Microsoft Word - Taimni - The Science of Yoga.doc

physical world may help the student to gain a faint glimpse into their real nature and
the truth underlying IV-13.
There is one other important point we have to understand in relation to the
Gunas if we would grasp the significance of ideas given in III-56 and IV-34. This
point is connected with the relation of the three Gunas to one another. Every student of
elementary Science knows that wave motion or vibration is a harmonious combination
of mobility and inertia. And if the three Gunas are connected as we have seen with
these three aspects of motion it follows that Sattva is merely a harmonious combina-
tion of Rajas and Tamas and is not anything apart from Rajas and Tamas. So the de-
velopment of Sattva is not really the creation of something new but the harmonization
of the existing Rajas and Tamas. This fact is very important because it serves to throw
some light on the relation of the Purusa and Sattva. When the Purusa comes in contact
with Prakrti at the beginning of the evolutionary cycle his contact disturbs the equilib-
rium of the three Gunas and gradually brings into play the forces of Prakrti. Through
this disturbed atmosphere the Purusa cannot see his Svarupa because this Svarupa can
be expressed or reflected only through a sufficiently purified Sattva Guna. In the early
stages of evolution this question does not arise. The vehicles of consciousness are
slowly being organized and the powers latent in Prakrti are being unfolded. But after
evolution has reached a sufficiently advanced stage and the desire for Self-realization
is born within the soul Rajas and Tamas have to be replaced gradually by Sattva. So
the object in Yoga is to harmonize Rajas and Tamas into Sattva. And as it is the har-
monization of two opposites, a perfect harmonization means really the virtual disap-
pearance of the opposites and the attainment of a condition which is free from the op-
posites.
The question now arises ‘Is the Triguna-Samyavastha before the Purusa came
in contact with Prakrti exactly the same as the condition of pure Sattva developed af-
ter going through the evolutionary cycle and attaining Kaivalya?’ The answer to this
question must be in the negative. Because, if the two conditions were the same the
whole purpose of evolution as outlined in II-23 would be defeated. It would really
amount to supposing that the Purusa descends into matter, goes through the long and
tedious evolutionary cycle and then again lapses into the condition from which he
started.
If the two conditions are not identical, what is the difference between them?
This is not the place to enter into this highly philosophical question but an analogy