“The existence of all objects of perception and their appearance is independent of the needs of the individual perceiver. They exist without individual reference to cater for the different needs of different individuals.”
— T.K.V. Desikachar
This Yoga Sutra defines what we all intuitively know, and it may seem obvious at first. An example would be: whenever you leave your kitchen, and you are no longer looking at or thinking of your kitchen table, the table does in fact, still exist.
And yet, even though this is a seemingly obvious statement, how many times have you been surprised by your niece’s/nephew’s seemingly “sudden” growth spurt since you last saw them? Have you ever been taken aback by the choice of your ex-boyfriend’s/ex-girlfriend’s new partner? Have you ever visited an old workplace and discovered they in fact actually are doing fine without you, despite how much they relied on you to keep the place running?
