Practice without Remission of Effort
Divine Life
Society Publication: Chapter 54: The Study and
Practice of Yoga by Swami Krishnananda
The practice mentioned is for
the purpose of directing the mind slowly towards its final achievement and for
the attenuation of all the obstacles. One cannot see the light of day at the
very commencement of the practice.
The difficulties and pains
that are consequent upon one’s strenuous effort are due to the thick layer of samskaras and karmas which have been accumulated
in oneself since many births. The very personality of the individual is nothing
but a bundle of karmas. Only by continued practice,
we can face the difficulties, problems, pains and samskaras.
It is a necessary ordeal that one has to pass through for the sake of scrubbing
out all the encrustations in the form of anything that goes to make up this personality
of ours. The five koshas are
various densities of the manifestation of desire and they are like the dense
clouds which cover the bright sun and make it appear as if the sun does not
exist at all. But the kleshas,or these
obstacles, become attenuated gradually due to the pressure of practice, abhyasa, and the accompanied vairagya. For the purpose of
generating within oneself a feeling towards the achievement of one’s goal,
which is samadhi, and for the obviating of
all the obstacles, practice should be continued.
The watchword of yoga is
practice – abhyasa. When continued practice is
resorted to, the force of the practice keeps all these impediments in check. There
is first a sense of renunciation – everything is cast out, and we feel that we
are directly in the face of God Himself, where we are perfectly protected from
all forces that are opposed to us. It is not true that the path of yoga is a
smooth movement, a continuous ascent, one step rising above another step,
steadily. One step ahead of us may be visible, but the step after that cannot
be seen because the path has turned.
There should be no
discomfiture about our future. Everything shall be all right; one day there
shall be success. We should not ask for the fruit to fall from the tree merely
because we have sown the seed for the tree today. It shall have its own time
for maturity and ripening.
So by the practice of yoga,
which is expected to be a very strenuous all the obstacles will disperse, and
the mind will tend towards the goal. The whole effort is directed in respect of
not allowing the mind to go to the objects. The positive effort of the mind
should be towards contemplation on the goal of life. We must stay positively
strong, healthy and robust.
The confidence and the power
of will that one has to manifest in this practice are almost superhuman
because, while the inward tendencies of the mind towards its goal always remain
submerged and never become visible outside, the problems will always be visible
before the eyes. We will see only the problems, the evil, the ugliness, the
pain, the sorrow, the difficulty and the almost impossibility of doing anything
in this world. The positive side will be like the undercurrent of these outer
waves that are dashing upon us, and it will not be felt in the beginning
stages.
The reason is that we are
floating on the surface. We have not gone deep into things. When we are on the
surface of the ocean, we will be subject only to the onslaught of the waves.
The calmness of the bottom of the ocean is not known, because we have not sunk
deep. We cannot go into the bottom of the ocean because the waves will not
allow us to go. The moment we try to escape being hit by one wave, we will be
hit by another wave. But once we go in, we will not see the waves at all. There
is a profundity, a depth, a deep silence and a grandeur whose powers are far
superior to the clattering noises that the waves make on the surface; and the
silence of the spirit will be realized to be more thunderous than the
shattering noises of the senses and the sensuous mind.
For the purpose of directing
the mind towards samadhi, to
generate within oneself the feeling towards the ultimate goal, to create in
oneself a confidence that one is moving in the right direction as well as to
put down all the obstacles, one has to set oneself to practice, without
remission of effort. We should not withdraw the effort merely on the assumption
that success is not forthcoming. We should not lose hope, because if we dig
twenty feet and then think that nothing has come and we give up hope – well, we
are going to be the loser, because water may be there at the twenty-first foot.
There is an old story of a
devotee of Lord Siva. It seems he used to carry a pot of water from a distant
river for abhisheka in the temple, and he was
told by his Guru, “Do abhisheka in this
manner 108 times, and you will have darshan of Lord
Siva.” This disciple followed the instruction of the Guru, and was
indefatigably working, sweating and toiling, carrying this holy water from a
distant river and doing abhisheka to the murti, the linga of Lord Siva in the temple.
He did it 107 times and got fed up. He said, “107 times I have done it; nothing
is coming, and is one more pot going to bring anything?” He threw the pot on
the head of Siva and went away. Then it seems, a voice came, “Foolish man! You
were patient enough for 107. You could not wait for one more pot? And that
would have worked the miracle!”
Likewise may be the fate of
many people like us. We may be working very hard. We may be spending half of
our life in sincere effort towards achieving something, but at the last moment
we lose hope and give up the effort altogether. The advice of Patanjali is that
this should not be.
Excerpts from:
Practice Without Remission of Effort - Chapter 54: The Study and
Practice of Yoga by Swami Krishnananda
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