Saturday Aug 29, 2020 NYC

Editor’s Note: Pranavadipa Volume 69

During this time of great change in our lives and in our world, perhaps the opportunity to face questions pertaining to our very existence may be urgently knocking at our door. The Satsangha in this month’s issue of Pranavadipa (Vol. 69) is incredibly rich, the content being gathered from parts of the question and answer that happened during various Satsangha taking place over the course of several consecutive weeks in 2012, all falling under the theme of the main title, “Confronting ‘Life’ and ‘Death.’” The content probably relates to one of the closest matters that all human beings have in common, as without life there is no death, and without death, there is no life; such matters relate directly to how we want to live our lives; and this is very closely related to the sense of “I”.

Life and Death—some people may think of these as philosophical matters. But, is it really so? If we think about it seriously and objectively, we come to realize that these relate to everything we do and think, whether we are aware of it or not—and this is quite universal.

Satsangha begins with a question from a first-time attendee; her daughter, when down, asks her, “What are we living for?” So, she asked Shri Mahayogi for advice on how to answer her. Shri Mahayogi responded:

“Indeed, all of humanity living on this earth is facing a similar issue. The Yoga that began in ancient times has also tried to answer that question. What are we living for, and who is living—“I am living” may be how you answer that. Then, what is that “I”? Who am “I”? Being born, growing up, then going through various studies, jobs, and making a living, then dying. What is the meaning of all of this? After all, the answer cannot come unless you ultimately come to know who you are.

The answer that Yoga found, which is actually related to this conversation I just mentioned, is that the essence—“I”—is neither the body nor the mind, it is the Soul that exists deeper within. And Yoga teaches through experience that this Soul is the Eternal Existence; and that the Soul of the person who experiences this and the soul of others, or the substance that is abiding as the essence of the entire universe, do not differ one iota and are exactly the same. It is the One without a second. It is merely this Eternal Existence that is repeating being born and dying again and again within the limited realm of space and time. By knowing the true substance, you will become unentangled in things like ephemeral joy and pain, or the sadness that arises from the experiences in the world. These are just like inevitable conditions that refer to the world, so you just have to deal with them accordingly.

What’s more important is to know that even though it is within this limited time frame, the brilliance of this Existence—this sacred Life—is within everyone and you yourself are That. By knowing that, if you come to know the most important thing for yourself, then you will no longer be entangled so much in other things, meaning the experiences of this world. Realizing that is Satori (Awakening), and [that Truth] is the very essence of everyone. [It is important to] tell your own mind this, since the mind does not know it. For that is the only absolute salvation. 

The teaching of Yoga is the universal Truth, so I am sure that if your daughter hears it or reads about it a little, she will be able to find the answers there; when she is having doubts like that, then she must be seeking, therefore it is a good opportunity [to open herself to find a real answer].”

At another point in the Satsangha, a long-time practitioner asks: “Shri Mahayogi tells us to discriminate on death and to make death the object of meditation. I deduce that we ourselves are not clear how we want to live our own lives, perhaps because of not thinking thoroughly about death. Is it indeed necessary to think about death? Or, is it enough to just simply and steadily concentrate on Yoga?”

Then Shri Mahayogi started to answer:

“Within the process of concentrating on Yoga, over time, there comes an inevitable point in which one must conquer death. Why?—because a large part of the attachments that occupy the depths of the mind are resting upon death. In order to make progress in Yoga, you cannot avoid eradicating the sanskara of the fear of death. Conversely, simply and precisely because we were born, ignorance, pain-bearing obstacles, and various attachments, including the fear of death arise. Despite this fact, humans forget that they were born, and are deluded into or fancy living in their own physical body forever. This is the huge illusion of ignorance. That is exactly why you meditate on death and conquer and transcend it; and through that you will transcend the mind itself.”

Then he continues on about meditation on death in Yoga, and at one point speaks:

“Concentration and meditation [on death] are like putting death itself on top of an operating table—this concentration, this meditation, is, so to speak, like being a surgeon! It is extremely scientific, medical, philosophical, and psychological. You must not bring your preconceived notions! Truly, you put death itself on the operating table, dissect it, and find out what’s in there! It is a scientific task of discerning it. There are, as mentioned now too, conceptual thoughts, medical concepts, philosophical, psychological, and various elements that are vaguely creating the image of death. You must dissect each and every one of them, discriminate and make them completely naked! Meditation is like anatomy, so to say. You must thoroughly perform it, so much so that it is like that!”

Shri Mahayogi also spoke, answering a question, about his own inquiry into death—the thought that initiated him to experience it and enter into Nirvikalpa Samadhi at the age of 8.

Shri Mahayogi’s teachings, through answering the questions that come from the more advanced or long-time practitioners to those who are beginners, speak to all of our hearts. His way of guiding us is very clear and powerful, yet it is always enveloped in serenity. It is quite lively, quite spirited—absolutely FREE!!! It most definitely does not come from the kind of explanation one would receive from a scholar, it is of a completely different quality—Shri Mahayogi is not theoretically explaining when he answers, he is speaking the facts, which are purely coming from a type of knowing that is in a completely different category from that of intellectual knowledge, and rather it is the knowing coming from directly experiencing the Truth. We can clearly feel this from his presence and his words. From that state of Truth, from the realm of Fact that is beyond time and space, he speaks, explains, and guides us towards It, telling us again and again that we are all That and we must realize That—the entirety of our inner Self, the true Self, is the brilliance of this Existence—this sacred Life!

Shri Mahayogi does not give lectures, nor does he prepare any material to speak, he simply answers questions because we ask him. It is always simply that, he just answers from the state of Truth—his wisdom is unfathomable! But are his words what matter most? His presence itself is the immeasurable blessing and most tangible teaching for us to be guided towards returning to our origin!

But because we ask, he answers. And he answers for the sole purpose of us returning to our original Self, the true Self.

He explains the fact of why we can’t see It, and that for us to be able to see It, the work we need to do is to remove the obstacles that we ourselves have created on our own that block it. Thus, he explains the way to remove the obstacles, the block, is through the practice of discrimination between the Truth and the thoughts that arise in our minds over and over. Shri Mahayogi says:

“Deepen meditation. In order to do that, what is crucial is to purify the mind—to purify means to eradicate pain-bearing obstacles and ignorance. The biggest power for that is indeed, FAITH. Pure faith will bring you the power to proceed with leaps and bounds. And then you yourself awaken to the Truth that is within you. That is the supreme directive of Yoga.”

Shri Mahayogi also explains that “what the yogi practice is nivritti, a backtracking, or going against the flow.” It is quite fascinating that this nivritti, or “going against” the natural flow of outward development and manifestation that takes place in the world, is precisely what envelops us in an illusion that we believe to be real. It is this “going against” in all aspects that is at the heart of the discrimination that Shri Mahayogi is teaching in this Satsangha. We should put to the test everything we know and believe about what this life is and who we are, including the very content of what death itself is.

Although “facing death” is an important content in the process of discrimination and emphasized in the Satsangha of this Pranavadipa (Vol. 69), Shri Mahayogi also teaches about many other aspects of discrimination, including about where the passion that one needs to thoroughly discriminate comes from, how this differs in jnana yoga and in bhakti yoga, how to approach discrimination in regards to the results one may receive from various actions, the importance of correcting oneself according to the teaching of Truth again and again, and the True Independence that is reached at the end of thoroughgoing discrimination.

The content of Satsangha is filled with many clues as to how we can actually use the teachings and practices of Yoga to transform our mind. Shri Mahayogi always says that Yoga should be practical. It is not something to just think about once and think that we have understood. Rather, what we are being offered in Satsangha is how we can apply the practice of Yoga into every moment of our lives, examining and transforming our foundational views, and concretely bringing them to align with the Truth.

Once again we are amazed with Shri Mahayogi’s manner of teaching and the profound depth of his understanding that we are only still reaching out to try to grasp.

＊

This month’s Testimony contains the final part, Part 3, of the articles written by Shri Mahayogi’s disciple, Yukti, that we have been publishing over the course of the last two issues of Pranavadipa (Vol. 67 and 68): Living on the Words of Mother. Where has her search for the understanding and the bringing to life of the words of Mother Teresa—“Be Holy”—reached?

As she concretely pursued this search coming from her thirst to understand the meaning of the words of Mother in Parts 1 and 2, she continued her journey by continuing to study the words and life of Mother Teresa, what it all meant, and how she could try to act upon it herself, in whatever way she could that would make sense for her own life circumstances.

Yukti ended up making the decision to work as a nurse once again and move to Fukushima, where she was striving to work on the aftermath of the March 11^th Tofoku Earthquake and Tsunami that hit in 2011. This was two years after she went to India in search of the answer for “how the dying can best be served,” which she found upon her return from India in the words of Mother Teresa—“Be Holy.”

Part 3 begins with Yukti’s pursuit to know more about Mother’s words, and her striving to understand their meaning as much as possible before moving to Fukushima. At that time, she came across these words in a letter that Mother Teresa wrote to her sisters and brothers the day she passed: “Be only all for Jesus through Mary.” Yukti’s desire to know why this seemed to be of the utmost importance to Mother made her strive to know who Mary was, which then led her to begin to understand what the meaning of surrender is, and finally led her to come to realize the following:

“After all, the only thing of all the things that we can do, is to make an effort to make our own minds more pure… Before, I was so eagerly striving to see God in the people in front of me. I wanted to see God. I convinced myself that if I could see God in everything, the way I lived would change. However, on the contrary, that mind that was desiring so eagerly to see God in some way, made me go far away from loving the person in front of me. And I had overlooked how their words, gestures or expressions were trying to appeal to me. The fact and the Truth is that God is within everybody, whether I can see It or not. What I must do is only one thing—to get rid of my own thoughts, empty my mind, and continue to act, bringing the mind to the God in front of me. That is the way to purify ourselves and that is the meaning of purifying our mind and actions—to become such that you belong to God. I realized that there was nothing left for me to do but to aim for that.”

Her words are very simple yet very powerful, because they come from her own realization, reached by going through all the journey she went through up until then.

Yukti’s pursuit then continued on to who Jesus was and what qualities Mary must have had to make Mother want us to use Mary as a way to go closer to Jesus, as well as how all of this might relate to what she has learned about in Yoga through her great Master, Shri Mahayogi. Yukti’s articles end with her determining how she wants to live her life, just before moving to Fukushima.

Truly, Yukti’s story is so inspiring in many ways. And it is truly a testimony of why Shri Mahayogi suggests us to meditate on the life of a Saint. Because of her thirst, which is something that Shri Mahayogi mentions during Satsangha in one way or another, is so real and strong, thus, her aim and ideal are very clear and are reflected in the course of her actions. Through the account of what her experiences demonstrate, we can learn the tools that we too can use in order to strive towards our own aim and our own ideal. In her own way, Yukti was filling her mind with her aim and her ideal, she was filling her mind with Truth, and as she tried to learn, to understand and to live accordingly, she was going through the process of discrimination in the most natural way. Her experience and her example exemplify to us one way to approach the discrimination that Shri Mahayogi is teaching us about in this month’s Satsangha. There are three treasures that Buddha taught about: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We hope that each of us finds the way to apply what Shri Mahayogi (Buddha) is teaching (Dharma) in our own life and circumstances, and it is certainly helpful and inspirational to be able to see how other practitioners (Sangha) are doing it in their lives.

Yukti’s writing may end here, but her practice of Yoga and striving to live more and more according to the Truth continues.

Publisher’s Note:
Yukti worked as a nurse in Fukushima for four and a half years, from April 2013 to October 2017.  Her original plan was to work there until around the time of the Tokyo Olympic in 2020 (postponed due to the pandemic), predicting that this might be the period in which the area would have the most need. But her father developed a serious physical condition, so in order for her to support her family, she moved to Osaka prefecture, much closer to where her family lives. Her father passed away a few months later, and she now lives in Ehime prefecture where her mother and 101 year-old her grandmother live. She is working as a nurse and supporting her family. We believe she continues with her same spirit and determination, serving those who are most in need according to her circumstance, and continues to live in her pursuit of the Truth.

Saturday Aug 22, 2020 NYC

Report: “Positive Transformation” Online Program, August 14^th, 2020

“See the infinite in the moment, for this moment we have been given now may never come again. That is why it is precious.” (excerpted from The Universal Gospel of Yoga—The Teachings of Sadguru Shri Mahayogi Paramahamsa)

Where is the world going?

In the current world condition, the level of uncertainty in our lives may be heightened and many of us may feel, perhaps more so now than in the past, that we are facing many unknowns. What will come next? Where are we going?

All around the world there are health concerns, economic concerns, social concerns, concerns of heightening political tensions, environmental disasters, and a range of other changes that are impacting the way we may be accustomed to living our day to day lives up until now.

With so many changes happening so rapidly, how can we take this time positively for our own internal growth and transformation, to deepen our own understanding of what Yoga is and what the teachings might mean if we try to learn about them through the experiences of each of our own day to day lives? With so many changes happening so rapidly, as if blatantly demonstrating to us the impermanence of the world and everything we create within it, how do we seize the opportunity of this moment, the preciousness of what is being given—even with its unexpected nature?

As restrictions in New York first began, this was the view that we, the Mahayogi Yoga Mission staff, were aiming to ingrain within ourselves. Thus naturally, when we decided to hold MYM’s first online program, this was the view that gave rise to the title—Positive Transformation in Times of Change: True Independence of the Mind. It was our hope to come together with participants for a journey into the learning and understanding process of two practitioners who are learning Yoga under the guidance of Shri Mahayogi.

We did not design this program as a lecture, but rather we attempted to create an atmosphere in which, through introducing how our practitioners (in this case, Aniruddha and Sadhya), have been trying to process what Shri Mahayogi has been teaching us, others may be able to feel how we can practice to bring our view towards the positive and use this time to bring transformation to our own minds.

One of the greatest parts of this online program is that, for the first time, anyone could be participating from any region of the world. This time attendees joined from Puerto Rico, France, Germany, Taiwan, and the USA (Oregon, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and New York) and for some, this was the first time they were ever able to attend an MYM program.

Now, when we think about the situation that we are facing, perhaps more than ever before, we are coming face to face with exactly what the teachings of Buddha are all about, and what Shri Mahayogi has mentioned and taught us again and again—Impermanency. When we hear or read that “everything changes, there is nothing that is permanent,” how many of us really go deep into it, to the extent that we accept the very raw and sometimes harsh reality of this fact. Isn’t it that our mind may often say, “yeah, yeah, I know, that is nothing special—we know that, we hear it, we see it.” But do we really know firsthand beyond what is just skin deep? This may very much be a universal issue and it must have been the same in the past, too. Perhaps, this is how the human mind is. And it may be why, even though we may think we “know,” we try to control our circumstances—because we think or perhaps, even further, we believe that we can control such things.

We all know and can recognize to a certain extent that change is inevitable, when we look back at the past and what has happened in our lives, and in the world, up until now, it is quite evident. However, even so, when we are actually going about living our day to day lives, are we really accepting and acting upon the belief and deep recognition that this world and everything in it is indeed impermanent? Or is our belief otherwise so strong that even though we may think we know, we may still be taken by our emotions when they arise, and not be able to see “objectively”? This is a question that we each may need to face within ourselves, and wake up to the reality of what is in our mind.

In the opening of the program, Sadhya spoke that she was beginning to recognize from the way she had taken many opportunities for granted before restrictions began, expecting things to continue more or less as they were, that in fact her mind may be holding precisely the mistaken belief that the world is not that impermanent after all. If she did not have this belief somewhere within her mind, wouldn’t her way of taking actions and taking each moment as a precious opportunity be different?

Aniruddha shared his own discovery that perhaps his mind was holding onto the belief that “I am in control of my own destiny.” A belief that was challenged by restrictions in New York, and the fear of the pandemic that made the clients of his self-owned and operated natural pest control business to hesitate to call. It was as if everything that he thought he had created and worked hard for, to make himself independent, everything he thought that he had under his control, was all of the sudden out of his control.

This is exactly what the teachings of Buddha are about—Impermanency. There is nothing that we can control.

Now, are these two beliefs shared by Aniruddha and Sadhya unique to them? Probably not—these are common to many of us. The beliefs that things will continue on as they are and that we have some control over our conditions and circumstances in the external world, are quite commonplace in fact, and when we are faced with the reality that these things are not true, that is when our mind often feels a bit bewildered by it, not really wanting to accept the fact of it, and a variety of emotions may come as a result: uncertainty, anxiety, fear, frustration, sadness…just to name a few of the most familiar ones.

But these are the beliefs that Buddha taught are mistaken beliefs, and they are caused by the condition of “not knowing the Truth,” which is what he called “ignorance”—and this emotional result that comes when we are confronted with reality, that produces great discomfort in many of us, is what is often referred to as “suffering.”

Buddha analyzed the sufferings of the human beings and taught them categorized into eight different types of sufferings that No One Can Avoid.

The first four sufferings, which relate to bodily sufferings are:

• Old Age
• Sickness
• Death
• and the cause of the previous three, Birth.

And another four sufferings, which relate to the mental state are:

• Separation from loved ones
• Being with despised ones
• Not being able to get what one wants
• Having an impure body and mind, which, in brief, refers to the five aggregates of clinging. These are the aggregates of:
  • form
  • feeling
  • perception
  • formations of mental volition
  • consciousness

Aniruddha and Sadhya continued to share how they were trying to understand, through learning about these basic teachings of Buddha using their current experiences, how to cultivate a mind of fortitude, a mind that is less and less shakable by changing external conditions. And as they tried to take attendees through their process, they also broke down what they have come to understand so far about how these mistaken beliefs that Buddha teaches about bring us so much emotional discomfort.

Why is it that we suffer or have so much anxiety around facing these things, not wanting to really accept them when they come to us?

Here again the answer is in the teaching of Buddha, and Aniruddha and Sadhya verified it in their own experience: the suffering itself is caused by “desiring always for ‘me’, what I want, what will satisfy and please me.” And underneath that desire, as the foundation of it, lie these mistaken beliefs that Buddha pointed out:

• Believing that we can have control over things outside of ourselves
• Believing that we, ourselves (our own mind and body), and the things around us will continue on
• And, believing that this existence of “me” is separate from others

As Aniruddha and Sadhya gained a clearer understanding about what might be happening within their own minds, relating what they observe in themselves to these teachings of Buddha, they again brought participants back to the question of: so what now? What can we do to cultivate fortitude within our own minds?

That answer itself was captured in the highlight of the program—a story of the recent experience and powerful realization that Aniruddha went through. In this experience, he shared that he had been caught up in his own desire for himself. This was related to wanting to ensure his financial gain with some upcoming jobs. However, circumstances required that he give up these jobs in order to continue physically participating to support some efforts that he had been involved in. Having to give up his own plans and what he was counting on for financial gain, especially during this crucial time, perhaps led him to become caught up in frustration and anger over the situation. (Surely we have all experienced something similar in our lifetimes!)

But then it was pointed out to him that there was a person, whom Aniruddha might not have recognized before, that was counting on these efforts and would benefit greatly. Aniruddha had to go through a battle within his mind. What is important?! Even though he had been learning these teachings of Buddha, he could not recognize by himself what was happening right away because of his emotional state. But when it was pointed out to him, he started to look objectively at himself and recognize that he was putting his own desire, his own benefit, before that of others. Then further he came to the clear conclusion that the financial benefit for himself and the benefit that would be received by the other person from making these efforts, was incomparable—the other’s benefit was much more. When he understood it deeply and accepted the situation fully, then he recognized also that it was this desire itself that was causing him to suffer in anger over things not going according to how he wanted.

He said that upon seeing this, the cloud of anger and frustration immediately disappeared, and his mind was only wanting happily to do whatever he could for the benefit of the other person. The shift happened right then and there—from blaming an external circumstance, to looking within his own mind. Aniruddha’s example was a very clear and concrete depiction of POSITIVE TRANSFORMATION.

This positive transformation, did not come through changing the conditions of the world or controlling external circumstances, but rather through applying this teaching of Buddha to accept the reality of the circumstance, seeing what the mind was doing, and then SHIFTING it to work in a new direction. In a way, we can see that this small shift, from believing the cause to be due to others or external factors and focusing primarily on the benefit for “me”, to trying to find the cause within and focusing on the benefit for “others,” was itself what “ended the suffering” of this situation, and allowed Aniruddha to “become free.” The key to start cultivating our mind is to look within.

True Independence. Imagine if we all work to make these small shifts within our own minds, in our daily life situations? Perhaps this is what will bring us little by little towards what Buddha taught as “the end of suffering,” or Nirvana! Perhaps this is what will bring us to become less and less dependent and tossed about by the ever-changing conditions of the world and lead us towards the state of True Independence, which is something that Aniruddha and Sadhya are still both striving to understand more about. (Though Shri Mahayogi teaches about this state from his own experience of it in Pranavadipa Vol. 69.)

In making these small shifts and working towards a state of True Independence, it does not necessarily mean that each one only thinks about themselves and forgets about everyone else in the world, and towards the end of the program, Aniruddha and Sadhya spoke about how they are beginning to understand that. Buddha taught about Co-Existence, that all of existence is like one interwoven mesh, inseparable from the rest. If the case, as observed in themselves, is that normally we may not recognize this, caught up in the desire for ourselves, then it may be easy to overlook how our desires may require others to give up for us. So then, if we can make these small shifts in our beliefs and the way we take action, perhaps our view and want to give of ourselves for others will instead grow more and more, thus adding another degree of positive transformation, not only to ourselves, but to those around us too.

All in all, the program concluded with Aniruddha and Sadhya sharing their own views of how this particular time of great change may bring to our lives more opportunity and urgency to face the questions most relevant to our existence in this world, how we want to live our lives, and in what state of mind.

At the very end, Aniruddha spoke our gratitude for our great Master, Shri Mahayogi, expressing that without the guidance and grace of Shri Mahayogi, we would not have been able to approach the teaching of Buddha in such a way to experience and realize more concretely its practicality and applicability to all humanity, regardless of background or religion, or the time period in which one lives—the ancient past, the present, or the future—this teaching is truly universal to all human experience and provides real tools for actual transformation.

*

These basic teachings of Buddha might sound or look very simple, indeed. But the fact of it is what makes it worthy to be called Universal Truth—because it is the Truth beyond time and space. Though this Truth is very simple, our own mind may be having a hard time to see or accept it easily when we hear or see it. Our mind might not be able to grasp how immense the contribution that Buddha and the Yogi of ancient times made for all living beings. It is so awe-striking. Because of their discovery, because of their presence, we have the opportunity to see it ourselves. Not only that, but such a being exists in this current time, in which we are living now! Shri Mahayogi, after awakening at the age 8, went through a period in his teenage years of immersing himself in meditation at all times, and in so doing unraveled the mechanism by which the mind functions, along with the fundamental cause of suffering, that is to say, he independently discovered the law of karma and came to know that the cause of all suffering is, ultimately, that which is produced due to ignorance, or not knowing the Truth.

Again and again, we are so humbled by the fact that we have the opportunity to be with and learn from Shri Mahayogi, a Buddha of the modern age.

To our most beloved, our venerable Master,
Satguru Shri Mahayogi Paramahansa,
and to all of you.

We humbly, bow down.

Monday Aug 10, 2020 NYC

Report: Talk Held at Company
as an Introduction to our First Online Program
“Positive Transformation in Times of Change:
TRUE INDEPENDENCE OF THE MIND”

On  August 6^th Mahayogi Yoga Mission held an online talk for a company on understanding the nature of the mind and cultivating inner fortitude—from the perspective of Yoga as a science. This talk was a preparation to the MYM program coming up this Friday, August 14^th 7 – 8 PM.  

The following is a summary written by the company’s event organizer:

Sadhya and Aniruddha presented their keen observations and experimenting on changing their own mind habits in relation to various personal and professional matters.

How do we even begin to understand the nature of the mind during these tough times?

Working in teams, working from home, facing our mind, and dealing with emerging emotions that we usually cover up (fear, worry, anxiety, you name it)—these are exactly the things that currently constitute the content of the minds of most people around the world, as we live through the Covid-19 world conditions and changes; and they are exactly the things that, when and if shifted, can have significant effects on our lives and on the lives of those around us.

The same mind crosses through the East and the West and operates similarly in any human being (ancient or modern, and of any cultural background); what yogi of the ancient East found is being confirmed today by science in the modern West. This science is therefore timeless and relates to anyone anywhere.

In an objective and personable way that focused on exploring the thoughts and questions that naturally emerge from within our minds as we go about seeking something to rely on when we find ourselves standing on shaken grounds, our guest speakers laid out, on the operating table, the scientific step-by-step process of observing, identifying, and experimenting with its content and, in doing so, cultivating inner fortitude.

Through various relatable examples from their personal and professional lives, Sadhya who works as a high school teacher and Aniruddha who operates a small pest-control business in NY, shared scenarios of the mind that are common to everyone, like “comparing ourselves to others around us” “putting others down so we feel better about ourselves” “worrying about the opinions of others about us” and “refusing to see the lows of a relationship, while clinging to its highs”—all common human issues. The specifics may differ among people, but the mind operates in the same way.

It was explained that in order for us to walk away from the rollercoaster of the mind and its emotional ups and downs, we need to turn our seeking inwards—we need to understand our own mind and emotions in order to be able to walk away from the mind’s habitual dependence on externally changing conditions. Unlike the usual habit of the mind of thinking that the person in front of us is the issue, the real work begins when we accept that all these thoughts are actually happening within our own mind!

By turning inwards the mind’s external direction (that usually seeks the material gains of happiness and joy found in the world), and by directing it towards our own self, is where we can truly begin. Happiness and independence from these thoughts is found within us in the depth of the mind, and to become aware of what our mind is holding onto is the first step in this opportunity that the current world condition is presenting us with. Then the inquiry starts!

When we look inwards, what emerges from within us is a common factor: our Oneness—the Universal Essence. Then, seeing our self in the person in front of us whether we are working together or speaking with one another, we can then treat others in the way we treat our own selves. We then need to observe our mind’s patterns and inquire into why our mind is presenting us with such thoughts. The internal work of trying to detach from these thoughts can significantly lessen the weight of any negative emotions, and facing this can bring about real positive transformation—especially at this time.

*

In MYM’s upcoming public program, we’ll be taking a deeper dive into the teaching of Yoga that can be applied positively by anyone in our current changing times, as we examine what the True Independence of Yoga really means.

This Friday August 14^th, 7 – 8pm

Positive Transformation in Times of Change:
TRUE INDEPENDENCE OF THE MIND

In the midst of unexpected and changing circumstances,
the key is to learn the nature of the mind and cultivate inner fortitude.

Make sure to register to attend by Thursday, Aug. 13^th at 7pm, at which time registration will close.

All are welcome to attend. No prior experience or knowledge of Yoga is necessary.

SPEAKERS: Aniruddha and Sadhya

Register HERE.
* Tickets will be available for purchase for up to 24 hours in advance.
* Please note that using Zoom is required for attending this program.
We will be happy to provide technical assistance to anyone who may need it.

Please reach out to info@mahayogiyogamission.org for any inquiries about this event.