The Yamas Week 4 - Brahmacharya: Walking with God
When we say Namaste,
we’re declaring —
with conviction.
“I bow to that which is good in you
which is true in you
which is love in you
which is divine in you
which is all-powerful in you
I bow to God in you.
I declare that you are a manifestation of this great intelligence
and you are worthy of my respect”
You can say Namaste any way you like.
But…
it’s a little bit off, isn’t it?
If we’re declaring such a magnificent recognition casually.
It’s just not a casual thing.
Of course — anything can become casual.
Mechanical.
Ordinary.
Mediocre.
Part of our work together
is to stop life becoming mediocre.
To stop it becoming an average declaration.
A life lived from deep conviction,
is a life well lived.
It’s a life that leaves a mark
without the individual needing to be special —
but the conviction itself is.
My feeling is —
Although it’s definitely not across the board —
in these times we almost worship the casual,
the unintentional.
There is often an absence of conviction.
Because when we have conviction,
we’re on the line, aren’t we?
We put ourselves on the line —
because we’re totally in.
Which is an extraordinary thing to do:
to be all in.
But it’s a risky business, no?
Or at least,
it’s risky to our separate sense of self.
So we don’t do it.
And we conform to mediocrity.
We do a deal with Life.
We don’t do 100%.
We don’t go all in.
We hold back.
We wait and see.
We contractually, luke-warmly engage with Life:
“Let me see what I get before I give.
Let’s see if it’s worth my time.
Worth my energy.”
This is an incredibly dissatisfied life.
An incredibly unsatisfying existence.
That’s not me condemning it or anything.
it’s all just there to be noticed.
I think if we have a look at it,
we’ll see:
The part of ourselves that we hold back
is the part that makes us suffer.
Our suffering is our holding back.
I was talking to Lily,
before I came in today.
She tries to take this principle fairly seriously.
So she observes herself.
She had a spare period at college —
a time when she didn’t have to go to a class —
and she was using that period to do her homework.
But in that she realised:
“I’m observing myself,
and I can feel that at least 20% of me
is saying,
‘I wish I was at home.’”
she recognised
that meant 20% of her energy
had left the endeavour.
And she managed to correlate that
with 20% dissatisfaction
in the process.
This is our topic this week..
It’s called: Brahmacharya.
To realise
that the energy we’re leaving out
of our engagement
is our dissatisfaction.
And the energy we bring
to what we are engaged in —
is our satisfaction,
and our fulfillment.
Fulfillment isn’t found in the outcome of doing something.
Krishna talks about this a lot
in the Bhagavad Gita.
If you think your fulfilment
is in the outcome of your doing —
Observe:
That's not true.
Because when you get there,
you experience a moment of satisfaction
because you’ve finished.
And that’s largely because
you were suffering
while you were doing it
half-heartedly.
“Thank God that’s done.”
But there’s no real satisfaction there
because immediately, there’s something else.
It must mean
that the fulfilment
is found in the actual doing.
And it’s all for us to notice:
How much we’re in,
and how much we’re out,
of doing whatever we’re doing.
The yogis said:
“If you’re doing it — do it.
Like — really do it.”
It should then become apparent
whether you’re supposed to be doing it or not.
That’s another question.
But whilst you’re there —
do it full.
And notice the part of you
that’s resisting the doing.
That’s taking energy somewhere else.
And say:
“Ah — that’s my suffering.
There it is.”
I’m 20% in, I’m 80% suffering.
I’m 90% in, I’m 10% suffering.
If you go home to see Mum and Dad…
100%
Find out how long you can maintain that 100%.
Play your edge —
just like your hamstring.
A little bit of nudging in…
and then,
when it’s just not doable anymore,
you have to be honest, no?
That’s when you say goodbye.
Because they are worthy
of 100% of you.
When you can’t give that,
it just means you need a break.
You’re building your capacity.
Or maybe Life just wants you to move somewhere else.
Brahmacharya is huge.
The previous three Yamas
have simply been warming us up
for Brahmacharya…
I always feel,
when discussing Brahmacharya,
I’m going to fail.
Even though I’m going to
absolutely give it 100%,
I can’t convey it.
It’s beyond me somehow.
But I’ll do my best.
Take your double breathing for example.
Everything is just an opportunity
to experiment
with this principle.
Now normally,
for a human being —
because we’re locked in our personas,
in our little selves —
when I say:
“Give yourself fully to double breathing,”
our mind will say:
“Oh right! That means go hard!
Give 100%! Go on, prove yourself!”
And this —
is a grand misunderstanding.
If you try and breathe deep and full
from that place,
your breathing will actually shorten.
Basically,
when we try too hard —
it doesn’t work.
Because we’re coming
from a very limited realm.
So just relax inside.
And let the breath come
with full attention
from there.
Gently.
Or powerfully.
Just like our Namastes.
make sure it has meaning.
We’ve already said that the first three Yamas
are a warm-up.
They are preparing the way,
for this fourth initiation.
The first three Yamas are —
the great return to ourSelves.
The first Yama — Ahimsa
is a return to love.
If I cease to force my agenda on Life,
If I cease to manipulate,
If I cease to operate from thoughts of fear and insecurity —
If I relinquish control over the uncontrollable —
Then simply,
the energy that was going out
trying to do all of that
returns
back to where it came from.
It returns back to the Heart.
It becomes,
Patience.
Kindness.
Love —
instead of force and aggression.
That’s a return.
The great return
The returning of your prana.
The returning of your devotion
back to source.
The second Yama — Satya —
says: return to truth.
If I cease to feel the desperate need
to project an image of myself on the screen of the world —
to be something,
someone,
special and great,
to be seen and understood
and felt to be magnificent.
If I relinquish the need
to project a false reality of myself out there —
and I’m just honest…
Then that prana returns.
That energy comes back.
It returns to the truth of itself —
rather than the projected image
or persona of myself.
That is what beauty is
You can’t project beauty.
You can’t put beauty on you.
Beauty is when you’re simply transparent
and not projecting an image that is not true to you.
The third great returning — Asteya
is the return to integrity.
If I cease to operate my energy outwardly
from a sense of lack…
If I stop going out and thinking:
“I must have this or take that to add to myself —
because I’m not enough” —
If my energy stops doing that,
then it naturally
returns
to abundance and integrity
at the source.
These are the three great returnings
of consciousness.
The three great returnings
of our Life force.
Instead of projecting an ego out into the world,
that prana comes and rests back in the divine.
And we start to recognise that—
“what I have within me.
is love, truth and abundance
A great power resides inside of me.
I live in God.
God lives in me.”
At this point —
and only at this point —
does the fourth Yama become appropriate.
Or even relevant.
Really, we can’t even approach the fourth
until, to some degree,
we have the conviction
that,
This is so.
Once we can reach that point of confession —
then we can take the fourth Yama…
Brahmacharya
Brahma — God,
the great power,
the universal creative force.
Charya — to walk with.
Brahmacharya says:
“I am ready to receive
and accept the invitation
to walk with God.
To walk with what I have discovered
within myself.
I am no longer going to walk alone.
And I’m no longer going to walk with the crowd.
I am going to walk
with the truth,
love,
and integrity
that I have discovered within myself!
And that’s enough for me.
I don’t need anything else.”
That’s a Brahmachari.
I’m telling you.
A Brahmachari stands freaking strong.
A Brahmachari is unshakeable.
Unconquerable.
Because a Brahmachari
has the conviction.
the knowledge.
the self-discovered evidence:
“I have this within me.
I’m not going to drift around in Life
apologetic,
small.
I was sent!
I have a great power within me.
It’s not mine —
but I have it within me.
It’s not arrogance —
it’s conviction.
It’s evidential.
I know this to be true.
And I’m going to walk with that.
As that.
For that.”
This is Brahmacharya.
This is the real change of life.
The first three Yamas
were a necessary returning of prana —
so that we can now
walk the talk.
“I walk with God.
I am walking with Divinity.
Wherever I go,
Heaven goes with me.
Wherever I go,
this power comes.
It cannot be any other way.
It’s just that now —
I’m acknowledging it.
And I’m unwilling
to not acknowledge it.
I’m unwilling to ignore it.
I will not live in ignorance anymore.”
That means:
Wherever we go,
if we withdraw our prana
from our outer image,
our fear projections etc.
And we just rest back into my Heart —
Then this power will come forth.
And that will do my life
in every situation.
“I will talk from truth.
I will talk from love.
I will be completely relaxed in myself.
I have absolutely nothing to lose —
because I know this.
I’m not following the crowd.
And I’m not alone.
Therefore — I can offer this.
I’ve taken my energy back.
From this place,
I let the great power come forth.”
But the crucial thing is
the initiation into Brahmacharya says:
You don’t need to be special
to be able to do this.
You don’t need any special powers.
You don’t need your body
to be in a good condition.
You don’t need your mind to be quiet.
You require no special qualifications.
all the things the mind will say:
“Well… before I take on Brahmacharya…
I think I need to…”
You don’t need any of that.
All you need… is a yes.
That’s the only requirement
for this unbelievably brilliant life —
once you’ve taken the first three on the fourth says:
Are you ready to say yes?
Are you ready to commit
to live this kind of life?
I say this is an initiation —
but it’s totally up to you.
You have the opportunity
to say yes.
This is your initiation.
It’s yours if you want it.
It’s an absolutely beautiful life.
If you just say yes once
from an unequivocal place,
it will change everything.
It doesn't mean the job is done.
We will still lose percentages all over the place.
Sometimes the mind will sabotage the god power inside of us.
But the yes still stands
And will always stand.
To be perfect is not a requirement.
If you say yes
Life will have more of you.
It’s an absolutely beautiful way to live.
You’re almost transparent —
you walk around like an absolute nobody,
but you’re carrying the greatest power there is inside of you.
And because you’re transparent,
because you’re nobody —
the light gets to emanate out.
It’s like a little behind-the-scenes job.
Nobody even needs to know you’re doing it.
But you’re blessing everyone
in every situation,
because you’re allowing this energy
from inside your Heart
to come forth.
The Brahmachari is the bringer.
The Brahmachari doesn’t wait.
Doesn’t delay.
The Brahmachari is always there —
ready to give.
Ready to bring.
You are the bringer of joy.
You are the bringer of love.
You are the bringer of peace.
You are the bringer of attention.
You are the bringer of energy.
So every situation you are in is brilliant —
not because you’re perfect,
Simply because
you said yes.
You see —
Life is absolutely committed.
All we’re ever doing
is imitating Life.
Because the idea
is to become one with it.
That’s what yoga means:
union with Life.
Not separate little me.
But open to Life.
And when you observe Life,
you’ll see —
it’s not holding back.
It’s not 40% here, 60% there.
It is 100%, 100% of the time.
It’s not inhibited.
It doesn’t go:
“You deserve a bit.
You deserve more.
You — I’ll give you less.”
The ocean is behind every single wave with its totality.
Feel that.
Every wave has the entirety of the ocean behind it,
but the wave decides to let it in or not.
That is the yes.
In other words:
Life is completely committed to itself —
continuously.
It knows no other way.
It’s an outpouring
of continuous energy,
across the whole universe.
It knows no bounds.
It knows no limits.
It knows no contracts.
It’s just giving.
So if you commit to that —
if you say:
“I commit to this great power
of God inside of me,
this great energy
inside of me…”
Then know this:
That power is already committed
to everything.
You say yes to the One —
and the One is committed to all.
Rather than me —
as a person, as a mind —
trying to divide my forces,
trying to be selectively committed,
preferential, strategic…
It’s full all of the time.
in other words,
when we are here,
and not out there —
we are naturally total with the whole.
The One is doing what you cannot do.
That is what becomes possible with this singular commitment.
And it is already in you.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asks Krishna:
“how does somebody who has said yes walk?
How do they stand?
How do they move?
How do they act?”
And we’ll have a little look at it in the next session.
The glories of it —
that make you shudder.
The mechanism —
is hard.
The yes is easy and brilliant and deep,
but what you’re going to need to do
in order to make this work
is see how divided you are.
And it is colossal.
In the body-mind structure —
from our Hearts we’re all committed,
but the psychology
will be trying to divide the Life energy off all the time,
according to all kinds of habitual,
mostly thinking tendencies.
The game of Brahmacharya
is to see how we lose energy
by cutting ourselves off from what’s happening
and going off
into all kinds of other places.
In these moments the energy is literally
going down the cosmic drain.
It doesn’t land anywhere.
So you start noticing:
“Why am I going somewhere else?”
“Look at me — I’m in triangle pose. Pulsing.”
And you give to it —
and you give to it —
and you start to feel the satisfaction,
the fulfilment of that.
That’s the hard graft
behind the whole endeavour.
Don’t punish yourself for it.
Just joyfully return.
Brahmacharya has to be chosen.
It can’t be put on anyone.
It’s a choice.
This is what it takes…
This initiation has lit a fire inside of us.
And each morning —
It doesn't matter how you do it,
In bed, out of bed, in the shower,
Wherever you can.
Never have this idea that you don’t have time.
Now of course —
it’s better to go sit on a cushion
and light a candle.
Absolutely.
That’s absolutely brilliant.
But one way or another,
I’ve got to make my commitment.
I’ve got to put a log on this fire,
and give it a blow,
and make sure it’s still burning.
I’ve got to remind myself:
“I contain a great power.
Wherever I go, it goes with me.
And I want it to precede me.
I want to walk with with.
I want to be true to it.
I am in service of that.”
You’re making a confirmation.
The Yogis said you’ll probably have to do that in the evening as well.
As a minimum.
And you’ll probably need to pause
occasionally in the day
and remind yourself of this higher purpose.
Come back
to deep meaning
again.
At least if you do it formally in the morning and the evening.
Then you get this loop happening.
Then you always remember what your life is about,
because it’s the only thing that has the depth of meaning
that we are looking for.
We’re not making a big show out of it.
We’re not arrogant.
We are just transparent
and only love can pervade this situation,
only truth, only light everywhere we go.
At the bus stop.
At work.
With your parents.
Cooking.
Washing up.
What am I bringing to this situation?
What am I infusing this moment with?
As a collective,
humans are hanging on by the skin of their teeth in this world.
And it is only because some of this light is still getting through.
What could be more important than inspiring each other,
to stand strong in this and bring it through?
I can’t think of anything more important than that.
Namaste Brahmachari.
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