If you want to be a Yogi, you must be free, and place yourself in circumstances where you are alone and free from all anxiety.
Vivekananda
Whether I have a right to or not, I call myself a "Yogi" or "Yogi-wanna-be" realizing that "yogi" is just a word or label. I want what that word, that pointer, that concept points to. I do want to realize Self.I want to be free. So, does that mean I need to put myself in circumstances where I am alone? I am certainly not alone...let me tell ya! How I crave uninterrupted time alone.
I am also supposed to be placing myself in circumstances where I am free from all anxiety? Well...I am certainly not there, am I? This neck pain...this tooth issue...are all related to a certain projection of internal tension. My body is hanging on to and reflecting that tension. A sneeze wouldn't have given me this "whiplash" or "VCF" in my neck...(whatever it proves to be)...if I wasn't "tense". This tooth issue would not be if it wasn't for cracks in teeth related to "jaw clenching"...another sign of tension.
I am a Yogi-wanna-be and I am fully aware that I am not in the best set of circumstances to achieve that.
You suffer because you decided how you wanted everything to be and it is not that way. Singer
So, I am not living in the most perfect set of circumstances for "yogihood". Am I living in the right set of circumtances for "ego-hood"? Ahh...no! Ego is not getting what it prefers. I experience all these little irritations all the time. The body is experiencing all these irritations in the form of pains, discomforts, "issues"...Ego is not comfortable dealing with all this. Life circumstance is also not "pleasant" for the ego. It is not easy. And the mind? Well we know that what goes in this Non -Stop -Thinking Personal Mind most humans are equipped with is not comfortable for the ego either. And I am doing what most humans do. I am seeking comfort. I am grasping and clinging to whatever I can find.
He who desires a comfortable and nice life and at the same time wants to realize Self is like the fool who, wanting to cross the river, caught hold of a crocodile, mistaking it for a log of wood. (Vivekachudamani, 84)
Sometimes, things will show up and this ego, that wants to be comfortable, will say , "Oh Wonderful! I am getting something that will make life more comfortable for me."
For example, the other day D. traded his truck in for a Lexus (It is a 2018 with affordable payments.). It is a beautiful car....a car my ego would previously have dreamed of owning. This car, unlike the truck, I knew, I could drive. When I sat in it for the first time, I felt this "hope" in me emerge. It was so luxurious, like brand new, and so "clean" compared to the truck. "Maybe, this human I call "me" will have a bit of comfort, after all", I thought. "Maybe, this is a sign that the external circumstances for this human can be easier?"
No sooner than I thought that, I felt and heard the air in some proverbial balloon seeping out in one big hiss. I realized, first of all, that it was just a car....a car that would lose its appearance, cleaniness, and luxuriousness within a few weeks (or days) of carrying three dogs around in it. Second of all, I realized it was D.'s car, not 'mine'. It would not provide this "me" the comfort and ease it was still hoping for. The reality is, I...as a seperate little human... still don't have a car...a quick independent means of getting from here to there. I am still in the same place I was prior to the purchase of this vehichle. Ego is not comfortable with that.
"I am" comfortable with that though...and after ego fizzled off with all that air in the balloon...I realized that the car was just like a crocodile tail I grabbed onto, mistakening it for a log that might make this human's journey through this life easier. My priorities got mixed up again. I remembered that what I really wand from this journey is to realize Self, not make a nice, comfortable life for ego.
Is it ironic that this car arrived at a time when I physically couldn't drive? (I can't look over my shoulders)...Taking me a little quicker to this realization?
So, do I still need to change my present circumstances in order to be a Yogi?
Don't get me wrong. I am fully aware that the car is neither here or there. It was just a little antecdote used to make a point. It doesn't matter if I drive a Lexus or my grandson's tricycle to work lol (neither will make me more or less a so called "yogi") . The way I am living now, however, does seem to do the opposite of allowing me to be "alone and free from anxiety". That is what I am pondering. None of 'this' feels right to me anymore. Sometimes, I think my body is also reflecting the external tension these life circumstances provide. I feel that need for change again.
Change or not, I need, once again, to get my mind off myself and get back to Yoga!
What are you doing, making you the center of the universe?
Get your mind off yourself...This is yoga. Yoga is a body of knowledge that is the deepest body of knowledge that has ever been collected in all humanity, in all of time...It is about from here to there [going from being tangled up in your personal mind to complete and utter freedom.] Michael Singer
Hmm!
All is well.
Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe/ Sounds True (August, 2025) Gratitude for the Miracle of Life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lHPst_cvpg&list=PLyOuAoSmZkKoESr2acNWwhznusbBkKXsT&index=1
Vivekananda (n.d.) 2.3 Hints on Practical Spirituality. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Kindle
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