For something new to appear, something else has to disappear. The new flower cannot blossom if the previous leaf had not fallen. T-shirts cannot enter on the same shelf where the pullovers are. Body heat will not decrease if I continue eating thick soups and stews. Yoga sutras do not speak on sweaters, dried leaves or thick soups but YES they speak on VAIRAGYA as one of the main axis for transformation[i]. Vairagya is detachment. Surrender. The opposite of resistance. Tol let go.
If you, my dear friend, do not need to change anything in your life, this note ends here. If, on the contrary, you need to have some more friendly relationship with “change”, maybe some reflections that come from more than two thousand years ago may help.
The Yoga sutras of Patanjali leave for granted different levels of vairagya. The first levels deal with the idea of practice together with effort. For example, it is possible that if I have great attachment to chocolate, one of the ways to “calm” that urge could be throughout some discipline (not buying chocolate, for ex.) But, as long as I sustain that practice of not buying chocolate, naturally this urge will start to decrease gradually. Of course this includes some effort and, specially, some self inquiry. Vairagya here requires will power but it is something possible for most of us.
More subtle and profound levels of vairagya (or detachment) should come as a natural consequence of that previous effort and most probably would be associated with the des-identification of my personal ego (the “I-ness” that differentiates me from the “others”, the one that labels, classifies and feeds my high or low self esteem, both equally). As an example here we can see FEAR as one of the most popular negative emotions in our times. The super expansion of fear goes together with the great need of control. And power. Control of what? Of what is MINE: MY car, MY house, MY bike, MY books, MY ideas… As if I could be identified by any of them. Or even in a more profound level, the need to control MY family, MY husband, MY wife, MY brothers, MY friends, MY children, MY pets. As if I could be able to have some incidence in the destiny of other human beings. Or, last but not least, the once and again health and safe measures and rules that REASSURE me a permanent contract of longevity and comfort-warm life.
Yoga sutras also say that we all –human beings- know very well what fear is about. (YS II.9) This has to do with our natural instinct of survival and the urge to live (YS IV.10). However, the exacerbation of society of control, measurement and prediction (associated with super-expansion of EGO since man THINKS he can control nature and life) makes our fears explode to unimaginable levels. To such an extent that which we end defining ourselves by the quantity or the specificity of our last phobia or panic attack.
Also, many times our ego makes a clear link with disease. I have “this” disease and I “become that” disease (disease or any situation that drives me to a role of victim). So all my mind frame spin around “this” (if I am better or worse; if I am in a good phase or relapsing, etc.). The symptoms here are true but there is an undeniable attachment to define myself within negativity. The only idea of getting out of this negative cycle could be as much frightening (who am “I” apart from the one who suffers?) as unfathomable.
The highest levels of vairagya have some correspondence with subtle levels of consciousness in which change does not affect me (YS I.15; YS I.16). A place where there is no desire for anything in particular; basically, I AM. This has nothing to do with apathy, abandonment or indolence. It is a state of clarity, fulfillment and peace. It is more than obvious that I cannot reach that subtle place making any effort. Like with meditation, I can only follow certain technics, tips, hints, etc. but this will happen if it is meant to happen. This highest levels of vairagya can be associated with the highest levels of consciousness (Samadhi; YS I.47, YS I.48, YS I.49: YS I.50, YS I.51).
“Change” will happen even if we do not even move a finger to help this. But if we are allowed to “taste” any anticipation of the reach of fulfillment of our real transformation surely we will choose this path. Transformation here stands for: an internal re-arrangement that allows us to express something we already have which is hidden; our true potential” (YS IV. 2, YS IV.12).
Winter is ending in the southern hemisphere. This cycle needs to END for spring to come. The new flowers depend on their own nature to blossom as much as on their detachment for the previous ones that were in that place. I do not believe in prescribed formulas to all; each of us should know how, when, where. But… there is NO change WITHOUT change. There is no change if we do not allow some new space; if we do not let go something we have been carrying before. It is possible that this can make us suffer but we will suffer even more if we fight against something that already IS. All the times we do this we are swimming against the flow (our own nature). And even after some time, we can end believing about the possibility of having been safe and sound always in the same place.
[i] Transformation here can be read also as a state of yoga (nirodha or even samadhi). YS I.2; YS I.12; YS IV.2.
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