The Eternal Yoga
Having practiced the forms of yoga for years, I have come to a deeper understanding of yoga.
The yoga which can be instructed and communicated, is not yoga.
All the forms of yoga are techniques which are guidelines and methods for discovering yoga, yet which in and of themselves, can never be yoga. A person who practices these techniques can be ensnared by methods, and never be in a state of yoga. And a person who never practices 'yogic discipline' may discover and reside within the state of unification, as has been seen in the many practices available in different cultures & around the world.
I am really switching the word 'yoga' for the word 'tao'. Lao Tze's immortal words are 'The tao which can be spoken is not the eternal tao.' No word, no discussion, no action is ever that eternal essence beyond form.
The form can be a path, a bridge to realizing the state of yoga, yet itself is not that timeless state of being.
As I see marketing efforts and all kinds of spiritual groups believing that yoga is mere posture, or breathing, or exercise, or touting that yoga is _the way_ to enlightenment, and then acting with violence and separation to prove that their yoga is 'authentic', I question what it is that creates the separation.
As I see it the one cause is simply the egoic-mind which is bound by time and form, the source of all stress.
In attachment to a belief that yoga 'is this, and is not that' conflict inevitably arises between those who have an agenda to prove that what they know is 'the truth.' It's this blinding attachment which has masterful instructors sow division and confusion in the ranks of those who wish to understand and know.
The truth of yoga is self-evident, and only becomes available to one who delves inward, resolving their self-judgments and relinquishing control of the habitual, distressing patterns of the mind.
This state of being does not require yoga postures, or breathing, or guru worship, or anything. It simply is what it is, and appears through a process of surrendering what 'one is not.' People in all cultures, religions and professions have experienced and discovered the state of silent unity, in their own way and through their own methods. Many of whom probably never even knew or recognized the state of unification, and were 'simply being themselves.'
This does not mean that yogic techniques are useless, they are very powerful for a person who seeks inner knowing. Simply, the techniques are techniques, and may lead one to a unified state, yet are not in and of themselves, 'the eternal yoga.'
.
The yoga which can be instructed and communicated, is not yoga.
All the forms of yoga are techniques which are guidelines and methods for discovering yoga, yet which in and of themselves, can never be yoga. A person who practices these techniques can be ensnared by methods, and never be in a state of yoga. And a person who never practices 'yogic discipline' may discover and reside within the state of unification, as has been seen in the many practices available in different cultures & around the world.
I am really switching the word 'yoga' for the word 'tao'. Lao Tze's immortal words are 'The tao which can be spoken is not the eternal tao.' No word, no discussion, no action is ever that eternal essence beyond form.
The form can be a path, a bridge to realizing the state of yoga, yet itself is not that timeless state of being.
As I see marketing efforts and all kinds of spiritual groups believing that yoga is mere posture, or breathing, or exercise, or touting that yoga is _the way_ to enlightenment, and then acting with violence and separation to prove that their yoga is 'authentic', I question what it is that creates the separation.
As I see it the one cause is simply the egoic-mind which is bound by time and form, the source of all stress.
In attachment to a belief that yoga 'is this, and is not that' conflict inevitably arises between those who have an agenda to prove that what they know is 'the truth.' It's this blinding attachment which has masterful instructors sow division and confusion in the ranks of those who wish to understand and know.
The truth of yoga is self-evident, and only becomes available to one who delves inward, resolving their self-judgments and relinquishing control of the habitual, distressing patterns of the mind.
This state of being does not require yoga postures, or breathing, or guru worship, or anything. It simply is what it is, and appears through a process of surrendering what 'one is not.' People in all cultures, religions and professions have experienced and discovered the state of silent unity, in their own way and through their own methods. Many of whom probably never even knew or recognized the state of unification, and were 'simply being themselves.'
This does not mean that yogic techniques are useless, they are very powerful for a person who seeks inner knowing. Simply, the techniques are techniques, and may lead one to a unified state, yet are not in and of themselves, 'the eternal yoga.'
.