The Taste of Sweetness For An Aspiring Yogi

Imagine having everything you could possibly want. A billion dollars to your name, the love of your life, few desires, a simple life, work that fulfills you (or no work at all), fill in the blank with what makes you tick.  Now imagine that multiplied by 100, six times...

Happy at the beach

That is how the goal of yoga feels like, for the intensity of Samadhi is such, as Maehle describes in his wonderful book "Ashtanga Yoga The Intermediate Series":

"The great rishi (master) Yajnavalkya of the Upanishads explained the ecstasies of Samadhi thus: Imagine the highest joy a human being is capable of experiencing through wealth power and sexual pleasure... multiply by one hundred... you get to the ecstasy attained by our ancestors that obtained heavenly existence... multiply again by 100... arrive at the ecstasy of divine spirits... multiply by 100 again... arrive at the maximum ecstasy state of one who attained divinity by virtuous action... multiply by 100 again... ecstasy of one that attained divinity by birth or knowledge... yet times 100... ecstasy of that who has studied the scriptures and is free from desire... 100 times greater than that however, is the ecstasy of one who has realized the state of consciousness identified by Patanjali as "seedless samadhi"

Yajnavalkya

I don't have much experience on the three upper limbs of yoga which lead to it, I am only an "aspiring yogi", for, yes, the closeness to the goal of yoga happens on the last three limbs of the process.  And there is a goal alright, a worthy one.

Up to the last three limbs we are just setting the ground rules, preparing the foundation, working towards center, sitting straight without moving,  learning to breathe without disturbing the nervous system, finding the time and peace to sit, observing those reactions that pop out of nowhere and exalt us to go and grab the computer or a cup-cake, becoming kinder.

We are... well, 'aspiring' . 

Aspiring yogi

Nevertheless the nectar can be tasted just in the aspiration.  There are bits and pieces, little drops of honey that can be savored along the way, for example when we release pre-conceived notions or judgments and suddenly, a conversation that we were sure was to end in complete chaos turns around and ends up being not so bad.

When in the midst of an angry situation we remember that (Yoga Sutra 2.16) points that all future pain must be avoided, and so we do for ourselves and others, or remember that interpretation that says that thinking ill of another is sure to bring pain, so we stop.

We realize the futility of certain goals when we know that pleasure and pain are both painful (Yoga Sutra 2.15), and our priorities change.

We change behavior, we begin the alchemy process. We work on the hardest and only task there is, that of purifying ourselves in body and mind, that of changing ourselves, becoming kinder yet acting where is needed. We access wisdom, and yoga begins to work! Yielding real results.

And so the daily work is grueling and tiresome, for a while, until some of the taste of yoga becomes available which gives us new inspiration to keep going.

Lotus, used widely as a symbol of liberation, with roots in the mud
it still comes to the surface and flowers

The most clear sign that a yoga practice is working is that our lives become better, we feel better, the people around us have better dispositions, the situations we find ourselves in are more suited to our development, to our practice.  There is a momentum that shows.

May we be here and now, may we be at peace, may we be happy. May the groundwork we do daily be successful.

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Just got Maehle's book on the kindle,  wish all books where already digital so as not to have to carry so much weight around!