PYS I.1 atha yoga-anusasanam
Now this is Yoga as I have observed it in the natural world. Everything we need to be free we can learn from the nature that surrounds us. How a seed needs time, certain conditions, sunlight and air for it to grow teaches us that there is a certain rhythm that life follows, a law that nature abides in terms of timing. When the butterfly was still a caterpillar, he had to struggle-- a lot-- to get out of his cocoon. Someone who tries to help him will end up just hurting him, because if he is out of the cocoon before he is ready, he won't be able to fly, then he won't be able to survive. And so the caterpillar has to do his own work, at his own time, at his own pace, to grow into who he is meant to become. When he finally gets out of his cocoon, he leaves that layer behind and begins to fly. We are all like the caterpillars with our own struggles. Those who are around us, however well-meaning, may end up hurting us if they offer shortcuts. We need to understand that our growth is an inside job, and when we are fed up, when it is time, when it is NOW the moment to get out of our cocoon, because we are ready, then we will make it happen for ourselves. Once we leave our cocoon behind, we understand that that wasn't us-- our struggles are not us, our egos are not us, our mistaken identity is not us. Before we grow out of our cocoon, we may lament our struggles, think of our limitations as a curse, wish to take shortcuts. But all those struggles and limitations and difficulties are our growing pains, that is all. We emerge strong and beautiful from it, we get to know truth out of it, we become free from it.
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