Day 12
Buddhists have got their own method of determining who is enlightened and who is not. Somebody who sings, dances, and enjoys living in the world is not enlightened. Somebody who mingles with their family members is not enlightened. The enlightened have to renounce their family. I have seen many of these so-called sanyasis.
They are so afraid of meeting their own family. They fear that they could develop attachment for them again. I remember in one of the ashrams, an intimate, a so-called sanyasi and renunciate, would not meet his mother, an old lady who was nearly 70 years old, whe. she would go there to meet him. He would meet everybody else.
What had this poor old lady done that he would not even meet her? She would cry. Many of the renunciates - the so-called nuns, brothers and fathers are very cruel to their own family people because that is their idea of renunciation. Why can't the close relatives be loved when everybody else can be? Why can't you see them with the same eye?
This is a concept. Many sanyasis go through this difficulty about their family members. Amidst all concepts about enlightenment, we forget the essence - dispassion and being centered. Being centered despite everything and living in the world. It is the second essential principle in Yoga. Abhyasa and Vairagya.
Three gunas come in cycles in our life - sattva, rajas, tamas. When sattva comes, there is alertness, knowledge, interest, joy and happiness. When rajo guna comes, there are more desires, feverishness, restlessness, sadness, etc. When tamo guna comes, there is delusion, attaching, lack of knowledge, lethargy, etc.
There three phase come in life in cycles. But one who is centered will watch, witness and just move through them, very naturally and easily, without being averse to any.
What happens when there is aversion? You promote it. You stay with whatever you are averse to. You continue to crave for whatever it is that you want. You allow the craving to continue.
Therefore, moving through the guna without craving or aversion is a real skill. And that is Yoga. Yoga karmasu kaushalam - the skill in action is Yoga. The word Yoga means skill - skill to live your life, to manage your mind, to deal with your emotions, to be with people, to be in love and not let that love turn into hatred.
In this world everyone loves but that love doesn't stay the
same for long. Soon, it turns into hatred, sometimes almost immediately. But Yoga is that skill, that preservative, that maintains love as love all the time.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
