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May all find the teacher within to guide oneself towards unconditional love and peace

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Want to practice yoga? (6)

If we want to practice yoga to be free from ignorance and suffering to attain peace, we need to know how to breakaway from the conditioned worldly social and cultural thinking, beliefs and practice.

As yoga practice is about purifying the mind to annihilate egoism, while worldly social and cultural thinking and practice is indeed the heart of egoism.

One must learn how to be undisturbed and uninfluenced by the points of view, judgments and criticism coming from the worldly minded thinking and beliefs about how one should live and behave in the society. As all the worldly thinking and beliefs about how one should live and behave in the society are sprouting from egoism. One must learn to decondition or deprogram one's mind to free one's mind from being conditioned to think and behave in certain ways according to the worldly thinking and beliefs about how things should be like.

Although one might be aware of the play of the ego in one's mind, or have certain understanding about egoism, but one might still be influenced by egoism very much, that one's thinking and behavior are not free from the influence of egoistic worldly thinking and beliefs, then one's mind will easily be influenced and determined by all the experiences or perceptions of names and forms that the mind perceives through the senses unceasingly, and be affected, disturbed and determined by all the worldly names and forms that one wants and doesn't want, likes and doesn't like, agrees and doesn't agree with. And hence, it is very important for one to practice disinterest or care less towards the worldly affairs, conditions and situations, or worldly objects of names and forms, to filter and limit the mind inputs, to purify the mind and to render the mind calm and quiet, to allow the mind to see the truth of names and forms, to be free from ignorance and have peace in oneself, before one can actually care for the world and perform actions in the world efficiently, without being determined by one's actions and the fruit of one's actions, without being disturbed or affected by all the worldly conditions and situations.

Although one has ambition and good will to make the world a better place, but one cannot help the world to be a better place if oneself keeps contributing so much restlessness and disharmony into the world when one is not free from ignorance and egoism, and constantly be disturbed, influenced and determined by one's ceaseless mind reactions towards all the experiences or perceptions of names and forms based on one's personal egoistic points of view, thinking and beliefs, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements.

All the names and forms, good and bad conditions and situations of the world don't have the quality or intention to make anyone peaceful and happy, or not. It is coming from each individual mind's reaction towards all the names and forms, based on what the mind believes what things are and how things should be like. It's about conquering one's mind, and it's not about trying to conquer the world to be the way that one's mind thinks it should be. The world is just what it is, it is neither good nor bad. All the suffering exist in one's mind, and arose from one's mind.

As long as we still think and believe that people should think and behave in certain ways that we think are good, right and appropriate, and we'll get frustrated, annoyed, dissatisfied, disappointed, angry, or upset by other people's thinking and behavior that we don't like and don't agree with, then know that we are not free yet, as our minds are still very much being influenced by egoism and worldly thinking and beliefs, even though we think there's nothing wrong with our own thinking and beliefs, and we believe we are good and kind people.

Those who are not influenced by egoism, and are not affected, or disturbed, or influenced, or determined by all the experiences or perceptions of names and forms, they can care a lot for the worldly society and affairs, by performing many selfless actions to bring certain awareness into the society that would help others to be free from ignorance and egoism as well and to have peace and harmony while living in the midst of the ceaseless restlessness and uncertainty of the world of impermanent names and forms. Meanwhile they are not affected or determined by their actions and the fruit of their actions. They'll do their best to help the world to have peace and harmony, but without trying to interfere or to control the world or other living beings to be the way that they think they should be. Instead, they allow the world and other living beings in the world to be what they are, as they are, without discrimination that based on personal egoistic points of view, thinking and belief, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements about what is right and wrong, good and bad, positive and negative, appropriateness and inappropriateness, happiness and unhappiness, towards all the different thinking and behavior that exist in all kinds of living beings in the world.

If one wants to contribute to the world to make the world a better place to live in, to hope for peace and harmony among all living beings in the world, one must take care of one's mind. Free oneself from ignorance and egoism, to have peace and harmony in oneself, being undisturbed and undetermined by the impermanent worldly conditions and situations. Or else, that's what is happening around the world where discrimination, prejudice, hatred, unrest, riots, wars, violence, and killings take place, as all the egoistic worldly minded living beings try to interfere or to control other living beings whom they dislike and disagree with, under the influence of impurities like anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, desires, pride, arrogance and fear, that derived from egoism influenced by particular personal thinking, beliefs and practice. Those who think they want to change the world to be the way that they think it should be, they are not free yet, even though they have good intention and want to do good. Those who are free, they don't have intention to change the world to be the way that they think it should be, but they are performing actions in the world that might help the world to be a better place, without attachment, identification, expectation, craving or aversion.

Peace doesn't come from making the world to be the way that we think it should be, or everything is the way that we like and want, and nothing is the way that we don't like and don't want, but it is coming from within oneself being free from ignorance and egoism.

Om shanti.

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Know thyself. Everything is impermanent and selfless. There is no 'I'. There is no 'I am selfless'/'I am not selfless'. There is no 'I am hurt'/'I need to be healed from hurt'. Non-blind believing, non-blind following, non-blind practicing and non-blind propagating, but be open-minded to inquire the truth of everything. Be free. Be peaceful. Be happy.

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