Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 37

Focus on the one

devoid of passion

Veetaraga Vishayam Va Chittam

Another method of bringing the mind to lovingly rest with consciousness is to set it upon a self-realised individual who has renounced all passions. What the mind sees, that it becomes. It can be the image of a deity or the form of the Guru or the Master. As the mind focusses on the form

in the picture or an idol in a temple or a living personality in front of him or her, reading about such a person, meditating upon him or her who is not swayed by passion - a Vairagi or desireless person, the mind also becomes so and rests quietly at the altar of consciousness instead of being swayed like the waves of an ocean caught up in a storm.

Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com) Fitness, Satori

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 12

Ready, Steady Go...

Drashtanushravika Vishaya Vithrushnashya Vasheekara Samgnya Vairagyam

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The practice needs to be done for a long period of time. As a result of the practice of Yoga, what happens? This is the subject of the 15th Sutra. The practitioner has lesser and lesser attachment to temporal objects that are perceived by the senses. The objects outside that were all along holding a sway on the individual, ceases to control the person who is practising Yoga. He acquires a quality of mind called Vairagyam when he remains unmoved by pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow and is not attached to one particular thing, person or situation. A person with vairagya lives in the present moment and is no longer tussled by the whims and fancies of others. He is established firm as a rock in his own self.

What is the use of Vairagya - Dispassion and non-attachment? In the event of a calamity, say a flood situation, people are running helter skelter, confused and not knowing what to do. There are people who escape and run back into their homes, to pick up jewels and other property they think are valuable, but lose their life in the process. A person with Vairagya will not lose his mind in transcient objects or treasures, but will instead be totally in the present moment, save himself and many others too, because he has learnt to keep his mind steady and is unmoved by fear, anxiety, worry or any kind of fleeting emotions.

(Picture: I still have many pictures above the clouds and of the earth below from the skies. Yet to heed to Nature Nut JJ Loch's request to send some rays her way, I have posted a picture of warm sunshine over a banana tree in Chennai!)- Swahilya Shambhavi. (Bhagavad Gita, Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Tirumandiram, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)