Sarvadarshanasangraha 15.52

15.52

iti nyāyenāsthirasyāpi manasaḥ kādācitkasamudbhūtaviṣayasthairyasaṃbhavena sthairyam/ asthiratvaṃ ca svābhāvikaṃ vyādhyādyanuśayajanitaṃ vā/ tad āha — vyādhistyānasaṃśayapramādālasyāviratibhrāntidarśanālabdha-bhūmikatvānavasthitatvāni cittavikṣepās te 'ntarāyāḥ iti/ tatra doṣatrayavaiṣamyanimitto jvarādir vyādhiḥ/ cittasyākarmaṇyatvaṃ styānam/ viruddhakoṭidvayāvagāhi jñānaṃ saṃśayaḥ/ samādhisādhanānām abhāvanaṃ pramādaḥ/ śarīravākcittagurutvād apravṛttir ālasyam/ viṣayābhilāṣo 'viratiḥ/ atasmiṃs tadbuddhir bhrāntidarśanam/ kutaścin nimittāt samādhibhūmer alābho 'labdhabhūmikatvam/ labdhāyām api tasyām cittasyāpratiṣṭhānavasthitatvam ity arthaḥ/ tasmān na vṛttinirodho yogapakṣanikṣepam arhatīti cet — maivaṃ vocaḥ/ heyabhūtakṣiptādyavasthātraye vṛttinirodhasya yogatvāsaṃbhave 'py upādeyayor ekāgraniruddhāvasthayor vṛttinirodhasya yogatvasaṃbhavāt/ ekatānaṃ cittam ekāgram ucyate/ niruddhasakalavṛttikaṃ saṃskāramātraśeṣaṃ cittaṃ niruddham iti bhaṇyate/

We reply, that even although we allow that, so far as regards the three conditions of the mind called kṣipta, mūḍha, and vikṣipta, which [as being connected with the three qualities] are all to be avoided as faulty states, the suppression of the modifications in these conditions is itself something to be avoided [and so cannot be called yoga], this does not apply to the other two conditions called ekāgra and niruddha, which are to be pursued and attained; and therefore the suppression of the modifications in these two praiseworthy conditions is rightly to be considered as yoga. Now by ekāgra we mean that state when the mind, entirely filled with the sattva quality, is devoted to the one object of meditation; and by niruddha we mean that state when all its developments are stopped, and only their latent impressions [or potentialities] remain.

[Our opponent now urges a fresh and long objection to what we have said above.] "But if we accept your definition that 'yoga is the suppression of the modifications of the citta,' this will apply also to 'sound sleep,' since there too we may find the suppression [or suspension] of the modifications found in kṣipta, vikṣipta, mūḍha,[31] &c.; but this would be wrong, because it is impossible for the 'afflictions' to be abolished so long as those states called kṣipta, &c., remain at all, and because they only hinder the attainment of the summum bonum. Let us examine this more closely. For the understanding is called kṣipta, 'restless,' when it is restless [with an excess of the quality rajas], as being tossed about amidst various objects which engage it. It is called mūḍha, 'blinded,' when it is possessed by the modification 'sleep' and is sunk in a sea of darkness [owing to an excess of the quality tamas]. It is called vikṣipta, 'unrestless,' when it is different from the first state[32] [as filled with the quality sattva]." We must here, however, note a distinction; for, in accordance with the line of the Bhagavad Gītā (vi. 34), 'The mind, O Kṛṣṇa, is fickle, turbulent, violent, and obstinate,' the mind, though naturally restless, may occasionally become fixed by the transient fixedness of its objects; but restlessness is innate to it, or it is produced in it by sickness, &c., or other consequences of former actions; as it is said [in the Yoga Sūtras, i. 30], 'Sickness, languor, doubt, carelessness, laziness, addiction to objects, erroneous perception, failure to attain some stage, and instability,—these distractions of the mind are called "obstacles".' Here 'sickness' means fever, &c., caused by the want of equilibrium between the three humours; 'languor' is the mind's want of activity; 'doubt' is a sort of notion which embraces two opposite alternatives; 'carelessness' is a negligence of using the means for producing meditation; 'laziness' is a want of exertion from heaviness of body, speech, or mind; 'addiction to objects' is an attachment to objects of sense; 'erroneous perception' is a mistaken notion of one thing for another; 'failure to attain some stage' is the failing for some reason or other to arrive at the state of abstract meditation; 'instability' is the mind's failure to continue there, even when the state of abstract meditation has been reached. Therefore we maintain that the suppression of the mind's modifications cannot be laid down as the definition of yoga.