Looking Within by 'SRI SRI'

Looking Within by SRI SRI

When someone is anxious, they are unaware of time. They are not
aware of the moment that is passing. This is because their focus is
on the event, on the happening, rather than on the moment. When
someone is waiting for a train to arrive, they wait and wait and
wait. Next time, try and be aware of the moment.

When the mind is lost in the moment, then that is yoga. When you
wait for nothing, yet you wait. It adds a different quality to the
conscious mind. This aspect sharpens the mind, the intellect and the
heart. This is the yoga of action.

This is the next sutra in Patanjali's second chapter known as
Sadhana Pada. Sadhana pada is a `practice on the path'. Tapaha
swadhyayeshwarapran idhanani kriyayogaha is the sutra and it
means "Endurance, self-study, devotion to the divine constitutes the
yoga of action."

Kriya yoga is the yoga of action. Action is a part of creation.
There is activity in everything in creation. Right from a little
atom, to the sun, to the moon, and stars, there is activity. There
is nothing that is stable or static in this world. Everything is
busy, active. The Brahman, the infinity, is filled with infinite
activity. There is absolutely no silence at all!

Even in sleep there is activity. You think you are sleeping, but in
sleep, there appears to be more activity. The body grows more in
sleep than when you are awake. Do you know that? In the child, every
cell is multiplying as he sleeps. That is why a growing child sleeps
longer. The young sleep longer than the elderly because there is a
lot of activity, mostly metabolic, going on in the body. The body is
built when you are young. If you deprive somebody of sleep, their
growth is stunted.

Even in silence, there is activity. At the same time, in every
activity there is a corner which is silent. Krishna tells
Arjuna, "Arjuna, do you know who is really intelligent and clever?
One, who sees silence in activity and activity in silence. That is a
truly intelligent person."

Now, how does one see silence in activity and activity in silence?
It needs sharpness of awareness, alertness of the mind and keenness
of the senses. That keenness can come when there is skill in your
activity. That skill in activity is Kriya yoga or the yoga of
action.

What is Kriya Yoga? It comprises of three parts. First, there is
Tapas, which means endurance or acceptance. Say for example, you are
traveling in a plane on a long distance flight. You have been
sitting for long and you find your legs are getting numb. You are
tired, yet you keep sitting. You feel heavy, yet you keep sitting.
You cannot say. "Oh! I cannot sit any longer; I am going to get out
of the plane." No way! If the plane is delayed or held up in the
air, you still have to sit there. There is no choice. Now, if you
had a choice, you would not sit for eight hours like that in one
place. But in a plane you sit, accepting it, willingly, without
grumbling. That is tapas! In the same way, if you are hungry, you
say, "No, I am fasting. I want to have a cleansing diet. I want to
cleanse my body. So I am just going to fast on juice or water." You
decide on your own to do some action, which is not usual. and you do
it, without grumbling. Tapas is really experiencing the opposite
values without grumbling.

You know that it is beneficial and the result of this action is very
good, and therefore you go ahead with it however difficult it is.
People go to the gymnasium. It is difficult and gives no pleasure
yet one does it. Why? They know that it is good for their system.
This endurance is called tapas.

Second is Swadhyaya or self-study or introspection. This means
observing your own thoughts and emotions. Where do these emotions
come from? Where do the thoughts come from? What is happening inside
you? Studying yourself is swadhyaya.

Third is Eashwara pranidhana, which means devotion to the divine or
love for the divine.

These three things make up Kriya Yoga.
~ SRI SRI