The Four Locks & Keys: Cultivating Equanimity
In many spiritual traditions, life is characterized by dissatisfaction or suffering. This is because both life and humans are imperfect and as a result, we are bound to suffer physically, psychologically, and emotionally. But we also experience periods of happiness and perhaps even moments of satisfaction. If we are bound to a cycle of pleasure-seeking, however, we will inevitably increase our frequency of dissatisfaction because the pleasure-seekers operate from an inner expectation that life should be devoid of suffering.
Within the Yoga Sutras of Sri Patanjali, we are given a suggestion of how to maintain a calm and undisturbed mind which will alleviate our suffering. The teachings of verse 1.33 intersect with the Buddhist practice of the Brahmaviharas or the Four Sublime States. These states of being are love, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. The late Swami Satchidananda said that even if we have no desire to attain enlightenment or choose to ignore yoga completely, learning and living by this one verse of the Yoga Sutras helps one to maintain a serene mind in the midst of the life’s fluctuations.
“By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and equanimity toward the non-virtuous, the mind-stuff retains undisturbed calmness.”
Love
Cultivating feelings of loving-kindness towards those that are happy seems pretty obvious, but let’s face it, how many times does seeing other people’s happiness and success leave us feeling less-than in some way or even bitter? In the state of animosity, we lose our ability to think clearly and the mind becomes darker and duller as it grapples with our inner turmoil. We no longer see ourselves in the context of the larger world, but through the very small lens of our own little self--our desire for the perceived happiness or success that we see in others. If we don’t find a tool to shift our focus, our anger intensifies.
The antidote to this condition, according to Patanjali, is to create an inner environment of friendship and positive attitude towards those we deem to be happy or successful. This practice isn’t suggesting suppressing our feelings, instead it's a contemplative practice of correct understanding. Our minds are like magnets, we attract thoughts of a similar nature. Dismantling our justification for directing negativity towards others and seeing them in the light of friendship protects both the individual and collective mind.
Compassion
Sometimes when others are suffering, we turn away from them due to the discomfort that their circumstances cause us. And even more than just turning away, sometimes we can be downright cruel. We see this play out all of the time in our larger society as oppressive social practices rooted in ego-driven, self-centered desires.To counter our waning concern for the welfare of others, Patanjali advises us to practice compassion.
The practice of compassion begins by discovering and acknowledging the injured person inside of us. The pain caused by our emotional injuries makes us insensitive and when unchecked it manifests into a breeding ground for violence and cruelty. When compassion is paired with wisdom we have the ability to remain on neutral ground while actively loving, caring and serving those who are suffering free of judgement.
Sympathetic Joy
As a part of our ancient survival mechanism, modern neuroscience has found that our brain focuses on what is wrong, detecting danger to avoid it. Rick Hanson says that our brain is like Velcro for bad experiences, which stick to us, and like Teflon for good experiences, which tend to slip away from us. The point is, we need to actively cultivate a relationship with joy and happiness. This, of course, requires a conscious effort to do so.
We often attribute happiness to moments when our desires are fulfilled. Unfortunately most of our desires stem from our global consumer society and our moments of happiness are fleeting. But when we experience a sense of felt-connectedness with everything, we experience lasting happiness. Within each one of us exists a reservoir of pure joy and yoga simply removes everything which blocks our experience of it. Upon discovering this infinite resource within, we can help others to find that joy within themselves. This is the essence of sympathetic joy.
Equanimity
Equanimity is balance and it bestows a clear mind, one which not only can see into our true nature, but is also able to see that all of existence exists in flux. When our mind is established within equanimity, we understand that attachments to anything will inevitably cause us sorrow. Equanimity is often experienced for temporary moments or periods of time, if at all. Nonetheless, the effort to establish ourselves in this refined state of mind is well worth it, for the benefits are profound.
The practice of equanimity requires discipline, patience and sustained effort. But even a small amount of effort to establish a clear and balanced mind helps us to accept the inevitability of change and let go of upholding impermanent structures. Equanimity also allows the other three sublime states to work together in harmony and is the foundation of them. Establishing ourselves within these four sublime states is not only a liberating way to live our lives, but it shows others of the possibility to live in an abundance of love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity and share these qualities with all beings, without exception and without favor.