which, from common humaneness he should have interfered is partly guilty of the
crime. ‘Inaction in a deed of mercy is action in a deadly sin’ as the Buddha warned. If,
for example, we see a person being lynched or a child or animal being treated very
cruelly it is our duty to interfere whatever the consequences to ourselves. And if we
save our skin by remaining indifferent or inactive we incur responsibility and invite
Karmic retribution. Of course, this does not mean that we have to become a nuisance
and like a busy-body interfere constantly in the lives of other people with the object of
getting wrongs redressed. Yogic life does not mean bidding good-bye to reason and
commonsense.
Cause: The next factor we have to consider is the cause of the evil tendencies
which hinder us in the practice of Yama-Niyama. Patanjali has given three causes—
agreed, anger and delusion. It should be noted that these three are conditions of mind
which precede wrong thoughts, feelings and actions. This is indicated by the word
Purvaka. Lobha is the condition of the mind which produces the desire to grasp things
for ourselves. Krodha is the agitation of the mind produced when any person or thing
stands in the way of fulfilment of our desire. Moha is the conditioning of the mind
which results when we are attached to any person or thing. All these conditions of the
mind bring about a clouding of Buddhi which renders a person incapable of judging
right and wrong. It is this confused and unenlightened state of the mind which pro-
vides the necessary soil for wrong thoughts, feelings and actions. That is why ponder-
ing over the opposites and thus clearing up the confusion has been prescribed as the
remedy in the previous Sutra. What has to be remembered is that we have to go to the
root of the evil and tackle it there.
Degree: The next question to be considered in regard to Vitarka is that of de-
gree. In the Hindu philosophical systems the usual method of classifying a number of
things which differ in degree or intensity is to consider them under three broad sub-
heads—mild, medium and intense. This method of sub-division is simple and elastic
though naturally it suffers from lack of definiteness. But as the Sadhaka has to free
himself completely from these evil tendencies this lack of definiteness in the division
is not of any practical importance.
The importance of sub-dividing the degree or intensity of Vitarka does not lie in
providing a scientific method of classification. Its real object is to bring home to the
Sadhaka the importance of attending to the minor faults in his thinking and conduct
which he is likely to overlook or ignore. The Sadhaka has to develop a high degree of
ben green
(Ben Green)
#1