I was once told by an astrologer that as long as I am passionate about what I do, I am successful.And somewhere deep in my bones, I knew that was true because I have never been able to do things that i don’t like.Whether I paint, design, or teach yoga, it has to come from the heart. If there is no feeling, I simply can’t do it.After practicing yoga some while, I started to feel something new inside me.It was not just curiosity anymore; it was a burning feeling in my chest, a call that said:“I want to teach.”And I listened. But as my practice deepened, I began to question this passion as well.
In yoga, we speak about detachment vairāgya and about letting go of the pull toward the objects of desire.
So, I started to wonder: Is passion something good on this path? Or is it just another form of attachment, a subtle expression of ego? This question stayed with me for a long time. And slowly, through practice, I began to see that passion is not the problem identification is. The moment I believe I am the one doing, achieving, or creating, passion becomes ego.
But when the same energy flows through me, when it becomes an offering, when it serves something higher it transforms. It becomes tapas, the sacred heat that purifies. From my today’s understanding (maybe that my change along the path) Yoga doesn’t ask us to extinguish passion. It asks us to refine it to let the fire burn clear instead of smoky. To act with full heart, yet without clinging to the result. So now, there are some days i stiil fear of my passion. But I welcome it, see it and try to stay close that awareness :
“May my fire serve awareness. May my passion express devotion. From attachment to devotion, from desire to love, from fire to light.“