level, called the svadisthana. Then it is that they get fired up with the desire for
world uplift, the idea of bringing heaven on earth, and they become messiahs or
incarnations; they begin to feel that they are ambassadors of God Himself, come to
rectify all the defects of this world. This is a peculiar kind of ego that rises up into a
heightened activity when the svadisthana gets stirred up. Or, sometimes, animal
desires can get activated. They will start drinking very vehemently, thinking that it is
a kind of sadhana; or something worse than that—anything can happen. We know
what the desires of a human being are—these are things not unknown—and every
one of them will be activated. The desires of a person who has stirred the
svadisthana will be more intense, whatever the desire be, than the desire of an
ordinary person. This is the dangerous point where one can simply go down into the
pits if the proper measures have not been taken earlier for putting these energies into
proper use and harnessing them for the purpose for which the yoga practice has been
undertaken.
These are the types of conditions we have to face—circumstances we have to pass
through—if we earnestly take to concentration of mind for a long time. Therefore,
before one actually enters into the path of yoga, especially at the point of
concentration and meditation, very earnestly and seriously one has to be very well
guarded by having an insight into one’s own psychological nature as to where one
really stands in one’s personal and social life.
Chapter 85THE INTERRELATEDNESS OF ALL THINGSThere are three stages by which the mind attains communion with its object, which is
the aim of meditation. The first stage is that it thinks deeply over the object, pays
entire attention to it, and does not want to think anything else. So much is the
longing for communion that the mind cannot think anything else at that time. The
heart fixes itself in its thought, in its will, and in its emotion, upon the object. This is
a very important factor to remember. It is not merely the thought that fixes itself—it
is also the will, and also the emotion. This is important because we are generally
under the impression that concentration is the settling of the thought on the form of
the object. But, usually, the emotions are not there and, therefore, the will is also not
there. There is a shallow concentration with a disturbed background. That is not the
concentration that we are expecting here, at this stage of yoga. There is no need to
repeat, again and again, that the subject which meditates is not the mind in its
shallow conscious aspect. It is the very vitality and essence of the whole of the
personality of the subject. It is the very breath of the personality that is drawn
towards the object—the very prana is moving towards it. We are entirely, wholly,
totally, moving towards the object.
What it is to be totally drawn towards an object is something difficult to imagine
under normal conditions, because we are never totally drawn towards anything.
Though we have an interest in many things of the world, it cannot be regarded as a
whole or entire interest which absorbs the completeness of our being. Such a thing is
unknown to us—but that is what is required of us. It is only in deep sleep that the
whole being sinks; at other times, the entire being does not operate. Very rarely, even