[Energy] Wheels Keep On Turning: Shiva Sutra 3.29
What if the answer to the challenges of our life wasn’t actually an answer, but a question? Take a moment to ask yourself, “Is the wheel of my inner practice turning right now? Can I feel my heart, my breath, my seat?” According to the teachings of our current Sutra, you may find that your inner wheels of awareness are not the ones moving you through your life, but rather, your mental and physical patterns, your samskaras, are the actually the wheels turning you— in circles. And as we will see in the Sutra, mastering our “wheels of energy” isn’t a feat of strength or will, but rather, is accomplished through a light touch— a simple reflective turn that helps you engage this inner wheel over and over again, until it truly becomes that which your life revolves around. And in the end, we see this inner wheel as that which defines a teacher, as that which allows the ‘energy of knowledge’ to flow.
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Shiva Sutra 3.29: Yo’vipastho Jñāhe-tuśca: “The one who rules the wheel of energies becomes the cause of inserting knowledge in others.”
Taking a moment for the Sutra itself, before getting into the commentary, we see two clear ideas. First, there are ‘wheels of energy’ that we use to navigate our life. These wheels can either work for us, or against us, depending on the ‘fullness of our awareness’, as previous sutras have taught. Second, the one who learns to rule these wheels of energy becomes ‘the cause of inserting knowledge in others,” which is another way of saying a teacher, a guide. So according to this sutra, a teacher is defined as someone who has learned to rule their inner energy. Now let’s dive into Ksemaraja’s explanation of the Sutra to explore deeper layers to the Sutra.
We begin with the following quote: “The master who has established sovereignty over the wheel of energies (śakticakra) is not played by these energies but is instead the player. The wheel of energies is classified in two segments: the energies pertaining to cognition (jñānendriyas), and the energies pertaining to action (karmendriyas).” In this quote we see right away that the wheels of energy can be wheels that we use to move through our life, or wheels that run us in circles. These wheels of energy are known as Shakti (Energy) Chakras (Wheels). We are shown that there are two primary energy wheels, that of cognition and that of action. To help understand this, we can actually look at how our minds and body’s function— it’s actually a lot like a wheel!
Our mind and body work to find efficient patterns and then run from those patterns on loop, just like a wheel. For example, when you find a path to work that gets you there fastest, you always take it. When you find an app you like, you click on it. Did you know that we operate according to these pattern like behaviors so much that certain social media apps can detect if your Login has been stolen simply based on the way the thief clicks around your screen— they aren’t you because they don’t click in the same patterned order you always do. Wild, right? Well, yogis have been talking about this for millennia.
Our mind and body are built to work from patterns, and like a wheel they just keeps rolling with those patterns endlessly, like a computer program. We saw this described in the “Intro to Kashmir Shaivism”, when the text told us that the manas (the lower mind) is like a sensor that takes in information, but the Ahamkara (The Ego, the middle tier of the mind) is like a pattern recognizer that relates to that information as it stores it, like Google. And as we know of the ego, these ego patterns can become quite crystallized, which eventually leads to a more and more limited experience of reality.
The Sutra calls these individuals “ignorant souls” because they have forgotten their true nature and are living in a cyclical world of patterns.
As the Sutra teaches: “These śakti cakras protect these ignorant souls by providing them with taste, with form, with touch, with smell, and with whatever else they need. This so-called protection is not really protection because it provides them with these sensual pleasures.”
So instead of being the player, and using our senses to grow, we become the played, and are led around by our mind and senses. We all know the feeling of a nagging thought that just keeps running on loop, devouring tremendous amounts of energy, leaving us frazzled. Or a physical pattern, like our posture at our desk, that keeps our neck permanently soar. So the Sutra goes on to say that a teacher should be someone who is no longer ruled by their patterns, someone who has risen above them, and until then keep working on yourself. As the Sutra teaches, “The person who is influenced by the wheel of energies, which means who is dependent on their senses, is not able to protect themself, so how could they possibly protect others? They are constrained to follow the demand of their senses, so how could they possibly elevate others? They can not. It is impossible.” This might feel like a hard point to swallow, because we all want to change the world, and all know how it could be improved, but according to the Sutras, and our lineage, we have to change ourselves first. And that begins by seeing which wheels are turning you, ie, who’s driving the bus? Your Practice, or your samskaras?
This internal self-check became the fulcrum around which this Sutra revolved in my life and practice, and it soon became clear just how much more practice I could be doing, and how little I really needed to be saying to others. A strong teaching from Swami Rudrananda came to mind for me, wherein he tells us that in most situations we unconsciously tend to think of ourselves as the savior, as the protector, as the teacher— but in reality we are probably the ones in need of saving, protecting and teaching. As Swami Rudrananda teaches: “Many people wish to see themselves as pink angels, with blue wings, walking among the unfortunate, spreading light and love. It is a revelation to find you are one of the unfortunates. Great effort is needed to produce this insight, making it possible to feel gratitude within…This revelation during the surrender is what shocks a man into acceptance of his true situation.”
As Rudi says, great effort is needed to actually see our own condition, and that this revelation is the starting point of our work, the opening for real gratitude. If you are always trying to change your world on the outside, you miss this opportunity and keep living in your patterns. For example, the effort you might spend telling someone else how to do something ‘right’ or ‘better’ could have been energy you spent within yourself surrendering the thing they are doing to annoy you. Because of this Sutra I found the courage to keep my mouth shut when I was really upset, and do my practice, and I felt myself growing beyond the tension— I felt myself persevere through something that I thought I couldn’t. And what’s more, I saw on multiple occasions the situation resolve itself without my input in a much more nourishing way than I ever could have.
So I began asking myself this simple question throughout my day: “Is My Wheel Turning?”, ie. Am I Practicing? And as the Sutra foretold, more times than not, when caught in an emotion or thought pattern, my wheel was not turning, they were caught on the physical or mental tension. Other times, I might have been experiencing joy in the form of a sip of coffee or tea, but also noticed, my inner wheels weren’t turning, I wasn’t tracing this joy to its source in my heart. In so many situations this simple question put me face to face with my true condition and kept me practicing— which in the end is teaching of the Sutra.
Because as the Sutra tells us, a ‘master' is not defined by what they say or do externally, but by the work they are doing internally while they perform the actions of their life. As the Sutra teaches, “To say that a master has sovereignty over these energies is to say they are not played by them. On the contrary, they are the player and they become the cause of inserting knowledge into others.” So a teacher is not defined by their external abilities, but by their internal ones. A teacher, a guide, a protector, is someone who can get out of the way and let the energy come through. Because, as the Sutra continues, a teacher’s ‘knowledge’ is not a physical thing, but an energetic one.
“In the present sūtra, the Sanskrit word jñā means the energy of knowledge (jñānaśakti). For those who are their disciple, this master becomes the source of knowledge and by the energy of that knowledge, they become successful in inserting knowledge into their disciples.” It is the energy that teaches, the energy that comes through the teacher is the real teaching. This is why Babaji has always taught that Satsang (questions and answers with a teacher) is not a mental activity, but a heart to heart transmission. He has always taught that his goal as a teacher is to get out of the way and let the energy flow. Babaji often tells us that he is surprised by what comes out of his mouth during Satsang, because it doesn’t feel like he is the one speaking— the teachings are coming through him. This is a concept that is shared by artists in all fields, from painters to musicians and beyond— and through meditation we can learn to bring this priceless skill to all aspects of our life.
So take a moment to ask yourself now, and ten minutes from now, and ten hours from now— “Is my inner wheel turning?”, and in that moment you’ll feel where your work is. Because if you’re not driving the bus, you can be sure your samskaras are! And the fascinating thing is that this question might just be the answer you’re looking for, because as the Sutras teach, a master is solely defined as one who keeps their inner wheels turning— nothing more, nothing less. So ask yourself again, “are my inner wheels turning?”, and allow this simple question to become your cosmic teacher.