Day 33

Even though the translations seem to be speaking about “people”, you can understand it in regards to your experiences. 

This sutra teaches us to develop our intellectual discernment. To be able to cultivate friendliness, compassion, elation, and indifference in appropriate ways, we must first be able to determine what is happening; happiness, suffering, virtue, or non-virtue, and what is not. This requires that we see clearly our experiences. That we do not veil them, with our own constructions of identification. Whoa! Is that even possible? 

What is happiness? Suffering? Virtuous? Non-Virtuous? Do experiences actually hold these qualities by themselves? Or are these qualities projected onto these experiences by us? 

This question has been debated for centuries, globally. There are many schools of thought. Buddhist views suggest nothing has its own character, you project the character onto your experience. The tantrik view would suggest that everything does have its own essence and that the meeting of two, (such as you with the object of your experience) the merging of two essences determines the character of the experience.
Patanjali is suggesting that we do come into contact with experiences that have their own inherent qualities.

I think that it is important to see things clearly and give them an appropriate response. This requires that we evaluate our lens ( our device for looking and making clear observations) regularly and critically. We must also be willing to change our “minds” when we don’t find that our cognitions are accurate. 

Patanjali says there are four types of locks in the world, distractions or disturbances. He says there are four keys, friendliness, compassion, delight, and disregard. Knowing how to apply these appropriately keep a peaceful mind in this world of experience. 

You can look at this another way. There are four types of people, those who are happy or sad, those who are virtuous or not virtuous. 

Meet others, who are happy, with happiness. You say of course. But this needs to be said because it goes beyond our own nature, our survival skills. When we see someone who is succeeding, sometimes we feel jealousy instead of friendliness. 

Meet others, who are in pain, with compassion. When we see someone suffering, we should treat them with compassion. Being rude, or mean, acting out through one’s speech or actions, may seem nonvirtuous. However, they may just be the symptoms of someone who is suffering. Have compassion for those, not disdain. Try to help those who suffer, be merciful always. 

Meet the virtuous with elation. Be delighted in their virtue, take them as your inspiration, take them as your mentor. Never try to bring them down, never envy them, imitate them. 

There are wicked people out there, we can not deny it. Patanjali suggests we meet them with indifference. You could say, “Yes they are like that today, maybe they will be different tomorrow.” I like this line of thought. It is not your responsibility to teach them or change them. You should not waste your time or energy. You should not hate them, or define them, you leave them the space to recreate themselves when the time is right. You actually honor them by being confident in their ability to respond in a virtuous way. 

Remember we are trying to keep a peaceful mind. These are the tools.