Encountering The Powers of Nature
The powers of nature are too
incomprehensible and too incredibly large for the little individual to
encounter them, to face them. To succeed in such an encounter with Nature, one
has to develop strength equal to the powers of Nature, which is not an ordinary
job. So, we may have to apply various methods in trying to restrain the mind
and should not rest content with applying only one method or technique.
Just as nature works in many
ways, just as we take different types of diet on different days, it is
necessary that the student of Yoga should also apply the techniques of
restraint of the mind in as many ways as possible. We do not eat the same food
everyday, though we eat everyday. Somehow we have to transform this process of
the practice of Yoga into a happy and joyous undertaking, rather than imagine
that it is painful work imposed upon us as in a prison-house. We do not try to practice
Yoga as if we are captives in a concentration camp and as if Yoga is a
punishment meted out to us. No. It is something that we have undertaken of our
own accord with wide open eyes, with a knowledge of what it is, and how
essential it is for our life.
The mind refuses to
concentrate on any particular object, because it has not been convinced that
the object chosen for the purpose of concentration is capable of bestowing upon
it all the boons that it seeks. We have only heard people say that
concentration is good. We have read this in many books. We have been hammering
on this matter. But, our heart has a reason which reason does not know. The
heart cannot always agree with the reason's judgment, because we are oftentimes,
more hearts than reasons. Our feelings gain the upper hand and put down the
opinions of the reasons.
Who can be really convinced at
the bottom of one's heart that all that the world can give to a person is also
there in the object of concentrations? How can one force oneself or persuade
oneself to believe that all the wealth and the riches of creation can be
acquired merely by an act of concentration on a dot on the wall, or on the
flame of a candle, or a flower that is rosy, or any imagery that is
conceivable?
Though there is a kind of
rationale behind this argument, and intellectually perhaps we are capable of
being convinced that there is a point in this type of concentration that we are
required to practice, yet, there is a dissatisfaction at the core of the
heart--the world is so rich, so beautiful, grand and perfect. There are many
things in this world which are exceedingly beautiful and worth possessing,
having and enjoying. What good is this concentration? "I have been doing
this concentration for years. I have been a fool, a wool-gathering individual.
I have lost this world, I have lost the other world, and am in a helpless
condition."--So saying, the mind weeps. We begin to cry inwardly that we
have been befooled, as it were, by the so-called advice to concentrate the mind
on some point. There is a revolt and a rebellion from inside, and nothing can
be worse than psychological revolution.
This may happen to any person.
Because Yoga is a terror, though it is also a mother and a father. Nothing can
be so beneficial as Yoga is, and nothing can be so terrific and frightening as
Yoga is. This is the irony of the whole matter. It is not easy for a person to
feel in one's own heart that a concentration on a form, whatever that form may
be, inward or outward, is capable of bestowing the abundance of the riches of
the world.
Who does not wish to become a
king, if it could be possible? Who does not wish to possess the whole world, if
it were practicable? We know that it is not possible. So, like the fox in the
story rejecting the sour grapes, we are likely to reject the world as not worth
having, because we cannot have it. We all know this very well. We are not fit
and we have not got the capacity to possess the treasures of the universe; we
have not got the means to acquire the powers by which we can be the masters of
the universe, of the world. We are defeatists, poor nothings trying to practise
Yoga, for an end which also appears to be nothing. These difficulties will have
to be faced one day or the other. In facing them, many have failed, have had a
fall. They would have been better without Yoga than with it. This is a sorry
state of affairs. If it has come about in the lives of some, it can come about
in the lives of others also.
So, it is necessary once again
to bring back to our own memory the necessity to go slowly, and see that we are
really convinced in our hearts that what we are doing is hundred per cent
correct, and that we are on the right path. "Absolutely I have no doubt in
my mind, and my practice is the one that I am expected to perform. I am
treading the correct way, and the fact that I do not see any light in the
horizon, the fact that I have no experience whatsoever even after years of
practice, is not going to deter me from continuing the practice, because I
already know that I have to pass through all these stages of oblivion, darkness
and helplessness."--Such should be the firm conviction of every Yoga
student.
Even when we are utterly
helpless and seem to be failing down, we must be convinced that the so-called
fall is only a part of the process of rising up. But, who can be convinced like
this when one is actually falling? So, God save us and the Guru bless us! These
are some of the cautions that have to be administered to the mind of a student
of Yoga, if he is going to be sincere when he takes to its practice.
Excerpts from:
Encountering The Powers of Nature - Yoga as a
Universal Science by Swami
Krishnananda
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