If yoga is such a good thing, why do people give it up? On the struggle between the force of knowledge and the force of ignorance, the accelerated purging of karma, and why obstacles are necessary for growth.
I want to ask you a question. If yoga, meditation and spirituality in general are such good things, why doesn't the whole world practice them?
If a hundred people come to a lecture, twenty of them will want to learn meditation; of those, fifteen will actually find the time, come and learn to meditate; and of those fifteen, only one or two will at first become established on the path and practice for at least a year or two. But only ten percent of them will truly become steady practitioners. Why does this happen? Why is there such a huge dropout? If yoga is such a good thing, why do people give it up?! You can trace this in your own case: have you ever wanted to stop meditating? Do you have doubts? Do thoughts arise like "Why do I need all this?!"
The reason is that not many people have the warrior's mentality needed to make an inner effort on the way to victory over oneself. This effort is what is called sádhaná. And this process cannot go on without struggle. There are those who say that meditation is a kind of relaxation, a sort of harmony that involves no struggle at all. However, this harmony is the outcome of inner struggle, and as a result of victory over ourselves we experience an expansion of mind and the deepest comfort. And then we say: "Wow! It was worth it!" But life does not let us rest on our laurels for long, and the very next moment there will again be a measure of discomfort, a measure of this struggle in the face of a new challenge. And if there is a positive attitude, an understanding that this is moving forward, development, progress, a person accepts the new challenge. Such a person's life will never be boring.
But there are also other people who prefer the state of the comfort zone, the state of stagnation. It is very hard for such people to succeed on the spiritual path. They may begin to practice only under the outer pressure of circumstances, be it some serious illness or another crisis that forces them to change their habits in the physical, mental and spiritual spheres.
There are several reasons why discomfort arises in life when a person does spiritual practice. The first is that two forces influence their mind: the force of knowledge (in yogic terminology this is called vidyá shakti) and the force of ignorance (avidyá shakti). The force of knowledge is the bright principle in a person, that which prompts them to noble actions toward themselves and other people. The force of ignorance, by contrast, is the dark principle that pushes a person toward degeneration. As long as a person maintains a certain status quo, a certain balance of forces within, life goes on in its usual way, until they decide to shift the balance in some direction, for example, to take a step and take refuge in the force of knowledge. Then an obstacle arises at once.
A simple example. A person has a bad habit, smoking, and decides to quit. Until that moment no one paid any attention to them, but on the day they made that decision, all their smoker friends will be inviting them out for a smoke. The force of ignorance becomes active inside them in the form of desire, in the form of doubt, showing itself as fear and so on. It also becomes active outside, in the form of certain circumstances that tempt them and test their resolve.
The same happens if a person has been under the influence of the force of knowledge, living a good, virtuous life, and suddenly decides to commit some crime, for instance to steal something. And on the way to that action something unpredictable is sure to happen: they will miss their bus, someone will unexpectedly call. It is the force of knowledge standing in the "doorway" and getting in the way, because the status quo has been disturbed. In either case a person needs to show enough resolve to overcome the obstacle from the side of the force of knowledge or the force of ignorance, in order to shift the balance of forces.
From this it follows quite plainly that purification within us happens through effort and struggle.
Once you have decided to start meditating under the protection of the force of knowledge, you will not simply float in a "world of love, unicorns and rainbows." Be sure that the path of sádhaná will bring you precisely an intense inner struggle with the dark principle in you that controls you. However, if your intention is pure and firm, the moment you take just one step, the supreme Consciousness will take a hundred steps toward you to help you win and rise one step higher. But to get onto the next step you will have to struggle again. Strangely enough, the first obstacle will come from the people closest to you: relatives and friends. When you begin to meditate, they will most likely be the first to oppose you. And if your commitment to the goal is not strong enough, you risk abandoning your spiritual path. Then everyone loses: both you and all the people around you.
If, on the contrary, your resolve is strong, you will overcome all obstacles. You will keep walking the dharmic, bright path no matter what: whether luck stays with you or not, whether wealth stays in your house or leaves it forever, whether your friends love you or come to hate you. That is when you will win and rise to the next step.
The second thing. You will agree that meditation is a process of purification. In other words, in meditation a person is cleansed of inner impurities and begins to perceive the world more subtly. From the point of view of yoga, these inner impurities are called saḿskáras, or, in everyday speech, karma. They are the result of our past actions out of tune with the universe, which have produced disharmonious consequences within our mind. In meditation we are purified of these actions at an accelerated pace. What does purification from karma mean? It means that events begin to happen that work out and destroy our karma. In other words, by meditating a person intensively cleanses their own destiny, condensing events. Things that it would take some fifty years to understand by living through pain, pleasure or other feelings, which mean liberation from the consequences of past actions, are realized in a year or a year and a half. Because in meditation one's mentality changes; a person begins to think differently and act differently. A deep realization takes place, which brings with it liberation from karmic bonds. It is a very positive process.
And the third thing: difficulties and obstacles are absolutely necessary for our growth and development. It is precisely overcoming them that builds up inner strength. Try growing in an atmosphere of comfort, where everything is familiar and repeats itself. When an athlete gets used to lifting a certain weight, they need to add a few plates to the barbell if they intend to keep growing.
One Orthodox mystic, Anthony, said that without temptation there is no salvation. This means that if there is no struggle between vidyá and avidyá, the force of knowledge and the force of ignorance, our mind will never get the chance to develop and unfold, and the soul will remain weak and sickly and will not reach the heights.
Once a man watched a butterfly struggling to get out of its cocoon. And out of pity he tore the cocoon open. That butterfly could not fly. The man did not know that nature has arranged things so that its wings fill with strength only through hard struggle, which gives the butterfly the ability to fly. God sends us grace in the form of an obstacle. By overcoming it we make our mind stronger, and with a strong mind we gain the possibility of liberation. Now that we know this, our attitude to obstacles will change, and we will say: "Go on, bring it on, I'll add salt and pepper and eat it, no problem." With such thinking no situation can frighten us. After all, the process of spiritual development is liberation from barriers, from all fears. True freedom can be gained when we go straight ahead, ram through, break through and overcome difficulties and obstacles; otherwise how can we develop fearlessness toward them? One often hears that as soon as people begin to meditate, their life speeds up. And, frightened, they stop their spiritual practice. But if there is no movement forward, there will be movement backward. And from the moment we give in to fear and stop struggling, degeneration will begin, and we will return to comfort, paying for it with our inner fulfillment. Because inside we will know that we have deceived and betrayed ourselves. So do not stop; cultivate a winner's mentality in yourself. Even if you meet with failure on this path and fall, get up, dust yourself off, stand up and go forward again. It doesn't matter how many times you fell; what matters is how many times you got up.
In fact, a tantrika is not someone who never stumbles. A tantrika is someone who does not stop, who keeps going to the final goal.
Remember the truth that obstacles are absolutely necessary; without them there is no development. And welcome them, because their presence shows us that you have already gone through part of the process of liberation. On the contrary, the absence of outer and inner problems should worry us a little: "Am I not growing spiritually?" And be calm and joyful when an obstacle arises. It means that you are already halfway to success, and if you keep moving forward today, victory awaits you tomorrow.
