According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, yoga is the control of the modifications of the mind field.
योगश्चित्तव्ृतत्त्तिननिनिरोिरोधनिरोधः॥२॥
1.2 Yoga is the control of the modifications of the mind field.
yogash chitta vritti nirodhah
We come to this world and from the first moment on we establish a character based on the thought patterns coming from our families and social environment. And we take this character as ourself whereas it is nothing but the sum of the modifications our mind has created. Since the aim of the yogi is to find him/her true self, first he tries to control these modifications, replace the negative ones with the positive ones and finally to remove all of them.
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A yogi’s practice should go on 24/7. Practice yield results only when it’s continuous. A yogi is aware of herself all day long. But “I” is such a powerful concept, even when you think you are aware of yourself, even when you think you are practicing, you don’t see the big “I” standing right in the middle.
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In this article, I will be talking about some notions, which is very useful for a yogi to pay attention and to remember again. You can write about these notions pages long individually. My goal in this article is not to analyze these in detail; just to help you, by paying attention to these, to realize that your mind which you think you are controlling, is there all along.
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1. “I am all the problems and the solutions itself.”
According to the yoga philosophy, this is one of the four titles, that Yoga teaches. All the problems start because you are saying “I”. For instance, if a friend of yours tells you he was involved in a fender bender, your reaction would be either “It’s ok it’s just a fender” or “It’s good that nothing happened to you but to the car.” But if the same thing happens to you, you may get angry with the person that hit your car. Or another example, if you are friends with someone you are a different person, but if you are in a romantic relationship with the same person, you may show different personality. The list goes on like this; “My house, my kid, my job…”. The moment you say “I”, you separate yourself from the whole. Now there is “You” and there are others. Therefore you need to be aware all the time of how much you are behaving united with the whole, and how much you are behaving as “I”.
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How do you expand awareness?
With viveka; discriminative knowledge. When you continue your practice, your mind becomes stronger and you start to see the truth behind the situations. Your consciousness level gets higher. Therefore, meditation is very important; just as a person’s muscles get stronger by exercising, so does the mind get stronger by meditating. As the mind gets stronger, the intelligence becomes higher and you start using discriminative knowledge. And so you reach the pureness in action.
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2- Detachment from the Results of the Actions
This is one of the steps of Karma Yoga. The aim of Karma Yoga is not creating new samskaras (desires) while acting and thus getting out of the samsara, the karmic circle. Detachment from the results of your action means not expecting anything from the result of success or failure. It means doing the act just for the sake of the act.
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It may sound easy at the first glance but it is indeed a difficult thing to practice. Because your mind works really fast without you realizing it. Even before you start to act, the mind has already done its analysis about the situation and picked what kind of behavior will be in your favor. For instance, let’s say you helped someone. Did you do that favor without any expectations or at the end did you think about yourself as a good person because of it? Since wanting to be a good person is still a desire. Again there is “I”, there is someone who wants to be good. Someone who has expectations from the result of her actions.
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My students who practice this gets surprised when they find out that most of the things they do, they do it so other people will like them. One of my students told me that he doesn’t see many of his friends anymore because he was very self-giving with them but he got his heart broken when they weren’t same with him. It means that he did all these things by expecting something in return. We are saying love is something you give unconditionally, but actually, most people treat other people the way they want to be treated.
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This “Detachment from the Results” can go all the way to your practice. You stop doing your practice just as your practice and you start expecting results from it. You may even start comparing yourself with other people; “He meditates longer than me”, “I try so hard but still can’t do headstand”. Practice means, just doing the practice, but without you even realizing it “I” takes over again. What you need to do at this point is again using the discriminative knowledge. Regardless the subject, the more you practice at something you become sufficient at that. As you continue to find the “I” behind the situations, and continue to find it persistently, it will become easier to see it. And only when you can see it, you can control it.
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3- Patience
Patience is very important for the practice. I mentioned earlier that yoga means to remove the modifications of the mind so, with each modification removed, you can come close to your true self. Each moment you understand what you are not, you become closer to what you really are. Well then, where can “I” be hiding in patience? What did I mentioned earlier, you are not to be attached to the results of your actions. Let’s go back to the headstand example.Maybe your practice, your path, what would make you grow is not to be able to headstand for 5 years, but if you don’t be patient, don’t except what is given to you and ask why you are still not able to do a headstand then again there is someone who expects results, who has desires. By the way, in order to avoid misunderstanding, what I mention is NOT not making an effort. On the contrary, showing all the effort but accepting the result no matter what it is. Patience is a great virtue. And without patience, it is not possible to surrender.
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4- Surrender
Surrender is the most difficult one of these virtues and it is the last step to be reached through all these practices. Practice leads you to surrender step by step. To be able to surrender, you have to get rid off all the desires and all the modifications of the mind. Because to surrender means that there is no more “I” left behind. Such that, it means not wanting to live. Because if you want to live, yes, there is again “You” wanting something. Therefore, to really surrender, to act without being someone and to act as a part of the unity, requires a very serious practice.
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These are frequently encountered and maybe because of that easy sounding notions. But using the discriminative knowledge and finding the hidden “I” in each action takes the practice to another level. Sometimes, if the student is at the beginning of her/his practice, not being someone sounds sad, alone even boring to them. In fact, not being someone, not being “I” means, being everything, it means not being dependent on the conditions for happiness, being in “bliss” constantly and instead of being only with some people, being together with everyone.
