Yoga Sutra 1:33

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring Yoga Sutra 1:33.

Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart -

a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water - I accept with joy.

                                                          – Bhagavad Gita

We can look upon everything we do as a gift to the Lord. If we hoe the garden carefully so that our family - or a neighbor's family, or someone in need - can have fresh vegetables for dinner, that is an offering to the Lord. If we work a little more than is expected of us at something that benefits others, that too is an offering to the Lord. Everywhere, in every detail of daily living, it is not a question of quantity or expense that makes our offering acceptable; it is cheerfulness, enthusiasm, and the capacity to forget ourselves in helping others.

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran

The homework is to observe your daily rituals and see where you can forget yourself more and work to help others.  Yoga Sutra 1:33 says that "By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness."   - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sri Swami Satichidananda

In one of Patanjali's most quoted sutras we are encouraged to cultivate Metta or Lovingkindness, Karuna or Compassion, Mudita or Sympathetic Joy, and Upekkha or Equanimity.  Patanjali suggests that if we do so we can keep the fluctuations of the mind at bay and realize our true nature.

In forgetting yourself more see if you can do so with sutra 1:33 in mind.

Blessings,

paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga

417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994

www.rushingwateryoga.com

info@rushingwateryoga.com

Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003