gence (mahat), which exists in all of us, is the first manifestation of the
invisible. From cosmic intelligence sprout cosmic energy (prana) and
consciousness (citta), and from these devolves ego (ahamkara) or the
sense of self. From the one root comes duality (which is the ability to
separate), from duality comes vibration (which is the pulse of life be
ginning), from vibration comes invisible manifestation, and from the
invisible comes the visible in all its glorious and horrendous diversity
and multiplicity. This end product is what we take the world to be
our playground, our paradise, or our hell and our prison. If we mis
apprehend nature, take it at face value, through ignorance (avidya),
then it is our prison.
The path modern science has taken to escape from the prison is an
alytical. Science dissects, whether it be frogs, human bodies, or atoms.
It seeks truth in intrinsic minutiae. But if you take a watch to bits, you
may understand how it works. However, you will no longer be able to
tell the time. Yoga also dissects-ego, mind, and intelligence, for ex
ample-but it is not only analytical. It is synthetic too, or integra
tionist. It examines in order to know, like science, but it wants to know
in order to penetrate, to integrate, and to reconstruct through practice
and detachment the perfection of nature's original intention. In other
words, it wants to reach the root and cut out the intervening turbu
lence. It does not want to be hoodwinked by nature's appearance, but
to adhere to its original motivation.
The difference between yoga and Darwin lies in the theory of nat
ural selection by the random mutation of genes that provides survival
advantages on a haphazard basis. If it is the subtle that clothes itself in
the form of the gross, this cannot be. Two centuries earlier, Isaac
Newton followed the yogic line. He said, "The order that reigns in the
material world indicates sufficiently that it has been created by a will
that is filled with intelligence." This, clearly, is not the puppet master
creator, but an innate natural intelligence seeking to express itself. But
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