The Sanskrit word “yoga” is rich with meaning, giving rise to several definitions. One of the definitions is: Yoga is breaking contact with pain. This definition points to the essence of yoga practice which is removing our identification with the mutable body and mind. Pain, or suffering, ultimately results from attachment to anything that is subject to change. Instead of being identified with the mortal, changeable body-mind, the yogi is advised to identify with the unchanging, immortal reality of Supreme Consciousness, our essential nature. This practice of removing our awareness from fragmented states of consciousness and instead abiding in wholeness is to be approached fearlessly with determination and firm resolve.
On first examination it seems odd that we would need any encouragement at all to seek freedom from pain, let alone it requiring strong determination. However, when we look into the nature of mind and its component ego, we can see that the illusional sense of separate self depends on identification with pain and suffering. This is one of its key props used to maintain a particular identity. The illusional sense of self is constructed with the building blocks of our likes and dislikes. Those likes and dislikes, or attractions and aversions, then become the connectors to
pain and suffering. From the perspective of ego, if we have what we like, we are happy; if we lose it, we suffer in some way or another. If we are faced with what we don’t like and would rather avoid, we experience the pain of unhappiness. So while it seems completely reasonable to want to break contact with suffering, what must go along with it is the baggage of ego identity.
Sometimes people cling to suffering and pain because they don’t know who they could be without it. As it says in the Tao te Ching: The great way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths. The way of awakening to the unchanging reality of our true nature and breaking contact with suffering is easy, yet we may prefer the side paths of maintaining an ego identity that uses suffering to define it. Who are we if not our stories of what happened to us today, or all of our yesterdays combined?
The instruction to pursue this practice with a mind that is not dismayed but optimistically determined indicates the resolve necessary to become free from suffering. Like training a puppy to sit before he is given a treat, the wandering mind must be restrained with clear intent, otherwise it moves back into the conditioned pattern of identifying with fragmented states of awareness. Clear awareness, abiding in being, is the goal along with the ability to distinguish between the fragmented and clear states of awareness.
Once the mind is sufficiently trained through the fearless practice of yoga to abide in Superconscious awareness it will naturally seek wholeness. The refined joy of abiding in the Self becomes more attractive than the pain that props up the ego.
Think About It: A recent study on mood and performance, found that people are better at creative problem solving when they’re in a good mood than when they’re in a bad mood or just feeling so-so. In the study, participants were first put in a good mood by listening to some uplifting music (a stirring Mozart piece), then watching a funny YouTube video (a laughing baby); other participants were put in a bad mood by listening to some sad music and watching a depressing video, while still others were exposed to music and video that didn’t affect their mood. Then they had to master a tricky cognitive task that required flexible thinking. Participants in a positive mood performed better than participants in a negative or neutral mood on the task. –from Psychological Science, reported in ngreatergood.berkeley.edu
Be Inspired: Let this removal of awareness from pain be known as yoga, to be optimistically practiced with resolved intention.
–Bhagavad Gita, 6.23 (tr. Roy Eugene Davis)
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