How this happens is mentioned in the next sutra: jātyantara pariṇāmaḥ prakṛtyāpūrāt
(IV.2). The powers of nature are permanently there in a uniform state. There is
neither an increase nor a decrease in the powers of nature. As scientists tell us, there
is what is known as the system or the principle of conservation of energy, which
states that the energy—the total power or force of nature—is constant. It does not
increase or decrease day by day by external factors. Factors outside nature do not
exist. And so, what appears to be an increase of power or capacity is only an entry of
certain forces of nature into the system of a human individual. Any kind of
transformation in a positive degree is the flowing of the powers of nature into one’s
system. ‘Prakriti-apurat’ is the term used in the sutra. The filling up by prakriti is
what is known as prakriti-apurat.
When the system is emptied of all impeding factors, prakriti fills that vacuum that
has been created thereby. We are not to struggle hard to draw energy from nature,
just as we do not struggle to enjoy the light of the sun—provided, of course, we are
ready to come out of our house and stand in the open. Likewise is the way in which
nature operates. There is a uniform and equally distributed energy of nature
everywhere, in every level of manifestation, whether it is subhuman, human, or
superhuman. For nature, there is no such thing as these levels. They appear to be
there on account of the difference in the degree of the manifestation of the powers of
nature. The difference in the degree of this manifestation is, again, due to other
factors. These factors are to be removed. The whole of the practice of yoga is nothing
but an elimination of the obstructing factors which prevent the entry of the powers of
nature into one’s system.
The sutra tells us that a transformation of oneself into a new state, jatyantara
parinama, is brought about spontaneously by an increased amount of natural power
entering into one’s system due to the removal of the impediments. The impediments
are our prarabdha karma, the karmas with which we are born, which determine the
nature of our present existence in this bodily form. They have a particular direction
of action, and due to the force with which the prarabdha works, the force of nature is
set aside. When the rajasic and tamasic prarabdha gets diminished and sattvic
prarabdha begins to operate, natural forces enter us.
Thus, by the increase of sattva in us, we allow the powers of nature to enter us. It is
the rajas that is predominant in ourselves which cuts off nature from our individual
lives. The principal function of rajoguna is separation—differentiating one from the
other, not allowing in the cooperation of one with the other, and creating a
dissimilarity of character and difference in function. Due to the intensity of the action
of rajas, there is this division of properties and a separation of individualities, so that
there has been the perception and experience of a dividedness of life, while this is
really not there. For nature, taken in its completeness, there is no division. It is one
total, a comprehensive completeness in which there is no distinction of the subject on
one side and the object on the other side. The distinction has been created by certain
artificial factors, and these are the operations of the gunas. By diminishing the
intensity of the action of rajas through intense concentration of mind, we become
more and more approximate to the original condition of prakriti. The integrating
powers of nature begin to act when sattva rises in us. On the other hand, if the rajas
is to be predominant, the disintegrating factors start operating.