Thursday, September 13, 2012

Yoga Weird - Empty Yourself Completely

Sadhana is a search for what to give up. Empty yourself completely
     - Nisargadatta Maharaj

I recently had a conversation with a colleague who felt that the separation of the mind and soul is frightfully scary. What then? What is left? One of the largest fears of humanity is that nothing exists after you die. Nothing but pure darkness and silence. How scary.

The same fears can be associated with what yoga is intended to do. The Yoga Sutras state that the goal of yoga is yogas-citta-vrtti-nirodhah, or "yoga is the stilling of the mind." Identification of the mind as the true self, or what we are, is often referred to as ignorance. So that leaves us with the soul (atman).

We think, react, act, and communicate using our minds. The minds are the exact opposite of silence. So why would one want to separate themselves from that? Why would people walk knowingly into that darkness? One of the scariest parts is being ok that there is silence there, quiet there, nothingness there. But, it is this silence, this nothingness that is true bliss itself.

Yoga....weird

Thank you for reading my blog. If you would like to follow Thoughts on Yoga, enter your e-mail address at the top right hand corner of the screen.



No comments:

Post a Comment