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| Ignorance Desire Aversion Self-Personality Possessiveness |
The Five Sources of Trouble |
Patanjali says that “Ignorance” is the source that accounts for the other four sources. In other
words, desire and aversion are forms of ignorance. But the four that accompany ignorance are
profound enough to rate a place in the listing of Sources of Trouble. Each of them, as we well
know, is a world of its own. Some folks devote their entire ambition to one or the other of these.
Notice that none of these traits, if you will, are defined as trouble. They are sources of trouble,
just the way that an innocent mountain spring might be a source of the river that destroys, wrecks
and drowns the civilization below. But the spring and the river are also the source of water and
shorelines to drink or wander. The rivers and the oceans that they feed are the pathway followed
by the commerce of nutrients and waste that operates at every level.
So it is with the sources of trouble:
Without Ignorance, there is no learning.
Without desire there is no urge.
Without aversion, there is no security.
Without self-personality, there is no point of view.
Without possessiveness there is no belonging.
Yet any of these can be and are sources of trouble. Patanjali says that habitual devotion to the
three observances of body-conditioning, self-study and attentiveness to God will, the Yoga of
Daily Life, leads to a weakening of the sources of trouble.
It can be a relief for the devotee of yoga to be reminded that adherence to these three routines
only “weakens” the sources of trouble. In other words, they are still there. One way to perceive
this is the awareness that each of these five are also sources of the opposite of trouble, which is
what?
Consulting the dictionary does not reveal any antonym for the word trouble. It does provide a
number of synonyms for trouble, and many of those words have opposites:
agitation, annoyance, anxiety, bad news*, bind, bother, commotion, concern, danger, difficulty,
dilemma, dire straits, discontent, discord, disorder, disquiet, dissatisfaction, distress, disturbance,
grief, hang-up*, heartache, hindrance, hot water*, inconvenience, irritation, mess, misfortune,
nuisance, pain, pest, pickle*, predicament, problem, puzzle, row, scrape, sorrow, spot, strain,
stress, strife, struggle, suffering, task, torment, tribulation, tumult, unrest, vexation, woe, worry
Some examples of these opposites might be:
words, desire and aversion are forms of ignorance. But the four that accompany ignorance are
profound enough to rate a place in the listing of Sources of Trouble. Each of them, as we well
know, is a world of its own. Some folks devote their entire ambition to one or the other of these.
Notice that none of these traits, if you will, are defined as trouble. They are sources of trouble,
just the way that an innocent mountain spring might be a source of the river that destroys, wrecks
and drowns the civilization below. But the spring and the river are also the source of water and
shorelines to drink or wander. The rivers and the oceans that they feed are the pathway followed
by the commerce of nutrients and waste that operates at every level.
So it is with the sources of trouble:
Without Ignorance, there is no learning.
Without desire there is no urge.
Without aversion, there is no security.
Without self-personality, there is no point of view.
Without possessiveness there is no belonging.
Yet any of these can be and are sources of trouble. Patanjali says that habitual devotion to the
three observances of body-conditioning, self-study and attentiveness to God will, the Yoga of
Daily Life, leads to a weakening of the sources of trouble.
It can be a relief for the devotee of yoga to be reminded that adherence to these three routines
only “weakens” the sources of trouble. In other words, they are still there. One way to perceive
this is the awareness that each of these five are also sources of the opposite of trouble, which is
what?
Consulting the dictionary does not reveal any antonym for the word trouble. It does provide a
number of synonyms for trouble, and many of those words have opposites:
agitation, annoyance, anxiety, bad news*, bind, bother, commotion, concern, danger, difficulty,
dilemma, dire straits, discontent, discord, disorder, disquiet, dissatisfaction, distress, disturbance,
grief, hang-up*, heartache, hindrance, hot water*, inconvenience, irritation, mess, misfortune,
nuisance, pain, pest, pickle*, predicament, problem, puzzle, row, scrape, sorrow, spot, strain,
stress, strife, struggle, suffering, task, torment, tribulation, tumult, unrest, vexation, woe, worry
Some examples of these opposites might be:
| anxiety > tranquility bad news > good news danger > safety difficulty > ease discontent > contentment discord > peace disorder > order disquiet > quiet dissatisfaction > satisfaction grief > gratitude inconvenience > convenience pain > pleasure sorrow > joy struggle > surrender unrest > rest |
Using these results, we find that the opposite of trouble, whatever that word might be, would be
described as contentment, convenience, ease, good news, gratitude, joy, order, peace, pleasure,
quiet, rest, safety, satisfaction, surrender and tranquility.
As beautiful as this sounds, we are cautioned not to make any direct attempt to weaken or
destroy the sources of trouble. We don’t want to eliminate the source; we just want to avoid
trouble. We have to follow the path that is laid out for us by reality, but all of the characteristics
of that path are sources of trouble.
Patanjali tells us that, even though these sources of trouble are what stand between us and our
goal, we do not achieve that goal by destroying them. We all elude trouble, but our successes and
failures in this effort only define our lives. Problems lead to solutions. There is no solution so
big that is does not have a problem. There are no solutions without problems.
In the beginning we are asked only to observe body-conditioning, self-study and attentiveness to
God. Hatha Yoga is what we are following here in the preparation of our bodies for whatever
comes next on the eight-limbed path of Yoga.
described as contentment, convenience, ease, good news, gratitude, joy, order, peace, pleasure,
quiet, rest, safety, satisfaction, surrender and tranquility.
As beautiful as this sounds, we are cautioned not to make any direct attempt to weaken or
destroy the sources of trouble. We don’t want to eliminate the source; we just want to avoid
trouble. We have to follow the path that is laid out for us by reality, but all of the characteristics
of that path are sources of trouble.
Patanjali tells us that, even though these sources of trouble are what stand between us and our
goal, we do not achieve that goal by destroying them. We all elude trouble, but our successes and
failures in this effort only define our lives. Problems lead to solutions. There is no solution so
big that is does not have a problem. There are no solutions without problems.
In the beginning we are asked only to observe body-conditioning, self-study and attentiveness to
God. Hatha Yoga is what we are following here in the preparation of our bodies for whatever
comes next on the eight-limbed path of Yoga.
| Yoga for Carnivores by Jay Dyck |