Yoga

All of us have certain likes and dislikes and these bind us, preventing us from going beyond a certain sphere of experience. People say to me that they are serious spiritual seekers; that they are willing to do anything I say. I then tell them to do something; they say they don’t like it. Then I give them a small sheet of paper and tell them to write down all the things that they like so we could do only that. They usually write down half-a-dozen things.

In this vast existence, they just like half-a-dozen things! They have excluded everything else in just that liking and disliking. In saying that they like only these six things, they have ensured that they never go beyond those half-a-dozen things. Yoga is not about doing more things in the world. It is the dropping of likes and dislikes and simply responding to every-thing. Seeing everything as a part of yourself is an essential condition for gaining some level of experience.

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If energy has to expand beyond the limitations of the physical body, first the mind has to free itself. Otherwise, the mind can be a limiting factor - it can either limit or expand your energy. Like the body, the mind, too is encased - but it is trickier because it is not physical. The mind limits you all the time. So the first thing to do is to stop identifying yourself with it. If you don’t identify yourself with the body and the mind, you will be able to say: “They are instruments I use in my life but I am not that.”

When you become less of a body and mind, you can use them in a much better way. Whether you’re going to use it or not is your discretion, but the important thing is you are becoming less of a body. As you progress in sadhana, you will find that you are no longer disturbed by hunger and thirst. You can wait - it doesn’t matter, because you are becoming less of a body. 

This is constant progression. It is happening. Since ages we have been insisting that sadhana should happen whether you understand it or not. As you move into the practice, slowly, energy will carry out the things your mind cannot do. These four things are complementary: your body, mind, emotions, and energy. If you handle all of them properly, your growth is very quick. Above all, handling your energy properly is the most important thing, because if you transform the body you can reverse it in no time. 

Suppose for the next two months you practise hatha yoga . You feel very good in your body. Another one week, you party every night, drink and go crazy and 
you will see after a week’s time that the body is beaten. Similarly, you can cultivate the mind with lots of care, but very easily you can go out and reverse the whole process. But when you cultivate the energy, it doesn’t matter where you go, what you do. It gives you a certain sense of freedom so that situations don’t overpower you, they don’t overtake you. They don’t decide your quality.

Wherever you go, you still maintain your quality.

That’s why there has always been so much stress on practice. With practice, there is a gradual transformation. “No, I am still getting angry! I am still getting frustrated, I am getting this, I am getting that!” All that is okay. But the important thing is you are becoming less of a body, less of a mind. That is the most significant thing.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Isha Yoga Centre
New No.55, Moosa Street
T Nagar
Chennai - 600 017
Ph: 91-44- 24333185, 24348732

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Published on Aug 29^th, 2006