History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.192
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.192
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v7.c94.192.1
In this connection (i. e. on the topic of bhūmis) the present author has to bring to the notice of readers a paper by Shri Kuvalayānanda contributed to the Yogamīmāṁsā vol. VI. No. 4 on 'Traditional reading of Pātañjala-yogasūtra III. 11; is it accurate.' The traditional reading accepted by the bhāṣya of Vyāsa and all other commentators is 'Sarvārthataikāgratayoh kṣayodayau cittasya samādhipariṇāmah'. The Svami²³¹⁴ argues that the correct reading should be '*sarvārthataikārthayoḥ* &c.' He states that the bhūmis should be six, the sixth being 'ekārtha' and bases his arguments on the combined explanations of Yoga-sūtra I. 2-4, 18 and III. 9-12. All that the present writer can say is that his arguments deserve serious consideration. The fact that even Vyāsa, the bhāṣyakāra of Yogasūtra, would have to be held not to have seen the difficulties in the traditional reading of Y. S. III. 11 would have to be given due weight before any final conclusion can be arrived at. That sūtra states the goal of Yoga viz the soul that is seer abides in its own form then (i e. when the functions of the mind have been mastered), while in ordinary life the soul appears to assume the forms of the fluctuations of the mind. The Vṛttis²³¹⁵ are five, some of which are afflicted by hindrances called *kleśas* and the others are not so hindered (those that are hindered are to be mastered or eliminated and the others are to be accepted).
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The five *vṛttis* are *pramāṇa* (means of valid knowledge), *viparyaya* (wrong conception), *vikalpa* (fancy), *nidrā* (sleep),²³¹⁶ *smṛti* (memory). Pramāṇas are three, *pratyakṣa* (perception), *anumāna* (inference), *āgama* (verbal testimony). The means for the suppression of the vṛttis are *abhyāsa* (practice) and *vairāgya* (passionlessness) (simultaneously carried on), the first being the effort to secure a calm flow of the mind free from vṛttis, continued for a long time uninterruptedly and earnestly and the latter (*vairāgya*) being the consciousness of mastery over (i. e. freedom from thirst for) seen objects (such as woman, food and drink, high position) and objects promised by Revelation (such as heaven, disembodied existence &c.),²³¹⁷ 'Vairāgya is of two kinds *apara* (described in Y. S. I. 15 just above) and *para* (highest) described in Y. S. I 16 and bhāṣya thereon. In the highest *vairāgya* the yogin (who has reached discrimination between the self and the *guṇas*, *sattva* &c.) is free from thirst not only for objects of sense, but also free from the guṇas, attains a stage of undisturbed consciousness only and leads the yogin to reflect 'I have attained what was to be attained, the kleśas (hindrances avidyā &c ) that have to be destroyed have been destroyed, the close-knit succession of births and deaths has been out off'.
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The Bhāṣya remarks 'the highest limit of consciousness (knowledge) is Vairāgya and Kaivalya is inseparably connected with it.' Vācaspati states that this last is called 'Dharmamegha-samādhi' (mentioned in Y. S IV. 29). Sūtras 17 and 18 of first pāda deal respectively with samprajñāta-samādhi (conscious concentration) or sālambanasamādhi and asamprajñāta-samādhi (concentration in which there is no consciousness of objects, gross or subtle). The first is of four kinds (or of four stages) viz. *savitarka* (deliberation over or realization of a gross object like Śālagrāma or the image of a god with four arms and the like), *savicāra* (where there is reflection over a subtle object such as the *tan-mātrās*), *sānanda* where the reflection is on the mind which is full of sattva (that is a samādhi of joy) and *sāsmitārūpa* (i. e where there is only a sense of personality in which the knower himself is the object of perception).²³¹⁸ These four kinds lead on to the asamprajñāta-samādhi, which results when all vṛttis have disappeared, when there is persistent exercise of this state and the mind consists of sub-liminal impressions only. Sūtras 19-51 (to the end of the first pāda) deal with the different kinds of samādhi, the different ways of attainment, the position of Īśvara in the Yoga system, the nine obstacles (antarāya) that cause distraction of the mind of the person who practises Yoga and the companions of these obstacles, the means of preventing obstacles &c.
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such as practice of concentration on a single entity, the cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy (towards holy men), indifference (towards unholy men) or by prāṇāyāma.