Author: Mandala

“Words Don’t Teach, but the Application of Words in Everyday Life Does”

(Yoga Sutra 2.33 Part 1 is available here: https://www.ahymsin.org/yoga-sutra-2-33-part-1/)

Yoga sutra 2.33 (vitarka badhane pratipaksha bhavanam)*

• vitarka = uncertainty, doubt, questionable
• badhane = opposing, removal, suspended, annulment
• pratipaksha = opposition, opposite, adversary
• bhavanam = thought, manifesting, producing, imagining

Yoga Sutra 2.33 says, “When negative thoughts present themselves cultivate and think the opposite thoughts with feeling;”1 “To obstruct thoughts which are inimical to Yoga contrary thoughts will be brought. 2 And, Swami Veda says, “When misratiocinations (When logic and reason have gone haywire [Editors’ definition of misratiocinations]) and deviant thoughts present themselves one should counter these by cultivating and impressing upon oneself the opposite principles in contemplation.”

Just how do we go about shifting our energy to move to the opposite thought so it registers in our minds and feelings that we have successfully applied the meaning of yoga sutra 2.33?

Let’s now look at the modalities that make this movement possible remembering the law of cause and effect is at play in every single movement of thought and feeling to your detriment or success.

Modality number one and most important: Embrace negativity.  Most people have the mistaken impression that it is wrong to feel negative. Quite the contrary negativity is your friend and teacher. The wise man makes peace with it and uses it to grow. So from wherever you stand in your negativity make peace with it simply by acknowledging it exists in you by saying something simply like, “This is how I feel in the moment and it’s alright. I am where I am as I cannot be any other place right now and I’m eager for what’s coming.

Or you can simply ask a question about negativity: What’s the positive benefit of this negative situation or this person? Or what’s good about this? This will also begin the shift of energy to the opposite thought and fulfill yoga sutra 2.33

Once you learn to feel the positive impact of negativity you will put away victimhood, martyr hood and self-pity and you will lay down the whip you beat yourself with as you are now building bridges to actualize yoga sutra 2.33.

You will eventually recognize that negativity is your teacher. It’s a gift showing you that your Inner Being is viewing the same subject, event or person as you but with love, whereas you are viewing it with disdain or contempt.

You cannot know good if you haven’t experienced bad. You cannot feel love if you haven’t experienced despair.

Negativity gives you the opportunity to turn your dial to something that is pleasing to you once you recognize it.

Modality number two: Reach for the next best thought. Since life teaches it is difficult to go from fear to joy in one jump, you can go from fear to rage, from rage to anger, from anger to overwhelmed, from overwhelmed to frustration, from frustration to disappointment, to content, until you feel good. It’s really that simple just by reaching for the next best thought available to you no matter how long it takes until you feel good. It may take a few minutes, a few hours, and a few weeks. Who cares, whose counting. Just be willing to do the work and the rest will fall into place.

You can in your negativity reach for the next best thought available to you in the moment and that’s good enough.

For example, the first time I had cancer in 2009 I was in a state of fear and the day I reached for rage I felt my energy shift for the better and I felt great being in a state of rage instead of fear. It wasn’t long after that I reached for anger, then to being overwhelmed, then to being content, to eventually making peace with the word cancer and all its ramifications. I did this just by reaching for the next thought until I felt better and it took me about 6 months to get to feeling really good. I realized I was building that bridge to feeling good from a place of feeling bad. I was implementing yoga sutra 2.33 by reaching for the next best thought available to me at the moment and I didn’t care how long it took, six months seemed at first like an eternity, but then I was aware I was applying the true meaning of yoga sutra 2.33 in practical ways that would in the end benefit my growth and the six months was forgotten.

Modality number three: Understanding contrast is subtle, but easy. What is contrast? To compare (two people or things) to show how they are different. Contrast means variety, more things to choose from. It shows you your preferences.

Examples: He’s tall and skinny and she’s short and skinny. He’s very judgmental and she’s even-minded.

I’m judgmental and even-minded sometimes as I observe people or situations.

When you find yourself being judgmental or making editorial comment note the contrast comes from within you.

Stop and appreciate your findings and then appreciate the contrasts between you and whatever you are looking at, be it a person or a situation. Do this without editorial comment. Just appreciate the contrasts.

Example: Kitty #1 is yellow. Kitty #2 is white. Appreciate this color contrast between the two without adding any additional information.

When you recognize the contrasts, you can simply note there is beauty in all situations, in all people of all ages, of all genders, of all nationalities, from all walks of life and all with very different mentalities.

Contrast serves to clarify what you do want and what you don’t want. Contrast is your teacher.

Whenever you find yourself standing somewhere you don’t want to be, remember you created the scenario for your expansion. So, embrace the contrast, where you are and where you want to be, and honor the contrast as it is serving you and has come to you by your invitation for growth through the law of cause and effect.

Remember, contrast leads you to making clear what you don’t want and what you do want.

Another More Subtle Example of how to use contrast to create a new positive vibration to match what you do want while implementing yoga 2.33.

What you don’t want: I’ve been given a terminal medical cancer diagnosis.

What I do want: I want to be healthy.

Current feeling of what I don’t want: “I feel disappointed, some fear and confusion. My current treatment feels like it‘s killing me.” These current feelings do not match what you want which block you from thinking the opposite thought, but there is a way to build this bridge as follows.

Deliberate intent to improve your vibrational (feelings) relationship with what you want:

“People have recovered from this condition”
“Many people graduate from Hospice and go home healthy”
“This diagnosis is not a death sentence”
“Even if I don’t know what to do my body does”
“I appreciate the health I have right now”
“There is no relationship between my parent’s health and mine”
“It’s refreshing to deliberately get outside every day”
“I like thinking thoughts that make me feel good”

These sentences are now vibrationally supportive of what you want: I want to be healthy. And you just actualized yoga sutra 2.33 in a most profound way.

You just shifted your energy using contrast to your benefit and growth.

Remember, out of contrast (what you don’t want and what you do want) is born clarity of desire.

Otherwise, you would have no growth and expansion and yoga sutra 2.33 would just be words without realization.

Modality number four: Remembering your favorite memories is simple and follows on the heels of modality number three. As you move from negative to positive and are now leaning more towards the positive this is a good time to remember your favorite memories.

What does it mean to remember your favorite memories? Take a moment and think of a favorite memory that makes you feel good no matter how far back in time you have to go. As soon as you feel the feelings of feeling good forget the memory and just enjoy the feelings of feeling good. Or think of another favorite memory until feeling good becomes more deep and keep repeating this until it feels really good, then just sit with the feelings of feeling good realizing that you just entered the zone of actualizing and stabilizing yourself in yoga sutra 2.33.

It’s that simple.

Modality number five: Learning to appreciate yourself as you are, life and others is one more key to stabilizing in good feeling thoughts as you move from negativity thinking to positive thought and feeling as you embrace yoga sutra 2.33.

What is appreciation? Appreciation means increasing the value of something. It’s the vibration of who you are.  It’s the feeling like when you see your newborn child and your heart is overwhelmed with joy and unconditional love that comes from within.  It’s the absence of doubt, fear, worry, judgment and everything that feels bad.

My personal experience tells me that appreciation in its purest form is pure joy pulsating through me as I am looking at or thinking about someone or something and it is bubbling up endlessly inside me without any outside stimuli.

Appreciation is being in sync with the whole of that which you are.  Appreciation is whatever you are looking at is through the eyes of God, Source Energy, your Inner Being.

Appreciation is a state of Godliness, of wholeness, of worthiness, of wellness, of peace of mind, of unconditional love. That’s real appreciation. And you’ll know it when you feel joy bubbling up within without any outside stimuli accompanied by a deep unexplainable peace.

And it is much more than words can explain. It’s an experience and that is all the explanation you really need.

Get out pen and paper and write down all that you appreciate about you, about life, about others.

For example: I appreciate I am open-minded. I appreciate I keep my word, I appreciate I do the work necessary to master yoga sutra 2.33. I appreciate life gives me the opportunity to grow and change, to experience many different things I want to experience, which gives me new insights and expansion. I appreciate I have food in the refrigerator. I appreciate I have a good car in excellent mechanical condition. I appreciate I have hot and cold running water year round. I appreciate the roads I drive on. I appreciate the farmers who grow our food and the truck drivers who deliver it to the stores and the stores for making this food available to all, etc. I appreciate all the variety of cultures on the planet. I appreciate people who think differently than me so I can expand my mind set and grow, etc.

You get the gist of this. It’s easy and fun once you start doing it. A good time to do it is upon awakening  while in a good feeling state, as you are leaning towards being on the positive end of thinking the opposite thought as you are building bridges to realize the positive impact of yoga sutra 2.33.

Modality number six: Writing in your book of positive aspects. This is a really fun way to change your behavior and view point towards others or situations.

The Book of Positive Aspects is thinking the opposite thought actualizing Yoga Sutra 2.33.

A book of positive aspects is simply writing down all the good qualities of people who you know, who you like or dislike. By their name you acknowledge their negative qualities then cross them off and write down what good qualities they exhibit and forget the rest.

And even though every time you are around them they may be mean and angry your focus before you meet them in the office, at home or on the street is to take time to focus on only their good qualities, even if it is only one good quality you can find…that’s your focus.

Example: Think the opposite thought Yoga Sutra 2.33 … cross off the negative after writing them down and keep your focus on the positive; example:

Negative qualities John		Positive qualities John
	Mean		Perceptive
	Inconsiderate		Good with the kids
	Irresponsible		Loyal
	Lazy		Loves bowling
	Liar		Committed
	Deadbeat		Sensitive

Keep your focus on the good in others and forget the rest and watch what happens. All it takes is practice, practice and more practice as you retrain your mind to think the opposite you are mastering yoga sutra 2.33.

Summary: You have been exposed to 21st century thinking in actualizing yoga sutra 2.33 in your life in ways that are easy to understand and easy to implement.  Once you begin applying these tools on a daily basis they will become a habit, a new way of thinking and yoga sutra 2.33 will become alive in you.

All it takes is your willingness to review part 1 and practice the modalities in Part 2 until they become a natural part of your life. All it takes is practice, practice and more practice.

Have fun with all this and remember it’s all about your growth and expansion to higher states of awareness, which once achieved no one can take away from you.

In this two part article you have learned how to use your thoughts, how to direct the law of cause and effect to your benefit and how to actualize Yoga Sutra 2.33 in your daily life.

Remember, you get what you think and feel the most! You are a vibrational being living in a vibrational universe attracting like vibrations that form your experiences in life.

If you can desire it in this space-time reality, then this space-time reality can provide it!

All it takes is your willingness to contemplate and think in a new way to get what you want. So, relax and expect actualization of yoga sutra 2.33 to become a living reality in your life, because the tools presented produce desired results.

Have fun with all this and remember it’s all about your evolutionary vibrational expansion and actualization of yoga sutra 2.33.

References:

*Swami Satchidananda
1 Richard Parenti
2 Swami Vivekananda

Note: Other people who have influenced me in this article are: Mark Wilson, Abraham-Hicks, Walt Baptiste and Swami Veda.

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Editor’s Note:

Richard Parenti is initiated into the Himalayan Yoga Tradition by Swami Veda and has studied with such notables as Swami Brahmananda Sarasvati, Abraham-Hicks and Walt Baptiste. He is a registered Yoga Alliance teacher ERYT 500 and guest lecturer for graduate students at California State University on the subject of Emotional Mastery (Chitta Prasadanam). Richard is certified by the MS Society of Northern California to train yoga teachers how to teach yoga to people with multiple sclerosis. He is the author of Emotional Sobriety: Feel-Good Secrets for Everyone, Balboa Press 2013. After returning from a 40-day silent retreat in the Himalayan Mountains in India he authored Cancer, No Easy Choices; Naked Before God; Who Am I; and Your True Self all which appeared in Himalayan Path Magazine. Since 2000 he has been the spiritual director of the Yoga Health Institute in Modesto, California, USA.

It must have been 11 PM -Ecuadorean time- the 18th of August, 2012. We were at our dear friend Gisella’s wedding reception when I received an e-mail from Swamiji (he was writing from London):

“Dear Gustavo and Cintamani:

I am missing Lucas and often thinking of him.

He received the ‘blessing’ I normally give to very young children. His mantra will come when he is between 8 or 9 if you can bring him to me even though I will be in silence.

Thank you so much, for making my visit so comfortable, fruitful and enjoyable.

With many blessings — swami veda bharati now in London”

This e-mail lightened that already happy celebration night.

The 10th of that same month, Lucas had received his special “blessing-initiation” from Swamiji’s hands.

We were at the Galapagos Islands with the group that attended the “Himalayan Tradition Meditation Retreat” that was organized just after our Sadhana Yoga Conference.

One morning, Swami Veda said to me “Gustavo, I want to give Lucas a special blessing. I would like you to bring him to my room tomorrow night, at 9 pm.”

That afternoon, Swamiji didn’t go out, he didn’t give any lecture. He just stayed in his room, and submerged himself in a long, deep meditation.

That same day, my sister in law, Valeria, had arrived to stay with us. Lucas has a great loving relationship with her. And I must admit, I was a little bit afraid that Lucas could have a tantrum not to leave her aunt, that he wouldn’t want to come with his parents to have his initiation instead of keep playing with his aunt.

Why was I so afraid of that? Because every time we called Lucas to eat, to brush his teeth, to go out, etc., and he had to stop playing, it was a problem. He had just turned 5 years old, so playing was the most important thing in the world. I knew how it was going to be…

So the time came. Swami Veda made us call him. I went to fetch Lucas, anticipating the pre-initiation drama.

When I told him that Swamiji was calling him, naturally, calmly and even with a happy face, Lucas got down from the chair he was sitting on, and walked with me to Swami Veda’s room.

This was the first surprise.

When we entered Swamiji’s room, there was a quiet and deep contemplation environment. Swamiji was sitting in a meditative posture.

He invited Lucas to seat on His lap and to rest his head on His chest. He also made us seat on the floor, in front of Him.

Second surprise: Lucas has never liked to be hugged.

Since he was little, every time me or his mom laid on his bed with him he would tell us: “Ok, now you go. You warm my bed.”

Swamiji guided him to a deep meditation, invoking special mantras, making some blessings upon his chakras and marmas, and then, he whispered to his right ear the mantra.

It was a moment of deep rejoice. Just another surprise was that Lucas stayed quiet and still for over 30 minutes, just there, seating with Swamiji.

As a 5-year old, to watch him stay still, calm, and peaceful was something to remember. It can just be explained through the transmission of stability and serenity that Swami Veda’s presence and guidance produced him.

That same year we visited Swami Veda’s ashram in Rishikesh, a place I consider my home away from home.

The trip to India with Lucas and Cintamani was an incredible adventure we cherish in our hearts, and the days we spent next to Swamiji in Sadhaka Grama Ashrama inspired our lives.

Once again, Swami Veda Bharati reminded us that when Lucas turned 8 we had to take him to Rishikesh for his formal initiation.

The 2nd of July of 2015 Lucas turned 8, and everything was ready to take him to his deeksha in October.

But we never expected that our dear Swamiji would leave His mortal body almost two weeks after that.

The news was sad and painful, but it was worse to think that we would go to Rishikesh just to find out Swamiji wasn’t “there” anymore. Every time we thought of that, our eyes were flooded with tears, and our hearts ached.

Some months before I had been next to Swamiji. One night He received me in His room, we were talking about Lucas and Bindu, and He told me:

“Gustavo, you know what my only concern is? If I die, who is going to take care of my grandchildren? I would love to be here for them always.”

He was talking about all his spiritual grandchildren, his disciples’ and initiates’ children.

Swamiji had a special love for kids. He was a kid Himself. His innocence, His kindness. I remember Him in Galapagos, leaning towards a baby sea lion, just wanting to touch it. He whispered to the baby animal with a naughty boy’s voice, “Ahh, if you would only let me pet you, come with me to my Ashram in Rishikesh.”

Those are caring scenes I remember and keep in the most intimate place of my heart.

And now, who would take care of my Lucas and Bindu? Who would take care of Lucas’ initiation?

We wrote to Swami Ritavan Bharati, a dear friend and one who was chosen by Swami Veda to be the spiritual successor of His organization. E-mails came and went about all these details.

Swami Ritavan, always kind and generous, told us that he would personally take care of Lucas’ initiation, and also, that it would be better that together with the mantra deeksha, he received the upanayanam or sacred thread.

After a beautiful and intense trip around northern India, we settled at the Sadhaka Grama Ashram. The long waited day came.

Swami Ritavan told us that we had to be patient, because this initiation had to come for itself, it would show us “when” it had to be done, no pressure, nor organization.

The morning of the 29th of October of 2015 Lucas was wearing yellow pants and kurta, just like the Ashram’s brahmin ordered.

At Shiva’s temple inside the Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama Ashrama, the sacred thread ritual was held.

In the Vedic tradition, the upanayana was restricted to the upper three of the four varnas (castes) of society — brahmins, kshatriyas and vaishyas. It is a ceremony in which a guru (teacher) accepts and draws a child towards knowledge and initiates the second birth that is of the young mind and spirit.

A boy that belongs to any of these castes is born the first time from its mother’s womb; and the second time, during the upanayana ritual, when the guru teaches him the gayatri mantra in his right ear and gives him the sacred thread.

The yajñopavītam or sacred thread has three cotton strands tied together. They stand for Gayatri (goddess of the mind), Saraswati (goddess of knowledge) and Savitri (goddess of action). The knot that ties them together represents God.

It is ideal, that he who wears the sacred thread has pure thoughts, words and actions.

These three strands could also represent the debt that the brahmachari has to his guru, his parents and to society.

Once again, Lucas surprised us. As an 8-year old, he doesn’t like to get bored, to wait, to be where he has to be still, quiet and “doing nothing”.

That morning Lucas felt inspired; he was so happy, thrilled to go through this important ceremony. He woke up very early, put his new clothes and told us he was ready.

Meditations, mantras, sacred hymns and silence, sacred rituals filled with deep meaning, were the layout for this old and always new ceremony that gave birth to this new brahmacharya.

Vibrations of peace were felt. The Great Himalayan Masters and spiritual guides, from Swami Rama to the whole Parampara were there, in spiritual and subtle presence.

Since the beginning of the ceremony the environment was filled with deep spirituality. Like if a powerful, calm presence was there embracing us, making us feel peaceful. It was like Swamiji Veda Bharati was next to us.

In a traditional way, Swami Ritavanji, authentic parampara representative, sat under the blanket, invited Lucas to do the same thing, and secretly, he whispered the sacred mantra to his ear.

Walking the first steps as a brahmacharya, he got from the guru through Sri Ritavanji the sacred text, the danda and his clothes.

He got from his mother, Cintamani, and his friends, the first food and shelter donations.

After receiving his new brahmacharya life initiation, Swami Ritavan gave him deeksha and with this, his new name: Bhishma (son of Mother Ganga and one of the most powerful characters of the Mahabharata).

To see him standing there, with his danda, his yellow brahmachari clothes, his eyes full of hope, made me proud (in a good way), happy and made me feel optimistic again.

Our baby boy is Bindu, and he was blessed with the loving touch and gaze of Swami Ritavan.

We have entered a new era, with new obstacles, where apparently the new generation has forgotten the spirit. Even yoga in the western world has taken a path as opposite as it should be.

There is no better job than to raise children that later can become the best human beings they can be.

Paraphrasing Swamiji, that should be our only concern, because they are the only legacy we can leave.

“Words Don’t Teach, but the Application of Words in Everyday Life Does”

Yoga sutra 2.33 (vitarka badhane pratipaksha bhavanam)*

• vitarka = uncertainty, doubt, questionable
• badhane = opposing, removal, suspended, annulment
• pratipaksha = opposition, opposite, adversary
• bhavanam = thought, manifesting, producing, imagining

Yoga Sutra 2.33 says, “When negative thoughts present themselves cultivate and think the opposite thoughts with feeling;”1 “To obstruct thoughts which are inimical to Yoga contrary thoughts will be brought. 2 And, Swami Veda says, “When misratiocinations (When logic and reason have gone haywire [Editors’ definition of misratiocinations]) and deviant thoughts present themselves one should counter these by cultivating and impressing upon oneself the opposite principles in contemplation.”

For all this to make sense this article will come in two parts. Part 1 is basic understanding of Yoga Sutra 2.33 and very importantly how the law of cause and effect plays the key role in implementing with meaning this yoga sutra in your life. Part 2 is all about the how-to implement yoga sutra 2.33.

So, first before one can understand how to move to the opposite thought a little knowledge of thought-energy is important. This is what I was told in 1974 while in lying in bed reviewing my life, when suddenly a voice spoke to me, “Energy follows thought and returns to its source, you, the map-maker. In other words, thought reproduces itself in the material world of matter. What you think about most with positive or negative feeling you manifest. Your thoughts are a preview of coming attractions in your life. You are responsible for everything in your life and you attracted it all through sloppy thinking and healthy thinking. There is no fine print to this.” Of course, at first I thought I was hallucinating, but deep inside there was no mistake in what I experienced. Direct experience far outweighed a hallucination.

Here are some examples that I thought of over the years to prove to myself that the law of cause and effect was true. I have over 100 more examples, but these few will suffice.

• I thought of living and working in Europe. Result: I lived and worked in France, Spain and Germany.
• I thought of owning a Porsche like my college roommate. Result: One year after graduating from college I owned a Porsche just like my roommate.
• I thought of spending quality time with my best friend in Mexico if I had a way to make a living. Result: Worked in the field real estate finances, living on my best friend’s yacht in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, spending quality time with him.
• For one year I thought of getting a divorce without ever mentioning it to anyone, but before I said anything I was served divorce papers.
• I thought of opening a yoga center. Result: Opened the first Yoga center in Modesto, California, in 2000, which now only mentors students on “Chitta Prasadanam,” Emotional Mastery, based on yoga sutra 1.33 and on yoga sutra 2.33.

Now, where do you begin to implement yoga sutra 2.33 in your daily life? It begins with the study of and application of yoga sutra 1.33 in your life; for as you contemplate the words in this article you will realize that words don’t teach, but their application in the world does and yoga sutra 1.33 has a direct connection with yoga sutra 2.33.

Implementing yoga sutra 2.33, you start to shift YOUR energy from negative to positive thought by recognizing THAT A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE BEGINS with the understanding that FEELINGS ARE THE LANGUAGE OF THE UNIVERSE, WHICH ORIGNATE IN YOUR THOUGHT PATTERN. You get what you feel! You are a vibrational being living in a vibrational universe.

And by realizing you have control over only one thing and that is your thoughts. In other words you have the power to choose the thought you want to think: Love or hate, positive or negative…your choice. Realize it is not possible to go directly from hate to love and mean it. If you hate and say to someone you hate, “I love you,” your subconscious simply registers a lie and stays with the hate feeling of negativity and that’s what you radiate and vibrate to the world, a bundle of hate, because the universe doesn’t hear what you say, it hears what you mean, what you think and feel.

So, how can we move from negative thoughts to positive thoughts and mean it with feeling? The following is a brief overview of how to begin the process of implementing yoga sutra 2.33 with the specific how-to tools and deeper explanations in Part 2.

• First, you can interrupt the negative thought simply by acknowledging your thinking about something or someone with negativity and realizing that your Inner Being is thinking about the same thing or person with love and compassion. Note the contrast.
• Second, it is important to make peace with where you’re at by saying something like, “I’m thankful for where I am, who I am and what I have in the moment and it’s all right because I am where I am and I’m eager for what’s coming.”

By interrupting your thoughts and making peace with the situation or yourself you begin to shift your energy, and now we want to stabilize in good feeling, which takes practice and that is what’s at the heart of yoga sutra 2.33.

You can do that by embracing negativity, reaching for the next best thought, understanding contrast, remembering your favorite memories,  writing in your book of positive aspects (good things about yourself or others), appreciating the contrasts within you and in life, and lastly appreciating your qualities and all that life has to offer. This will all be discussed in Part 2.

But first, for these modalities to make any sense it is important to get an understanding of the law of cause and effect and the role it plays in understanding how to use yoga sutra 2.33 to your benefit and growth.

Note that from wherever you stand in your negativity do the process(s) that feel the best. Don’t force a process if it doesn’t feel right. And if nothing feels right pet your dog or cat and if you don’t have one borrow your neighbors and if that fails drink some warm milk and sprinkle some cinnamon on top and then take nap, but not while driving your car.

Now that you’ve taken your nap let’s look very specifically at the impact that the law of cause and effect has on yoga sutra 2.33.

Law of cause and effect says: Thought is a force. Thought is magnetic. Thoughts are things waiting to become reality. The more you think the same thought, which becomes a belief, the more you think it, the more like-minded thoughts you attract until they manifest in an experience. And when, what you think and feel is in harmony, be it negative or positive, you manifest a representation of that for you to experience.

And when, what you think and feel are different you sabotage, slow down or block what it is you say you want. What you feel is at the core of yoga sutra 2.33.

A thought emits a feeling. How you feel is the key to the law of cause and effect and is equal to your vibration.

Examples: If I worry about my health I attract ill-health. If I blame others for the way the world is I will continually find support from other negative outlets, like other negative people, negative TV programming, etc. If I think and feel I’m brilliant I will attract conversations around that, if I think and feel I’m a great lover I will attract people and situations like that to me to experience to support my belief. If I think and feel I’m a martyr I will attract situations to fulfill that. If I think and feel I will master the laws of the universe then I will attract information, situations and people to expand my awareness to this realization. If I think I’m a clever tax dodger and the feeling of fear is attached to that thought then I will attract people and situations to fulfill my fear, like the IRS. If I talk about my money problems I will continue to have money problems because the law of cause and effect never sleeps. And if I persist to think negative about my ex-husband, ex-wife, in-laws, co-workers, bosses, acquaintances or friends I will continually attract negative behavior from them every time I see them.

And when, what you say and feel are not in harmony then you are creating confusion and frustration within.

Therefore, nothing is more important than you feel good. Feel-Good is at the core of the law of cause and effect and yoga sutra 2.33.

Remember, you create your own reality and you do so because the thoughts that you are thinking cause you to emanate a vibrational frequency that the law of cause and effect is constantly responding to. And so, in all waking moments, you are creating your own point of attraction and everything that you experience is coming to you because of your vibrational emanation and the response to the law of cause and effect.

It is as if you are standing on a sort of spinning vibrational disc and only things of the same vibration can join you on your disc. Depending upon the thoughts that you are thinking and the emotions that you are feeling, the disc you are standing on can and will change.

How you feel is your point of attraction and is equal to your vibration.  They mean the same thing.  So what you are vibrating is how you are feeling and that equals what you attract to you to experience.  Therefore, nothing is more important than you feel good.

More on the law of cause and effect: The more you focus on negative thoughts the more negative thoughts you attract to yourself and the stronger they become in you they start creating more havoc with your mind, body and feelings delaying your good. It’s an endless cycle of negativity.  This is the real insanity.

On the other hand when focusing on feelings of appreciation, happiness, hope, love, joy and peace, all such emotions are positive and uplifting and so act on the body and mind to restore and maintain balance and harmony and actually stimulate circulation and nutrition bringing to you wonderful experiences.

The one who does not allow himself to focus on or be influenced or controlled by fears or forebodings is the one who ordinarily does not yield to discouragements or disappointments.

He who focuses on thoughts that evoke feeling good about oneself is continually drawing to him/her good things to happen. The good feeling thoughts are continually helping to actualize his/her vibration in the realm of the material and spiritual worlds.

Remember, that which you are feeling, that which you are thinking, that which you are oozing, that which you are vibrating, that which you are being, that which you are (think & feel) is your point of attraction.  As you think and feel you attract.  You are the attractor of all your life experiences.  Not one other in the entire universe has anything to do with what’s coming to you.

Therefore, there is nothing more important to understand than to know how to feel good because the way you feel is the very basis of the law of cause and effect and yoga sutra 2.33.

What’s active in your vibration is your point of attraction.  In other words what you are thinking and feeling is your vibration in the moment and that is your point of attraction and is the law of cause and effect at work in your life.

Remember, thought evokes vibration and feeling evokes vibration. Thought and feeling combined generates your point of attraction.

In the final analysis it is how you feel that is at the core of your point of attraction and at the core of the law of cause and effect, which act on your success or failure in implementing yoga sutra 2.33 in your life.

You will soon realize it’s your perspective on others and events that causes you to expand. And the law of cause and effect is there helping you to this realization thru the application of the how-to tools to move your energy to the opposite thought so yoga sutra 2.33 becomes part of your life and are not mere words that you quote at dinner parties or yoga events.

References:

*Swami Satchidananda

1 Richard Parenti

2 Swami Vivekananda

Note: Other people who have influenced me in this article are: Dr. Rammurti Mishra, Walt Baptiste and Abraham-Hicks

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Editor’s Note:

Richard Parenti is initiated into the Himalayan Yoga Tradition by Swami Veda and has studied with such notables as Swami Brahmananda Sarasvati, Abraham-Hicks and Walt Baptiste. He is a registered Yoga Alliance teacher ERYT 500 and guest lecturer for graduate students at California State University on the subject of Emotional Mastery (Chitta Prasadanam). Richard is certified by the MS Society of Northern California to train yoga teachers how to teach yoga to people with multiple sclerosis. He is the author of Emotional Sobriety: Feel-Good Secrets for Everyone, Balboa Press 2013. After returning from a 40-day silent retreat in the Himalayan Mountains in India he authored Cancer, No Easy Choices; Naked Before God; Who Am I; and Your True Self all which appeared in Himalayan Path Magazine. Since 2000 he has been the spiritual director of the Yoga Health Institute in Modesto, California, USA.