Many intellectually developed people are still emotionally imma
ture. If they have to face pains, they try to escape from them. They are
seldom prepared to face that pain and to work through it when they
are taken intensely into a posture. This practice brings them face to
face with the reality of their bodies' natures. We must face up to our
emotions, not run away from them. We do not do yoga just for enjoy
ment; we do it for ultimate emancipation.
Most people want to take joy without suffering. I will take both.
See how far suffering takes me. When you do not resist suffering, you
will make friends with other people who suffer. I suffered a lot in my
own body. Now when someone tells me of his sufferings, I feel in my
body what that suffering is. My personal experience provides me with
great love and compassion. So I say, "My friend, let me try and do
something." Pain comes to guide you. When you have known pain,
you will be compassionate. Shared joys cannot teach us this.
However, compassion does not mean pity. A surgeon operates on
patients, which would be painful for the patients if they were not
anaesthetized. As a yoga teacher, I have to operate when the patient is
conscious. Obviously it is painful. But it is only in this way that we
learn to act, to live, to grow. We all have presence of mind when every
thing goes well, but we need to have presence of mind when something
goes wrong. If we face suffering and accept it as a necessary means, all
anxiousness disappears.
Every illness is in reality a part of ourselves; it is a part of our man
ifestation. According to yogic philosophy, diseases and suffering are the
fruits of our past actions. In that sense we are responsible for what we
have created. If we confront affliction through yoga, we awaken a new
awareness of tolerance and endurance, as well as a true sympathy for
others in their afflictions. These qualities indicate the degree of devel
opment we have reached. So why not take adversity positively? Cer
tainly it is an alarm signal, but it also contains the seed for its own
resolution and transcendence.
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