Indian Philosophy v2.c24.s36: VI The Pramāṇas
Indian Philosophy v2.c24.s36
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VI The Pramāṇas
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Perception, inference and scripture are accepted as the three means of knowledge.⁴ When the citta is affected by some external object, through the sense-organs, we have a case of perception. The mental modification is directly related to the object. Though the latter has in it both generic and specific features, we are concerned only with the latter in perception. The reality of external objects is accepted by the Yoga. Like the universe, all sensible objects have their eternal archetypes or noumena, which undergo phenomenal changes, but are never absolutely destroyed. When an object changes into another, only its form is modified, and when all forms are destroyed, the object ultimately reverts to its primary or noumenal state. The forms are, however, not phantasmal. Sensations occur whenever there are sensible objects exciting the senses. It is, however, true that though the presented object is the same, the resulting sensations may be different. For the citta receives the impressions of the presented objects under the influence of one or other of the three guṇas.¹
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⁴ Y.B., i. 7.
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¹ iv. 15-17.
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Inference is the mental modification through which we cognise the generic nature of objects. The cognition of invariable concomitance is the basis of inference. Of two things invariably connected with each other, the perception of the one serves to establish the existence of the other.
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The knowledge of an object seen or inferred by a trustworthy person may be communicated to others by means of words. This is the third means of knowledge.
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Valid cognition is distinguished from four other kinds of mental modifications. Misconception (viparyaya) is an erroneous idea which is not true to the nature of the object.² Imagination (vikalpa) is a form of words which has no positive fact corresponding to it.³ Sleep (nidrā) is that mental modification which is supported by the negation of the waking and dreaming modifications.⁴ It is said to be a mental modification (vṛtti), since we have on awakening a memory of the kind of sleep we had. So Vyāsa says: "The man, just after awakening, would of course not have this connecting memory had there not been during sleep experience of a cause; nor would he have the memories based upon it and corresponding with it at the time of waking."⁵ So sleep is a particular kind of presented idea (pratyaya), and in samādhi even this modification has to be restrained. Memory (smṛti) is the recollection of the object through the impressions left behind by the previous experience of it.
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² i. 8.
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³ i. 9.
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⁴ Abhāvapratyayāvalambanā vṛttir nidrā (i. 10).
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⁵ Y.B., i. 10.
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The Yoga holds that the knowledge gained through perception, inference and scriptural testimony is not absolutely valid, since it assumes, with the Sāṃkhya, that empirical knowledge is the product of the erroneous confusion between puruṣa and buddhi. Truth of things as they are can be gained only through the practice of yoga. Vyāsa quotes a verse to the effect: “By the scriptures, by inference and by the eager desire for practice in contemplation, in three ways he furthers his insight and gains the highest yoga.”¹
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¹ Āgamenānumānena dhyānābhyāsarasena ca Tridhā prakalpayan prajñām labhate yogam uttamam (Y.B., i. 48). Vācaspati refers to the correspondence between these three and śravaṇa, manana and nididhyāsana.
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THE ART OF YOGA
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The reality of the self is to be found not by means of an objective use of the mind, but by a suppression of its activities and penetration beneath the mental strata with which our ordinary life and activity conceal our diviner nature. Though the seed of spirit is present in each one of us, it is not realised by our consciousness, which is too busily engaged with other things. We must undergo a severe discipline before we can achieve the redirection of our consciousness. The Yoga philosophy urges that the necessary inhibition of mental states is brought about by practice and conquest of desire.² While the latter is the result of a life of virtue, the former refers to the effort towards steadiness of thought,³ which is gained by purificatory action, continence, knowledge and faith.⁴ Vairāgya or passionlessness, is the consciousness of mastery possessed by one who has rid himself of thirst for either seen or revealed objects.⁵ Such a one is supremely indifferent to the pleasures of heaven or of earth. In the highest form of vairāgya, where the discernment of the self arises, there is no danger of any subjection to the desire for objects or their qualities.⁶ This leads to ultimate freedom, while the lower form of vairāgya, which has a trace of rajas (and so pravṛtti) in it, results in the condition of absorption in prakṛti (prakṛtilaya).
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² i. 12.
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³ i. 13-14.
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⁴ Y.B., i. 14.
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⁵ i. 15.
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⁶ i. 16.
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In the human organism we find the physical body, the vital dynamism, the psychic principles, in addition to the puruṣa.¹ The puruṣa is hidden behind veils of corruptible flesh and restless mind, all of which offer hindrances to the method of Yoga. The close connection of body and mind is insisted on, for “pain, despondency, unsteadiness of the body, and inspiration and expiration are the accompaniments of distractions.”² Though physical health is not the end of human life, it is still one of its essential conditions. We cannot look upon man as a physical machine to which spiritual life is attached from outside. The body is the instrument for the expression of spiritual life. So, instead of renouncing the material basis, the Yoga accepts it as part of the spiritual problem. To overcome the hindrances, the Yoga gives us the eightfold method, consisting of yama (abstention), niyama (observance), āsana (posture), prāṇāyāma (regulation of breath), pratyāhāra (withdrawal of the senses), dhyāna (fixed attention), dhāraṇa (contemplation), and samādhi (concentration).³ The last three are direct or internal (antaranga) aids, while the first five are indirect or external (bahiranga).¹
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¹ The Yoga has developed a system of physiology which relates to nāḍis, or infinitely small nerves, which traverse the body, more than 700 million in number, psychic centres or cakras, a hidden energy known as kuṇḍalinī, said to reside at the base of the spine, which, when aroused, stimulates the cakras to activity. The human body has two main parts, the upper and the lower. The head, trunk and limbs form the upper and the legs and feet the lower part. The centre of the body, in human beings especially, lies at the base of the cerebro-spinal column, which supports and controls the two parts of the body. The nerves and ganglionic masses of nervous matter are arranged in the two great systems, the sympathetic and the cerebro-spinal. The brain and the spinal cord contained within the bony cavity of the skull and the spinal column are the great centres of the cerebro-spinal system. Brahma-daṇḍa or Merudaṇḍa of Hindu physiology is the spinal column. It is the seat of the nāḍisuṣumṇā, which extends from the Mūlādhāra, or root support at the base of the vertebral column to the Sahasrāra lying within the cerebral region. The other four cakras (plexuses) are Svādhiṣṭhāna, Maṇipura, Anāhata and Viśuddha. The spinal column contains three yoganāḍis of special significance, namely, iḍā, piṅgalā and suṣumṇā. The last is the chief of them. To the right of it is piṅgalā, and to its left iḍā. This nāḍi has six subtle centres called padmas or cakras, invisible to our senses, that could be experienced through the eyes of Yoga.
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² i. 31.
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³ ii. 29.
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¹ While Patañjali's Yoga included all these in one scheme, in later works distinctions arose. Karma Yoga is the system of salvation by work. Bhaktiyoga insists on attaining perfection through devotion to God, Jñānayoga speaks of perfection through wisdom, while Rājayoga deals with the training of the mind and its psychic powers. Haṭhayoga discusses the methods of bodily control, breath regulation and mantras. An extreme development of the idea that physical processes can produce spiritual results is found in the Raśesvara darśana (S.D.S., ix).
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THE ETHICAL PREPARATION
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The first two, yama and niyama, abstentions and observances, lay stress on the ethical preparation necessary for the practice of Yoga. We should practise ahiṃsā, or non-violence, truthfulness, honesty, continence and non-acceptance of gifts, i.e. we should abstain from the inflicting of injury, from falsehood, theft, incontinence and avarice.² The chief of them all is ahiṃsā, or non-violence, and all other virtues are said to be rooted in it. Ahiṃsā is interpreted broadly as abstinence from malice towards all living creatures in every way and at all times.³ It is not merely non-violence but non-hatred (vairatyāgaḥ).⁴ The cultivation of friendliness, sympathy, cheerfulness and imperturbability with regard to things, pleasant and painful, good and bad, produces serenity of mind (cittaprasādanam). We must be free from jealousy and not be callous to the suffering of others. While hating sin, we must be gentle to the sinner. No exceptions are allowed to these principles, which are absolute in their character. "Kill not" is a categorical imperative, and we cannot compromise its absoluteness by holding that we can kill the enemies of our country, or the deserters from the army, or the renegades of religion, or the blasphemers of the Brahmins. Not even self-defence can justify murder. The yamas are of universal validity regardless of differences of caste and country, age and condition.⁵ They are to be acquired by all, though all may not be chosen for the higher life of contemplation. The observances (niyama) are purification, external and internal, contentment, austerity (tapas), and devotion to God.¹ These are optional, though all who resort to yoga are required to practise them regularly. A practice of these two favours the development of vairāgya, or passionlessness or freedom from desire, either for things of the world or the pleasures of heaven.²
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² ii. 30.
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³ Sarvathā sarvadā sarvabhūtānām anabhidrohaḥ (Y.B., ii. 30).
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⁴ ii. 35.
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⁵ ii. 31.
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¹ ii. 32.
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² i. 15.
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Whenever we are tempted to violate the ethical precepts, the Yoga asks us to think of their opposites (pratipakṣabhāvanā).³ The psycho-analysts speak to us of three ways by which the primary instincts may be controlled, which are defence-reaction, substitution and sublimation. According to the first, the mind takes up an attitude directly contrary to the impulse and tries to shut it out. Where there is a strong current of a particular impulse subconsciously, the mind takes up consciously a counteracting opposite impulse. The ultimate aim of the Yoga is to bring about a complete transmutation of the substance of our nature.
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³ ii. 33.
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The stream of mind flows in both directions towards good and towards evil. When it makes for freedom and knowledge, it is said to be flowing towards the good; when it is borne onward to the whirlpool of existence, downward towards non-discrimination, it is then flowing unto evil.⁴
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⁴ Y.B., i. 12.
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The acts of karma are either bāhya or outer, and mānasa or inner. They are classified into four types. The black (kṛṣṇa) are wicked acts, either outer, such as speaking ill of others, or inner, as want of faith (aśraddhā). The white (śukla) are the deeds of virtue, and they are internal, as faith, wisdom, etc. The white and black (śukla-kṛṣṇa) are those external actions which, however good, are not devoid of elements of evil. Even Vedic karmas entail some injury to other beings. The neither-white-nor-black (aśukla-akṛṣṇa) are the acts of those who have renounced everything.⁵ The highest kind of activity belongs to the last type.
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⁵ iv. 7
Cites (1)
- Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha — Mādhava, Sanskrit