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Wishing everyone a year filled with ease, grace and many blessings. We have heard of new year’s resolutions and used them many times. A resolution requires will power to move away from that which does not serve us or the goals we think we need to reach. It has the element of motivating ourselves to reach certain milestones.
A sankalpa is a sanskrit word that has its root meaning in kalpana. Kalpana is imagination, an idea, a dream, a vision. San and sat means truth. So sankalpa is a dream or vision aligned with the truth. This is the truth of one's being and the truth that is the song in one's heart that sings in tune with the cosmic heart.
Vikalpa: The Opposite of Sankalpa
Vikalpa also has kalpana embedded in it just like sankalpa but has the opposite meaning. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, he lists vikalpa as one of the vrittis or the modifications of the mind that we can get trapped in. When we identify with the vrittis, we lose sight of our true magnificence/ wholeness and identify with trauma patterns, false conditioning, fantasy or memories.
Patanjali mentioned five main vrittis, modifications or whirlpools of the mind that can trap us. In Chapter 1 verse 9 he describes this particular modification of Vikalpa to be something that we might give a name to but has no object in reality. So a person can conjure up false ideas or worlds in their head. This is a dangerous mind modification and can pull us into many ways of being that have no rooting in reality. This delusional, self-sabotaging thinking can take many forms from humorous to sad to dangerous. So of course, as Patanjali cautions us, Vikalpa is important to be aware of and move away from.
Saved by Sankalpa
Sankalpa, as the word indicates, means we align with the truth. Truth is the primary driving force. It aligns us with the truth that we are whole. Sanathana dharma is the eternal harmony aligned with truth. Therefore Sankalpa is aligned with sanathana dharma. It enables us to be free of karma ( sum total of the energies we get enmseshed it), align with dharma ( highest harmony) and actualise our swadharma ( ones own path of returning to harmony).
When we are aligned with the truth we can no more fool ourselves that a friend or anyone else values us, just because we are overinvested in them. We see clearly instead. Our emotional entanglement and enmeshment can make us delusional about the outcome or where we stand in a person’s life.
However we can create sankalpa that we attract people who value and see our worth and thereby not project that need onto the wrong person who is incapable or unwilling to do that and then personalise it. We are also self aware to not confuse self-worth with self-importance. I often see people swing from low self-esteem to self-importance when there is a trauma pattern.
With sankalpa we are committing to a birds eye view of the truth, not a limited, skewed truth coloured by our emotions. That is why a grounded, expansive life coach, guide or guru, to give us a better perspective, is invaluable in such circumstances where we are trapped in vikalpa or viparyaya (wrong knowledge).
With Sankalpa we can no longer lie to others and, most importantly, ourselves.
Sankalpa is in synchrony with source - Yogacharini Maitreyi
Sankalpa vs. Resolutions
We now understand that Sankalpa is much more than just an act of will. It is also an act of surrender. We surrender what we want or desire to align with what we truly need for our evolution.
When we align with Sankalpa, the truth, we automatically live in line with Yama Niyama (restraining our reactive survival knots and cultivating inclusive elevated ways of being). This supersedes the goal, placing emphasis on living in harmony.
The goal or resolution will be allowed in real sankalpa, no bulldozing here. As much as the intent is present, there is a cosmic energy that supports us through its upward spiral. When we are fully aligned with this upward spiral we feel we are in flow and there is effortless effort. So inherent in Sankalpa is support. Inherent in sankalpa is alignment. Inherent in Sankalpa is living by your highest truth. Sankalpa has a great depth of meaning that the word resolution just cannot fully capture.
If one's resolve is to make millions then one may reach that goal while harming one's physical health, harming the environment or cheating or squeezing work out of another. These may not seem overly illegal but many companies thrive on such imbalanced money and power dynamics. However with sankalpa the goal is achieved with balance to other areas of one's life and everyone and everything around them. So sometimes this might seem like a slower road to take yet a more well rounded way of being.
For New Year’s 2022 - Start Aligning with Sankalpa
The Sankalpa to embrace one's true nature of ahimsa (non-violence) is a good one. With ahimsa we do not harm others, the environment, living beings and ourselves. We are vigilant of our conditioning that might have the impulse to be unfair to ourselves or others. Having healthy boundaries is also part of ahimsa.
Apply Karuna sakshi bhava (compassionate witnessing) to clearly see yourself and your dynamic with the world. This will cause less enmeshment with that which is not evolutionary or aligned with the truth, yet help you deal with yourself and others compassionately. All authentic yogic practices help us align with Sankalpa
To a year of uplifting connections and synergies within and without. 💓😀