The purpose of this object is to bring about experience in the individual, and then
liberate it from its clutches by the gradual process of evolution. The very existence of
the object has a purpose, and the purpose is to serve the intentions of the subject.
The world of nature, the vast physical cosmos in which various individuals find
themselves, is supposed to be a field that is provided for the causing of necessary
experiences in the individuals which inhabit it. At the time of the creation of the
universe, subsequent to the cosmic dissolution, or pralaya, a new set-up of the
constitution of the universe is suddenly manifest, in which one thing is determined
forever—and that determination is what sort of universe is to be manifest. Out of the
infinite potentialities of prakriti, only certain aspects manifest themselves as this
universe. It does not mean that prakriti is made up of only these things that we see
with our eyes. The very purpose of the creation of this world is to provide a field for
the experience of the jivas, or the individuals. And what sort of individuals are
manifest in this kalpa, or cycle of creation? It is only those groups of individuals
whose karmas have matured enough to find an occasion for experience.
When unfulfilled desires which have lied buried in the individuals who have not been
liberated at the time of the previous kalpa manifest themselves and begin to be ready
for the maturity of experience, there is a necessity simultaneously felt for providing
them with the requisite field of experience. So, there is a simultaneous creation of the
individuals and the universe. The subject and the object rise together. It is not that
one comes first and the other comes afterwards, because the world that is outside is
not really a physical substance but a condition of experience for the totality of
individuals—which are the contents of the universe, or rather, constitute the parts of
the universe itself. The individuals inhabiting the universe are related to the universe
as threads are related to a cloth, we may say, so that they are themselves constituting
the universe. They are not outside the universe. It is very difficult to distinguish one
from the other.
The bhoga, or the experience that is referred to in this sutra, is the undergoing of the
pleasures and pains by individuals consequent upon their previous karmas.
Therefore, this world contains only those things which are necessary for the
experience of the pleasures and the pains of the various jivas which have been
manifest in this cycle. It will not contain anything more, and it will not contain
anything less. The world does not contain anything in excess of what is necessary;
nor is it undernourished. It contains exactly what is requisite for the purpose of the
experience of all the jivas—not just one or two—who have been manifest in this cycle.
So, bhoga does not only mean enjoyment; it is experience of any kind. The purpose
of the contact of the subject with the object is experience, and the purpose of
experience is to exhaust the forces of the past karmas.
Why do we come in contact with things? Why do we want experience of any kind? It
is because this experience is what is called for by the urges of the forces of past
karmas—the desires, we may say. When their momentum is exhausted by
experience, there is liberation, or apavarga—moksha. Naturally, we become free
when the term of our imprisonment in a jail is over—unless, of course, we commit
another crime inside the jail itself. Then, we will not be released. Sometimes we do
make that mistake. While we are provided with this experience for the purpose of
exhausting the momentum of past deeds in order that subsequently we may be
freed—attain moksha, or apavarga—we commit another mistake in the very process