Day 8
This is another important point - with honour and respect. Sometimes, we grumble when we do something. It is no use of doing something unenthusiastically. That is not abhyasa.
Abhyasa is something done with gratitude, gratefulness, honour and with respect. This is something we lack in our life. We should do everything in life with honour and respect. Even if you do something with honour and respect, it lasts a very short period.
And, if you have to do something over a period of time, you tend to lose that honour and respect. If you have to arrange a stage and, if you're doing it for the first time, you will do it with all honour and respect. You will put in so much attention, so much love, so much heart and awareness.
But if you have to do it everyday for the next five to six months, you will just do it without the spirit with which you did on the first day. As time goes on, you seem to lose that alertness, attention, attention, attentiveness, and honour.
You feel wonderful the first day when you sit for meditation because you are doing it with all honour. But after some sessions you will feel bored by it. You will just sit and close your eyes. It does not have the same effect. If any day, your meditation or Kriya is a little low, it is because you have lost respect for it, not that you disrespect it, but the attentiveness and alertness towards it is reduced.
When you come together in a course, periodically, your meditation is deeper because you are receiving it with honour. You are honouring that knowledge. You are honouring yourself. What is honour and honouring? Have you ever thought about it?
Honour is totally attentiveness to the present moment, with a tinge of gratefulness. If you honour a mountain, it means that you are seeing the mountain with all your heart and mind - without questioning or without debating within yourself.
You are just honouring, being happy and grateful for what the mountain is. You honour some Nobel scientist. What does this mean? When the Nobel scientist is there, you are completely in the moment, being with that moment with all your heart - respecting and honouring.
Respect and honour every moment of your life. Then that becomes a practice. You respect your own body. That is practice, the asanas. What is Asanas? Asanas are respecting your own body consciously every moment. Respecting and honouring your breath and keeping it up over a period of time is pranayam.
This is just like Kriya and the dimensions in Kriya. What is needed here is that you have to do the Kriya with the rhythm. Any practice is a practice only of it is down over a period is time- respectfully and without a gap. It is a practice only if you honour it every day and every moment.
Then it becomes firmly established. This is very vital. Any day when you feel that your meditation has becomes dull, check if you have kept up the continuity of the practice. If you feel that you have, then check if you have been honouring the mantra and the chanting time, if you have been honouring the life in you.
If any of these is not being followed, then your meditation will do haywire. So, determine to honour. Consider, all the other events to be trivial. Just honour the moment. It is very precious. However the moment may be, it is very precious. Honour the word. A master has given you the word. It is precious.
Honouring the Master is honouring the Master's word. If you don't have honour or respect for the Master, your meditation will not work. This is because that honour and the respect awakens the consciousness and raises awareness in you. It helps you to focus on the moment totally.
If you do not honour the Master, the Master will not lose anything. Your own mind will lose it because it 'll be unable to be in the moment totally and dive deep into the source. Honouring the source of knowledge, honouring the Master, honouring the knowledge, honouring the receiver.
A good musician will honour the music, and the one who has taught him and the one who composed it. His full attention is there. It is the same with a good sportsman. He will honour his coach. If he doesn't honour his coach, he will not progress. Due to his attentiveness and the honour that he has for the coach, he is able to move ahead in his sports.
Otherwise, if he keeps judging his coach and does what he wants to, then what is the need for a coach? This is abhyasa, the practice. Is this enough? Is just the Abhyasa, the practice? No, it is not. There are two oxen that are needed to pull this cart. One is abhyasa and the other is vairagya.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
