γνῶθι σαυτόν
gnōthi sautón
- KNOW YOURSELF -
Before we start with the practice for Anahata chakra I wanted to post something about what I consider the real purpose of yoga.
The "mind" and spiritual aspects of yoga are often put aside to favor the development of an healthy and attracting body (which can be, somehow, right. "Body is a temple" says an old statement, referring to the fact that the body is the physical manifestation where the self dwells). It's ok if you start practicing yoga with this purpose, but with time (and if your practice is constant), you will have more than just a "beautiful shape" - whatever it means.
The "mind" and spiritual aspects of yoga are often put aside to favor the development of an healthy and attracting body (which can be, somehow, right. "Body is a temple" says an old statement, referring to the fact that the body is the physical manifestation where the self dwells). It's ok if you start practicing yoga with this purpose, but with time (and if your practice is constant), you will have more than just a "beautiful shape" - whatever it means.
So, yoga is not only about the physical body and the asana practice.
Asana as such is just one of the eight limbs of yoga as described by Patanjali, which comprises Yamas and Niyamas (ethical and self - discipline insights mostly based on the principle of do no harm to yourself and to others), Asana, Pranayama (subtle body expansion by control of breath), Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (contemplation) and Samadhi (state of bliss where the observer merges with the observed).
Another quote you surely heard: "mens sana in corpore sano", a healthy mind in a healthy body; this is the reason why in yoga one practices asanas and at a certain point, will start to prefer some foods to others.
Taking care of the body, practicing certain postures that stretch and press and relax specific parts of the body can trigger the awakening of the real self.
Another quote you surely heard: "mens sana in corpore sano", a healthy mind in a healthy body; this is the reason why in yoga one practices asanas and at a certain point, will start to prefer some foods to others.
Taking care of the body, practicing certain postures that stretch and press and relax specific parts of the body can trigger the awakening of the real self.
I think this is the final purpose of the yoga sutras of Patanjali, to give some sort of guidance or advice in order to discover who you really are. This last one is the ultimate purpose of yoga: take contact with your inner self, which is the same as the higher self.
Yoga derives from the Sanskrit root "yug" which is often translate as "to unite" or "union". This can be right but a better translation to me is "to merge" or "to blend in", but even these two don't really explain what really yoga is, at least to me. Yoga is a state of mind that can hardly be described with words. But please consider that this is only my personal opinion.
Joining all the pieces of information together (mainly from books but also from online sources - there's an incredible amount of information on the web about this topic as it seems we are passing some sort of special astral situation and it is not very easy to discriminate what is trustworthy or not) I have found out that the matter is quite complex, but summarizing, we have the ego and the real self.
In order to achieve...or at least try to achieve a state of yoga, one needs to listen to the higher self, leaving the ego behind or, better, taking care of the ego so that it "becomes" the same Self. As written on another post, action, thought and spirit are in harmony with each other.
My yoga teacher had a big beautiful Ganesha statue on the side of the door of the hall where we practiced and once she told me we should leave our ego to Ganesh while we practice yoga.
Ganesha or Ganesh is the hindu god with an elephant's head, I am sure even some not into yoga know him. He is the one you have to invoke to removes obstacles from your path.
For me Ganesh is just another depiction for a force of the universe, specifically, the willpower. Willpower is the force who removes obstacles.
But what is ego, and what is the self?
In my opinion....
In my opinion....
Ego is the part of you which identifies itself with your body and material things surrounding you. It is your ego that make you appear, behave, believe and live the way you do.
It is the voice inside your head that wants things but does not want to wait for things, that judges others and that triggers the "look at me" effect I call it, the desire of doing things so that others can see. A big example are the social networks everyone seems so busy in.
We often do things to impress others or to cause a reaction in others.
The ego looks for the approval of the external world. Conditionings, and unfortunately very often society itself has been created by ego.
Sometimes one works hard most of his life to buy or do stuff he does not need (and probably does not really care of). Even worst, you work to survive.
If they really have meaning to you, do these things just for yourself and not to please others.
Ego tries to understand things speculating on them.
The fact we do not care enough for this water - and earth - based planet, keeping on polluting, doing wars, arguing and overall thinking too much is a manifestation of ego. We should remember that we belong to this planet but we do not own it.
I remember a documentary where an old hindu sage named Descartes and his insight "I think therefore I am", saying that in his case, he would have said "I AM, therefore, I don't think".
I remember a documentary where an old hindu sage named Descartes and his insight "I think therefore I am", saying that in his case, he would have said "I AM, therefore, I don't think".
The real self or higher self is the voice inside your head that you often do not hear or you hear, but refuse to follow. Often we decide not to follow it because "instructions" are not rationals or we cannot understand them.
Our own self is the one that says "do no harm" to both yourself and other people. It's the voice of wisdom, which knows perfectly you have to take care of yourself before taking care of others. It is the part of you that can find a way to merge with the infinite.
It is pure empathy an selfless service. It is the part of us that makes you put yourself in the shoes of other human beings. This latter statement of mine might be confused with pity, but it is not; pity is a feeling that might be driven by your ego in order to make you feel better or at a higher level than others. The point here is that this self is the same for all of us. It comes from the same place for all of us.
There's a short story in hindu traditions, at the times when Brahma created the universe, he got bored after a while because he was always alone. He created Maya so that they could keep company to each other, just for fun.
Once created, Maya asked Brahma to play a game, the only rule being that he had to do what Maya said.
Brahma accepted and under Maya's instruction, he created the galaxies, the sun and all the things we see, including human beings under specific request of Maya to create an intelligent specie.
Brahma asked when they would have begun playing Maya's game; "Immediately!" Maya answered, and broke Brahma into a million pieces putting each piece inside a human being. She also decided that Brahma would have forgot his divine nature and his life as a divine being and that he should have found himself in others.
A famous quote from Carl Gustav Jung, the famous psychiatrist is that "Everything that irritates us on others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves". Can you see yourself in other people? Would you be able to walk in their shoes?
It is pure empathy an selfless service. It is the part of us that makes you put yourself in the shoes of other human beings. This latter statement of mine might be confused with pity, but it is not; pity is a feeling that might be driven by your ego in order to make you feel better or at a higher level than others. The point here is that this self is the same for all of us. It comes from the same place for all of us.
There's a short story in hindu traditions, at the times when Brahma created the universe, he got bored after a while because he was always alone. He created Maya so that they could keep company to each other, just for fun.
Once created, Maya asked Brahma to play a game, the only rule being that he had to do what Maya said.
Brahma accepted and under Maya's instruction, he created the galaxies, the sun and all the things we see, including human beings under specific request of Maya to create an intelligent specie.
Brahma asked when they would have begun playing Maya's game; "Immediately!" Maya answered, and broke Brahma into a million pieces putting each piece inside a human being. She also decided that Brahma would have forgot his divine nature and his life as a divine being and that he should have found himself in others.
A famous quote from Carl Gustav Jung, the famous psychiatrist is that "Everything that irritates us on others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves". Can you see yourself in other people? Would you be able to walk in their shoes?
The real self is the real essence of you and it is quite right most of the times, if you listen and act according to it. But this is hard to do because often our ego gets in the way and due to conditiongs and believes, we are mostly oriented in following our ego and act accordingly to it...also because society almost impose us to do so.
It should be the opposite, the ego should act accordingly to the higher self. But we find ourselves in a sort of reversed situation in which all that there's outside is important, while the inside is often neglected and put aside. That is why I am pushing so much in the more "internal" aspects of the practice of yoga.
It should be the opposite, the ego should act accordingly to the higher self. But we find ourselves in a sort of reversed situation in which all that there's outside is important, while the inside is often neglected and put aside. That is why I am pushing so much in the more "internal" aspects of the practice of yoga.
If you will take the road of the discovery of the real self, arm yourself with patience because even when your ego will finally seem to have disappeared, it might arise again unexpectedly. Don't fall in the trap. When you feel it is your ego driving you, question why would you make a specific choice or act in a specific way.
Self-inquiry is the key, at least at the beginning. After an initial phase that might last more or less time, things will start to go on their own, flowing accordingly to your balance.
Let the self guide the ego like if it was a scholar, or a small child. Not forcing, but making it understand that there's a right way to exist, in line with what you truly are and in profound respect of yourself and the other living beings.
Self-inquiry is the key, at least at the beginning. After an initial phase that might last more or less time, things will start to go on their own, flowing accordingly to your balance.
Let the self guide the ego like if it was a scholar, or a small child. Not forcing, but making it understand that there's a right way to exist, in line with what you truly are and in profound respect of yourself and the other living beings.
