Saturday Oct 3, 2020 NYC

Pranavadipa in Action: Reflection from a Reader

Learning from our Fellow Disciples’ Practice
Ekanta
New York, September, 27, 2020

In my last writing I mentioned the unique and positive changes that can come out of reading the teachings of Yoga in Pranavadipa. Another part of our monthly publication is the Testimony, which comes from the writings of Shri Mahayogi’s disciples. Many times these writings can also have a strong effect on us. When I read them I notice that even though the objects of our attachment or the situations that we deal with on a daily basis might be different, the challenges that my own mind faces are very similar.

For example, in Vol. 70, Gopala, our brother disciple from Japan, wrote about how in the beginning his idea of practice was more what he imagined it to be, but then, he noticed that there was a change in himself when he left his view of “how he should practice” and instead embraced the opportunities that were given to him by Shri Mahayogi and his fellow senior disciples in Japan.

Recently, because of the Study in Practice group, a program that the Mahayogi Yoga Mission in New York started a few years back with the goal of studying and understanding the teachings by applying them in our daily life and then sharing with the group, I started to notice more and more that there is an underlying tendency in my mind to rush many things that I do in order to get to the result and not have to struggle anymore. Many times this is done with no consideration for others that are involved in the same activity. My thinking is that once I achieve the result I’ll be able to rest and not have a worry in the world. Looking closer, I can relate this to what Shri Mahagyogi is talking about when he says that we always look for happiness but the problem is that we look in the wrong place. In my case, I’m imagining that that result, whatever it may be, is permanent, and hence it will make me permanently happy. But if I look objectively at my life, even if I may achieve the result I am looking for, it never gives me complete contentment, because before I know it there is another activity to perform and then another and so on, which puts me in a chase for a never ending stream of results.

So, as I mentioned earlier, even though Gopala was facing a different kind of challenge outside, I sensed from his Testimony that underneath there is the same kind of mind, which thinks that happiness will come from doing or achieving things its own way.

This came to the surface in one of the meetings I had with two disciples here in NY. Before the meeting I noticed myself being in that state of mind. I was rushing everything, from the way I was getting dressed, to the way I was driving to the meeting. Because Gopala’s Testimony was fresh in my mind, and not too long ago I shared about my mind’s tendency with the Study in Practice group, I immediately noticed my short coming and I thought “this state of mind and the energy that I have must make others very uncomfortable, and it is definitely not productive for the meeting at all” and even though most of the time my brother and sister disciples in NY may be too nice to say something, I made up my mind at that moment to not bring this attitude to the meeting.

First I focused on Shri Mahayogi for a while, which made my mind calm enough so that I could further dig deeper into how to deal with it. Then I remembered Shri Mahayogi’s teaching that the true Self is all we need to find, that nothing else is worth struggling for in this world besides that, and finding the Truth is enough. I compared that to the fact that my mind was looking at the future towards a certain result and not at what Shri Mahayogi describes as the source of happiness being here and now. So, I firmly told my mind that there is no happiness in reaching any goal except the Truth, and then next I tried to focus on the true Self in the way Shri Mahayogi sometimes guides us to just observe the awareness that witnesses the mind. Doing that I sensed a feeling of ease that came over me and the need of achieving something disappeared. I felt my body relax and I was finally able to focus on my brother and sister disciples, acknowledging their presence and respecting their time and effort, valuing their opinions, only stepping in when I thought necessary. What a relief! I felt like a different person, and mixed emotions of gratitude towards Shri Mahayogi and appreciation towards my fellow disciples came over me.

To some, respecting others spaces and being aware of their needs might seem natural and common sense, but in my case, because of the incorrect thinking habits that I built in the past, it’s something that I have to work on. But I believe that being fortunate enough to have had the chance to meet Shri Mahgyogi, encounter the teachings of Yoga, read about other disciple’s journeys, and practice, will help me change my behavior, because through Yoga the error can be removed at it’s core. In a way I think that Yoga is easy for anybody to look into, because in the beginning it can be as simple as just observing our behavior and our thinking behind it and then in time, after learning the teachings, simply comparing the two.

Thank you very much Shri Mahayogi, and thank you to all my brothers and sisters from Mahayogi Yoga Mission!