Yoga Sutra
Yoga sutra I.1: atha-yoganusasanam
This first sutra places yoga in the philosophical category “ anusanam ", that is to say the category of experience. It is therefore not a question of theories to ruminate on, but of something to live.
But what is the experience to which Patanjali dedicates this work so detailed and profound? It is not a physical experience, since only three of the one hundred and ninety-five aphorisms deal with postures.
It seems urgent to me to rediscover the meaning of this experience, because yoga can be considered a vital tool in the current context of generalized crisis. It is clear that we are not reaching our full human or spiritual potential, and the consequences weigh on us individually and collectively. The outside world seems to reflect our imbalance interior.
The experience evoked by Patanjali is the experience of ourselves. It is an invitation to rediscover our consciousness, to rediscover our intuition and to realize that it is possible to live other than through our fears and our illusory limitations.
However, reuniting with oneself is not easy, as we are so anchored in the animal functioning of the need to survive. Patanjali invites us to return to the present, and he provides us with a multitude of tools for this purpose physical, respiratory and mental.
Sutra I.3 tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam
“ When the mind is under control, the true nature of consciousness is revealed » The choice of yoga techniques is so vast that it is easy to get lost. We quickly forget that posture, for example, is not an end in itself but a means: a means of calming the mind, and finally being able to direct it towards something essential.
But what is this essential towards which we can now move? Consciousness ? God ? Love?
In the first chapter of the yoga sutras, Patanjali dwells on a tool to which he attaches great importance: the fact of surrendering to the divine. The divine, yes, but it’s not just any divinity! Isvara is defined by his three qualities: his actions are not influenced by attachment to the result, he is the origin and source of everything, and it is not limited by time.
Sutra I.23 Isvara pranidhanadva: “Surrender fully without distraction to Isvara”
But this surrender proves difficult when our attention, energy and emotions are totally focused on survival. In our usual state, we cling as best we can to any relationship, to any situation that promotes survival, and the result is a inner disconnection source of emotional conflicts and confusion, leaving little room for anything else. With all the good will in the world, we cannot abandon ourselves to what is essential if there is no longer room within us.
Yoga tools help soothe the body, emotions and mind. Once all these disturbances are removed, there remains one essential thing: You, in all “divinity”.
We don't look for the essential in yoga, we simply give it room.
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