Sarvadarshanasangraha 15.47

15.47

iti nyāyenātmanaḥ kauṭasthyaṃ vihanyeteti cet — tad api na ghaṭate/ nirodhapratiyogibhūtānāṃ pramāṇaviparyayavikalpanidrāsmṛtisvarūpāṇāṃ vṛttīnām antaḥkaraṇādyaparaparyāyacittadharmatvāṅgīkārāt/ kūṭasthanityā cicchaktir apariṇāminī vijñānadharmāśrayo bhavituṃ nārhaty eva/ na ca citiśakter apariṇāmitvam asiddham iti mantavyam/ citiśaktir apariṇāminī sadā jñātṛtvāt/ na yad evaṃ na tad evaṃ yathā cittādi — ityādyanumānasaṃbhavāt/ tathā yady asau puruṣaḥ pariṇāmī syāt tadā pariṇāmasya kādācitkatvāt tāsāṃ cittavṛttīnāṃ sadā jñātatvaṃ nopapadyeta/ cidrūpasya puruṣasya sadaivādhiṣṭhātṛtvenāvasthitasya yad antaraṅgaṃ nirmalaṃ sattvaṃ tasyāpi sadaiva sthitatvāt yena yenārthenoparaktaṃ bhavati tasya dṛśyasya sadaiva cicchāyāpattyā bhānopapattyā puruṣasya niḥsaṅgatvaṃ saṃbhavati/ tataś ca siddhaṃ tasya sadā jñātṛtvam iti na kadācit pariṇāmitvaśaṅkāvatarati/ cittaṃ punar yena viṣayeṇoparaktaṃ bhavati sa viṣayo jñātaḥ yenoparaktaṃ na bhavati tad ajñātam iti vastuno 'yaskāntamaṇikalpasya jñānājñānakāraṇabhūtoparāgānuparāgadharmitvād ayaḥsadharmakaṃ cittaṃ pariṇāmīty ucyate/

"But surely if yoga is held to be the suppression of the modifications of the thinking principle, then as these modifications abide in the soul as themselves partaking of the nature of knowledge, their suppression, or in other words their 'destruction,' would also abide in the soul, since it is a principle in logic that the antecedent non-existence and destruction abide in the same subject as the counter-entity to these negations;[24] and consequently in accordance with the maxim, 'This newly produced character will affect the subject in which it resides,' the absolute independence of the soul itself would be destroyed." This, however, we do not allow; because we maintain that these various modifications which are to be hindered,[25] such as "right notion," "misconception," "fancy," "sleep," and "memory" (i. 6), are attributes of the internal organ (citta), since the power of pure intelligence, which is unchangeable, cannot become the site of this discriminative perception. Nor can you object that this unchangeable nature of the intelligent soul[26] has not been proved, since there is an argument to establish it; for the intelligent soul must be unchangeable from the fact that it always knows, while that which is not always knowing is not unchangeable, as the internal organ, &c. And so again, if this soul were susceptible of change, then, as this change would be occasional, we could not predicate its always knowing these modifications.

But the true view is, that while the intelligent soul always remains as the presiding witness, there is another essentially pure substance[27] which abides always the same; and as it is this which is affected by any given object, so it is this perceptible substance which is reflected as a shadow on the soul, and so produces an impression;[28] and thus Soul itself is preserved in its own proper independence, and it is maintained to be the always knowing, and no suspicion of change alights upon it. That object by which the understanding becomes affected is known; that object by which it is not affected is not known; for the understanding is called "susceptible of change," because it resembles the iron, as it is susceptible of being affected or not by the influence or want of influence of the object which resembles the magnet,—this influence or want of influence producing respectively knowledge or the want of knowledge. "But inasmuch as the understanding and the senses which spring from egoism are all-pervading, are they not always connected with all objects, and thus would it not follow that there should be a knowledge everywhere and always of all things?" We reply that even although we grant that they are all-pervading, it is only where a given understanding has certain modifications in a given body, and certain objects are in a connection with that body, that the knowledge of these objects only, and none other, is produced to that understanding;