#vivekenanda

You must be pure and help any one who comes to you, as much as lies in your power. And this is good Karma. By the power of this, the heart becomes pure (Chitta-shuddhi), and then Shiva who is residing in every one will become manifest. He is always in the heart of every one..---Vivikenanda. #shivaratri2017 #vivekenanda

Vivekenanda

Life is always here and now. It has never been anywhere else. ~yogAnonymous a blog about Light

There is a story that I heard through the teachings of Vivekenanda about a lioness…this lioness was big and young. Going about in search of prey, and seeing a flock of sheep, she jumped upon them. She died in the effort and a little baby lion was born, motherless. It was taken care of by the sheep and they brought it up. It grew up with them, ate grass, and bleated like the sheep. And although in time it became a big full grown lion, it thought it was a sheep. One day another lion came in search of prey and was astonished to find that in the midst of this flock of sheep was a lion, fleeing like the sheep at the approach of danger. He tried to get near the sheep-lion to tell it that it was not a sheep but a lion, but the poor animal fled at his approach. However, he watched his opportunity and one day found the sheep-lion sleeping. He approached it and said, “you are a lion.” “ I am a sheep.” Cried the other lion: it could not believe the contrary. The lion dragged it towards a lake and said “Look here: there is my reflection and there is yours.” Then came the comparison. The sheep-lion looked at the lion and then at its own refection, and in a moment came the idea that it was a lion. The lion roared; the crying was gone. If we are told our whole life we are one thing, it may not be necessarily true. We have hundreds of false identities but it doesn’t change who we are inside. Our yoga practice gives us a point of reference though. Our teachers provide that lake for you to look down into. It gives us the experience of simply being which has been kept from us so long. It connects you into your body, eventually it changes your relationship with your mind and in time you are able to truly experience the center of the self, it’s a permanent fixture. It never changes like the rest of those identities. And you can prove it, unlike someone else’s opinions of you. Yoga gives us proof of who we are and it’s far more beautiful than what anyone has told us. It’s pure, it’s the wellspring of energy, inspiration and peace. All we need is to see to the bottom of our self. ~From Swami Rama~ Definition of Yoga: In a systematic process of meditation, you gradually move your attention inward, through all the levels of your being, gaining mastery along the way (1.2). Eventually you come to rest in your true nature, which is beyond all of those levels (1.3). This action and the realization of this center of consciousness, is the meaning of Yoga. Knowing what's left after setting aside the obstacles: There is a fundamental simplicity to the process of Yoga that is outlined in the Yoga Sutras. While the process might appear very complicated when reading the Yoga Sutras and many commentaries, the central theme is one of removing, transcending or setting aside the obstacles, veils or false identities. The many suggestions in the Yoga Sutras are the details or refinements of how to go about doing this. By being ever mindful of this core simplicity it is much easier to systematically progress on the path of Yoga. The true Self shines through: Once the obstacles and false identities have been temporarily set aside, the true Self, which has been there all along, naturally comes shining through (1.3). The rest of the time, we are so entangled with our false identities that we literally do not see that this misidentification has happened (1.4). It is the reason that sometimes it is said that we are asleep, and that we need to awaken. That awakening to the Self is the meaning of Yoga.