Sarvadarshanasangraha 15.217

15.217

tad eteṣu pralīneṣu nirupaplavavivekakhyātiparipākavaśāt kāryakāraṇātmakānāṃ pradhāne layaḥ citiśaktiḥ svarūpapratiṣṭhā punarbuddhisattvābhisaṃbandhavidhurā vā kaivalyaṃ labhata iti siddham/

iv. The Saṃskāraśeṣatā state is also called asaṃprajñāta, i.e., "that meditation in which distinct recognition of an object is lost;" it is that meditation "without a seed" [i.e., without any object] which is able to stop the "afflictions" that produce fruits to be afterwards experienced in the shape of rank, length of life, and enjoyment; and this meditation belongs to him who, in the cessation of all modifications of the internal organ, has reached the highest "dispassion." "The other kind of meditation [i.e., that in which distinct recognition of an object is lost] is preceded by that exercise of thought which produces the entire cessation of modifications; it has nothing left but the latent impressions" [of thought after the departure of all objects] [i.e., saṃskāraśeṣa, i. 18]. Thus this foremost of men, being utterly passionless towards everything, finds that the seeds of the "afflictions," like burned rice-grains, are bereft of the power to germinate, and they are abolished together with the internal organ. When these are destroyed, there ensues, through the full maturity of his unclouded "discriminative knowledge," an absorption of all causes and effects into the primal prakṛti; and the soul, which is the power of pure intelligence, abiding in its own real nature, and escaped from all connection with the phenomenal understanding (buddhi), or with existence, reaches "absolute isolation" (kaivalya). Final liberation is described by Patañjali as two perfections: "Absolute isolation is the repressive absorption[102] of the 'qualities' which have consummated the ends of the soul, i.e., enjoyment and liberation, or the abiding of the power of intelligence in its own nature" [iv. 33]. Nor should any one object, "Why, however, should not the individual be born again even though this should have been attained?" for that is settled by the well-known principle that "with the cessation of the cause the effect ceases," and therefore this objection is utterly irrelevant, as admitting neither inquiry nor decision; for otherwise, if the effect could arise even in the absence of the cause, we should have blind men finding jewels, and such like absurdities; and the popular proverb for the impossible would become a possibility. And so, too, says the Śruti, "A blind man found a jewel; one without fingers seized it; one without a neck put it on; and a dumb man praised it."[103]