Yoga Sutra 8 (Book 2)

Sutra 2:8

duhkha anusayi dvesah

Unhappiness leads to hatred.

Our first commandment is to Love. I did not find anything specific about unhappiness. However, much like pain and sorrow, God uses hatred to teach or warn us at different times in our lives. God hates sin, divorce and wickedness, robbery and iniquity. (Isa. 61:8 and Mal 2:16) Then God teaches us with his laws, Lev. 19:17 “Do not hate your brother in your heart”.

I think that hatred is a part of the human experience, much like pain and sorrow. God’s promise is that “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). One day, however, the process will be complete: “When he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Christ is loving and our goal is to be more Christ-like, even when faced with hatred. Jesus warns us all that “hate stirs up dissension but lovers cover all wrongs” (Pr. 10:12). From this study, I conclude that hate will be around us and we will experience it. There is a time and place for hate and a purpose (Ecc. 3:8) but even when we experience hate from others or within ourselves we need to practice letting it go and trusting God to handle our hardships, turning to God to fill us with love and praying for those who wrong us.

 

Book 2 is commonly the first book that new students begin to study because it holds the basic art and science of yoga. Antiqua completed her research comparison throughout this book and the first 8 books of Book 1, for now. To learn more about Antiqua and her yoga school Twist yoga, go to twistyoga.com