VI: 36

Chapter 6, Verse 36

"When the mind is not in harmony,
This Yoga is indeed difficult to master;
But if you keep striving earnestly,
In the right way,
You will realize it."

Swami Satchidananda:

It's difficult, surely, but it is possible.  That's the beauty of it.  What's the use of doing anything that's really easy?  Anybody can do it.  There is distinction when you do something that others can't do easily.  It is possible to achieve anything if you practice at it continuously.  Always keep you aim high to gain mastery over the restless mind.

If you meditate ten minutes a day and then just leave the mind to go on its seemingly merry way for the rest of the day, it's a little bit like holding a rudder steady for ten minutes and then letting go of it.  The wind then tosses the boat every which way.  You'll never reach the other shore that way.  Be constantly vigilant.  Always hold the wheel and watch the compass.  If you make a mistake or get caught by a gust of wind, get back on course tout de suite.

Jesus:

Let your loins be girded and keep your lamps burning, and be like those who wait for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open the door at once when he knocks.

Eckhart Tolle:

The waiting that Jesus speaks of is not the usual bored and restless waiting that denies the present moment.  It is not a waiting in which your attention is focused on some point in the future, while the present moment is perceived as an undesirable obstacle that is preventing you from having what you want.

There is a qualitatively different kind of waiting, one that requires your total alertness.  In this state, all of your attention is in the present moment.  There is none left for daydreaming, remembering or anticipating.  There is no tension in it, nor any fear.  There's only alert presence.  In this state, the "you" that has a past and future is hardly there anymore, and yet nothing of value is lost.  You are still essentially yourself.  In fact, you are more fully yourself than you ever were before, or rather it is only now that you are truly yourself.

The servant knows not at what hour the master will come, so he stays awake, alert, poised and still, lest he miss his master's arrival.  In another parable, Jesus speaks of the five careless (unconscious) women who do not have enough oil (consciousness) to keep their lamps burning (to stay present) and so miss the bridegroom (the now) and don't get to the feast (liberation).  These five stand in contrast to the five wise women who have enough oil (to stay conscious).

The writers of the Gospels did not understand the meaning of these parables, so distortions crept in right from the beginning.  These are not parables about the end of the world.  They are pointing towards the transcendence of the egoic mind and the possibility of living in an entirely new state of consciousness.