True Spiritual Living

by Swami Krishnananda

There is nothing unimportant within us; everything is important when it comes up to the surface and demands recognition. We cannot say hunger is unimportant, thirst is unimportant, sleep is unimportant. We cannot say that human affections are unimportant. Well, they may all look meaningless from the point of view of spiritual aspirations, but they are not unimportant from their own point of view. It is necessary, therefore, to judge things from their own point of view, and not from another person’s point of view or some other standpoint altogether which may be irrelevant from the point of view of those instincts, those urges and those demands of our own nature – not somebody else’s nature. These things are not facts with which people are unfamiliar, but even the most rational mind can be stirred to emotion when it can be evoked by certain means. Even a scientific mind can weep and cry due to an emotion which can be stirred up by certain conditions. So, it does not mean that we are always a hundred percent rational.

But it also does not mean that we will not exert our reason, our rationality. That also comes and demands recognition sometimes, irrespective of our emotional enthusiasm. So, a lot of time may have to be spent in a calculated preparation for this arduous task – the drawing up of a statistical balance sheet, we may say – of every function and every factor in our complicated personality. We are not simple persons, as we look; we are very complicated beings. We are made up of as many complications as there can be in the world, or anywhere. Because we are a miniature of the cosmos, we have within us all the wonders and miracles and problems that the world can have; and we cannot merely ignore these existences within us.

I have been repeatedly saying that inside factors are as important as outside factors because the powers that are within can stir up the powers without; and these are what are called the obstacles in the practice of yoga. What we call the obstacles in meditation are only the counterparts of inner forces that are stirred up externally. Therefore, we must be able to realise in our own selves, to an appreciable extent, what are the powers within us, and what are the forces that are likely to be worked up into activity when we exert a pressure upon them or force them to take a particular direction of activity.

At present, the mind is used to confused action, because we give it a free hand, a long rope; and it can move in any way, doing anything it likes at any time. We are slaves of the mind at the present moment. But when we take to the practice of yoga, we do not wish to be slaves of the mind, but wish to control it. Therefore, we exert a pressure upon it by the force of will that is called concentration, and compel it to move in a particular direction – not in the directions it likes, or in those directions in which it used to move previously. Then it will revolt; it will resent our pressure upon it. It all depends on which side will win – whether the pressure we exert upon it is stronger, or its resentment is stronger. If we are consistently putting pressure upon it with sufficient intelligence, knowing the weaknesses of the mind and also its powers, then we may succeed. But, sometimes, our understanding of it may not be adequate to the task. Then it will resent with such vehemence that it can upset all our efforts. It can break our pot and throw down our milk – make everything higgledy-piggledy. Then what happens? We will scratch our head, we will start weeping, and we will be put out of order in our emotions, in our feelings. We will not sleep, we will not eat, we will not talk; we cannot take a step forward, and we cannot take a step backward.

This is likely to be the fate of even an enthusiast on the path of yoga. Therefore, the practices should be very gradual, with a sufficient clarity of the mind in respect of every step that is taken. It is better that we take steps very slowly, rather than jump or take quick steps. Oftentimes, it would be advisable to repeat the same step again and again rather than take a second step, to see that we are well placed and our first step is firmly fixed. If today we have been taking recourse to a particular method of adjusting the mind to a particular set of thoughts, the same technique may be adopted for a few days instead of advancing further. This is in order to see that whatever has been done, has been done properly – it has been successful, and has not been done with haste – because it is only when a pressure is put upon us that our real nature comes out. Otherwise, everything looks very beautiful. Somebody should exert some pressure upon us; then we see what we are. We will resent it, because nobody likes pressure. Any kind of pressure is a tendency to put down the ego in a certain measure. And the mind has its own ego. It is the ego itself. Therefore, careful steps have to be taken and a proper, chalked-out routine for a few days or a few months ahead be prepared. This routine must be followed with tenacity, because it is consistent practice that will bring success. A correct practice that is not consistently undertaken will not bring success.

Dirghakala nairantarya satkara asevitah drdhabhumih (Y.S. 1.14), says Patanjali. This is a very wise statement in the Yoga Sutras. The practice should be continued for a very, very long time – dirghakala. Nairantarya is another term he uses: without remission of effort, without break in the practice. This means to say, it has to be continued every day. We should not miss it even one day. Even if we are moving in a train, we must sit and see that the practice is not broken. Satkara asevitah is another appellation that he uses: we must have great love for it. We are not taking to yoga because the Guru has told us to, or the scripture has declared it, or some pressure has been brought upon us by outside factors. We like it, and we have voluntarily taken to it. We have affection for it; it is dear to us. It is like a mother to us; it is like a father to us. It is everything to us. Such is yoga, which is going to protect us like a father and mother, and take care of us as if we are its child.

Yoga is not merely an abstract thinking. It is a stirring up of forces in the universe, which will protect us at all times. Divine forces are roused into action by the practice of yoga, and these forces will act like milch cows which will yield the necessary sustenance for us. Nobody can take care of us with such complete and comprehensive caution as the powers roused in the practice of yoga. These powers are not merely persons, though these persons in this world can be used as instruments by these forces. Ultimately, we will realise there are no persons in this world; there are only forces. Even these persons seated before me are only forces. They are not persons. We have a wrong notion that persons are in front of us. There is no such thing as a person or a thing in this world. Everything is a centre of energy – and it is these energies, these centres of force that we are trying to rouse up into a comprehensive action by an all-round technique that we adopt in the practice of yoga. Glorious is the practice, indispensable it is to every human being, and vigilance is its watchword.