Patanjali is the author and compiler of what are known as the Yoga Sutras. There are 4 Chapters that comprise over 190 Sutras about how to attain liberation using the mind. Patanjali describes the obstacles most of us face in the way of Enlightenment and then outlines many systems for overcoming or dissolving those obstacles. This is a veritable instruction manual where formulas are codified that when employed always deliver the results. For example there is an amazing instruction for how to keep the mind ‘pure’ or still and in deep Peace. Patanjali instructs in Sutra 1.33 how to keep a pure mind when navigating the world.
Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras declare that we must be friendly to happiness, compassionate to suffering, inspired by virtue and indifferent to that which formerly would have disgusted us. To keep a pure mind we can employ these powerful techniques when confronted by those common interactions. When we see happy people we can be happy for them! When we see suffering people we can appreciate where they are coming from! When we see virtues people we can be joyful! And most importantly we can live our lives free from the polluting energy of judgmental disgust.
It is both the most interesting and most difficult to appreciate… this last instruction about keeping ourselves nuetral and indifferent instead of feeling judgment or disgust. The ability to remain with equanimity in life and keep the mind still and the well being present, it is required to not hate things, not be disgusted by people and not judge. When we can interact with life in this way we will find that there is pervasive sense of peace in our minds.