“The true benefits of yoga are only really felt of the Practice is maintained without interruption for a long time. The practitioner needs to practice with enthusiasm and positive energy to feel the full effect.”
This Sutra reminds us that only over time do the benefits really start to show, it reminds us we need patience, devotion and faith. That to really do anything well we must devote time to it. In the modern world we want quick fixes and we loose concentration and commitment fast, this Sutra is timely as it reminds us that the true benefits of anything are only really felt if we give it time, we practice it regularly and we devote ourselves to it wholeheartedly. “So let us not be the child that sows a seed today and digs it up tomorrow to see how much the root went down.” Impatience and the need for these quick results means that we risk missing the true magic. “A man started to dig a well, he would begin digging down and after five or six feet of digging he would find no water, and so he would climb out of the hole and move twenty feet over and dig another hole, but after digging six feet down he would give up again, move twenty feet and start digging again.....he never found water” When the school or practice becomes difficult, it is at this point you keep digging, however all to often just at that point where the magic is about to unfold, we move to a better teacher, a different hobby, a new medicine, a new dr, a new job, a new life, rather than investigating further with patience and dedication. This Sutra reminds us to be patient. “If you are that patient, your mind is more settled and way you do will be more perfect. If you are unsettled and anxious to get the result, you will already be disturbed, nothing done with that disturbed mind will have quality.” So it is not only how long we practice, but with what patience, what earnestness and what quality also.”