitta), which form the source and substance of the barrier (or veil) covering the true Self (Divine consciousness), they all fall into one or more of these five categories. In other words; while there may be many individual thought impressions, there are not countless types of thoughts to deal with, but only these five. This can help students and practitioners of yoga greatly in seeing the underlying simplicity of the science of Yoga, without getting lost in the apparent multiplicity in both the gross and subtle realms. These five thought impressions are:
Do you ever wonder why we wake up some days and seem to breeze through the entire day without sensing any stress, frustration or anxiety, when on another day stress and anxiety seem to be inescapable? Is it something we ate or drank? Is it possible we’re the victims of random events that launch us into states of unhappiness and stress without our consent? Do we even have a choice in the matter?
Seekers from all walks of life, including the ancient yogis, have been asking this question for time immemorial. Why do some events seem to disturb us while others do not? Why is it that the same event on one day seems to pass without a second thought, while on another day it seems to represent the very source of our suffering? Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, what can I do about this, if anything at all?
From where does stress actually arise?
It is common for most of us to perceive stress and anxiety as coming from a source outside ourselves. At one time or another we’ve all been stuck in traffic, barely creeping along on the highway, and all we can think about is how the traffic is driving us a little crazy. This is a prime example of an outside source we can use to blame for our internal state.
We all tend to have a set criteria for what we assume will make us happy. For one person it may be losing weight, for another it may be finding the ideal partner, for yet another it’s gaining the approval of our peers, or having lots of money, the list is endless. But there is always a hidden or underlying theme to our criteria for happiness that is quite often the root of the very suffering we are trying our best to avoid. Inherent in the desire to be rich is the fear of being poor and implicit in the desire to have a partner is the dread of being alone. In our desire to be thin, it’s implied that if we’re overweight, it’s not okay to be happy.
When we become attached to the idea that life needs to be arranged in a certain way in order for us to be truly happy, we have already sown the seeds of our potential unhappiness. You get the idea…
We are all programmed by our past experiences, our culture, our families, our teachers etc., all of which determine the unconscious (or subconscious) “rules” by which we decide whether we can allow ourselves to be happy and stress-free (or not). If these “rules” are fulfilled, then, and only then de we feel we are within the parameters of being allowed to feel happy, and so it appears that we are. But if these “rules for happiness,” which each one of us has set for ourselves, are not met, we prevent the possibility of allowing ourselves to be happy.
So, in reality it is each of us, not life itself that determines our level of happiness. It’s how our life circumstances “measure up to our criteria” that actually determines our level of happiness. Essentially, each of us decides whether we can be happy or not by the conditions we set for that happiness. It’s not life’s circumstances, or any particular person or event that determines our level of happiness; each of us must decide this for ourselves.
This doesn’t mean that we are forbidden to have preferences. The problem is when we are trapped by becoming so attached to our preferences that we can’t let go of them and allow life to present itself as it will. It’s important to realize that life has no allegiance to our established criteria or to any of us as individuals. It shows up just like it is meant to do, like the rain, and then the sun breaks through the clouds. The events that constitute life have moved by their own ways and means long before we were born and will continue long after we’re gone.
Ironically, the things that happen are not personal, but we take them personally. After all, we are the ones who decided that reality should be different than it is.
The Way of Yoga
The way that yoga suggests comes down to being free from the need for anything to show up differently than it does in order to for us to be happy. Whenever anything we do has a prior condition of “in order to,” we are attempting to “manage” reality. Yoga philosophy dictates that we sincerely devote our lives to letting go of any conditions we have about how life needs to unfold. We practice relaxing, releasing into the moment no matter what is taking place. When confronted with situations where we would normally react, we begin to catch ourselves and say, “Can I relax with this?” “And how about this?” We don’t have to be perfect, we can treat it like a game we play with ourselves and watch what happens; by and by we’ll notice that just by putting our attention on this intention we’ll be able to relax with more and more things happening in our life.
The physical practice of yoga asana is useful here in two ways. First, the practice is intended to put demands on our body and mind in a scientific way so that we can more easily observe our habitual tendency to try to manage life or reality
Sooner or later everyone asks the question “what is the ego?”, and the general definition is usually something like this: “the ‘I’ or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.”
But yoga goes a little further and sees it as reflected consciousness; a part of the soul’s pure consciousness that reflects in the mind and functions as the subjective knower, establishing the dichotomy of the observer and the observed, the experience and the experiencer. Therefore the ego is a fictitious character established by the mind, and the mind is simply a subtle form of energy (it has no consciousness of its own). The mind however, acts “as if” it’s a conscious entity, because of soul’s consciousness reflecting on it, or working within it.
Only a very small part of the sun’s light, when reflected from the moon’s surface, makes the moon appear as if it generates a light of its own. We may say “by the light of the moon”, but that light in reality is actually the sun’s light reflecting from the moon’s surface. Similarly, only a small part of soul’s pure consciousness, when working in the mind, identifies itself with the mind and its limitations, and thus feels itself limited. So then, the ego is not only reflected consciousness but also limited consciousness. Limited consciousness naturally equates to limited intelligence, limited understanding and limited ability of perception. Our eyes are not all-seeing and have a limited vision. From the eye’s limited perspective the earth seems flat; but the truth is, the earth is round. Since we see only a small portion of the earth’s circular surface (the horizon) it appears to us as flat, but when seen from a jetliner at 36,000 feet our perspective is expanded and we begin to appreciate the “roundness” of the earth’s horizon. This correlates to the ego’s limited ability to perceive things in the bigger perspective, so instead of seeing the whole (or undivided “oneness”) it sees everything in parts and falsely identifies each part as being separate and independent of the other parts.
The ego is the self or ‘I’ in our mind around which all our thoughts, feelings and experiences seem to revolve. The ego-self is the author, writing the script for all our thinking, feeling and desires. It is the subjective enjoyer and the “experiencer” of all our activities and the results of those activities. Whenever we say “I think, I feel, I see, I love, I enjoy, I hate, I fear, etc.” we are referring to our ego-self. This ‘I’ with which we are so familiar is our limited duplicate ‘I’ not our true ‘I’. It is this false (reflected or duplicated) ‘I’ that experiences all our pleasures and pain, all our joys and suffering. Our real ‘I’ – the Self (with a capital “S”) is the Soul in us that lies behind the ego. This limited ego-consciousness needs to be withdrawn from the mind and dissolved in the Self (like a baby salt doll thrown into the sea) or else have its effects annihilated by non-identification and non-attachment with the physical body and the thinking mind.
Yoga and meditation practice both teach us to slowly and steadily drop this identification and all its attachments. As the ego-self is gradually and progressively trained through yoga and meditation to drop its attachments, it becomes free and spontaneously withdraws inwards. Step-by-step, in deep prolonged meditation the ego-consciousness first withdraws from the body and then it withdraws from the mind. As it begins disconnecting itself from the activities of the mind and withdraws inwards it becomes aware of its original source and its oneness with that source. This process continues until the ego has expanded itself to the point of complete annihilation in the Soul (again, like the salt baby in the sea). Once the duplicate or reflected ‘I’ has merged with the real ‘I’ this is called Self-realization, samadhi or illumination, and this merging (union) is the object and true goal of all yoga and meditation practice.
“The I-ness or egoism (asmita), which arises from the ignorance, occurs due to the mistake of taking the intellect (buddhi, which knows, decides, judges, and discriminates) to itself be pure consciousness (purusha).”Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 2:6
And, we’ll end this article with a quote from Krishnananda… “The ego is trying to practice yoga. Oh, what a pity! The ego cannot practice yoga, because the ego is to be destroyed in yoga. So how can it practice yoga? Here we have a strange difficulty, and it has to be overcome with a strange technique; that is yoga itself. Yoga is achieved by yoga itself; there is no other means.”
Our health is determined by factors that are created (in part) from our environment. Imagine a spinning wheel in which we are the center or hub; at the outer rim (or periphery) is our natural environment and all its associated energies, e.g.; the sun, the air, water, soil etc. Within this are the spokes, our more immediate environment which includes the geographical area of the earth we live in and its climate and further in it becomes more specific, whether we live in the city or the country, our chosen profession and social relations etc. It is within these very environments that we think, plan and act every day.
So our thoughts and our actions could very well be considered “products” of our environment, as well as the food we eat. Our food becomes a concentrated form of the environment that we internalize three or more times per day. Our everyday thoughts and actions constitute our “lifestyle” and this lifestyle determines our choice of food. And the reverse is true, the foods we choose to eat, in turn affect our lifestyle (thoughts and actions).
Now consider this; our environment, our lifestyle and the foods we eat all combine to create and maintain our current state of health. When we get these things in balance, when our lifestyle and diet are in harmony with our environment, we will experience optimal health. If however, we allow them to become unbalanced or extreme, we lose our harmonious relationship with our environment and sickness will probably be the result. If we persist in this, we will surely develop serious illness and/or chronic disease.
The principles of natural healing are based on positive change and balance. Change, being the law of life, is inevitable and constant. It’s the motivating force and the order of the universe. Fortunately, as manifestations of the universe, we humans have the built-in ability to cause or initiate change through our choices. Each and every one of us is granted the inherent power to change direction, leaving sickness behind and embarking on the road to health and wellness. But first, for healing to begin, we must realize and accept that change is possible and act upon that realization.
The old adage “we are what we eat!” starts to ring true, our daily food and drink really are the actual source of our physical makeup. Our entire bodies, our blood, our cells, muscles, organs, tissues, bones and glands are sustained and renewed by the transformation of the minerals, proteins, lipids, enzymes, water, and other nutrients that we consume on a daily basis. Therefore, whenever we consider any aspect of our physical health, it is necessary that we carefully review the choices we have made in regard to what we put in our bodies.
People are beginning to wake up to the fact that many of today’s health problems are directly related to the repeated and continuous consumption of meat, eggs, cheese, poultry, and other animal-based foods. Cancers, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and a host of other chronic and deadly diseases are the result of two problems; quantity and quality. Let’s look at quantity; people are eating a lot more animal products now than they did several generations ago, far beyond what is reasonable even for meat eaters. Meats and other animal products have essentially become the mainstay of the modern American diet.
Looking at quality; today’s artificially inseminated, hormone boosted and antibiotic fed livestock bear little resemblance to their natural, grass fed, free range predecessors. The arrival of “Mad Cow” disease and the subsequent European community’s refusal to accept imports of hormone fed American beef emphasizes just how deadly (pun intended) serious these issues have become.
Commercially raised, indoor-caged poultry products, especially chickens and turkeys are becoming increasingly problematic; even more so since extensive advertizing has many people believing chicken and turkey to be “healthy” alternatives to red meat. These birds become so weak and susceptible to infections that they require regular doses of increasingly stronger antibiotics, just to keep them alive. Additionally, they are fed synthetic growth hormones to speed their growth and breast development. One result of these practices, according to one study, is that as up to 95% of the commercially raised chickens on their way to market have at least one type of cancer! Without a doubt, chickens from a modern poultry farm are not a health food as claimed by the industry.
Let’s just suppose someone we care about is facing a health crisis (and there might be more than one), and we know they are overly reliance on a diet of animal products. What can we do to help them change their situation into its opposite, one of healing and improving health? Obviously, the first step would be to encourage them to convert from an animal-based to a plant-based diet.
Contrary to animal products, plant-based foods enhance, rather than inhibit, healing and regeneration of tissue. Daily dietary choices are the central issue in our lifestyle as a whole. They can be viewed as a reflection of our priorities and our way of looking at society, nature, and the universe. Dietary change, combined with an understanding of harmony and balance, can serve as the focus, initiating a positive change in our lifestyle. Unhealthy choices can be reviewed and changed into healthy ones, and then they can be brought into proper alignment with natural harmony, befitting us and our environment.
1. Pramana/right impressions (or though