Practice Love
Of all the concepts that I’ve explored on my path, non-attachment has been the most misunderstood and the most transformative. In our culture, language is typically used to describe and define concepts. When this is done solely with our mind, language helps us to create ideas, beliefs and categorizations – ultimately, it is a process of discrimination and separation. This presents a fundamental challenge when we attempt to describe the essence of yoga, which is merging our sense of separate self with universal consciousness or our capital s “Self”. The word yoga comes from the root yuj, meaning ‘to attach or bring together’ and shares a linguistic root with the English word “yoke”. For years it was a mystery to me why non-attachment would be an essential part of the path of yoga if the very meaning of yoga is ‘to attach’? The one thing I know in my bones is yoga is not a path to be understood, but one to be experienced. Over time, the gift of non-attachment is beginning to shine light into my life and transform my experience of love.
We know that the wisdom tradition of yoga is ancient, but exactly how old it is isn't known. Around 400 CE, a scholar named Patanjali put these teachings into writing in the Yoga Sutras. Sutra means ‘thread’ and each of these concise aphorisms are a point of entry into the whole body of knowledge of yoga. It took me years to understand that yoga scriptures start with a big picture overview that is often so vast it’s hard to fathom yet alone understand. Then these scriptures give us the details to better understand and offer us the specific practices that lead us to experience the teachings directly. What surfaced for our teaching this month is yoga sutra 1.12 which describes yoga to be dependent on persistent practice and non-attachment.
Abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tannirodhah
They (the fluctuations of the mind) are controlled by practice and non-attachment
To zoom out and put this particular sutra into context, I’ll share an overview of sutras 1.1 through 1.11. For years, the first sutra seemed like a simple introduction without much depth – until I was ready to see that it is actually the entirety of yoga.
Atha yoganushasanam
The teachings of yoga are within NOW
In Sanskrit, two words om and atha are the sound of creation and are auspicious. Full presence with NOW is the entire experience of yoga.
Yoga sutra 1.2 defines the essence of yoga which is then further explained in all of the succeeding sutras. When you embody this sutra you do not need the rest of the teachings!
Yogash-chitta-vritti-nirodhah
Control of the thought waves in the mind is yoga
This profound sutra describes both the experience and the practice of yoga. As I mentioned earlier, the word yoga means ‘union, to attach or join together’. Though this implies duality, the experience of yoga is to connect our sense of separate self to our higher Self or universal consciousness. The experience of yoga is non-duality, pure unconditional love and a feeling of peace and freedom that is beyond words.
Sutra 1.3 describes the state of yoga to be when the fluctuations of the mind are controlled and we are in our true nature, which is love. Then sutra 1.4 describes that when we are not in our true nature we become identified with the thought waves in our mind. Sutras 1.5-1.11 describe the chitta vrittis or ‘fluctuations of the mind’ and how they are formed and function.
Though controlling or at least having influence over our thought waves sounds like a good idea to most of us, how we actually do it is the question. The brilliance of yoga is that it gives us step-by-step instructions with many options and detailed guidance on how this can be achieved. Sutra 1.12 describes the essence of the method of yoga: practice (abhyāsa) with non-attachment (vairāgha). For this method to work, these two must go hand in hand. The flow of our attention to outer objects or experiences is released through non-attachment, and the inward flow of the mind becomes stable with the persistent practice of meditation and cultivating awareness. Together these cultivate stability and resilience so we can live with a love of life, independent of how it unfolds. The nature of love is non-dual so by definition it is not the same as liking or disliking what’s arising. Yoga teaches us to live beyond the duality of likes and dislikes so we can live more fully connected to the present moment.
This week, I was trying quite unsuccessfully to explain non-attachment to a dear friend. What finally became clear to me – for the first time – is that non-attachment is unconditional love. Then the image of a rainbow appeared in my mind and I realized it told the whole story. Rainbows often appear after a storm. But when we’re not paying attention, they’re missed altogether. When seen, they instill a sense of awe and wonder that always stops me in my tracks. I’m immediately brought into the NOW! Rainbows appear when the combination of water droplets in the atmosphere and sun meet in perfect alignment so we can see the full spectrum of light that we usually can only see as white. As a kid, I was mesmerized by the story that there was a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Looking down as I tried to find my way to the gold, I would miss the beauty of the rainbow altogether. This is a perfect metaphor for what happens when we are searching for our own “pot of gold”: In the process, we miss the magnificence of the rainbow that is surrounding us with beauty.
Much love,
Sue