nessed for achieving the central purpose. So the word Dhyana in II-11 implies all men-
tal processes and exercises which may help the Sadhaka to reduce the active Klesas to
the passive condition. It may include reflection, brooding over the deeper problems of
life, changing habits of thought and attitudes by means of meditation (II-33), Tapas as
well as meditation in the ordinary sense of the term.
It is necessaiy to note in this connection that reducing the Klesas to a latent or
passive condition does not mean merely bringing them to a temporary state of quies-
cence. Violent disturbances of the mind and emotions which result from the activity of
the Klesas (Klesa-Vrtti) are not always present and we all pass through phases in
which Klesas like Raga-Dvesa seem to have become latent. A Sadhaka may retire for
sometime into solitude. As long as he is cut off from all kinds of social relationships,
Raga and Dvesa will naturally become inoperative but that does iot mean that he has
reduced these to a latent state. It is only their outer expression which has been sus-
pended and the moment he resumes his social life these Klesas will re-assert them-
selves with their usual force. Reducing the Klesas to the latent state means making the
tendencies so feeble that they are not easily aroused, though they have not yet been
rooted out.
Another point which may be noted is that attacking one particular form or ex-
pression of a Klesa a is not of much avail, though in the beginning this may be done to
gain some knowledge of the working of the Klesas and the technique of mastering
them. A Klesa can assume innumerable forms of expression and if we merely suppress
one of its expressions it will assume other forms. It is the general tendency which has
to be tackled and it is this isolation, as it were, of this tendency and tackling it as a
whole which tests the intelligence of the Sadhaka and determines the success of the
endeavour.
ben green
(Ben Green)
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