What is to be done now? This is a terrible picture that is presented before us. Are we
helpless? Yes. The only solution for this is to work hard to get out of the difficulty,
even in the midst of the difficulty. As they say, we have to take a bath in the ocean
even when the waves are dashing. We will not find a time when the waves subside, as
they will never subside. Likewise, problems of the world will be there always. We are
not going to be free from them. Every moment there is trouble, but in the midst of
this fierce encounter of trouble in this world, we have to find a moment of respite to
contemplate the possibility of overcoming it. Every dark cloud has a silver lining, as
they say. Likewise the unthinkable, unimaginable extent of the difficulties in which
one finds oneself in life also has a silver lining. There is a streak of light that is
projecting forth in the form of a hope that there is a chance of getting out of this
problem by some strange method.
That strange method is the practice of yoga. It is strange, indeed, because it is not
available in this world, in the market. It is not even imaginable by the mind,
ordinarily. It is a very, very strange technique which has been discovered by blessed
ones, great masters and adepts, which is the antidote for this vehemence with which
the love of life, or instinct for existence, manifests itself. This antidote is the practice
of yoga. How it is to be practised, we shall be told in the future.
Chapter 60TRACING THE ULTIMATE CAUSE OF ANY EXPERIENCEThese impulses and instincts, which are the manner in which the creative urge
manifests itself, have to be purified and transformed into their respective causes so
that they can be subdued in an intelligent manner. This is the meaning of the sutra:
te pratiprasavaheyāḥ sūkṣmāḥ (II.10). The only way of controlling anything is to bring
it back to its cause. Pratiprasava is the recession of the effect into the cause. First of
all, an impulse, an instinct, a desire, an urge, or any event for the matter of that, has
to be diagnosed as to how it has arisen. What is the reason for its manifesting itself at
all? What is its intention? What does it seek? What are the conditions that have
contributed to its rise?
This is the etiology, the diagnosis, or we may call it the pathological investigation of a
psychological condition that has arisen. No event takes place by a single cause. Many
causes come together to produce an effect, just as it is in anything that we see in life.
Even a headache does not come due to a single reason. There is a susceptibility of the
system—the season or the climate that is pervading outside, the mental condition,
the social status, the function or the work that one performs, and so on. These
become various factors that are contributory to a single phenomenon which is
experienced.
To bring an effect back to its cause is a difficult thing because the cause cannot be
easily discovered. If there is a single cause for a single effect, and they work in a
mathematical fashion absolutely, we may be able to revert the effect into the cause at
once, by turning on a switch. But, the cause and effect relationship is not as
arithmetical as it may appear. They do not follow any logic in the way we understand