things as human beings do—and expect salvation. That is not possible. Salvation
cannot be had unless we transcend the human consciousness, because ‘salvation’ is
only a name that we give to universality of experience. How can that come, suddenly,
unless there is a preceding condition of utter purification, which tends the human
consciousness to universality? We can judge from our present ways of thinking,
feeling and acting, how far we are fit for salvation. We are utterly and grossly human
in the sense of a delimited personality, and we have utter prejudices which can be so
hard that they may not die even at our death. And so, with such hard-boiled egoism
and prejudice present in our minds, there is no hope of salvation.
But this limitation of the modes of thinking to certain preconceived modes of living
can be overcome by hard effort of meditation in which, by gradual stages, we can
become more and more super-individualistic. We cannot become that without effort;
automatically, it cannot drop from the blue. The deeper layers of meditation are
stages of greater universality of experience. The samadhis, or samapattis, mentioned
in the Samadhi Pada of Patanjali—vitarka, vichara, sananda, sasmita, etc.—are
stages of universality. And these stages can be reached if we are really aspiring for
them. If we do not want them, they will not come. Wanting them does not merely
mean saying that we want them. Our hearts should yearn, and our feelings should
open up towards a recognition of their value, independent of the other values that we
consider to be all-in-all in this physical world.
These are some of the mysterious aspects of yoga practice, which are indicated in a
few of the sutras of Patanjali.
Chapter 101THE WHEEL OF KARMAIn a few sutras that follow, we are given some interesting information regarding the
law of what is known as karma. Though we know something about what it means,
here Patanjali, in a particular context, touches upon certain details of the way in
which karmas work. Though they are so inscrutable, we can have some sort of an
idea about their method of working if we can gain an insight into the causes which
bring about these circumstances called karmas. In one sutra Patanjali tells us that
what is known as karma, whether as a cause or as an effect, is a complex set of
phases and not any particular object or even an isolated event. It is something which
is made up of many aspects of what appears as a single force. Karma is not a thing
which can be visualised with the eyes; it is not a sense object. It is not anything that is
material, and yet it is something that exists. It is the manner of the operation of
certain existent forces. Therefore, we need not assume an independent existence for
something called karma. It is only a way of working of certain things that is known as
karma.
In one sutra, four aspects of the causation of karma are mentioned: hetu phala āśraya
ālambanaiḥ (IV.11). These are the four terms Patanjali uses to describe these four
aspects. There is a cause which is called hetu, there is a consequence which is called
phala, there is a basis or substratum which is called asraya, and there is a