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May all find the teacher within to guide oneself towards unconditional love and peace

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Yoga is unconditioned and unlimited by names and forms and qualities...

Yoga is the knowledge, teachings and practice that leads to the realization of attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness, as well as the realization itself.

Yoga is unconditioned and unlimited by any names and forms, or qualities, or boundaries. It doesn't need anybody, or authorization, or association, or affiliation, to give permission to anybody to share the experience in the path of yoga with any beings who need yoga, or who are sincerely interested in learning and practicing yoga according to the teachings of yoga in search for the Truth of names and forms to transcend suffering that arise due to ignorance and impurities. Neither does it bound by any so called "legal" business licensing law that is created by human beings, nor does it required any religion body, or local council, or government's approval to be existing in the universe.

Realizing unconditional non-discriminative love and peace, as well as sharing the knowledge of how to attain this universal love and peace has nothing to do with having a recognized certificate and qualification, or not, or having a "legal license", or not. 

Nobody needs or requires a business license, or internationally recognized yoga teacher certification or qualification to be sharing the path of yoga with any beings who need yoga and who are sincere in treading the path towards Self-realization, or the path of transcending the mind, or the ego, or ignorance, or suffering. One can't share or teach yoga to anyone if oneself doesn't have the knowledge and direct experience or realization of the teachings and practice. One can't share or teach about unconditional love and peace if without realizing or knowing what is unconditional love and peace in oneself.

None needs to be certified, or be qualified, or be authorized and legalized by somebody or some organization for being peaceful, wise, kind and compassionate, or to be allowed/disallowed for being peaceful and wise, and be kind and loving towards all non-discriminatively and unconditionally.

Those who are free from ignorance and the suffering deriving from ignorance, who have realized the truth of selflessness and unconditional love and peace, they can share the knowledge of yoga that leads towards the realization of selflessness and unconditional love and peace with anyone at anytime, at anywhere, if it's necessary. Just that due to having a building or a space to conduct yoga classes for teaching yoga to some others at a particular place in the world is being bound by the local administrative law of rules and regulations, it makes teaching yoga becomes something that required permission and license to be able to conduct yoga classes at certain place. But yoga is not bound by anything even though the physical act of teaching yoga classes at a particular place is being bound by certain "law", "rules" and "regulations" in the local community. If there are some "rules and regulations" in certain places that do not allow certain people of certain race or religion to learn and practice yoga, or the "rules and regulations" do not allow certain yoga centres or yoga schools to accept certain people of certain race or religion to learn and practice yoga in that place, but that can't and won't stop anybody to share the knowledge of yoga with everyone, and it won't stop anyone from learning and practicing yoga.

It's because yoga is not limited in a place and space of a yoga class or yoga centre. Yoga practice is everywhere and it's within the practitioner every moment, it's not just limited in performing some external form of physical movements, or postures, or chanting and prayers. 

Yoga is always there in every beings regardless of the differences of appearance, race, gender, sects, caste, behavior, personality, social status, financial and educational background, religion, culture, nationality, or any names and forms and qualities, whether we know and practice yoga, or not, or have heard about yoga, or not. Yoga exists in every beings from the moment the body and mind exist impermanently and selflessly.

Love and peace is universal. Every beings have love and peace in nature.

Whenever there is misery and suffering that arise due to ignorance in the mind, yoga practice exists to help the beings to transcend suffering and be free, be liberated from suffering. 

Unconditional love and peace as well as suffering exist in every single being, except for those who had transcended their own mind or their ego, they are free from suffering. 

If people who only interested in learning and practicing the physical exercises taken from the yoga asana practice, but they refuse or do not really interested in learning and practicing the philosophy/teachings of yoga (partly due to the philosophical part of yoga might be contradicted with their existing religious teachings, or mainly because they are not ready yet to practice non-attachment or non-identification with the body and mind, or because their mind and ego cannot accept that the nature of all and everything, the Self, is identical with 'God' or the ONE universal consciousness, or simply because of ignorance hinders them from getting rid of the ego to attain Self-realization, or any other reasons), then they can just do the exercises. Be happy. There's no harm. There's nothing wrong. It is a very good and beneficial physical and mental activity to engage in life. But when they approach a yoga teacher with their strong attachment towards their ego and what they want and don't want based on their particular thinking and belief, and "telling" the teacher that they only want to learn and practice the yoga asana and pranayama, but they are not interested at the teachings of mind evolution approach in yoga, and they do not want to hear anything about the philosophy, or the chanting and prayers (because it might be contradicted with their religion or what they believe in), they want to learn and practice "yoga", but they are conditioning and limiting themselves and the teacher about what the teacher should and shouldn't teach them.

There are many yoga teachers would be just teaching the physical exercises of the yoga asana practice and do not want to get involve with the teachings of yoga (about dispassion and the annihilation of the ego and egoism of non-attachment, non-identification and desire of craving and aversion), or the chanting and prayers. It's fine. Then those who just want to do some physical exercises with the asana practice can approach these yoga teachers and yoga centres to learn and practice the "pure asana practice" that doesn't "involve" the teachings of yoga that will contradict with their religion or belief.

Anyway, a yoga teacher who teaches all the aspects and elements in the traditional yoga practice will not force anybody to take up any teachings or practice that they are not comfortable with and they do not expect everyone to agree and accept the teachings of yoga. No one should blind-agreeing, blind-believing, blind-following, or blind-practicing anything, but to inquire the truth of everything by oneself.

The "yoga students" have the freedom to refuse or reject the essential teachings and practice of yoga, but how can they limit and condition what the yoga teacher should and shouldn't teach? Everyone has the freedom to disagree with and doesn't like 'the inevitable truth of selflessness and impermanence of decay, old age, illness and death', but none can stop the 'disagreeable and undesirable but inevitable' truth being what it is, or change the truth of selflessness and impermanence to be something else, even under the latest scientific research and highest technologies. It's only through self-realization towards the truth of selflessness and impermanence in all the names and forms, and transcending the selfless mind perception of an impermanent world of names and forms, that liberates the perceptive mind from suffering deriving from ignorance and egoism.

In the asana practice itself, it's already containing the philosophy in it whether the teacher mentions about it, or not. It is the physical and practical part of the philosophy. It is part of the entire path of yoga. They are not separated. You hold the handle of a knife to cut something, you are taking the entire knife on your hand, you do not separate the handle from the blade. A knife handle without the blade cannot cut anything. A blade without a handle is inconvenient to cut anything. Merely hearing the philosophy without practical practice is of no use. Even when there is no hearing of the philosophy or chanting and prayers involved in the yoga asana practice, but the asana practice is still a very powerful practice that can purify and stimulate the energy centres and energy channels in the body for higher realization. And Self-realization can happen in anyone regardless of all the differences of religion, race, sects, caste, culture, sex, social status, financial and educational background, behavior, personality, nationality and any other names and forms and qualities.

The only difference is the one who can let go of the attachment and identification towards the body and mind, or let go of the identification with the ego, or the idea of 'I', will attain Self-realization easier than the one who identified with the ego and attached strongly towards the body and mind. 

Yoga exists for transcending the ignorant lower self individual consciousness and realizing the nature of the universal consciousness, or God consciousness. It is about realizing our true nature or true Self is not separated from the universal consciousness or God consciousness.

When the mind is functioning under the veil of ignorance, being over-powered by ignorance or impurities, or 'I'ness, the perceptive mind or the perceiver is ignorant towards the selfless non-dual nature of all and everything, or the Self, or Atman, or Brahman, the unborn non-dual universal consciousness, and hence, there's separation of the perceiver and the perceived, where the mind perceives a delusive separateness of "I am an individual being and I am separated and different from all the others." Once ignorance or impurities vanished, or the modification of the mind is annihilated, Self-realization takes place, where there's no separateness of an individual perceiver and the perceived, where the nature of all the impermanent and selfless names and forms isn't separated or different from the universal consciousness, or God consciousness.

It's like the space that resides within the pot, as well as the space inside and outside the pot is ONE same space. The pot is selfless and impermanent, where it exists, changes and ceased existing. But the space is infinite, unlimited and unchanged, never increase nor decrease, even though all kinds of impermanent names and forms that appear to be different from one another constantly existing, changing and ceased existing through the space.

This is the essence of Self-realization, the path of yoga and meditation. How can we deny 'God' consciousness or universal consciousness in everyone and everything when everyone and everything depend on the support of external energy and elements to be existing? This 'God' consciousness or universal consciousness being mentioned in the teachings of yoga is nothing to do with the personalized 'God existence' that belongs to different cultural, spiritual or religious belief, where people believe that 'God' is the 'authority' of the universe, who 'consciously' and 'intentionally' creates, controls, judges, blesses or punishes all and everything.

The realization of "Seeing 'God' in all and everything" that will free the mind from dualism, discrimination, prejudice, violence, suffering, painful sorrow, grief, fear, worry, anger and hatred is upon the mind realizing or knowing the one same nature of all and everything is not separated from the 'God' consciousness or universal consciousness, transcending all the different names and forms.

The people who don't want to hear, or learn, or practice the philosophy of yoga, have this strong resistance or fear, in getting to know the true nature or true Self of all and everything, including what they think is the existence of themselves, or 'I', where attaining Self-realization or knowing Thyself, that there is no 'I', is the mean of all yoga and meditation practice.

Yoga is about Self-realization. It's about realizing the nature of everything is none other than the universal consciousness, or God consciousness. It's about letting go of who and what we think we are. It's about letting go of all the delusive false identifications with names and forms and qualities. Such as "I" am good, "I" am bad, "I" am happy, "I" am suffering, "I" am successful, "I" am failure, "I" gain, "I" loss, "I" am 'certain religion', "I" am 'certain race', "I" am 'certain sect', "I" am 'certain personality', or "I" am this or that, and etc.

It's about attaining real peace, unconditional and unlimited peace, that is already existing within the nature of the Self or Atman. It's about knowing what is real and unreal. It's about getting to know the Truth and be able to observe and accept the reality as it is.

For people who cannot perceive or does not want to know anything about the teaching about Brahman is real, the world is unreal, the individual soul/consciousness is identical with Brahman, but still want to practice yoga asana practice and telling themselves and other people that they are practicing "yoga", is only deceiving themselves.

There is nothing wrong with people just want to enjoy doing the yoga asana practice, but refuse to inquire the teachings of yoga, or do not want to hear anything about the yoga philosophy. Be happy and enjoy doing the yoga asana practice. It is good for anyone to do the exercises that are beneficial for health and mental peace. 

The Truth will always be the Truth. The Truth is always within everyone. There is 'God' or universal consciousness in everyone and everything. There is unconditional love and peace in every beings. The mind just need to remove ignorance or impurities from itself, to realize the Truth of all and everything in this impermanent selfless worldly existence.

These are the teachings of Yoga. Even if some people do not want to relate themselves with the yoga teachings, or yoga philosophy, or yoga practice, but if they know selflessness and compassion, if they have unconditional non-discriminative love and peace, then it is not any different or separated from yoga. It is just a name and form. We don't have to call it "yoga" or any names.

It doesn't matter we have a religion belief and practice, or not, whether we think we belong to any race and culture, or not, we all have a thinking mind that functions under the impure intellect and the assertive ego, deriving from and influenced by ignorance. And the mind that has transcended the modification of the mind, the impure intellect and the assertive ego, no matter through what type of practice, it's all not separated or different from yoga.

In certain countries, some meditation centres are not allowed to accept certain people of certain race and religion to come to these centres to learn and practice meditation. But there are many other meditation centres in other places in the world that are not limited by these local "authorities" restriction. People who are sincere in learning and practicing meditation can go to these meditation centres to learn and practice meditation. At the end, yoga and meditation practice is in our heart, unlimited and unconditioned by time and space, names and forms.

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Know thyself. Everything is impermanent and selfless. There is no 'I'. There is no 'I am selfless'/'I am not selfless'. There is no 'I am hurt'/'I need to be healed from hurt'. Non-blind believing, non-blind following, non-blind practicing and non-blind propagating, but be open-minded to inquire the truth of everything. Be free. Be peaceful. Be happy.

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