When
we are walking in a thick jungle, it is possible that our clothes may get
caught in a thorny bush, and many thorns may be pulling us from different
directions. What do we do then? We stop and very slowly try to remove the
thorns, one by one. We do not pull our clothes by force, lest they should tear.
Perhaps we will remove the smaller thorns first, because their prick is mild;
and we will try to remove the bigger thorns that have gone deep later on,
gradually, stage by stage. This is exactly what to do in the practice of yoga.
Our
entanglements are manifold. Our consciousness that has lodged itself in this
body is entangled in many types of relationship – some mild, some intense, some
proximate, some remote, some visible, some invisible, and so on. Every step
that we take in yoga is a very cautious step, and the step should be taken in
such a way that it need not be retraced. Also, we will not be successful if we
are in a great hurry, because hurry is caused by a lack of proper understanding
of the prevailing conditions.
Viveka
is proper knowledge of the entire conditions and circumstances of the case.
Just as in a medical examination or a legal procedure all the circumstances of
the case have to be known thoroughly before any step is taken in rectifying the
issue, so is the case with yoga.
When
a person is angry, he becomes an embodiment of anger. Therefore, there is no
question of investigating into the causes of anger when we are already in a fit
of rage. We do not examine the conditions of anger, and then get angry. Therefore,
disentanglement
of ourselves from that condition becomes a practical impossibility. That is why
the practice of yoga is so difficult.
No
step in the practice
of yoga can be regarded as unimportant, just as in a ladder no rung can be
regarded as unnecessary. The lowest rung in a ladder is as important as the
highest, because we have to climb on every rung of the ladder.
So,
it is necessary to start with the outermost entanglement of our nature, and
gradually go into the internal steps – as has been suggested by masters like Sage Patanjali. Our
outermost entanglement is social, and then comes the personal entanglements;
higher than that is entanglement with the physical nature; lastly, there are entanglements
which are transempirical, which are supernatural. Everything in nature grows
gradually. The tree grows gradually from a seed. Food is digested in the
stomach gradually, slowly, systematically, methodically. Everything takes its
own time, and there is a meaning in the time anything takes for working out its
purpose. So, the outermost of our entanglements is the first consideration.
Many a time, as I mentioned, we cannot know what our entanglements are.
Hence,
to repeat again, there should be no haste in the
practice of yoga. There should be a very cautious movement in the proper
direction under the guidance of an expert (Guru). The
involvements have to be gradually undone without forcing ourselves to do
anything against our will, because anything that is done against one’s will
may, one day or the other, become a source of revolt from one’s own self.
So
before we try to do what we are supposed to do in a state of health, we try to
diagnose our illness and remove it. That is the ethical discipline of the yamas, or the moral culture that it
involves. The whole building is resting upon it, and we cannot have a beautiful
structure on a shaky foundation. About this we have to think more deeply.
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