By Jerry Kolber

"By cultivating an attitude of friendship toward those who are happy, compassion toward those in distress; joy toward those who are virtuous, and equanimity toward those who are unvirtuous, lucidity arises in the mind."  Yoga Sutra 1.33

This critical verse of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras reveals one of the most powerful mind-trainings common to the Indian traditions of Buddhism and Yoga known as the four immeasurables (catur apramanah) or far-reaching attitudes (brahmavihara).

The four attitudes of love, compassion, joy and equanimity are prosocial in nature and designed to help us use our daily interaction with others as a means of spiritual development. They are called immeasurable or far-reaching because over the course of... More...