PUSHTI: September 2024, Back to the Future
Heyam Duhkam Anagatam YS 2.16
Future Suffering is Avoidable.
“Act as if the future of the universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that your actions make any difference.” – Buddhist Axiom
Karma means action. That’s all it means. Actions are thoughts, words, and deeds – everything we do. There is no good or bad karma, but from a source text standpoint, like in the Patanjali Yoga Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita, we see karma described as dark, light, or clear. Simply, an action taken in lack of knowledge of the true Self mires us deeper in ignorance of the true Self (avidya), referred to as dark. This disconnection is the source of all suffering, duhka. Whereas, action engaged in knowledge of our true identity reinforces our connection to the higher Self, which is clear or light karma. This connection is ānanda, Yoga, bliss. It’s all mixed, really. Most of the time we fumble along in life’s matrix without too much awareness of how this works, until something wakes us up (what wakes us up is a topic for another Pushti).
What’s important about this teaching is twofold: (1) there is nothing you can do to change how this moment is unfolding and (2) this moment was created 100% by your past actions – if you don’t like it, you can change the future. Which implies you are the most powerful being in the universe. Gandhi knew this when he said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
“Most people have an antagonistic relationship with the present moment. Which means they don’t like it.” – Eckhart Tolle
Yoga makes everything better. Why? Because yoga is making friends with the present moment. I make friends with this breath, this weather, this child, this win, this loss, this challenge, this suffering – this, this, this. I do not have to approve, but I can accept. I can choose not to blame, gossip, retort, rage, or go to battle. Yoga practice means exercising my awareness of choice. I allow myself to be reminded that I have the ability to change not the condition, but how I feel about this condition. I choose. Is it “what it is” or is it someone/something “shitting on me”? Can I swāha this? Did I create it or am I a victim? Which answer aligns me with infinite possibility and which limits me? Asking these and similar questions relieves us from our heaviness and disconnection. Our Source becomes more self-evident (knowledge of our Self). In this moment, we allow for stillness as the bullets whiz by our heads. This is our baseline where our love gushes for what we love. Yoga means we continue to practice planting sweet seeds of loving kindness and acceptance that bear the fruit of future joy. Practice is our skillful means that changes the very outcome of our future. In other words, how the whole Cosmos unfolds depends on you, in this moment.
Satsang is the place where we remind each other of the significant truth that with the power of love we do not have to suffer. This may possibly be the most practical and consequential teaching that exists.
In Yoga we dwell,
Jeffrey
September 2024