{"id":6250,"date":"2022-04-10T14:38:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-10T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/?p=6250"},"modified":"2022-04-12T00:20:01","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T04:20:01","slug":"echo-from-the-cave-178","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mahayogi.org\/sahasrara\/index.php\/2022\/04\/echo-from-the-cave-178\/","title":{"rendered":"Echo From The Cave: 178"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sunday\u00a0April 10, 2022 NYC<\/header>\n
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Rama and Lakshmana fighting Ravana<\/p><\/div>\n

Talk at the End of the Asana & Meditation Class
\nFriday, April 8th<\/span>\u00a02022
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Reflecting Asana in Practice of Daily Life:
\nBattling the Mind of Complaint in Asana and Daily Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Satsangha<\/em>, Shri Mahayogi has often spoken about how, \u201cone should not complain,\u201d and also, Anandamali has often explained to us that what Shri Mahayogi means by \u201ccomplain\u201d is much more than \u201cwhat we might think complaining could be,\u201d or that there are a variety of subtle forms that complaints can take, many of which we may not usually consider as complaints, or which may easily go unnoticed by us. One of my immediate reactions whenever I have heard about this \u201cmind of complaint,\u201d has been to hope that this is not my case. Other times, I may convince myself confidently, \u201cthis is not my problem,\u201d and feel relieved. And at times, I simply push forward with what I think is \u201cmy practice\u201d and ignore the topic altogether.<\/p>\n

But recently, I have begun to think about this \u201cmind of complaint,\u201d and realized that, just like what Anandamali has been explaining, there are actually many ways in which I have been complaining. When I hear or see someone or something, I may silently react with, \u201cWhat a bother!\u201d \u201cI am not doing that!\u201d \u201cWhy do things have to be this way?\u201d \u201cI am not interested at all.\u201d \u201cI would do things very differently.\u201d Or even, \u201cThat is great, but not for me.\u201d These are not actual words that appear in my mind, but they represent attitudes that can arise from feelings of disdain, a sense of superiority, a lack of empathy, or an unwillingness to understand others or to learn and contribute positively to a situation.<\/p>\n

If I think about it, there are many ways in which my mind can complain, because complaints will manifest in many ways when my mind is set on justifying itself, feeling that it is right, or seeing others as being wrong\u2014same thing. By pointing to these things in myself, it may seem as if I am putting myself down, or being unnecessarily negative toward myself, but in fact, if Shri Mahayogi or a senior disciple talk about the need to work against the \u201cmind of complaint\u201d this must be related to the aim of Yoga, and if this is so, then it is important to know that there is something to work on. Besides, regardless of the person, it is not at all uncommon to have this kind of mind tendency because the ego-mind (the mind that is interested in preserving \u201cme\u201d and \u201cmine\u201d above all else) is always looking for ways to succeed and have its way, and will resort to all kinds of methods to achieve that. So, these complaints, though ultimately not effective, are our mind\u2019s way of believing that it is in control and getting its way.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, more than before, I have begun to work on my mind that gets troubled by various things, by facing it. So, recently when I read, \u201cbecause our minds are clouded by desire and attachments, and therefore unable to perceive Sanatana Dharma<\/em> [the Truth, or the Divine Essence behind everything],\u201d in the recent blog (Echo from the Cave: 176<\/em><\/a>) about the 5th<\/sup> Sanatana Dharma Avatara Mela held on April 3rd<\/sup>, I began to think that it may be the complaints in my mind that cause and sustain my state of cloudiness and attachment, because they keep me from perceiving the Truth\u2014and this, I suspect, may very well be the purpose for the complaints of an ego-driven mind to begin with.<\/p>\n

Then, I came to realize clearly that for me, if I truly want to experience Yoga, it is important to get rid of the cloudiness and the attachments as swiftly as I can, so that my mind can take down its defenses and allow me to perceive the Divine Essence behind all, the Guru<\/em>, the Truth itself. That is why I figure that I need to take the short and precise suggestion of getting rid of the \u201cmind of complaint\u201d as something very serious, as a priority.<\/p>\n

What can help build the will to fight a complaining mind? Through constant training, just as how Shri Mahayogi always says, we can fight against the tendency of our mind (a question and answer was recently published on this topic in\u00a0Pranavadipa Vol. 89<\/em><\/a>), and just as how Sadhya spoke recently at the end of the Asana and Meditation class, about how the mind tries to get \"\"out of holding steady in a tight pose and exhaling longer; in asana<\/em>, through the long and complete exhalation, we can train the mind to go past the fears and concerns that arise when it is pushed to go past its perceived limits (Echo from the Cave: 177<\/em><\/a>). I believe, and we can each test this for ourselves, that by repeating this training in asana<\/em> day after day, the mind that is attached to fear and comfort gradually begins to loosen its grip. Likewise, in our daily lives, when the \u201cmind of complaint\u201d kicks in, we also need a strategy!<\/p>\n

In asana<\/em>, the prolonged exhalation is not necessarily about putting effort, but more about a gradual surrendering, not of the breath, but of the mind\u2019s thoughts themselves, any thoughts, even the thought of \u201cI am exhaling\u201d or \u201cI am breathing.\u201d So, after learning and recognizing this not long ago, I feel that this repeated surrendering is offering me a clue for what I could do in daily life. During the day, when \u201cthe mind of complaint\u201d wants to take over and trick me into becoming tangled up in its complaints, knowing that those complaints are the soldiers of the ego-driven mind and the very obstacles to the Truth, I can refuse to pay them any attention and instead pierce through and dissolve them as I move nearer to the Essence of God, Shri Mahayogi, or any form of the Truth, while seeking the stillness deep within. Just like in asana<\/em>, in daily life too, I can extend my focus inwards, past the ideas that are on the surface of the mind that creates cloudiness and that holds on to the attachments preventing us from deepening Yoga.<\/p>\n

Even from the initial efforts that I have made, I sense that the result of working little by little and continuously against the \u201cmind of complaint\u201d in asana<\/em> and in daily life, is less reactiveness and less agitation, because as with the army of any enemy, (just like Gopala also talks about in a recent Testimony, Pranavadipa Vol. 87<\/em><\/a>) the ego-mind will start to retreat once it realizes that the uselessness of its plot has been exposed. And, just like in asana<\/em>, for a new habit to take root, it must be repeated, sustained, tested, and used as a training over and over, every day.\"\"\u00a0That is what I hope to do in order to work against the \u201cmind of complaint.\u201d I must say that, though I never thought about it until really recently, it seems to be that the training of controlling the \u201cmind of complaint\u201d in asana<\/em> is very necessary and practicable, and the same thing can be said about this training in daily life!<\/p>\n

~Karuna<\/p>\n

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