Essays on yoga, meditation, and the inner life.
Yoga Philosophy
Yoga is one of the six principle systems of Indian thinking known as darśana. The word darśana is derived from the Sanskrit root dṛś, meaning "to see." Fundamentally, darśana means "view" or "a particular way of viewing." Yoga, as one of the six darśana, has its source in the Vedas. The word veda comes from the Sanskrit root vid, "to know." It means "that which tells us everything we would like to know."
While the source of yoga was the Vedas, this particular darśana was formalized by Patañjali, one of the great Indian sages. His classic text is the Yoga Sūtra. Although there are many other major treatises on yoga that postdate Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra, his work is the most authoritative.
The word "yoga" is also a Sanskrit word derived from the root yuj. Yuj has developed two traditional meanings. One is "to bring two things together, to meet, to unite." The other meaning is similar to that of samādhi, that is, "to converge the movement of the mind."
"To reach a point we have not reached before." If there is something that is impossible for us to do today and we find a means by which it becomes possible, that movement is yoga.
Another important aspect of yoga has to do with action. Yoga also means "to act in a particular way with all of our attention focused upon that action." As Desikachar explains, suppose that while speaking about yoga one part of the mind is thinking about something else — that divided attention is the opposite of yoga. Yoga tries to create a condition in which we are always present in every action, at every moment.
The practice of yoga only requires that we act and at the same time, pay attention to our actions. We do not have to endorse any particular concept of the Lord, but we must have respect for such concepts. Although yoga has its source in Indian thought, it neither dictates that a Hindu must practice it nor that a non-Hindu is prohibited from such practice. Yoga is universal in that it is the means to attain a desired new condition.
Desikachar explores the concept of avidyā from Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra — a concept which, if understood properly, explains why we have problems in life. Avidyā means literally "knowledge other than right knowledge." It is not to be confused with vidyā which means "right knowledge." Avidyā is a false state of understanding: we think we are right and act accordingly but eventually find ourselves on the wrong track.
Avidyā is the accumulation of many thoughtless actions repeated mechanically, almost blindly, over the years. Our minds become conditioned — such conditioning is called saṃskāra. Because of this conditioning our minds become covered, as it were, with a film of avidyā.
Avidyā expresses itself through four "children":
The goal of yoga is to reduce the film of avidyā in order that we can act correctly. At places of silence and solitude, it is easier for avidyā to subside and truth to be revealed. Little by little, we see clearly how we should act.
Buddhist Practice
The ancient Greeks thought that an overproduction of bile, which turned the skin a pale, putrid green, caused such emotions as jealousy. Green is the color of jealousy still — and of poison. This is what jealousy does: it poisons our hearts and minds, often toward those closest to us.
When we're jealous, say the Buddhist teachings from Asanga's Abhidharmasamuccaya, contradictory emotions of hatred and desire seize the mind, creating a kind of twisted logic about everything. We desperately want what we don't have, while hating the one who has it.
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
— Shakespeare, Othello
Tibetan Buddhism teaches that we find the antidotes to our most painful states of mind by leaning directly into the emotion itself. Our emotions are full of wisdom. They are the keys for deepening our practice and our relationships with our world. The antidote to jealousy is found at the heart of jealousy itself.
The Buddhist term (Sanskrit irshya; Tibetan phrag-dog) refers to an agitated state of mind classified as part of hostility. It is defined as "a disturbing emotion that focuses on other people's accomplishments; it is the inability to bear them, due to excessive attachment to one's own gain." Underlying this disturbing emotion is the dualistic thinking of "you" as a winner and "me" as a loser.
The strategy Tibetan Buddhism teaches for overcoming envy is to stop thinking dualistically and instead work hard to achieve what others have done. With this approach, the Tibetan refugees have avoided self-pity and have instead turned into one of the most industrious and successful exile communities, both economically and culturally.