Our real self, the spirit, is ever perfect and free.

Our real self, the spirit, is ever perfect and free. But we have forgotten that. So we identify
with our present experience of bondage and consequently suffer in countless ways. Our
situation is like someone who is asleep and dreaming that he is being tortured and beaten. In
reality he is not being touched at all; yet he is experiencing very real pain and fear. He need
not placate, overpower, or escape his torturers. He needs only to wake up. Yoga is the
procedure of self-awakening.