Satya— Be Truth

Yoga Philosophy Week 5 Satya/Truth

Yoga Philosophy

Limb or Principle 1, part 2 of 10 Yama/Niyama (Ethics for Life)

"As truthfulness (satya) is established, each action (Kriya) will result or bear fruit (phala) as one’s foundation or support (asrayatvam)."  

Yoga Sutra 2.36

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."

John F. Kennedy

"Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness. "

Khalil Gibran

The Truth is more than not tell Lies

Un-truths are a bit different than lies.  Lies are blatant and meant to deceive.

An un-truth is more of a thought based on a misconception.  These also deceive us and others. 

What un-truths do we tell to ourselves?  during our daily lives,  during our yoga practice?  

One of the first lines in the Yoga Sutras, (the book on Yoga Philosophy written by Patanjali prior to 400 BCE) was that Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. And that when this happens we know our true self.  Then the 8 limb system for knowing the true self is laid out.   

1-2  Following certain Ethics
3.  Physical Practice
4. Breath Practice
5. Sense Withdrawal
6. Concentration
7.Mediation
8. Bliss

The second Principle in the Ethics of Yoga is to be truthful or rather to be truth.  When we are truthful it is said we will have a great support and foundation.

A little bit about the word Sat 

1. Satya means to be truth.  Sat — truth and Ya—- to be.  

2. Sat Nam.  One of my yoga teachers taught the Sat Nam Mantra which means I am Truth or Truth, I am.  

3. Sattva as a quality of life.  There are three qualities of life:  Rajas, Tamas and Sattva.  Sattva is our true state in yoga. It represents our natural state to which yoga seeks to bring us.

Sattva

Sattva is a state of mind that is balanced and tranquil. It is the root of the word Sattvavajaya which is the use of ayurveda (Yoga lifestyle) and Yoga to draw the mind to its natural state of balance, tranquility, and clarity.  The goal is healing and transforming the mind.

Rajas

Rajas is a state of mind that is full of movement, simulation, impulse, and feels imbalanced.  This may be labeled as ADD, lack of focus, shatter brained, hyper, monkey mind. This is often the fight in fight, flight or freeze response.  Rajas is also passion and energy. Rajas gets us going and keeps us going.

Tamas

Tamas is a state of Mind that feels stuck, heavy, and, immobilized.  It is characterized by the freeze or flight in the flight, flight, or freeze response and feelings of overwhelm.  Tamas is also steady, Tamas makes us take a break and rest.

When we think about lies, we may think about the lies we tell other people. What lies do we tell?   According to a UMass Study 60% of us lie everyday. Mostly to other people to seem likable and impress people.  (See article below.)   It is important to reflect on the lies we tell ourselves as well. For example, when we lie to others to impress them we are also telling lies to ourselves that the real us isn't good enough.  We tell different lies to ourselves and our close family members and friends. 

How might Rajas or Tamas impact our lies we tell other people and ourselves?  

Rajas Un-Truths: If we are over stimulated and lacking self-control we might not see people or ourselves as they/we truly are and lash out in anger.  This example includes un-truths we might tell based on not seeing the truth about other people or ourself.  For example the often used phrases: "You always ... "  and  "You never ..."  

In Yoga poses we may get mad at certain body parts.  For example, I used to call my wrist stupid because I broke them and they couldn't do arm balances.  I decided if that were true I would accept it, but just in case it wasn't I would gently stretch my wrist and work on it and see what happened. It turned out my wrists are not, in fact, stupid and they can support me.  

Meditation/ Relaxation we may get angry at our minds and emotions and berate ourselves "My mind is overactive, I am no good at this."  

What types of angry things do you say about your body or mind? 

Tamas Un-Truths:  If we are feeling that flight or freeze response or feeling of overwhelm we might tell the un-truth of "I Can't."  Or tell others that they can't.  For example, "You/I can't change, You/ I can't do it that way, You / I can't accomplish this or that. "  In Yoga poses we might say things like "I'll never be able to balance in tree pose."  or "I can't do yoga because I am not flexible enough". I can't relax, I can't meditate .. "  What types of things do you say? 



Speaking the truth in love.  Sometimes there are hard truths.  Things we may need to face and admit to ourselves or things we may feel called to help a loved one see about his or herself.  Blending speaking the truth with some of the other Yoga Principles like Ahimsa (Non-harming/ Loving Kindness),  Aparigraha (Non-Grasping / Letting Go), Asetya (Non-Stealing, Being Giving a Grateful) can help us speak the truth in love to others and to ourselves.  

The Truth.  The Truth with a big "T"  could take a lifetime to study. There are centuries of philosophy about Truth.  Religions have their ideas about Truth.  Poems are written about Truth.. . "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" (Keats).  In Yoga, there is the idea that we have a natural state (Sattva) that is revealed to use or we being to understand and see when we strip away all the un-truths, myths, and stories we tell ourselves, or beleive that we are told, when we strip away the labels.  When we take a moment to be still and be in the moment and just be.  This is our foundation and support which when it governs our thoughts and actions leads us to feeling balanced and peaceful.  

"As truthfulness (satya) is established, each action (Kriya) will result or bear fruit (phala) as one’s foundation or support (asrayatvam)."  



Some article

WHAT IS SATYA? HOW TO LIVE YOUR TRUTH  https://www.gaia.com/article/what-is-satya

Article about the amount of un-truths we tell everyday.

https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/umass-amherst-researcher-finds-most-people-lie-everyday-conversation

Some other artciles

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-lies-we-tell-ourselves_b_11056142

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14800/the-15-most-damaging-lies-we-tell-ourselves.html