It is not somebody else that has caused this sorrow or pain to us. It is the reaction of
the law that has taken its shape in the form of the experience that we are undergoing.
Yoga tries to free us from bondage of every kind, from samsara as a whole. Bondage
also means ultimate bondage of birth and death. That is the greatest of bondages.
That we are forced to undergo the process of birth and death shows that we are
compelled by certain forces over which we have no control.
Many of our sufferings seem to be brought upon us by causes of which we have no
knowledge. We do not deliberately bring sorrow upon our own selves. Sometimes, by
error of thought and judgement, we may create circumstances which may react upon
us as pain. Purposely we will not jump into a pit, or embrace fire, knowing that it will
cause us pain. Everybody has a pain of some kind or the other. There is no one who is
really happy, ultimately. Everyone has some sorrow. But who has brought this
sorrow to us? Ask any person: “You are unhappy. Who has caused this unhappiness
in your life?” The cause will be attributed to factors outside oneself. Nobody will say,
“I have purchased sorrow and I am swallowing it.” We have not purchased the
sorrow. Nobody wants it, of course. We try to get out of it, if possible. The sorrow has
come upon us by certain events that take place outside us, as it were, though they are
not really outside, and we have no say in this matter, it appears.
The world undergoes changes, transformations; and we have no say in this matter.
Well, suppose there is an earthquake. What can we do about it? If there is a flood, we
cannot do anything. If there is drought, we can say nothing. If the earth dashes
against the sun, we have no say in the matter. If the wind blows violently and uproots
our buildings and destroys things, we can do nothing. Hence, we can do nothing in
certain important matters. It shows that there are things over which we are not
masters, and these can cause us sorrow and suffering. It is not only that; the point
that I mentioned, birth and death, is the greatest sorrow. “Why should we die?” is a
question. Naturally we would not like to die, but we are forced to die. Now, who is
forcing us to die? This has to be understood properly. Who is this gentleman that is
punishing us like this with a rod of death? Even over death we have no say. We have
to die; that is all.
This process of death takes place—as it is the case with the process of birth also, of
course—by conditions which cannot even be seen with the eyes. They are invisible
forces working, bringing about these phenomena called birth and death. And the
experiences through which we pass in life are also beyond our control, ultimately. If
we carefully analyse all our experiences in life, we will find that most of them are
caused by factors over which we have no control, of which we have no knowledge.
This is a terrible state of affairs, really speaking. We are like puppets with no say in
any matter whatsoever in the rule of this world, in the government of this world. The
sun can rise, or it may not rise; we cannot order it to rise. It may rain; it may not rain.
The earth may remain, or it may not remain. It may continue as it is, or it may break.
Well, it can do anything it likes. And, more than that, someone seems to be
compelling us to be born, and is also compelling us to die.
These are certain features of phenomena which seem to be precedent to the
experiences of the individual. They are cosmic factors, and these cosmic factors, or
powers, or forces of nature, as we may call them, seem to have some control over us,
and they force us to yield to their dictates and requirements. We are born, we pass
through various experiences, painful or otherwise, and then we die. Perhaps we will