impression created in the mind by the power of the meditation which we have been
practising at other times. If the meditation has been strong, protracted, practised for
a long period, the atmosphere that this practice creates in the mind will ward off, to a
large extent, the invasion of these vrittis in terms of their satisfaction. Otherwise,
who will help us when we are not in a state of meditation? Nobody can guard us all
twenty-four hours. How can we keep the police with us wherever we go? Such a thing
is impossible. And it is at that time when we are unguarded, which is of course
common in anyone’s life, that these samskaras will come up.
They come up because they have not been given their needs. We have simply told
them ‘no’ for anything that they said. In the beginning, it worked very well because
our will was so strong and we were bent upon seeing that they were put down. We
did it and we succeeded by the power that we exerted upon them, as a boss would do
in respect of a subordinate. But how long will this be tolerated? We have not
sublimated them. They cannot be melted. They are sitting there, not dead. They may
look like corpses, but they are not corpses; they have life. They are defeated,
frustrated and unhappy vrittis which have been struck down by the will of the
meditative consciousness.
When there is a chidra, or a little loophole in the meditative effort—which means
when we are not meditating—these vrittis will come up. “Now we are ready,” they
will say. “You have forgotten us, so we are up.” And nobody can do anything at that
time, because the starved emotions and the frustrated desires have a strength of their
own. They are not weaklings. To avoid this problem of having to confront unforeseen
vrittis at a later stage, the Yoga Shastras prescribe very graduated ascents, even in
the earlier stages of yoga. We are not supposed to jump up in great enthusiasm, as if
we are going to catch God in a few days. It is this kind of enthusiasm that leads to
such problems.
We have to move gradually, with a tremendous caution with regard to our strengths
and weaknesses. It is something like striking a balance sheet. The profit and loss
account is struck with great care, and we know where we stand financially at the end
of any particular year. Likewise, it is necessary to strike a psychological balance sheet
of our life almost every day, towards the end of the day, we may say, and find out
where we stand in spiritual life. It is no use imagining that we are seekers and
yogins—everyone can imagine that. Our actual condition will be known only to us.
Many a time there are very difficult situations inwardly which cannot be explained,
nor can they be observed by other people; only we can know. But, due to being busy
in extraneous activities, and sometimes due to an incorrect idea of one’s own
strength, which may not be a real strength—a kind of wrong estimation of oneself—
one may be led into erroneous corners and slacken the effort at concentration.
Apart from the prescription of the recession of the effect into the cause, the great
method prescribed by Patanjali as the remedy for this problem of the vrittis is the
sutra: dhyānaheyāḥ tadvṛttayaḥ (II.11). We cannot do anything with them, except do
meditation once again. Meditation is the only remedy for the difficulty that has
arisen due to lack of meditation. There is no other remedy. Then we have to set
ourselves up once again and gird up our loins, and know where we stand without any
complacency in respect of our achievements. It is not possible to face the powers of
nature. Always it is wisdom on the part of every individual to be friendly with nature
and never oppose the forces of nature. Even in the name of God, we should not