There is always a better choice, even when we want to believe there is none. And when this choice is exercised, it can be both empowering and liberating. This month's issue is about looking at why we make the choices we make and how it matters. Of course, when in doubt, ask Patanjali, seek out the wisdom from the Yoga Sutra.
We are often torn between several alternatives to be considered while engaging in an action. Whether it is picking up food off a supermarket shelf or choosing the kind of education for your children or a system of medicine or the kind of yoga class you want to go… window-shopping, nibbling here and there, has become a way of life for most of us. The end result is that we are not really clear about what we really want out of life, more confusion, more advice, more choices… leaving us always wanting, unhappy and discontent.
The next time a “what” pops up, consider asking yourself “why?” and ”how?”
The why behind our actions The “why” will clarify our intentions. There maybe an apparent pretty intention that we are often stuck with. Dig deeper to locate what drives this action. Is it my fear and insecurity? My attachment to a particular outcome? How is my sense-of-self identifying with this action? How strongly am I invested in what is to come out of this action?
When we are able to recognize the deeper intention behind the action, it can help us at two levels:
- take responsibility for the action, knowing fully well where it is coming from.
- we could choose to refine the intention before the action. This can also be done in retrospective so that we can refine in future to avoid or minimize future suffering.
Refining intention is about really making the right choice. At this level there are only two choices.
- allow the action to be driven by our pleasure seeking, pain avoidance tendency – this is often compulsive, unconscious, conditioned and has its own momentum.
- Stop and ask why I want to do it? How does it serve me?
This could be about a simple innocent act of reaching out to a second helping of that delicious dessert or about wanting to thrash out at somebody over phone, sms, email or in your own head!
The wisdom behind the why of an action is answered beautifully in the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. (YS Chapter 2.18)
Nature (mind, body and the entire material reality) exists to serve the Self (the Consciousness) in two areas of fulfillment:
- Bhoga: for worldly experience (that is constantly driven by pleasure seeking, pain avoiding tendencies)
- Apavarga: for freedom from suffering; the path of discernment, towards finding your true nature.
So, let us ask ourselves why we want to do an action, is it to further our own suffering by feeding our attachments, aversions, fear and the ego's need to constantly protect itself or do we want to do it to free ourselves from such conditioning, from suffering? Do we want to get stuck or unstuck?
And if there is clarity, naturally we only want to do what will take us away from suffering, right? Instead of perpetuating suffering through our actions, however innocuous they may seem.
The how of an action Then essentially there is only one choice, to free the mind, to move towards greater freedom from suffering. And for that we need to bring in the attitude of reverence and service. When enumerating the qualities of Abhyasa (effort/practice) in the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali calls it “aasevitah” – let it come from a space of reverence.
Serving our Self also includes serving the other, the other only being a reflection of us. We are so inseparably interconnected with the entire humanity, the entire universe. Whatever we do has a repercussion on the people around us, our environment and the world at large. Every flower, leaf, blade of grass, a bumble bee, a broken twig… everything exists to serve each other, has served, is serving or is getting ready to serve in some way. This includes our body, mind and all our resources, including our vital energy, prana that is at our disposal any given moment.
Daily Wisdom
Let us take a few minutes to explore this idea in the context of everyday life to see what it means to us at this point of time, focusing on specific areas of life where constant choices have to be made and consequences dealt with:
How may I serve my body better?
So that everything I do for my body and with my body will take me to better health and inner harmony. Then perhaps, instead of indulging or punishing my body, I will choose to treat it with reverence as it is my instrument for spiritual progress.
How may I serve my mind?
So that instead of feeding the compulsive tendencies of the ego, I can get my ego to serve a higher purpose. I may then choose to question my resistances and reactivity to find a better way of being.
How can I serve my prana?
So that I can choose silence and mindful actions instead of empty chatter and wasteful, dispersed actions that dissipates my prana. So that I can clear my physical, mental, emotional blocks that leave my prana stuck and unavailable.
How can I serve my relationships, the people around me?
So that I can receive and offer with gratitude, enable my own growth and generate peace and harmony in my environment.
How can I work better?
So that my work can be my way to freedom from suffering, my work can help me find more clarity and joy. So that my work can be my service to humanity and world at large..
How can I serve my spiritual growth?
So that everything I do takes me to a better space, towards less conditioned actions, towards more stability and centredness. Actions at this level become means to serve to the Highest Intelligence that operates through this Universe, through each individual being, that Patanjali calls Isvara Pranidhana (YS 2.1)
And so, if we are seeking to evolve, to grow spiritually, there is essentially no choice. There is only one way, the intelligent way, the way to empowerment and real freedom.
Call it the way of Yoga or the way of the Tao…
