In our daily lives we always work with two categories of thoughts—selfish and selfless ones. Now, we know that selfish thoughts will bring misery and selfless ones will leave us in peace. How are we to know whether our thoughts are selfless or not? We have to watch carefully the moment a thought arises in the mind. We become analysts. This itself is yoga practice—watching our own thoughts and analyzing them.

From Sri Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Commentary to Book I, Sutra 5, Buckingham, Virginia: Integral Yoga Publications, 2007 (first published in 1978), p. 11.

Addendum (December 6, 2017)

This felicitous quote was plucked on the day I started my regular yoga practice, which was on my mind for quite a while (“Hollering,” September 4, 2007). And I followed Satchidananda’s advice for many a year. I watched my own thoughts and analyzed them earnestly. In the end, my liberation was marked by abandoning thought at will and for as long as I wished (“No-Bullshit Enlightenment,” January 18, 2016). To my joy, there is not a trace of selfishness in my liberation. It is as selfless as selfless can be. Alleluia!