A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19.s10.9

v2.c19.s10.9

The main object of the enquirer being the destruction of *citta*, all his endeavours should be directed towards the uprooting of instinctive root inclinations (*vāsanā*), which are the very substance and root of the *citta*. The realization of the truth (*tattva-jñāna*), the destruction of the *vāsanās* and the destruction of the *citta* all mean the same identical state and are interdependent on one another, so that none of them can be attained without the other. So, abandoning the desire for enjoyment, one has to try for these three together; and for this one has to control one’s desires on one hand and practise breath-control (*prāṇa-nirodhena*) on the other; and these two would thus jointly co-operate steadily towards the final goal. Such an advancement is naturally slow, but this progress, provided it is steady, is to be preferred to any violent efforts to hasten (*haṭha*) the result². Great stress is also laid on the necessity of self-criticism as a means of loosening the bonds of desire and the false illusions of world-appearance and realizing the dissociation from attachment (*asaṅga*)³.