karma which can be fulfilled through the instrumentality of this physical body will
come to the conscious level for action, and the other aspects will keep quiet because
they know they cannot get anything. They will wait for the opportunity, and they will
wait for ages, so that we do not know how many years a particular karma will take to
manifest itself. It may take ages. It may take many incarnations. It may sometimes
wait even a hundred births to attack us one day or the other. And at other times, of
course, it can come earlier due to a mysterious allocation, as I mentioned, which is
determined by the entire nature itself. God alone knows how it works.
Why a particular judgement is passed by the judiciary in the court in spite of it
having heard various evidence and having sifted through all the evidence, though it
may be so much, and pinpointing the evidence into a particular judgement, is given
to the discretion of the judiciary based on the constitution of the government.
Likewise, the individual cannot know how a particular action is taken up for
fulfilment, under what law and regulation, just as a defendant cannot know why a
particular judgement has been passed by the judge against him. “Why I have been
defeated in the court?” he will complain. Well, it is based on some peculiar law, of
which the judge is supposed to be well informed.
There is a judiciary in the government of the universe which passes judgement on all
individuals, and how this judgement is passed is beyond the grasp of the intelligence
of any individual. But, broadly speaking, this is the manner in which the law of
karma operates, and in this sutra, sati mūle tadvipākaḥ jāti āyuḥ bhogāḥ (II.13),
Patanjali tells us that rebirth cannot be avoided as long as we allow the root of these
vrittis to be present.
Chapter 62THE PERCEPTION OF PLEASURE AND PAINTe hlāda paritāpa phalāḥ puṇya apuṇya hetutvāt (II.14) is a sutra which tells us that
pleasures and pains are caused by the manifestation of these vrittis of the mind
which have been designated as afflictions, or klesas. Avidya, asmita, raga, dvesa,
abhinivesa—this fivefold complex of affliction is the cause of the various sufferings
that we undergo in life, as well as the various joys that we experience. Punya and
apunya, merit and demerit, are regarded as causative factors of pleasurable and
miserable experiences in life. The happiness that we experience, whatever be the
nature of that happiness and whatever be the cause thereof, is considered to be an
effect of the forces generated by the meritorious deeds of the past. We are not
unnecessarily happy or unnecessarily unhappy. This is the meaning.
These experiences are brought about by certain causative factors. Nothing happens
without a cause. Even the manner in which the psychophysical organism comes in
contact with objects of pleasure is determined by the nature of the actions performed
in previous lives. This explains why only certain objects can give us pleasure and
certain others cannot, though it is true that every object has the capacity to fulfil a
particular need of an individual. What may become the source of happiness to me
may not be the source of happiness to you. This means pleasure, or happiness, or joy,