Living is Giving is Growing: Shiva Sutra 3.28

A yogi’s reason for living is giving, and as we learn in this Sutra, the true best gift one can give is an open heart and calm mind. So for the yogi, living is giving, and giving is growing! (Scroll down for full article)

Living is Giving is Growing: Shiva Sutra 3.28
By Acharya Satyam Ehinger

A yogi’s reason for living is giving, and as we learn in this Sutra, the true best gift one can give is an open heart and calm mind. So for the yogi, living is giving, and giving is growing!

Shiva Sutra 3.28: dānamātmajñānam

“The Yogi’s only purpose for remaining in their body is to impart their knowledge to others.”

A yogi’s reason for living is giving knowledge of the Self. But how can you give this kind of knowledge— As we know from previous sutras, and the holiday season with family, talking about your practice is a slippery slope off center. 

Shiva Sutra 3.26: “Due to the impressions the yogi has of what others think of them or expect from them and of their wanting to help others, to satisfy them with boons, the yogi may lose their temper and become careless and uneven-minded, blocking their flow of God consciousness.”

And what’s more, the lasting path inside can only be walked by the individual, and can’t ultimately be revealed by another. 

“Actually, this state of the Śaivaite yogī is the real state of Śiva. This state is not revealed to others; it is revealed only to the revealers. (Netra Tantra 8.41–45)”

So what is the yogic approach to giving? We’ve got to look the other direction to find the answer. Giving is an internal act, an internal experience. We first have to feel inside ourselves, and then we can be effective in our service to others. Seva, for example, isn’t about how fast you are at weeding, but how well you use the weeding to calm your mind and open your heart. Of course, if you are doing this well, you will weed at a natural pace that will be extremely helpful, but the pace isn’t the focus, the inner experience is. For example, a very small but enjoyable part of my Seva is writing these presentations. When writing this presentation I could feel myself getting off center, and had to stop and re-center. I try to feel my heart as I type, my breath. I know that this is the essential first step, and perhaps only step, in the process of giving a presentation that would be helpful to my sangha. 

As the Sutra tells us, the word dana, to give, isn’t so much about what one gives, but how one gives. Giving is primarily about using an action to surrender inside, open and grow. The Sutra gives us a few ways to understand this yogic approach to giving: 

“Whatever this yogī, who has become one with God consciousness, experiences, which means whatever he sees in his own self, that is dāna for him…The word dāna can also mean that which gives the yogi fullness of consciousness… that which destroys the differentiated perception of the universe…that which remains when illusion ends”

So when you take the time inside to get present, and ‘gain fullness of consciousness’, you are making a charitable donation to the world around you. When you use your practice to surrender the feeling of ‘difference’ you might feel with someone who isn’t wearing their mask correctly, you are making a donation to world’s heart opening organization. When you are shopping on amazon and stop to take a moment to feel gratitude for all you already have, ‘dissolving the illusion’ of external happiness, you have made yet another charitable donation.

This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t continue to lend a physical helping hand, or donate actual dollars, it is simply showing us how to make those donations even more valuable. It also allows us to make donations everyday, in countless ways, as our actual state of being becomes our currency of charity. 

And Eventually, yes, the realized yogi can actually give someone an experience of their true nature, as the Sutra tells us. But of course, as Babaji and our lineage remind us, this requires that the student is also doing their own inner work, and the work to maintain that awakening. 

“Those yogic heroes who are established in the Kula system reveal the reality of God consciousness to others by merely looking (darśana) or touching. By this revelation, all of their disciples cross over to the other side of the bondage (saṁsāra) of repeated births and deaths and are liberated.”

What is your favorite way to give as a yogi? When does giving open your heart and calm your mind?