First Light
How First Light worksTuesday 27 October·
- Sunrise
- 07:55
- Quiet hour
- 06:19–07:07
- Brahma Muhurta
- Moon
- Waning gibbous
- Next full moon: Tue 24 Nov
Autumn
The quiet hour (Brahma Muhurta) is the traditional time for practice, just before sunrise.
परिणामतापसंस्कारदुःखैर्गुणवृत्तिविरोधाच्च दुःखमेव सर्वं विवेकिनः
pariṇāma-tāpa-saṁskāra-duḥkhair guṇa-vṛtti-virodhāc ca duḥkham eva sarvaṁ vivekinaḥ
To the one who discerns, everything is suffering: because of change, anxiety and old impressions, and because the qualities of nature are always at odds.
Yoga Sutras 2.15 · verse 66 of 196
Unfolding the thread
This sounds bleak, but it's meant as a clear-eyed observation. Even pleasures carry pain: they change, we fear losing them, and they leave cravings behind. And the forces of nature in us (restlessness, heaviness, clarity) keep pulling against each other. The more sensitive you become, the more you notice this. That sensitivity is the beginning of freedom, not despair.
Try today
Notice one pleasure today and, gently, the small worry of losing it that comes with it.
The Echo
The same truth, heard in another tradition
“`All created things are grief and pain,' he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.”
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