Patanjali and our goals

                                               

    (Maori proverb. I have chosen two today, because they are so heart based, and along the Way, along the Path, everything becomes heart based))

                                           
sutra 13: abhyasa means constant practice
sutra 14: it becomes firmly grounded when continued for a long time, with reverence, and without interruption

Why this emphasis?  In all things of life, it is doing things over and over that produces results. We can all remember times in our life when this was so. And including the more difficult times. It's the same old story, doing things the same way always gets the same results.

This is one of the underlying truths of life (not just yoga). In Life, I do feel that it can work in many ways. For example, I can recall hearthbreaking times in my life when I kept trying, with deep faith in my heart, to get horrible situations to work out for the good of all. And they didn't. My placating behaviour didn't change, and the others in the situation, their behaviour didn't change. Surely I would have learnt? 

As life went on, I did learn, the hard way, that if something isn't working out, then it is the wrong situation. And, it is helpful to know this. Life has a destiny for us, and although not all of it is going to be easy, part of our journey is to recognise our own 'patterns' of behaviour. Especially in regards to difficult areas of our life. 

So, that's the down side of constant practice, and is certainly not what Patanjali is talking about here. But, it is a human frailty that when something isn't good for us, we keep repeating the same old, same old, stuff. But when it's good for us? Why does it suddenly get hard to do? Part of the human quirks, for sure.

When I met my first yoga teacher, I had one of the biggest shining examples of how constant practice gives such wonderful results. He was seventy-eight, did the same yoga flexibility movements, postures, breathing, kriyas, cleansing techniques, meditations, and chants. Every day. He was so amazing, and he 100% inspired me to just keep doing what is good for oneself. His results spoke for themselves.

And it's just as true for when we are doing anything in Life, when we have goals, for example. 

• find out what you need to do
• if it has beneficial results, just keep doing it
• if the results aren't good? Some rethinking is needed

sutra 17 is about four types of cognition

In it's basic form , many believe it to be about the stilling of the mind. However, Patanjali is writing about deep spirituality, and this sutra is in conjunction with the description of the first state of samadhi. And just so you know, this state is not hard to achieve. It is comes about through constant practice, and in particular is first achieved in meditation. 

The four types of cognition are:

• reason
• reflection
• bliss
• sense of Self

A good way to measure what we are doing in Life, is to be aware of how these four aspects are revealing themselves. When we are in a 'bad' situation; when we are doing the 'wrong' things for ourself or our goals; when we are pursuing the incorrect Path, these four aspects will be greatly minimalised. Who amongst us has not experienced the opposites of them at difficult times in our Life? 

And the, when we are doing the 'right' things, following a more beneficial Path, we are able to:

• think more clearly (reason)
• we are able to reflect more clearly on things, and in particular, how the difficult times happened
• we are happier
• we have more Self respect

When we are always dealing with problems, there is very little sense of oneself, as we are always in reaction mode. When we are in a more positive situation, we are able to let our Light shine easily.