everything is made up of these complexes called the klesas. They have also motivated
another peculiar law, which is called the law of karma—all of which is a different way
of describing the manner in which desires function and the reactions that are
produced by the desires. The one mistake that has been committed in the form of
error of perception—namely, affirmation of the individuality, asmita—has caused us
so much trouble.
These conditions cannot be overcome merely by an action in an ordinary sense.
There should be an overall transformation brought about for the purpose of dealing
with these vrittis, because any one-sided approach to it will not succeed. If we touch
any one aspect of these vrittis, other aspects will revolt. They will support, in
affiliation, the particular vritti that has been encountered for the purpose of control.
When we attack the vrittis or try to control them, they have to be taken in a group
and not individually, because they are connected, one with the other. What we call
these kleshas, or vrittis of the mind, are a group. They are intertwined in a bundle,
one inside the other; and so when any aspect of it is faced and suppressed with the
force of will, the other aspects gain strength—the very same strength which we have
withdrawn from the particular aspect which we have suppressed.
Thus, it is not wisdom on the part of any seeker to look at only a single side of this
issue, or even at a few aspects of this issue. We should take the total issue in one
stroke. This means to say that we have to have a proper understanding of the nature
of our mind in its comprehensiveness. We should not study ourselves only as we
appear to ourselves today. “What am I today? This is not what I am really, because
what I look like today is only one phase of my real nature, and what I am is much
more than what I appear today. Every day my mood changes, the desires change, the
way of the thinking of my mind changes, and so on and so forth, on account of a
certain predominance of the vrittis in the mind.”
If we take an average, for instance, of the various experiences that we passed through
for the last one year, we will have a fair idea of what we are made of. We may take an
average of even three years, if we like. What sort of attitudes did we develop
continuously, for days and days, for the last three years, for instance? This is a
difficult thing to remember, but a cautious student will keep a note of all these
things. Many of the things can be remembered; we cannot forget them. What are the
moods through which we passed? What are the desires that appeared in our mind?
What are the things that attracted our attention? What are those things that repelled
us? What are the things that annoyed us? What are the things that distressed us?—
and so on. Taking an average of all these conditions through which we passed during
the last few years will give a fair idea, though not a complete idea, of the stuff of
which we are made.
Now, this is an indication of what is to be done. We have suffered from various
diseases for the last ten years. What are the kinds of disease that attacked us? We can
find out the predominance of these illnesses and the peculiar characters of the
diseases to which we are susceptible—the major problems of our life as illness.
Likewise, the major or predominant character of the vrittis of the mind can be
discovered by a careful analysis of an average taken in this manner. Everyone has
desires; everyone has vrittis; everyone has distresses, anguishes, etc., but they vary in
tones of expression.