Here are two pieces of good advice to the yogi.
First, be self-sufficient; understand that all the resources of the spirit are in you and delve deep within and bring forth these divine potentials and actualize them in your life and consciousness. The yogi must be “a world unto himself” in the sense of perfect self-sufficiency and independence.
Second, understand that all that is outside is primarily inside. So you must develop the inner eye to truly see, understand and deal with all things. The inner life must be understood and experienced as the genuine life. “He whose happiness is within, whose delight is within, whose illumination is within: that yogi, identical in being with Brahman, attains Brahmanirvana” (Bhagavad Gita 5:24).
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Everything must be tested in our own life laboratory. Our experience must be taken into account, illumined with straightforward good sense. This is a cardinal principle of spiritual life, and is as much ignored as it is necessary. Everyone cites some kind of authority and accepts that, when the only real authority is our own knowing. Certainly we should study the teachings of the wise, but our purpose should be to further our own search for the revelation of truth. Truth must be realized by each individual. No one can impart enlightenment to us, we must gain it ourselves. There are no exceptions. A thing can only really be true when it is part of our own knowing, our own experience. This is one of the glories of yoga: it enables each person to know for himself what is true and real. Nothing need be proven to the yogi, it only needs to be experienced by him.
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We must hold on to our ideals and pursue them without caring what others think of us. And we should not waste our time attempting to explain or justify ourselves.
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There are those who muddle through life together, copying one another mindlessly and running with the herd. These are the people obsessed with “community” and “relationship.” The yogi must break loose and strike out on his own if he is to be a real person on any level. It is good if he can find other (real) yogis to associate with, but never to just run with a herd.
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Few things terrify some people more than original thought or original action. I knew a very intelligent and creative man whom a colleague tried to insult by saying to him: “You are an ‘original.’” An original is always worth more than a copy, even in the yoga world.
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One of the first steps in the yoga life is the decision to live entirely by one’s principles. “A law unto himself” is a good description of a yogi in relation to society. The more an organism evolves, the more complex and the more individual it becomes. That is also true of an evolving consciousness. “To thine own self be true” is profound wisdom.
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Children, absorbed in their toys and romping around, cannot conceive that there is anything more enjoyable or satisfying. That is why they often bring toys to adults and cannot understand when they are not interested in playing with them as they are. As they grow older, they themselves become totally disinterested in such things, seeing nothing interesting in the diversions of childhood. Quite the opposite: they see them as silly and pointless. The same thing will happen for those who grow beyond ordinary consciousness and seek ever higher levels of awareness. They will find “normal” interests boring, foolish, or even harmful. Having left behind the obvious, they have begun to live in realms unthought of by those living around them heedlessly.
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It is the innate nature of a plant that determines what it produces. Growth is the manifestation-demonstration of what is the inner character of the plant. So it is with human beings. Even if a large number of people have the same environment, yet they will differ in their character and development. True life is from the inside out, not the outside in. For a successful life we must live according to our inner character, our swabhava, and work according to our swadharma. To do this intelligently we must have experience of our inner being through meditation.
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