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从人到存在的转变

    这个世界包罗万象，人类可做的事不计其数。为什么非要学习瑜伽呢？

    人们可以做的每一样事，本质上都是“你是谁”的一种表达。有人唱歌，有人跳舞，有人写书，有人绘画，你也许会做点别的，不过，不管你做什么，都是为了表达自我。也许你已经很有觉知了，但是，你所说的每一句话，你所做的每一件事，每一件你想做的事，本质上都是“你是谁”的一种表现。就这个意义上来说，瑜伽与之完全相反，因为它不是要表达“你是谁”，而是要决定“你是谁”。它可以让你成为你想成为的，它可以改变一个人存在的基本要素。今天，有大量的医学和科学证据表明，你的大脑活动、化学属性、甚至你的遗传基因都可以经由各种系统的瑜伽修习而改变。

    所以，瑜伽不是你自我的一种表现形式。你希望成为什么样的人，瑜伽都可以帮你实现。它可以改变构成当下的你的根本因子。作为一个系统，瑜伽比其他任何你所从事的更需要你的全心投入。而其他任何你所从事的都只是你的自我表达而已。假如透过某个特定的活动，你能发挥到极致，那也许会让你有一定程度的转变。假如你全心烹饪，你会有一定的转变。假如你全心歌唱，你会有一定的转变。假如你全心跳舞，你会有一定的转变。但是全心地投入这些事情，带给你的转化是有限的、片面的，因为本质上，那些活动其实只是“你是谁”的一种表达，而不能决定你是谁。

    当我们的活动不是作为我们是谁的一种表达——因为谁会想要一大早这样来表达自己？（做了一个向前弯的体式）绝对不会的，对吗？所以，它不是一种表达，它是一种方法。它是一种手段，一种技术，通过它你可以改变你的存在形态——字面上是如此，实际上也是如此，你可以改变当下的存在形态。之所以可以实现这种转化，是因为你作为现在的你，作为一个人，不过是一大堆东西的聚合体——基因，在这之前是你所携带的业力——这些业力决定了你选择某个特定的子宫，然后，从你出生的那一刻起，你的各种的经历、生活情形、思想、情感、各种人际关系、社会关系，诸如此类的这些都在不断影响你，成为你的一部分，还有你不断吸收的其它的东西，所有的这些一起把你塑造成一个特定的人。

    当你说，“我是一个什么样的人，”，你的意思是说我有某方面的偏执。当你说，“我就是这种人，”你的意思是说，这是我所认同的一种偏执，所以我是这种人。人们会说，“我是百灵鸟。我是夜猫子。”他们的意思是，“我早上起不来，所以我是夜猫子。我晚上睡不着，所以我是百灵鸟。”不止这些，还有更多。有些人是黑莓（手机）人，有些是苹果人；这个世界的划分越来越多样化。它们不再是你使用控制的工具，而是自我身份的象征，包括印度甩饼人，富人，大薄饼人（dosa一种大薄饼），米饼人（idli印度南部的一种黑绿豆米饼），诸如此类，不一而足。

    你是什么样的人，从根本上讲，那只是一种偏执。所以，你把自己融入瑜伽就是不再想做这样或那样的人；你其实是被动地在某个时刻成为什么样的人。假如是早上，你就是百灵鸟；假如是晚上，你就是夜猫子。假如你不再被动地做人，那你就不再是人。即你可以随意变化。有了这个随意的变化，你就可以让身体听命于你。之后，这会展现在你生命的每一个层面——你的身体结构，你的心理结构，你的情感结构，你的业力结构。一切都应当随意变化。你想要什么样，就能变成什么样。而不再囿于这样或那样的模式。

    瑜伽，作为一个过程，一种方法，一项技术和一门科学，就是要从根本上打破这种具体化的限制，即我们所称的“个性”。从人转变到存在。假如你是一个人，意味着你为自己做了一个壳。你形成了一个外壳，只有在这个外壳里，你才能感到自己的存在。当你打破这个壳，你就不再是人，而是一个存在——就像生命本身，就像上帝那样，只是存在着。假如把存在装在壳里，它就变成了一个人。瑜伽就是让你把自己的壳慢慢变薄，越来越透明，直到有一天你可以脱掉这个壳而存在。

    基本上，在你的生命体验里，瑜伽意味着黎明——为什么成就法（通过沉思、禁欲、拜神和正确生活方式的修身方法达到完美境界）是这样子的呢？宇宙中所有有形的层面都具有循环性。行星围着太阳不停转动，太阳系也在不停转动。在宇宙中，银河系中的一切也都在循环。你越是认同自己的肉体系统，你陷入循环的可能性就越大。你的体验在循环。你的生命过程在循环。假如你观察够仔细，你生命中遇到的各种情形也都处在循环当中。

    从一定程度上来讲，瑜伽就是要打破这种生命的循环；现在是个循环，但我们要把它打开，变成一条直线。假如我说你在循环当中，这对你意味着什么呢？你哪儿也没有去。你只是感觉你到了某个地方，但你并非真正到了那里，你一再地经历着相同的事情。瑜伽就是要打破这种循环，把它展开，变成一条直线，假如你沿着这条线走，你就会到达某个地方——而不是一再绕圈子。

    你们当中很多人或许已经尝试，已经察觉到了。假如你还没有，那么不要再做尝试，因为我现在就把尝试的结果展示给你。你可能修行成就法两年，三年或五年了。然后你停三个月看看。你会发现，曾经你身上的那么多偏执，虽然已经很久没有感觉到了，突然间又都回来了。静修寺的一个简单规定是，每天只吃两餐，早上10点和晚上7点。至少90%的人都遵守这一规定。但也有10%——他们会捡虫子吃——蟑螂或是什么。他们会吃一些嘎吱带响的东西。

    但那些正确修行成就法的人，吃过早餐后，到了晚上才会想再吃。他们不会做那些违规的事，因为不再有那种偏执。

    你吃东西时，要么是有意识的，带着觉知吃，否则就不吃。停掉修行成就法三个月，然后看看如何。你会随便抓点什么东西就往嘴里塞。这些偏执突然又回到你身上，而你只是停掉了修行成就法而已。因为你的个性不会那么轻易放过你。你必须努力、再努力，以期克服它。否则，你就不停地绕圈子吧。

    这个圆，这个循环也可以被形容为马戏团。如果你很有觉知，会发现一切就像马戏团的表演。假如你没有觉知，你就只能看到你脚前三尺之远的地方，那么它就无比地真实；假如你能看清生命的整个循环，就会突然感到好像是马戏团的表演。一旦你意识到它是马戏团，就不想一而再再而三地兜圈子了。只要你的视野过于受限，你就只能看到脚前三尺的地方，每一件事对你来说就都是真实的，那就没有办法了。如果你打开自己，看到了整个的循环，你要走的全部的路，它看起来就会像一个马戏团，那么你肯定不想永远这样继续下去。你会想做点什么来打破这个循环。

From a Person to a Presence

Of all the things in the world, of all the things that a human being can do, why yoga?

Everything that human beings can do is essentially an expression of who they are. Somebody sings a song, somebody dances, somebody writes a book, somebody paints a picture. Whatever else you do is an expression of who you are. You may be conscious enough, but still, everything that you say, everything you do, everything that comes out of you is essentially an expression of who you are. Yoga, in that way, is diametrically opposite to this because it is not an expression of who you are – it is about determining as to who you are. It is about determining what you want to be, changing the very fundamentals of one’s existence. Today, there is substantial medical and scientific evidence to show that the very fundamentals of your brain activity, your chemistry, even your genetic content can be changed by practicing different systems of yoga. This needed no confirmation because we have always witnessed this, but today there is scientific data to prove this.

So, yoga is not an expression of who you are, it is about determining the nature of who you wish to be. Changing the fundamental ingredients which have made you who you are. Yoga as a system needs much more involvement than any other things that we do, which are merely expressions of who we are. If you find full expression through any particular activity, it may also leave you somewhat transformed. If you cook with all your heart, some transformation may happen. If you sing with all your heart, some transformation may happen. If you dance with all your heart, some transformation may happen. But that is only a certain impact, because of absolute involvement in a particular activity. But essentially, that activity by nature is an expression of who you are, it is not determining the nature of who you are.

When we transform our activity, not as an expression of who we are – because who wants to find expression like this in the morning? (Gestures an asana, bending forward) Definitely not, isn’t it? So, it is not an expression. It is a method. It is a means, it is a technology through which you can change the shape of who you are – literally also, otherwise also, you can change the very shape of who you really are right now.  That can be transformed because who you are right now as a person is a combination of things – genetic material, and before that the karmic substance that you carry – because of that you chose a certain womb. And since the moment that you are born, whatever kind of impressions that have gone into you in the form of a variety of experiences, situations, thoughts, emotions, relationships, associations, whatever else you have imbibed, all these things make you a certain kind of person.

When you say “I am a certain kind of person,” what you are saying is I have this kind of compulsion.  When you say “I am this kind of person,” what you are saying is, this is the kind of compulsion that I identify myself with, so I am this kind of a person. People say “I am a morning person, I am an evening person.” What they mean is, “I cannot wake up in the morning, that means I am an evening person. I cannot stay awake in the evening, so I am a morning person.” Not only that, it is going far. Some are Blackberry people, some are Apple people; the world is getting divided in so many ways. They are not just instruments that you use and keep down, you keep getting identified with them. There are chapathi people, there are rice people, there are dosa people, there are idli people … all kinds.

What kind you are is essentially a certain type of compulsion. So, you set yourself into the process of yoga because you do not want to be this kind or that kind; you will be the kind that you are required to be in a particular moment. If it is morning, you are a morning person, if it is evening, you are an evening person. If you are not required to be a person, you are not a person. That is, you become flexible. This flexibility, to start with, you start working with your body. Afterwards, it should come to every aspect of your life – your physical structure, your psychological structures, your emotional structure, your karmic structure. Everything should become flexible, that it can be whatever it is required to be, it is not stuck being this way or that way.

Yoga as a process, method, technology and science is essentially to break the limitations of a certain concretization that happens which we call “personality.” To evolve from being a person to a presence. If you are a person, that means you have made a shell out of yourself. You formed a shell, within that shell only you can operate. If you break this shell, you will no more be a person but simply a presence – as life is, as God is, just a presence. If it can be encased in a shell, it becomes a person. Yoga means you are slowly working on making the shell thinner and thinner, more and more porous, that one day you can exist without a shell.

Essentially, in your experience, yoga means morning – why is the sadhana the way it is? All aspects of physicality are cyclical in the universe. Planets are going around the sun, the solar system is moving. Everything in the galaxy, in the cosmos, is cyclical. The more you are identified with your physical system, the more and more cyclical you are also. Your experiences are cyclical, the process of life is cyclical, if you watch carefully enough, even the situations that you face in life come in cycles.

Yoga means, on one level, to break the cycle of life; what is a circle right now we want to open it up and make it a straight line. If I say you are going in circles, what does it mean to you? You are not going anywhere. It just gives you an impression that you are going somewhere, but you are not really going anywhere, you are going through the same thing again and again. Yoga means to open up the circle and stretch it out like a straight line, that if you follow the line you go somewhere – you are not going around and around.

Many of you may have already experimented and noticed. If you have not, do not experiment because I will give you the results of the experiment right now. You might have been doing sadhana for two years, three years, five years. Stop your sadhana for three months, suddenly you will see so many compulsions that you never imagined were a part of you, which were long-time gone, suddenly they will all become part of you. A simple thing in the ashram is there are two meals, ten o’clock and seven o’clock. At least 90 percent of the people stick to this, there are another ten percent – their hands at least pick the worms and eat them up – something, a cockroach or whatever. Something crunchy they must eat. But those who are doing their sadhana properly, they eat in the morning and they do not think of food until evening. It does not occur because it is no more a compulsion

But those who are doing their sadhana properly, they eat in the morning and they do not think of food until evening. It does not occur because it is no more a compulsion.

You eat, it is conscious, otherwise no.  You stop your sadhana for three months and see; your hands will grab just about anything and put it in your mouth. These compulsions will suddenly come back if you just break the sadhana because nature is not going to release you so simply. You have to work at it and work at it. Otherwise, you must be happy doing the circle.

A circle can also be described as a circus. If you become conscious, the whole thing looks like a circus. If you are not conscious, you can only see three feet in front of you; then it is all real. If you can see the whole circle of your life, suddenly it becomes like a circus. Once you realize it is a circus, you do not want to go through the circus again and again. Only if your vision is too limited, you can see only three feet in front of you, everything is real for you. If you open up and see the whole circle, the way you are going, it looks like a circus and definitely you do not want it to continue forever. You want to do something about it.