Antaraya (Obstacles)

 

When adversaries come, one should not lose hope, but accept them and continue on the path already chosen, the path of faith (sradda).  Antarayas issue from cluttered vrttis, which form the basic material for spiritual evolution.  Rejecting these means rejecting the path as well.  All these impediments are a blessing in disguise on the journey towards the realization of the purusa (seer).  

BKS Iyengar, Core of the Yoga Sutras

  

Irritate – “to stir” from the same root as “to run”

I have been noticing my tendency towards irritation.  In irritation, I want whatever or whoever is irritating to go away.  Like a swarm of mosquitoes, I swat at the air but the irritants continue their stinging, their buzzing.  They distract me from my intentions, what I have set out to do for the day, sought after calm and contentment (santosha).  I feel besieged but frustratingly from things I know are of very little consequence like being cut-off in traffic, a tighter deadline at work, a long wait in the check-out line.  I worry how these small irritants cause too easy despair and leave me swamped by negativity.  I lose faith in myself when a cluttered mind rises up from irritations so inconsequential.  I want to think of myself as being made of stronger stuff and wonder how I will ever cope when things are truly difficult. 

Pema Chodrin tells a story of a person irritated by the world.  In an effort to find comfort, she tries to cover the earth with leather so it might not cut so sharply.  In doing so, she loses all sensual touch with the world.  So much better to craft a strong pair of boots with which to navigate the sharpness.  In another story, the irritated woman closes herself up in a cabin far away from irritations.  It is a perfect comfort in temperature, sound, fragrance.  The food is just what she likes.  The only people whom she allows in are perfectly agreeable.  You can see how this would soon become a self-made prison.  Engagement in the world results in contact with situations, textures, people, who will eventually irritate.  Life cannot be lived freely and fully without irritations. 

Early on in the yoga sutras we learn that we will face obstacles to our  best-intentioned practices.  "Rejecting them means rejecting the path as well,” BKS Iyengar wrote.   The ones listed in the sutras aren't major catastrophes but irritations like doubt, carelessness, slough, and fanciful thinking.  They arise not from outside forces but from our own faulty thinking and distracted mind.  And as we practice we may become even more susceptible to irritation because practice makes us more sensitive to what we are feeling.  We see more clearly how easily we loose patience with and are annoyed by small things.  This self-awareness opens up a chance to change. Facing irritants we can learn how to be stirred up without running away, to see how the mosquitoes may be buzzing inside our head and not around the body,  to find ways to steady ourselves amidst the inner swarms.