“Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.” (The yoga sutras of Patanjali)
That is truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.
love it.
thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading that
with love
brother Neil
[QUOTE=LexiYoga;17860]“Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.” (The yoga sutras of Patanjali)[/QUOTE]
As always, the devil is in the details. Here we have four classifications of people, presumably those we come into contact with, and four classifications of attitudes that we take towards them. The first three are relatively easy, but indifference toward the wicked? Now that’s the hard part.
Who are these wicked people anyway? How are we to judge who is happy, or unhappy, or virtuous, or wicked? In my view, the wicked are those who tend to disturb our calmness of mind. Practicing indifference toward such a person can sometimes be a challenge.
Usually, we envy the happy, we are indifferent toward the unhappy, we hate the virtuous, and we fear the wicked.
Jealousy, indifference, hate and fear. These are strong opponents.
Who can say he/she does not have these feelings ?
Yama and niyama is indeed easy to start but hard to master.
[quote=Hubert;18334]
Yama and niyama is indeed easy to start but hard to master.[/quote]
Difficult Limbs.
Although yamas would at first seem the more difficult, these two limbs no doubt merge and feed into one another.
I tend to feel an integral approach to the limbs is better than apporaching them as steps , as the sum is greater than the parts and mastery of one is easier if one has some handle on another.
[QUOTE=Hubert;18334]Usually, we envy the happy, we are indifferent toward the unhappy, we hate the virtuous, and we fear the wicked.
.[/QUOTE]
It looks like you are an experienced man.
[QUOTE=Hubert;18334]Usually, we envy the happy, we are indifferent toward the unhappy, we hate the virtuous, and we fear the wicked.
[/QUOTE]
Lol! I feel ya, brother.
Hubert’s put his finger on exactly the symptoms Patanjali would remedy in unskilled human inclinations. I’m with Asuri, saying that the third one is the hard part. Unless this indifference still allows one to set one’s will against the wicked, and English offers no better translation for Patanjali’s original intent.
If we envy the happy, are indifferent to the unhappy, and hate the virtuous, what do we have to fear? We ARE the wicked. The wicked fear the strong. The righteous fear the strong who is also wicked. We cannot be indifferent to the strong, because he has the power to harm (or help) us.
This brings me back to my original point, what is this wickedness that we are supposed to be indifferent to? Are the happy, unhappy, virtuous, and wicked different people, or can they all be present in the same person at different times?
[QUOTE=Asuri;18355]
This brings me back to my original point, what is this wickedness that we are supposed to be indifferent to? Are the happy, unhappy, virtuous, and wicked different people, or can they all be present in the same person at different times?[/QUOTE]
What happens when bad governments are elected because good voters did not bother to vote ? Is it “indifference toward the wicked ?”
The “wicked” probably has several meanings. Can you be indifferent toward Hitler ?
[quote=Asuri;18355]
This brings me back to my original point, what is this wickedness that we are supposed to be indifferent to? Are the happy, unhappy, virtuous, and wicked different people, or can they all be present in the same person at different times?[/quote]
Arjuna’s story in the Bhagavad Gita is an inspring reading about the inner processes in the individual, isn’t it?
I realize that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but c’mon, what are we really talking about here? The context of the aphorism is methods for attaining stability of the mind. Hubert’s point was valid. The crux of the meaning is that we should not allow ourselves to get caught up in the petty jealousy, criticism, bickering, games, and one-upmanship that goes on everywhere all the time. We should kind of remain aloof and maintain our cool.
It’s a new insight for me that this aphorism does not necessarily refer to different people or outsiders, but about the people we are in contact with every day, those who are closest to us. At times, we are all happy and unhappy, virtuous and not so virtuous.
nice saying