The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
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| "So far as logical reasoning [or philosophical speculation] based on cognitive perception is concerned,
it is an established tenet that one can reflect on existence only within the confines of thesis and antithesis. Therefore any attempt whatsoever to define an object-of-experience (visaya) by means of thought, is an affirmation of a "reality" (pramana) inherently negated by its own logical antithesis. If thought is incapable [of positing ultimate reality], then what valid knowledge (pramana) can there be? Hence, the conventional means of reasoning normal to worldly individuals does not apply to the Path of Yoga The place to begin is to inquire through direct experience into the nature and cause of finite "Existence" (bhava, Being). [First, the nature of the problem:] All knowable phenomena, whether internal and external, appearing in any given present moment to the minds (citta) of beings, must by its very nature be improperly perceived, due to the delimiting characteristic of the field of perception of six-fold sense-consciousness (vijnana), and hence must be a deceit (bhranti, fiction). Were that which is apprehended through the intoxicated conceptual-constructions (vikalpa) of sentient beings factually true (satya), then they would be on a par with the liberated Arhats who conceive not of this "Existence." Since, however, they are tormented by suffering (dukkha) and slain by time (kala), it is obvious that they are [caught up] in something false (branti). If what is known by means of the organs of sense did afford valid knowledge (pramana), then beings, possessing valid knowledge, would have no need of the Spiritual Path (arya-marga). The Path is taught as the Path of Liberation (moksha-marga), but freedom (mukti) is not acquired through the sense-organs (indriya) of perceptual consciousness. In fact consciousness, which is incapable of banishing suffering, is the very birthplace of the neurotic-defilements (klesa) in the first place. Therefore the Victors have stated that what is perceived by people is false. [Second, the cause of the problem:] So, how does this deceit come into being (abhasa, shine forth)? Due to the fault of identification with the conceived reality, everything conceptually constructed is infirmly perceived, with the result that intelligence (mati) arises through the power of adventitious ignorance (avidya) as an obscured-apprehension (viparyasa). Mind (citta) and mental-function (cetasika), in and of itself, comes into being in three stages. [First stage:] The accumulation of vestigial-imprints (vasana), derived from the formative impulses (samskara) [of Creation], proliferate [from the first moment onwards] and evolve; when the [compounded] power (prabhava) of that has ripened [i.e., has obtained 'critical intensity'] then Mind-in-itself (cittatva, the essence of citta) manifests forth (abhasa) as subject and object, or in other words as Subjective Being (atmabhava, Tib: lus) and Existence, which nevertheless has no more 'reality' than the life in a pile of bones. [Second stage:] Identification (lamba) with the activity of the continuum (santana) of evolving imprints (vasana) results in the formation of the 'psychic monad' (manas), experienced as a 'self' (atma), which it is not. [Third stage:] As a result, the obscuring effect of the impulse-to-come-into-being (samskara) produces a subtle diminution-of-awareness, giving birth to a specific local consciousness. Through the power of mind combined with the continuum, ensuing conceptual-constructions (kalpa) further negate realization. From that [i.e., from the above three modalities], having the nature of a contaminant (asrava), conceptual-constructions of self (atma) and phenomena (dharma) become serially reiterated. Download 1.05 Mb. Share with your friends:
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