Thoughts on Isvara pranidhana

Staying with the Divine.
When we practice the yamas and niyamas as best we can, it releases us from attachment. The desires that cause chitta vritti are cleared and make a way for us to fill the space with thoughts of Isvara. Isvara is defined as God or the Divine, but also as the transcendental, Universal Self. When one dedicates his actions and devotes his thoughts to Isvara, then bhakti (adoration, a special love) flows through him and he realizes spiritual illumination. This is the goal of Isvara pranidhana.

This is a concept that may be easy to spell out in black and white, but hardest to grasp. Desikachar simply states that if you are practicing the other observances, "let it suffice that we know we have done our best...leave the rest to a higher power."

But if you find yourself wanting to do more to go with Isvara, consider Satchidananda's explanation. In his commentary of the Yoga Sutras, he says that Isvara pranidhana is not just dedication to the Divine, but to humanity. He adds humanity because it is a part of the Divine that is tangible for us. God is not sitting, waiting for offerings from us. The universe is God, our world and everything in it is God, our humanity is God. When we dedicate our lives to benefit humanity, we dedicate ourselves ultimately to the Universe.

Kathy asked us to list 100 things we do that is Yoga. If a student has already begun to establish Isvara pranidhana, she could make a list in moment by just detailing her morning activities. Everything around us is Divine. Once you begin to appreciate this, you can choose to regard "work" in a different light. Handle everything with consideration and respect and dedicate your attention to each task you perform. Focus on it, rather than multitask your mind to think of several things at once. That makes everything we do Yoga and appreciate everything as Divine.

I wrote that one act I do that is Yoga is folding laundry. I used to loathe folding laundry. It took me away from other activities that I found more pleasurable. I would fold it quickly and stuff it into a basket. Sometimes the laundry did not make it back into drawers before I started pulling things out of it to wear. Sometimes I would not even match socks and fold underwear.

Recently, I began to change my attitude toward folding laundry. I now put my attention on how I fold each piece and place it in a specific pile (IE. older son's pants, younger son's pants, my pants, husband's pants, likewise with shirts and other items). If I grab a sock, instead of throwing it back in a basket, I place it aside and wait for the match to show up as I keep folding. The act of folding is a mantra, it is Zen. I zone out of life a bit as I work like a machine to finish the task.

Once I am completely finished, I can see it all before me, neatly organized and folded. It is actually quite beautiful compared to the disarray. An organized batch of laundry is much easier to put away and socks are easy to find when I need them. I find bhakti in the discipline of finishing the task of laundry. (Now, if I can just practice Isvara pranidhana in cleaning bathrooms, I might just attain samadhi!)