Illumination (November 2018 Newsletter)

Happy Diwali! This year the five day Indian festival of lights started on Wednesday, November 7.

Image credit: Khokarahman (CC BY-SA 4.0), from Wikimedia Commons

Now is a good time to renew our focus on what really matters in our lives as we move into a long season of traditions and rituals, holidays and celebrations. With the oncoming rush of activity there is no time to think, and we are driven in various directions, sometimes getting off track. It is worth seriously considering what the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali tells us to do in such times of stress. This ancient book is still relevant today as when it was written close to 500 years BCE. It is a brief volume of precepts that prescribes how to become better beings and free ourselves from crippling self-defeating viewpoints and behaviors. At some point of consistently observing ourselves and disciplining our behavior we can aspire to an energy that is strong and pure and connects us to our soul, the Self, making the distinction between body and soul indiscernible, known in yoga as Samadhi.

Starting with the basics – at the first of the seven steps to attaining Samadhi (a state of pure being) we need to become that 'Being' who is not driven by artificial and external conditioning. Patanjali encourages us to control our behavior in the community within which we live our lives. Live ethically! Live in non-violence (ahimsa) and so create an aura of peace (shanti); be truthful; don’t steal; observe temperance in sexual activity; abstain from greed.

Be your own unique self. Become Self (soulful). Be the true one you are meant to be. Don’t follow the crowd. Who wants to follow the unthinking crowd? Not me! How about you?

Namaste,

sipra