thing is attempted, and so a tremendous tension is created in the consciousness.
Therefore, it is unhappy. This unhappiness is due to the tension created by the urge
to place itself in what it is not. The loves of the world are tensions of one kind or the
other. The release of this tension should be, naturally, a satisfaction. The tension is
caused by the movement of the Self away from itself, in the direction of the object.
And when we have lost our Self, that is great pain indeed, because the essence of
tension is an aberration of consciousness, or a movement of Consciousness away
from its own Self. This is what is happening in every kind of attraction or affection.
Hence, there is tension, and the so-called satisfaction that is arrived at by the contact
of senses with objects is due to the cessation of this tension. Ananda is felt in the
contact of the senses with objects on account of the retrogression of the senses back
to their source, under the impression that their purpose has been fulfilled. In the
contact there is a notion created in the mind that the purpose of the contact has been
fulfilled, and so the forces of the senses return to their cause. Then the mind ceases to
function for a while, and the tension caused by the movement of the Self towards the
not-Self is brought to a cessation temporarily—so there is a flash of ananda. A
conviction arises in the mind that the object has brought the satisfaction required,
and so there is a persistent effort to repeat the experience again and again. This has
been caused, therefore, by a muddled understanding—a confusion, totally. The
happiness has not come from the object, and therefore, the rise of an impulse in the
direction of an object is illogical, ultimately.
Such analysis of this type would be helpful in the reversion of the effect into the cause
and the sublimation of the effect in the cause, so that the vehemence or the force of
the effect in the direction of its fulfilment will be mitigated to a large extent. Thus,
effort has to be made. We have to be very vigilant, every day, in seeing that the force
of the manifestation of an effect in the form of an impulse in the direction of an
object is brought down to the minimum by such intelligent analysis.
Chapter 61HOW THE LAW OF KARMA OPERATESDhyānaheyāḥ tadvṛttayaḥ (II.11): Everything is possible through meditation. All the
impediments are set aside by the power that is projected in meditation. The force of
concentration has miraculous results following it. Though in the beginning it looks as
if we are threshing old straw and no essence seems to be coming out of it, a marvel
will be beheld later on as a result of continued practice.
The harassing vrittis, the tormenting obstacles of raga, dvesha and all their
concomitants, will disperse like scudding clouds, and there will be a luminous light of
hope presenting itself before us—after a long, long time, of course. Even a hope that
something is going to come is enough—if it is a confirmed hope, not a nebulous one.
But, in the earlier stages, on account of the thickness of the cloud of unknowing, or
ignorance, even this hope is absent. There is diffidence and discomfiture even in
one’s approach, and sluggishly, reluctantly, with suspicion in the mind, one
undertakes the practice. But this continuous hammering of the mind into a given