Purusa is the Sky- Mind is a Cloud
Photo by Gabriel Barletta
In yogic philosophy, we refer to the Seer, which could be called our ‘highest Self,’ as purusa. The goal of yoga is for the practitioner to move into the seat of the soul, and thereby gleam the benefits of non-attachment, utter peacefulness, and true wisdom. Purusa sees all things; it sees your thoughts, feelings, etc. By coming into the seat of the soul, we can reflect on the nature of our actions and become more skillful in action and speech.
Let’s be honest: there comes a point in everybody’s life when they are surprised by the consequences of their actions. Despite good intention, the fruits of your labour have gone sour. If the goal of yoga is to eliminate suffering, then how can we improve our actions? How can we move into the seat of the soul, Purusa?
To understand the answers to these questions, we practice dhyana, which in this case refers to reflection. T.K.S Desikachar suggests the following practice: think of a scenario where you must make a decision. You are tempted by your first natural instinct, but imagine what would happen if you did something totally different from your instinct. I’ll share an example from my personal life: for 4 years, I worked as a catering co-ordinator at a brilliant restaurant in Toronto called Crave Healthy Habits. (Let me just say it’s healthy convenient food designed to bring mindful eating experiences to Toronto, and the food is delicious.) When one of our highly time-sensitive orders is behind schedule, my first instinct is to go into hyperdrive and blitz through the work as much as possible - in the process, my communication skills fell by the wayside. I would cut-off communication and try to do everything by myself. The opposite action that Desikachar encouraged, was to calmly inform my team mates of the current time-crunch, and ask for help. Through dhyana, I gain greater awareness of my knee-jerk reactions, and forge a better path..
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts”
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius hit the nail on the head. His sentiment reverberates through the ages and through yogic scripture. The mind, known as citta, is a tool to perceive the world; it discriminates, such as, “this is a tree, she looks happy, etc.” But remember that as long as it is untrained, the mind is an unreliable narrator. The mind is subject to the changes of our environment, or its own fickle nature. Another saying goes, “mind is a loyal servant but a terrible master.” If we must use our mind to perceive the world, and it is a terrible master, what does that mean for our observations? It means we must find a way to look deeper.
Purusa (pronounced poo-roo-sha) is that seer beyond the senses and beyond the mind. Purusa is not subject to change. Imagine royalty sitting on a throne so high that they have a clear view of all the land. Purusa sees who you are and who you are not. Purusa is the sky where the mind is a cloud.
Through dhyana, and other methods (such as breathing exercises, asana, meditation, etc). we clear the mind. The mind is like a window that we must keep clean, in order to uninhibit the view of purusa.
See you on the mat,