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psycho-analysts today that there is no such thing as the
freedom of will. It is only a chimera because, according to
their finding, whether they are wholly right or not, the
conscious activities of the mind which arc the causes of the
feeling of the sense of freedom in oneself arc themselves the
outcome of certain hidden impulses which, like dark forces,
work from within and drive a fraction of these aspects of the
personality into the conscious level for fulfilment of certain
purposes which in our traditional language, is called the sum
total of the Prarabdha-karma.
The present condition of our life, the life that we are
living today in the conscious stage, cannot be regarded as the
whole of our personality. There are many who think that
there is what is called a collective unconscious, a racial
unconscious, and sometimes there is also a set of opinions
held by people that there can be even a cosmic unconscious.
Perhaps this is corroborated by even the Vedanta philosophy
where it says that there is such a thing called Ishvara
wherein the unconscious personalities of all the individuals
are kept latent in a seed-form. Thus, it is not safe on the part
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of any seeker to be totally sure that the practice is properly
directed at all times. One can go wrong while being sure that
one is right. Your confidence that you are right is no test of
your being right? because this confidence is merely the result
of the functioning of the unconscious mind which need not
necessarily be the total of your personality. You may be
under the pressure of an impulse from within which has not
fully manifested itself in the conscious level and is working
inside behind veiled iron curtains, of which one cannot be
aware, and so one can make the mistake of thinking the
wrong way. Here, again, comes the need for the guidance
from a competent person who knows the path and has
trodden the path and knows the pitfalls. Since these hurdles
are possible and inescapable for anyone and everyone, it
would be wisdom on the part of people, seekers, to go slowly
so that there may not be a necessity to retrace the steps that
one has already waken forward. You can avoid the possibility
of a fall into a lower region which happens on account of a
sudden jump to the levels which one cannot reach under the
conditions prevailing. Hence the caution: Sanaih sanair
uparamed buddhya dhritigrihitaya.
With the courage that is born of confidence well-directed,
one has to propel the force of one s understanding towards
the direction of the achievement and it has to go very slowly;
the slower is it done the better it is. There is no need to be
too anxious about the time-limit involved in the process of
God-realisation. It can take its own time. God is not going to
run away. He is always there. You need not be under any
doubt that if you do not catch Him today he may not be
available tomorrow. Inasmuch as He is eternal He is always
available. But one has to be prepared to be able to come in
contact with this power, and for this purpose the vessel has
to be properly cleaned by the practice of the necessary
prerequisites known in our discipline and in our tradition as
the Sadhana-chatushtaya, the practice of Yama, Niyama, etc.
In the understanding of this injunction of this verse of the
Bhagavadgita that we have to move slowly, we have to grasp
its implication. What does it actually mean by saying go
slowly? One has to be very clear about one s own self You
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have to be equipped with a thorough knowledge of your
present psychological state and the powers that you can
wield in the field of practice. The essence of the matter is that
other desires are working in the mind, other than the desire
for God or the great aim of yoga towards which one is
endeavouring to move. Is there any distracting impulse
hidden in the mind which shows its head now and then,
though not always, and makes one feel that there can be joys
other than the joys of God-realisation? Well, this is a very
important thing to remember, because it is not possible for a
human being to be totally free from the feeling of the reality
of objects of sense in front of oneself; and as long as there is
the consciousness of the presence of objects in one s
presence, there is also felt a need to establish a relationship
of oneself with this object. Who can say that one is unaware
of the presence of the world in one s front. There is this
world staring before you as a hard reality, and the belief in
the existence of a world outside is itself a proof of your need
or necessity felt within to establish a vital contact with it and
do something with it. You either love it or do not love it but
you are at least conscious of it.
The objects of the world are somehow capable of
temptation in various ways, and the principal obstacle in the
practice of meditation, the yoga proper, is temptation;
nothing but that. The wisdom that one would exercise in this
context is to free oneself, as far as possible, from involving
oneself in atmospheres which are capable of this temptation.
It is better not to fall sick at all rather than fall sick and then
go to a doctor for treatment. Once you have recourse to
temptations it would be difficult to withdraw yourself from
this involvement; because the temptation is nothing but a
belief in the reality of an object and a feeling from within that
the object of sense is capable of bringing about a joy which
cannot in any way be less than the joy which one is aspiring
after through yoga. Whatever be the effort of one s
understanding, the heart can detract one s attention from the
concentration of the understanding, and once a chance is
given for even a little leakage of energy through the feeling
towards an object of sense, this leakage can become a
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torrent, a flood and the bund can burst, and here it is that the
understanding can totally fail us. One should not wait until
the temptation comes; and no one should have the hardihood
to imagine that one can stand a temptation. That is not
possible when it comes; and we have picturesque and
dramatic stories and anecdotes of these phenomena in our
Epics and Puranas.
Great problems and difficulties had to be faced even by
masters, and we should not think that we are greater than
they. What happens to one can happen to another, and
everyone can be susceptible to the same weakness which is
the common feature of all human nature. It is, therefore, wise
for a seeker to be aware of the power of Nature, the extent of
the problem that one may have to face and the hidden
resources of distraction which Nature holds within her
bosom, multifarious in their character and picturesque in
their forms, inconceivable to even the depths of one s mind.
Therefore, with guidance received from one s own Guru, or
Master, one has to endeavour hard to live in an atmosphere
physically free from temptations, not merely psychological in
the beginning stages. That is why people go to sequestered
retreats, resort to Ashramas and holy shrines and temples,
etc., to forests and stiller atmosphere, so that the chances of
temptation get diminished, though they cannot be
completely avoided or obliterated. With the aid of physical
solitude, one has to learn the art of psychological
detachment, because physical seclusion is not the only thing
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