It's that time of the year when we are racking our brains for the next year's resolutions. We are eager to make promises to ourselves, excited to have a fresh start. But before we begin something new, we have to close the loop and let things go. Before we start 2015, we have to deal with 2014. Have you seen how minimalists live? They own very few things, and so they have very few possessions to worry about. To live the yogic path is like that, not just in reducing the physical things we own, but even more importantly, to reduce the emotional attachments and burdens that we own. Minimalists know that they have to get rid of stuff if they want to acquire new ones. That way, their living quarters do not get cluttered. Similarly, we would need to learn how to let go- of our anger and our worries and our insecurities and our fears etc- if we want space in our lives. Close your eyes. Allow yourself to go through an inventory of the year 2014. What were the highs, the lows, the peaks, the throughs. It's a personal inventory, so go through them all. Go through not only the good which you will proudly share with others, but also go through the hard stuff, the things you told only a few close friends or even the things you have kept completely secret, the things that you want to deny even to yourself. Go through your successes, your perceived failures, your accomplishments, your struggles. Go through what you are proud of, what you are ashamed of. Go through your joy, your fear, your satisfaction, your guilt. Go through your compassionate moments, your periods of apathy, your bursts of excitement. Go through your spiritual practice, your yoga practice, your relationships, your job, your physical health, your mental well-being, your intellectual growth, your financial situation. Go through them all without picking and choosing. Observe them all. Then let them go. Let go of the good so you can reduce craving and clinging. Let go of the bad so you can manage aversions and disappointments. See them for what they are, then let them go. Every time you come into a forward bend in your yoga practice, let that be a reminder to let go. Notice if you have a tendency to pull back. What is stopping you? Is it fear of moving forward into the unknown? Is it the discomfort of letting go of what is familiar? Is it the reluctance of confronting the temporary discomfort? Let go of it all. If it seems overwhelming and impossible to do, then let go a little bit at a time. Do it at your own pace. It is often said that life is a journey. Indeed it is. There are many unexpected twists and turns. And to make this journey easier, it helps to travel light, to go without excess baggage, to release that which does not give us joy. When we learn to let go, we start to love without clinging, live without being afraid, give without expecting anything in return. Use "let go" as a mantra. Every breath, every moment, every resolve is to let go.
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Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu Lokah means location. Sama means same. Stah means standing. Sukh means the sweet point. Ino means being centered in. Bhav means Divine mood. Antu means may it be so. Because we say we want everyone to be centered in sweetness and Divinity, then we will do what we can and everything that we can for it to happen. In Jivamukti, there is a version of this mantra we chant that has a commentary on how we are going to do it. Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu Make me an instrument for thy will Not mine but thine be done Free me from anger, jealousy, and fear Fill my heart with joy and compassion This version combines the Christian influence of St. Francis. We are reminded that to fulfill our purpose, we need to remember that we are instruments. It does not matter if you are asking God to be an instrument or you are asking G.O.D.- give your own definition- to be an instrument. The intent is that we are able to let go of our selfish tendencies. When we are successful, we don't let our egos take over and become arrogant or abuse our power. When we are unsuccessful, we don't succumb to despair or hopelessness and give up. Whatever results from our actions, we are able to stand on steady ground because we know we are instruments. We are fueled by relentless joy and radical compassion. We go far and beyond the measures of joy and compassion that is considered "normal" in our society. We don't put stops or borders or conditions to them. We don't have quotas on them. That is what it means to be an instrument, that we keep playing the music of love in its many tunes and expressions. Being a Jivamukti yoga practitioner, we are taught that we have one foot in and one foot out. We are at once activists and spiritual seekers. On one hand, we are active in changing the world outside of us, by speaking our truth, standing up for others, promoting oneness, being kind to all beings including animals and the Earth. On the other hand, we are committed to our journey inwards so we may be able to liberate ourselves from all suffering. Taking on the dual roles does not mean we have to be "perfect". We can serve as effective instruments even as we go through our journey. We become instruments not only despite our imperfections, but through our imperfections. We have all made mistakes and hurt others. But we cannot be so self-centered as to withhold forgiveness from ourselves. Even the Buddha, before he became the Buddha, hurt others. He abandoned his family. He wasn't exactly husband of the year. If we want to be effective instruments, we have got to let it go. Self-reproach will not serve. Conscious present actions do. Being an instrument is an acknowledgement that we are one player in this vast universe. We seem small when we put into context that we are a mere dot in this planet that is a small dot in this galaxy, and yet we could be big in the lives of those around us. Our thoughts, words, and actions are big. They are instruments for positive change, for love, for peace, for joy, for compassion. Om tryambakam yajamahe sugandhin pushti-vardhanam urvarukam iva bandhanan mrityor mushiya mamritat - From Taittiriya Upanishad We worship the supreme light, the Absolute Shiva, who has three eyes, who is fragrant and nourishes all beings. This light is the expression and communication of our life, and it is our physical, mental and spiritual radiation and prosperity. Kindly release us from all calamities, bondage and suffering, just as a cucumber is released from its stalk, without any injury. May our minds be absorbed into Shiva, amritam (nectar), the ocean of tranquility. - Interpretation by Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati This mantra is a mantra of liberation. I think it is important to understand this mantra by putting it in context. That way, we won't be put off by our biases on what it means to worship or our attachment to our own beliefs or how we perceive deities from religions not our own. The same way that we would be open to understanding someone's culture when we visit a different country, the same mindset can be applied to deciphering this ancient mantra. We can look past the literal meaning of the words and get to the core of its intention. The mantra expresses liberation in a very poetic way, making use of imagery and analogy, story and diety. Many of us may originally find the idea of worship problematic, depending on our spiritual dispositions. But worship is not only about making an external God magnanimous, though that is the image we may commonly have. The other often forgotten aspect of worship is submitting to humility. It is acknowledging that our egos and selfish tendencies are not God, and so we surrender to something that is more than that ego and that selfish tendency. Whatever name we use to call it- God or the universe or the law of nature or great void or the collective consciousness or the higher Self or if we choose not to name it at all- does not matter as long as we can be sincere in our connection to that which is bigger than us. Three-eyed Shiva is the Higher Self in us that is able to see oneness rather than separation. The two eyes represent being able to see both sides at the same time. It means that I do not cling only to my opinion, my perception, my beliefs, my experiences; but that I am also able to see others' opinions, perceptions, beliefs, and experiences. The third eye represents the ability the see the oneness beyond the duality of self and other. When we act in selfish, judgmental, or fearful ways, it is not because we are bad people. It is because we have forgotten to submit to our Higher Self. When we become humble, we see that we can open our three eyes to let go of this "other-ness". When we buy a cucumber from the market, it is likely that this cucumber has been picked before it is fully ripe. Therefore, even though it is hardly visible to the eye, this cucumber would have sustained a little injury, a little bruise perhaps, a little force would have been applied. The metaphor of a cucumber being released from its stalk speaks about the ripeness, the readiness, and the natural progression that happens when one has reached his or her time for liberation. It is not forced. Looking at this ripe cucumber, one could not see traces of its former attachments. Similarly, someone who is completely liberated would not have traces of his or her conquered fear, anger, jealousy, and other worldly problems. When one is liberated, it is a process of completion, with all loose ends tied, with no unfinished business. It is the complete letting go of all that weighs it down. This mantra teaches us that everyone could be liberated, that Shiva is in us, that to be released is our final destination. We can practice as much asana as we want, study the many deities as much as we want, discuss and intellectualize the concepts of liberation as much as we want. But in the end, it is not the body or mind that will free us, for the body and mind can also serve as a bondage. Ultimately, it is our Higher Self, beyond body and mind, that will lead us to freedom from suffering. It is our Higher Self that will remind us of what we have merely forgotten- that we are complete, and in this completeness, we are one and connected with everyone and everything else. Om. The focus of this month, mantra, is closely related to nada yoga, the yoga of sound, music, vibrations, and deep listening. It is said that the original sound, the unstruck sound, the sound that existed before time and universe began, is still vibrating, and only enlightened ones can hear it. My teacher, Jivamukti Yoga co-founder David Life, drew an illustration of what it means to listen. To practice nada yoga means that like a fetus or a child, we are able to submit and be open and be receptive. One way to practice deep listening is to listen without naming or labeling or categorizing or judging. When we attend a yoga class in the midst of the central business district in Makati, we hear many sounds. During the peak hours, we hear cars honking, people talking, the hustle and bustle of daily life. We may catch ourselves perceiving that these sounds are getting in the way of our yoga practice, that we are somehow being disturbed by these unpleasant noises. That is a biased way of listening, choosing only what fits with the story we have created. We label it noise because we don't like it, we put it in the category of bad because we feel separate from it, we get agitated by the sound because we take it personally. To listen deeply is to let go of our biased way of perceiving things. It is to listen to sounds as they are. It is to refrain from creating illusions around the sound. Try getting in deep into the yoga practice by observing the sounds as they are. Listen without automatically naming or judging the sounds. You may notice that there are so many subtle layers of sound that exist, not only the loudest, not only the most distinct, not only the more familiar exist. The subtle, soft, distant sounds also exist. Vibratory sounds also exist. Even silence seems to have a sound. Deep listening is not only a result of a committed practice, it is also a tool in which to connect to our purpose in this world. Many of us have questions we throw out into the universe. Who am I? Why am I here? What should I do? All of these questions have answers within the depths of our souls, and it is through wading through the clutter of many layers of sounds that we are able to hear them. Listen to the sound of your own breath, the breath of other yogis, the sounds in the room, the sounds outside the room. Can we listen so deeply and with so much receptivity that we lose the potency of our judgments? When we hear a car honking, instead of feeling irritation that we are hearing things we do not like, can we hear the objectivity of the sound, that most likely, there is one person out there rushing to get home to be with those whom he or she loves? When we come into a pose like karnapidasana or ear pressure pose, can we use the shutting out of outside sounds to listen even more deeply to the internal sounds? How we speak to ourselves is the continuing dialogue we have with the universe. Our reality is merely a projection of the sounds we create within the confines of our minds and hearts and spirits. Sounds are powerful. In the repetition of these sounds it becomes a living mantra. In this mantra our material reality is built. When we sit in meditation, we can use the power of the simple mantra "Let Go". The words are powerful in that they suggest an unequivocal release of all things heavy and overdue. It is a permission we grant ourselves to be free from suffering, to detach from victimhood, to be fearless in pursuing liberation. Through deep listening, consistent practice, and unwavering faith in our untapped potentials, we could listen more deeply to the many sounds that remind us of how we are all connected. As we chant our final Om, may we be able to hear not only the sound but also feel with no emotional shields its vibrations and resonance. We chant Om in the beginning of a yoga class, but what does Om mean? In the Jivamukti Yoga chant book, this explanation is given: Om is the original and most powerful mantra. It is the primal sound of the Divine in its essential manifestation. In the beginning was the word and the word was Om. Mantra is a Sanskrit word where man means mind and tra means cross over. It is that which crosses over the mind, that which has the power to transform, that which can transcend. I saw a video that showed a plate with random particles on top. When a sound is made, those particles will start to form circles, geometric shapes and flower patterns not very different from what we observe in a kaleidoscope. As the sound changes, so the form changes. In short, it shows that sound is shape, and that vibrations create material reality. Practice using Om as a mantra. As you move through the peaks and troughs of the asana practice, keep the breath steady, the intention pure, and the mantra consistent. Use Om to reset again and again, every moment letting go of regrets of the past and releasing worries about the future. We may find that we tend to forget our intentions or mantra when things are difficult, and yet it is during these times that we most need to remember it. What we repeat to ourselves becomes a mantra. It requires no special words as our vibrations are universal. Many if not all of us find yoga because there is something we would like to change. We would like to be free. We want suffering to end. We may have relationships that have yet to be healed, and sometimes we mistakenly think that we need the other person to heal this disconnection. But we can heal, even if this person is no longer in our lives, even if this person has already left his or her physical body. We can go through the healing process by saying a mantra, by stating our intention, by mindfully choosing our words. We can think of this person and say "I love you" or "I forgive you" or "I am sorry" or "Thank you" or "I understand" or anything else that may feel personal and sincere. In the end, love is our mantra. We merely have different expressions of it. When we chant Om at the end of the practice, pay attention to the vibrations the sound creates. You may feel tingling sensations in your body. You may start to hear your own voice uniting with the voice of others. You may have a transcendent experience of what is called bhav, the Divine mood, and catch a glimpse of the creative force that is the vibration that shaped the world. In the beginning was the word and the word was Om. |
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