Do Not Shout, “I am a Yoga Student!”
The desires of the mind, and
the urges of the personality in general, are the activities of the outward
nature that compel our attention in Yoga. We can flow with this current of the
outward nature or we can oppose the current. Yoga tells us to be very cautious
and adopt a via media. It tells us that neither have we to flow with the
current of nature entirely, nor oppose it directly. Both these extremes are
unwarranted, because they will immediately make us a cynosure in the eyes of Prakriti.
It is better to live unnoticed than become an object of attraction to
everybody; because an object of attraction always gets into some trouble.
Whereas, an unnoticed person somehow gets on happily in life. Therefore, even
in the practice of Yoga, the student should live in the midst of Prakriti’s
activities in an unnoticed manner, and not make her suddenly conscious of his
activities by shouting aloud, “I am a Yoga student!” Prakriti does not like
shouts of this kind. The reactions of nature, if they are strong, may bring
about a reversal of the practice.
An internal desire may burn
the senses. Desires, which the student tries to run away from in the name of
Yoga, desires sensory as well as egoistic, violent urges, may press him forward
in the reverse direction; and these reactionary urges may be stronger than the
corresponding urges manifesting in a normal person in the usual course.
Bottled-up energy is always stronger than the energy that is given a little bit
of freedom. Let it be noted that Yoga is not bottling up of energy, but a wise
utilisation of it. If water is allowed to build up in a dam without being
released, the dam will burst. Dams are not built so that they may burst. They
are built for optimum utilisation of the available water resources. But, if the
waters are not so utilised, and are just allowed to build up inside the dam,
the dam will burst, and the waters will ravage the land.
The activities of nature being
external in space and time, and we being a part of nature, we are automatically
involved in those activities, and we cannot easily curb our external urges.
They have to be controlled only gradually. The stages of Yoga are, therefore,
gradual ones in Patanjali’s system.
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