Who wants chocolate?

Listening to Gina talk about attachment this morning before meditation, I couldn't help but recall learning about the five obstacles on the path of yoga-- the kleshas. They are avidya, asmita, raga, dvesa, and abhinivesa. Avidya means ignorance, and it is the root of all the other obstacles. Ignorance manifests when we mistake the impure for the pure, the temporal for the eternal, pleasure for pain, and non-self for Self. Asmita is ego -- mistaking the little "i" for the big "I". Raga is attachment and dvesa is aversion. Abhinivesa is clinging to life.

Throughout the day today, I've been mulling over the manifestations of ignorance -- particularly mistaking the temporal for the eternal. One of the most temporary things we experience is the body. Yet, for many of us, the body becomes our identity. We wash it and feed it and exercise it and dress it up and make it up. Industries are built around the cult of the body. Yet it is clear that the body is not who we are -- we are the internal witness, the deep Self, the Atman. My body may be missing the occasional piece of chocolate right now, but my deep Self is not. My body may want some peanut butter, but my deep Self doesn't need it. My body is temporal, my deep Self is eternal. Why focus all my attention and time and energy on that which is temporary and ignore that which is eternal? This is what I must remember when we are finished with this immersion and cleanse...That the part of me I want to nourish and cultivate, my deep Self, is not nourished by caffeine and sugar and all the other fleeting pleasures, but by asana and meditation and long walks in nature and joyful connection with others of like heart.

"Occasionally all of us stumble across the truth, but most of the time we pick ourselves up and walk on as if nothing happened." Churchill