Incomparable

Visayavati-Va-Pravrttih-Utpanna-Manasah-Sthiti-Nibandhani- 1.35 Patanjali’s Sutra

Through the experience of perception, called Visyati, the mind attains stillness.

As a writer, journalist and editor Brenda Ueland says, “You are unique, as you are not like any of the beings that have been created since the beginning of time.” This is why we are all detectives who came to find out what we are in this world. We start looking for our purpose of coming or our uniqueness, starting from our 20s. As we search for this uniqueness, we gradually begin to experience, to perceive life from outside our mother’s and father’s point of view, to become more and more objectionable. While our objections, external factors and things to do take our minds to more and more divisions and extremes as we age, our struggle to find a place in the middle and to find ourselves leads us towards tiredness and disorganization inside our body and mind. And we lose our ability to see the truth.

The rules of the house we were born in, the rules of the house we thought were facts, the way of life of the society we thought were real, the certain way we had to go what we thought were facts. As we set our minds on these, our curiosity, our “defectiveness”, and our uniqueness become trapped in the clouds, waiting to rain down on us, and evaporate and disappear.

Even though when I write this, I feel as if we should pay attention to ourselves and not be concerned about anything else, this sutra is actually talking about learning to live without forgetting what we can give to this world and the emergence of the unique.

When thoughts and feelings are intertwined, Patanjali tells us how to move our mind, soul and body in devotion and respect to our uniqueness and how we can bring this trio in harmony to our point of arrival or departure.

Go back to your childhood and remember which games you loved very much, which movie was the most influential movie for you in your youth years, remember which music you wanted to play and which musical instrument you wanted to play, and then ask yourself what would I take back into my life if I took time for myself.

Namaste!