Three teachings from the Upanishads for the journey of personal transformation
Among the key teachings of the ancient Upanishads is this. For effective personal transformation, we need:
- The right knowledge
- Conscious personal effort
- Mindfulness
Guided study from sound sources is key to developing the knowledge we need. Without knowing what to do, we are not likely to be successful in any sphere of life. Our own personal growth is no exception.
What is the nature of our mind, body, and senses? How do they behave and why? What are the barriers challenging our positive shifts? We must work towards understanding such subjects clearly.
As the Samkhya Karika notes, knowledge without action is lame, and action without knowledge is blind!
To put the right knowledge into practice, we need deliberate, conscious, personal effort. Making any positive change needs some energy. The power of past patterns creates inertia; it wants to keep us static or moving in the same direction that we are already.
To move, think, breathe, eat, or speak differently, we have to put in effort to not only create that change but also stick with it, until it changes our samskaras, our patterns, and creates new habits.
Accompanying these two, we should highlight a fundamental practice—the capacity of mindfulness. If we watch over ourselves as much as possible, we will not slip far from our choices. When we give into mindless action, we cannot be sure what patterns and habits will drive us. But when we see our mind, our body, our senses, with clear awareness, we know how we are in the present and that opens the door to conscious choice. Also, mindfulness is the ultimate practice in yoga: it brings us back to our true nature as consciousness.
The journey towards inner steadiness is a gradual one. If we make these three teachings from the Upanishads our companions, that journey will be smooth and reliable!