पातञ्जल योगसूत्र (स्वामी विवेकानन्द भाष्य एवं सूत्र व्याख्या)

Patanjali Yoga Sutras
these practices and struggles to become religious are only
negative work to take off the bars, and open the doors to that
perfection which is our birthright, our nature.
To-day the evolution theories of the Yogis will be better
understood in the light of modern research. And yet the theory
of the Yogis is a better explanation. The two causes of
evolution advanced by the moderns, viz., sexual selection and
survival of the fittest, are inadequate. Suppose human
knowledge to have advanced too much as to eliminate
competition, both from the function of acquiring physical
sustenance and of acquiring a mate. Then, according to the
moderns, human progress will stop and the race will die. And
the result of this theory is to furnish every oppressor with an
argument to calm the qualms of conscience, and men are not
lacking, who, posing as philosophers, want to kill out all
wicked and incompetent persons (they are, of course, the only
judges of competency), and thus preserve the human race!
But the great ancient evolutionist, Patanjali, declares that the
true secret of evolution is the manifestation of the perfection
which is already in every being; that this perfection has been
barred, and the infinite tide behind it is struggling to express
itself. These struggles and competitions are but the results of
our ignorance, because we do not know the proper way to
unlock the gate and let the water in. This infinite tide behind
must express itself, and it is the cause of all manifestation, not
competition for life, or sex gratification, which are only
momentary, unnecessary, extraneous effects, caused by
ignorance. Even when all competition has ceased this perfect
nature behind will make us go forward until everyone has
become perfect. Therefore there is no reason to believe that
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