The Brahmavihara
– Creating the Qualities of an Open Heart
Living yoga is living through the heart. How do we live with and open heart? How do we start the journey of arriving there? Answers can be gained from ancient sources.
The Yoga Sutra is one of the clearest and widely respected sources for guidance on living the yogic life and the path to creating inner peace. The author, Patanjali, states that our happiness depends on seeing one true thing: who we really are, our soul self. Yet he acknowledges that the human condition makes it difficult to see this reality. The Yoga Sutra teaches that by looking at the obstacles to seeing one’s true self, eventually the veil of separation—and cause for suffering—can be lifted.
The Five Causes of Suffering
Patanjali lists five causes of suffering (the kleshas) to help us know what our obstacles are:
- ignorance of our eternal nature,
- seeing oneself as separate and divided from the rest of the world,
- attraction and attachment to impermanent things,
- aversion to the unpleasant, and
- clinging to life because we fail to perceive the seamless continuity of consciousness, which cannot be broken by death.
Knowing what causes suffering is a good thing. Knowing what to do about it is better still. Patanjali introduces a heartfelt and down-to-earth starting place for us to shape our perceptions and start us on the path to ending our suffering.
Ending Our Suffering
He encourages us to develop four attitudes (brahmavihara) towards life’s challenges; applying theme to all our relationships and situations will help us to change our mood and ease suffering. The belief is that by establishing the four foundational attitudes we can cultivate a spiritual path through relationships and the conscious perceptions that shape our mental equilibrium.
This simple philosophy has a great degree of power behind it. Unless we choose to live the life of a reclusive hermit we are constantly interacting with others, and as such, each interaction is an opportunity to “be” in the world from our highest states of awareness.
The benefit of practicing the four brahmavihara is a high quality of being centered in an open heart creating a sense of equanimity even in troubled times. Through a cultivated attitude we gain an inner balance, a spacious stillness of the mind that radiates confidence and calm. Being fully present with all the different changing experiences that constitute our our lives we learn to counter the inner disturbances and tendency of the mind to be distracted and outwardly directed.
The four Brahmavihara are as follows:
- Friendliness toward the joyful. (loving kindness/metta) Gain confidence in your ability to live compassionately by associating with friendly people and extending your support and friendship to others. Cultivating friendliness and loving kindness produces kind-hearted feelings and a good nature.
- Compassion for those who are suffering. (compassion/karuna) Practice empathy and an intention to relieve and transform suffering, to lighten sorrow. This will break down the arbitrary division between what is personal and what is universal, strengthening your sense of connectivity to others.
- Celebrating the good in others. (joy/mudita) Celebrate the positive traits, praiseworthy qualities, successes and good fortune of others in an unqualified way. Also, cultivate associations with peaceful people who have already achieved a high level of spiritual awareness as a way to strengthen the same within yourself. When we love, joy seems to surround and pervade us.
- Remaining impartial to the faults and imperfections of others. (equanimity/upeksa) Letting go of the old stories and harbored ill will towards others will foster equanimity. Observe from a safe distance and liberally apply non judgement and forgiveness. Understand that we manufacture our own torment by failing to detach ourselves from things that ultimately we cannot change in others.