The Yoga Sutras

I've started study of the Yoga Sutras. The study guide we are using is by Reverend Jaganath Carrera, and it is comprehensive. The first sixteen Sutras took 52 pages of exposition. In order to really understand and learn, I'm taking notes for about the first time since college. In my mind, the most important concepts of the first 16 involve vritti - or the way the mind makes sense of the things it experiences and how that can cause wrong understanding of the world around us, and the concept of nonattachment. Of those two - having nonattachment defined and fully explained was the most mind opening. I spent most of the night just contemplating the wonder of such a concept and making little asides to my husband.

I have class in about two hours and am excited to begin discussion. As I begin to understand and translate all this into my own experiences I'll post it. About all I was really able to wrestle with was an encompassing definition of nonattachment that in a couple sentences summarized the ten pages of explanation. I want to write more, much more about that later but here it is:

Nonattachment is the ability to relate to objects and people without the veil of our own selfish desires and needs. To fully relate and see people and things as they are, not as they relate to us. To see them without ascribing our need, desire, anger, craving, sadness to them. In many ways it is the opposite of detachment - rather than detaching from the object or person, we make a connection by seeing what it truly is for the first time.