The Yoga of Patanjali

Lesson - 2 43result is there will be a more abundant flow of energy followingthe thought produced by the power of word.Generally we do not understand this and we use wordswithout much significance. We live in a value of meanings withoutobjects and meanings which do not signify any procedure. “Todaymy wife is coming by the express” said one of my friends. Hehad divorced his wife twelve years ago. Still he uses the phrase,“my wife”. Here it means only the meaning of the word and notthe object. This is an interesting example of the word usedwrongly as a vehicle. As a result the word carries no power atall. The power of words depends upon the significance withwhich we use. In the same way many people use the word,‘Happiness’. In ninetynine out of hundred cases, the word‘happiness’ signifies only a concept and not an experience.These are all examples of only a concept and not an experience.These are all examples of wrong use of right vehicles. The vehiclesare used in the absence of the objects, just as dogs sit in theenclosure of a college, when it is vacation time. Just as thedogs cannot be Principals or Professors by mere going roundthe college buildings so also the words used fail to producepower.This is what Patanjali explains us about the three typesof the measures. At first Patanjali explained the five groups ofmeasures and then explained us the three types of use of thesefive groups of measures. All these fifteen items have their rightuse and wrong use. Among the five groups of measures, thefourth one has no further classification or sub-division. It isbecause no one knows about it. It is the absence of the measurewhich we call sleep. The mind and the senses are affected bythe various types of measures from the environment, everysecond. The mind reacts to these measures and we do notknow ourselves except through any one of these reactions.