Clever Bird: Inspired by Patanjali's Yoga Sutra

Three students from the Advanced Yoga Teacher Training I run with Idit Tamir (Sukha Mukha) wrote this collaborative piece inspired by their studies of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra using the analogy of a 'Clever Bird' with the mind.  I loved this piece and thought I would share it with you here. 

Poem:

Like the wind, the Clever bird is free to flicker and flock as she pleases.
Whatever glistens and catches the eye is where she may go. Clever bird, free, without rules, without boundaries, like the wind. Hopping from river and lake, from treetop to treetop. Boundless Freedom!

The rolling stone which gathers no moss.

The nomad with little possession as is the nomadic style of life.

Lands are explored, new adventures await. Freedom, she cries! Alas it is here!
Answers to no-one!

Resident of everywhere and anywhere.

Skimming surfaces. Too little time for an impression to be left. Clever bird, soon to lay eggs must build a nest. Winter is nigh, and so is new life;

baby birds.

But oh to choose a tree!
All so glorious with vastly different views. Why only 1?
And so she builds many. How clever indeed!

1 twig to start the nest on this tree, another twig for this tree.

1 bird. 1 family.

7 nests on 7 beautiful trees!

So many twigs for so many nests!
She tires.

Each nest has some kind of base. Not very sturdy, not very safe. At least there are many. 7!

Clever bird.

Exhausted by the effort to gather for so many abodes.

No time to waste for eggs she must lay. 7 unstable? or 1 safe and steady?
1 nest will have to do.

The view, she chooses are glorious fields and mountains afar.

The other 6 nests boast scenery of ocean views and glorious sunrise.
Lakes that trickle with urgency over the ripples of stones within.

She gathers the twigs from all 7 bases to build 1. Suitable to cater to arrival of new life, she settles.

She learns below is a leaf that shelters an abundance of life in the earth. Worms! And the kind suitable for a feast of baby birds!

3 trees down resides a winged quail who too prepares for the arrival of offspring. Friendships are made, boundaries are set. Baby birds are born safely, securely in a place they call home

Frolicking, while fun, lacked depth and substance, thinks Clever bird!
Freedom was futile without purpose, she ponders.

Many homes to tend is much work in many places.
1 abode means 1 home. Perfectly appropriate to focus on what truly matters.

A single place of abode, time to nurture and nourish not only her babies, but also her very essence. For the first time, Clever Bird hears the whisper of the trees. Tales of the wisdom of ages now an inner existence.

The chaos of freedom spreading wings wide was fun, she reflects.

However, the stability and focus found to cater to the new chapter serves with depth and wealth. Riches in friendship, family, and an abundance of all that nourishes life.

 Clever Bird Indeed!

Explanation: 

I guess one way to explain it would be you can compare it to having one purpose in your house, e.g. to paint the wall. If you have scattered attention, you will never complete the job and will be distracted by all other things causing the wall painting to remain unfinished/. Still, you would have enjoyed the other things you did while avoiding the wall painting, e.g. having a coffee, talking on the phone, going to dinner, etc.

Having a focus on your purpose, you will get the job done. Other things can wait.

Now apply that to your spiritual purpose. Establish the outcome you want is peace, enlightenment, samadhi: and focus the mind on that - this will bring you to avoid things that take you away from peace and draw you towards thoughts /habits /attitudes /actions that support more periods of peace.

It's all about training the mind.

The Sutras are interpreted here as an instruction on manifestation on the spiritual and/or material plane. Acknowledging that the energy required for spiritual absorption requires intentionality and focus. How does one stay true to their intentions and focus? It is through making aligned choices to one's personal truth. Yet as this sutra states, 'the rise of one­ pointedness in the citta is the transformation towards samadhi,' suggests that the multi-faceted attention or scattered attention must be weakened to reach one- pointedness. To maintain focus and continue to follow the intention set, practice discipline is required. Having the ability to set healthy boundaries with right use of energy will only support the cultivation and continuation of energy needed to stay focused. The Sutras are a reminder that all that we need is already within. It's about bringing the practice to life through the means of how we move through the world from a place of dedicated sadhana that the world does not see. 

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