Non-Attachment

 You just don't go into the mind and erase the impressions. But they get themselves erased at one point. When? When you succeed in going within and realizing the peace and joy of your own Self. The moment you understand your self as the true Self, you find peace and bliss that the impressions of the petty enjoyments you experienced before become as ordinary specks of light in front of the brilliant sun. You lose all interest in them permanently.  That is the highest non-attachment. 

Swami Satchidananda 

The above quote comes from a translation of  Sutra 16 in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by Sri Swami Satchidananda, (who I discovered, after falling in love with this translation,  was a questionable character, like Osho and other yoga gurus who came to the States. I would like to reflect on the possible motivation of these gurus, later on or in another entry).

Anyway, I digress...Regardless of the sincerity or lack of sincerity that may be  behind these words, they reveal a beautiful truth about the nature of our positive samskaras and our clinging to them.   His translation of this sutra is: When there is non-thirst for even the gunas( constituents of Nature) due to the realization of the Purusa (true Self), that is supreme non-attachment.  page 27. 

Desire Samskaras

I often speak about the samskaras within us that lead to aversion but there are many stored memories and favorable emotional energies within us  that lead us to seek and become attached to certain "outer world" things and pleasant experiences. These can become even more destructive to our Self realization mission than the "negative" ones are. Whereas our painful and unwanted samskaras may reflect the second hindrance buddhists refer to as aversion, these samskaras address the first hindrance and what the Buddha deemed to be the root to all suffering: desire. This is what Patanjali is addressing in his 16th sutra. 

When we desire  the petty things and experiences the physical world provides over our spiritual evolution, we may get lost in seeking them and fail to realize Self.  If we, hower, commit to making Self realization our priority, what we will gain in terms of "pleasure" will far outweigh  what we gain from chasing our worldly desires. This is what is referred to as the highest non-attachment. To detach from these lower self pursuits is vairagya.

Peace

Any peace we may happen to find in our outer world pursuits  will not  sustain us.  It will fall in comparison to that which we will gain when we evolve. When we realize this and  begin our spiritual journey toward Self, and achieve freedom from lower end attachment we will discover   peace but even this peace is just a reflection of the true peace on your tranquil mind. page 28 Once we can hold this peace the true experience will happen automatically. We need not do anything more to get it.

The mind automatically ceases to exist,and all that remains is the original peace and joy which we call God or the Self. Page 28

I would love to be free of all my samskaras, those derived from aversion and those derived from desire attachment, (not by renouncing, as I understand Satchidananda might have  encouraged his followers to do while he did the opposite??), but to know I didn't need these "petty enjoyments" in order  to experience true joy. I would love to be able to "Keep the heart in God, and the head in the world."Page 28. Wouldn't you?

There is a way to enjoy the world fully and completely. How? By seeking God first. 

We can really enjoy the world and even give all the pleasures to our senses.  Nothing needs to be starved. But when?  Only when we have found the source and connected one part of the mind there-then we can enjoy everything. page 29

All is well in my world. 

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (2011) as translated by Swami Satchidananda. Integral Yoga Publications.