Abhyasa.

[Guest guest]

<http://www.totallyok.com/yoga/sutras/13sutra.htm>

 

13. Of these two, abhyasa the inner practice is the effort for being firmly

established in oneself. The essence of abhyasa is to be centered in oneself.

Whatsoever happens, you should not move immediately. First you should be

centered in yourself, and from that centering you should look around and then

decide.

Someone insults you and you are pulled by his insult. You have moved without

consulting your center. Without even for a single moment going back to the

center and then moving, you have moved

Abhyasa means inner practice. Conscious effort means, " Before I move out, I

must move within. First movement must be toward my center; first I must be in

contact with my center. There, centered, I will look at the situation and then

decide. " And this is such a tremendous, such a transforming phenomenon. Once you

are centered within, the whole thing appears different; the perspective has

changed. It may not look like an insult. The man may just look stupid. Or, if

you are really centered, you will come to know that he is right, " This is not an

insult. He has not said anything wrong about it. "

I have heard that once it happened -- I don't know whether it is true or not,

but I have heard this anecdote -- that one newspaper was continuously writing

against Richard Nixon, continuously! -- defaming him, condemning him. So Richard

Nixon went to the editor and said, " What are you doing? You are telling lies

about me and you know it well! " The editor said, " Yes, we know that we are

telling lies about you, but if we start telling truths about you, you will be in

more trouble! "

So if someone is saying something about you he may be lying, but just look

again. If he is really true, it may be worse. Or, whatsoever he is saying may

apply to you. But when you are centered, you can look about yourself also

dispassionately.

Patanjali says that of these two, abhyasa the inner practice-is the effort

for being firmly established in oneself. Before moving into act, any sort of

act, move within yourself. First be established there-even if for only a single

moment -- and your action will be totally different. It cannot be the same

unconscious pattern of old. It will be something new, it will be an alive

response. Just try it. Whenever you feel that you are going to act or to do

something, move first within, because whatsoever you have been doing up until

now has become robot-like, mechanical. You go on doing it continuously in a

repetitive circle.

Just note down a diary for thirty days -- from the morning to the evening,

thirty days, and you will be able to see the pattern. You are moving like a

machine; you are not a man. Your responses are dead. Whatsoever you do is

predictable. And if you study your diary penetratingly, you may be able to

decipher the pattern -- that Monday, every Monday, you are angry; every Sunday

you feel sexual; every Saturday you are fighting. Or in the morning you are

good, in the afternoon you feel bitter, by the evening you are against the whole

world. You may see the pattern. And once you see the pattern then you can just

observe that you are working like a robot. And to be a robot is what is the

misery. You have to be conscious, not a mechanical thing.

Gurdjieff used to say that, " Man is machine, as he is. You become man only

when you become conscious. And this constant effort to be established in oneself

will make you conscious, will make you non-mechanical, will make you

unpredictable, will make you free. Then someone can insult you and you can still

laugh; you have never laughed before. Someone can insult you and you can feel

love for the man; you have not felt that before. Someone can insult you and you

can be thankful towards him. Something new is being born. Now you are creating a

conscious being within yourself.

But the first thing to do before moving into act, because act means moving

outward, moving without, moving toward others, going away from the self. Every

act is a going away from the self. Before you go away, have a look, have a

contact, have a dip in your inner being. First be established.

Before every moment, let there be a moment of meditation: this is what

abhyasa is. Whatsoever you do, before doing it close your eyes, remain silent,

move within. Just become dispassionate, non-attached, so you can look on as an

observer, unprejudiced -- as if you are not involved, you are just a witness.

And then move!

One day, just in the morning, Mullah Nasruddin’ s wife said to Mullah that,

" In the night, while you were asleep, you were insulting me. You were saying

things against me, swearing against me. What do you mean? You will have to

explain. " Mullah Nasruddin said, " But who says that I was asleep? I was not

asleep. Just the things I want to say, I cannot say in the day. I cannot gather

so much courage. "

In your dreams, in your waking, you are constantly doing things, and those

things are not consciously done -- as if you are being forced to do them. Even

in your dreams, you are not free. This constant mechanical behavior is the

bondage. So how to be established in oneself? Through abhyasa.

Sufis use continuously. Whatsoever they say, do; they sit, stand,

whatsoever... Before a Sufi disciple stands, he will take Allah's name. First he

will take God's name. He will sit, he will take God's name. An action is to be

done -- even sitting is an action -- he will say, " Allah! " So, sitting, he will

say, " Allah! " Standing he will say, " Allah! " If it is not possible to say

loudly, he will say inside. Every action is done through the remembrance. And by

and by, this remembrance becomes a constant barrier between him and the action

-- a division, a gap.

And the more this gap grows, the more he can look at his own action as if he

is not the doer. Continuous repetition of Allah, by and by, he starts seeing

that only Allah is the doer. " I am not the doer. I am just a vehicle or an

instrument. " And the moment this gap grows, all that is evil falls. You cannot

do evil. You can do evil only when there is no gap between the actor and the

action. Then good flows automatically.

Greater the gap between the actor and the action, more the good. Life becomes

a sacred thing. Your body becomes a temple. Anything that makes you alert,

established within yourself, is abhyasa.

Of these two, abhyasa -- the inner practice -- is the effort for being firmly

established in oneself.

< http://www.totallyok.com/yoga/sutras/13sutra.htm >

 

 

 

 

 

Check out the all-new Mail beta - Fire up a more powerful email and get

things done faster.