Yoga as philosophy and religion · 9 of 17

Book II — Chapter VIII: Mind and Moral States

The Yoga philosophy has essentially a practical tone and its object consists mainly in demonstrating the means of attaining salvation, oneness, the liberation of the purusha. The metaphysical theory which we have discussed at some length, though it is the basis which justifies its ethical goal, is not itself the principal subject of Yoga discussion, and is only dealt with to the extent that it can aid in demonstrating the ethical view. We must now direct our attention to these ethical theories. Citta or mind always exists in the form of its states which are called vṛttis. [38] These comprehend all the manifold states of consciousness of our phenomenal existence. We cannot distinguish states of consciousness from consciousness itself, for the consciousness is not something separate from its states; it exists in them, passes away with their passing and submerges when they are submerged. It differs from the senses in this, that they represent the functions and faculties, whereas citta stands as the entity containing the conscious states with which we are directly concerned. But the citta which we have thus described as existing only in its states is called the kāryyacitta or citta as effect as distinguished from the kāraṇacitta or citta as cause. These kāraṇacittas or cittas as cause are all-pervading like the ākāśa and are infinite in number, each being connected with each of the numberless purushas or souls ( Chāyāvyākhyā, IV. 10). The reason assigned for acknowledging such a kāraṇacitta which must be all-pervading, as is evident from the quotation, is that the Yogin may have knowledge of all things at once.

Vācaspati says that this citta being essentially of the nature of ahaṃkāra is as all-pervading as the ego itself (IV. 10).

This kāraṇacitta contracts or expands and appears as our individual cittas in our various bodies at successive rebirths. The kāraṇacitta is always connected with the purusha and appears contracted when the purusha presides over animal bodies, and as relatively expanded when he presides over human bodies, and more expanded when he presides over the bodies of gods, etc. This contracted or expanded citta appears as our kāryyacitta which always manifests itself as our states of consciousness. After death the kāraṇacitta, which is always connected with the purusha, manifests itself in the new body which is formed by the āpūra (filling in of prakṛti on account of effective merit or demerit that the purusha had apparently acquired). The formation of the body as well as the contraction or expansion of the kāraṇacitta as the corresponding kāryyacitta to suit it is due to this āpūra. The Yoga does not hold that the citta has got a separate fine astral body within which it may remain encased and be transferred along with it to another body on rebirth. The citta being all-pervading, it appears both to contract or expand to suit the particular body destined for it owing to its merit or demerit, but there is no separate astral body ( Tattvavaiśāradī, IV. 10). In reality the karaṇacitta as such always remains vibhu or all-pervading; it is only its kāryyacitta or vṛtti that appears in a contracted or expanded form, according to the particular body which it may be said to occupy.

The Sāṃkhya view, however, does not regard the citta to be essentially all-pervading, but small or great according as the body it has to occupy. Thus Bhikshu and Nāgeśa in explaining the Bhāshya, “others think that the citta expands or contracts according as it is in a bigger or smaller body, just as light rays do according as they are placed in the jug or in a room,” attributes this view to the Sāṃkhya ( Vyāsabhāshya, IV. 10, and the commentaries by Bhikshu and Nāgeśa on it). [39]

It is this citta which appears as the particular states of consciousness in which both the knower and the known are reflected, and it comprehends them both in one state of consciousness. It must, however, be remembered that this citta is essentially a modification of prakṛti, and as such is non-intelligent; but by the seeming reflection of the purusha it appears as the knower knowing a certain object, and we therefore see that in the states themselves are comprehended both the knower and the known. This citta is not, however, a separate tattva, but is the sum or unity of the eleven senses and the ego and also of the five prāṇas or biomotor forces ( Nāgeśa, IV. 10). It thus stands for all that is psychical in man: his states of consciousness including the living principle in man represented by the activity of the five prāṇas.

It is the object of Yoga gradually to restrain the citta from its various states and thus cause it to turn back to its original cause, the kāraṇacitta, which is all-pervading. The modifications of the kāraṇacitta into such states as the kāryyacitta is due to its being overcome by its inherent tamas and rajas; so when the transformations of the citta into the passing states are arrested by concentration, there takes place a backward movement and the all-pervading state of the citta being restored to itself and all tamas being overcome, the Yogin acquires omniscience, and finally when this citta becomes as pure as the form of purusha itself, the purusha becomes conscious of himself and is liberated from the bonds of prakṛti.

The Yoga philosophy in the first chapter describes the Yoga for him whose mind is inclined towards trance-cognition. In the second chapter is described the means by which one with an ordinary worldly mind ( vyutthāna citta ) may also acquire Yoga. In the third chapter are described those phenomena which strengthen the faith of the Yogin on the means of attaining Yoga described in the second chapter. In the fourth chapter is described kaivalya, absolute independence or oneness, which is the end of all the Yoga practices.

The Bhāshya describes the five classes of cittas and comments upon their fitness for the Yoga leading to kaivalya. Those are I. kshipta (wandering), II. mūḍha (forgetful), III. vikshipta (occasionally steady), IV. ekāgra (one-pointed), niruddha (restrained).

I. The kshiptacitta is characterised as wandering, because it is being always moved by the rajas. This is that citta which is always moved to and fro by the rise of passions, the excess of which may indeed for the time overpower the mind and thus generate a temporary concentration, but it has nothing to do with the contemplative concentration required for attaining absolute independence. The man moved by rajas, far from attaining any mastery of himself, is rather a slave to his own passions and is always being moved to and fro and shaken by them (see Siddhānta-candrikā, I. 2, Bhojavṛtti, I. 2).

II. The mūḍhacitta is that which is overpowered by tamas, or passions, like that of anger, etc., by which it loses its senses and always chooses the wrong course. Svāmin Hariharāraṇya suggests a beautiful example of such concentration as similar to that of certain snakes which become completely absorbed in the prey upon which they are about to pounce.

III. The vikshiptacitta, or distracted or occasionally steady citta, is that mind which rationally avoids the painful actions and chooses the pleasurable ones. Now none of these three kinds of mind can hope to attain that contemplative concentration called Yoga. This last type of mind represents ordinary people, who sometimes tend towards good but relapse back to evil.

IV. The one-pointed (ekāgra) is that kind of mind in which true knowledge of the nature of reality is present and the afflictions due to nescience or false knowledge are thus attenuated and the mind better adapted to attain the nirodha or restrained state. All these come under the saṃprajñāta (concentration on an object of knowledge) type.

V. The nirodha or restrained mind is that in which all mental states are arrested. This leads to kaivalya.

Ordinarily our minds are engaged only in perception, inference, etc.—those mental states which we all naturally possess. These ordinary mental states are full of rajas and tamas. When these are arrested, the mind flows with an abundance of sattva in the saṃprajñāta samādhi; lastly when even the saṃprajñāta state is arrested, all possible states become arrested.

Another important fact which must be noted is the relation of the actual states of mind called the vṛttis with the latent states called the saṃskāras—the potency. When a particular mental state passes away into another, it is not altogether lost, but is preserved in the mind in a latent form as a saṃskāra, which is always trying to manifest itself in actuality. The vṛttis or actual states are thus both generating the saṃskāras and are also always tending to manifest themselves and actually generating similar vṛttis or actual states. There is a circulation from vṛttis to saṃskāras and from them again to vṛttis ( saṃskārāḥ vṛttibhiḥ kriyante, saṃskāraiśca vṛttayaḥ evaṃ vṛttisaṃskāracakramaniśamāvarttate ). So the formation of saṃskāras and their conservation are gradually being strengthened by the habit of similar vṛttis or actual states, and their continuity is again guaranteed by the strength and continuity of these saṃskāras. The saṃskāras are like roots striking deep into the soil and growing with the growth of the plant above, but even when the plant above the soil is destroyed, the roots remain undisturbed and may again shoot forth as plants whenever they obtain a favourable season. Thus it is not enough for a Yogin to arrest any particular class of mental states; he must attain such a habit of restraint that the saṃskāra thus generated is able to overcome, weaken and destroy the saṃskāra of those actual states which he has arrested by his contemplation. Unless restrained by such a habit, the saṃskāra of cessation ( nirodhaja saṃskāra ) which is opposed to the previously acquired mental states become powerful and destroy the latter, these are sure to shoot forth again in favourable season into their corresponding actual states.

The conception of avidyā or nescience is here not negative but has a definite positive aspect. It means that kind of knowledge which is opposed to true knowledge ( vidyāviparītaṃ jñānāntaramavidyā ). This is of four kinds: (1) The thinking of the non-eternal world, which is merely an effect, as eternal. (2) The thinking of the impure as the pure, as for example the attraction that a woman’s body may have for a man leading him to think the impure body pure. (3) The thinking of vice as virtue, of the undesirable as the desirable, of pain as pleasure. We know that for a Yogin every phenomenal state of existence is painful (II. 15). A Yogin knows that attachment ( rāga ) to sensual and other objects can only give temporary pleasure, for it is sure to be soon turned into pain. Enjoyment can never bring satisfaction, but only involves a man further and further in sorrows. (4) Considering the non-self, e.g. the body as the self. This causes a feeling of being injured on the injury of the body.

At the moment of enjoyment there is always present suffering from pain in the form of aversion to pain; for the tendency to aversion from pain can only result from the incipient memory of previous sufferings. Of course this is also a case of pleasure turned into pain ( pariṇāmaduḥkhatā ), but it differs from it in this that in the case of pariṇāmaduḥkha pleasure is turned into pain as a result of change or pariṇāma in the future, whereas in this case the anxiety as to pain is a thing of the present, happening at one and the same time that a man is enjoying pleasure.

Enjoyment of pleasure or suffering from pain causes those impressions called saṃskāra or potencies, and these again when aided by association naturally create their memory and thence comes attachment or aversion, then again action, and again pleasure and pain and hence impressions, memory, attachment or aversion, and again action and so forth.

All states are modifications of the three guṇas; in each one of them the functions of all the three guṇas are seen, contrary to one another. These contraries are observable in their developed forms, for the guṇas are seen to abide in various proportions and compose all our mental states. Thus a Yogin who wishes to be released from pain once for all is very sensitive and anxious to avoid even our so-called pleasures. The wise are like the eye-ball. As a thread of wool thrown into the eye pains by merely touching it, but not when it comes into contact with any other organ, so the Yogin is as tender as the eye-ball, when others are insensible of pain. Ordinary persons, however, who have again and again suffered pains as the consequence of their own karma, and who again seek them after having given them up, are all round pierced through as it were by nescience, their minds become full of afflictions, variegated by the eternal residua of the passions. They follow in the wake of the “I” and the “Mine” in relation to things that should be left apart, pursuing threefold pain in repeated births, due to external and internal causes. The Yogin seeing himself and the world of living beings surrounded by the eternal flow of pain, turns for refuge to right knowledge, cause of the destruction of all pains ( Vyāsa-bhāshya, II. 15).

Thinking of the mind and body and the objects of the external world as the true self and feeling affected by their change is avidyā (false knowledge).

The modifications that this avidyā suffers may be summarised under four heads.

I. The ego, which, as described above, springs from the identification of the buddhi with the purusha.

II. From this ego springs attachment ( rāga ) which is the inclination towards pleasure and consequently towards the means necessary for attaining it in a person who has previously experienced pleasures and remembers them.

IIIII. Repulsion from pain also springs from the ego and is of the nature of anxiety for its removal; anger at pain and the means which produces pain, remains in the mind in consequence of the feeling of pain, in the case of him who has felt and remembers pain.

IV. Love of life also springs from the ego. This feeling exists in all persons and appears in a positive aspect in the form “would that I were never to cease.” This is due to the painful experience of death in some previous existence, which abides in us as a residual potency ( vāsanā ) and causes the instincts of self-preservation, fear of death and love of life. These modifications including avidyā are called the five kleśas or afflictions.

We are now in a position to see the far-reaching effects of the identification of the purusha with the buddhi. We have already seen how it has generated the macrocosm or external world on the one hand, and manas and the senses on the other. Now we see that from it also spring attachment to pleasure, aversion from pain and love of life, motives observable in most of our states of consciousness, which are therefore called the klishṭa vṛtti or afflicted states. The five afflictions (false knowledge and its four modifications spoken above) just mentioned are all comprehended in avidyā, since avidyā or false knowledge is at the root of all worldly experiences. The sphere of avidyā is all false knowledge generally, and that of asmitā is also inseparably connected with all our experiences which consist in the identification of the intelligent self with the sensual objects of the world, the attainment of which seems to please us and the loss of which is so painful to us. It must, however, be remembered that these five afflictions are only different aspects of avidyā and cannot be conceived separately from avidyā. These always lead us into the meshes of the world, far from our final goal—the realisation of our own self—emancipation of the purusha.

Opposed to it are the vṛttis or states which are called unafflicted, aklishṭa, the habit of steadiness ( abhyāsa ) and non-attachment to pleasures ( vairāgya ) which being antagonistic to the afflicted states, are helpful towards achieving true knowledge. These represent such thoughts as tend towards emancipation and are produced from our attempts to conceive rationally our final state of emancipation, or to adopt suitable means for this. They must not, however, be confused with puṇyakarma (virtuous action), for both puṇya and pāpa karma are said to have sprung from the kleśas. There is no hard and fast rule with regard to the appearance of these klishṭa and aklishṭa states, so that in the stream of the klishṭa states or in the intervals thereof, aklishṭa states may also appear—as practice and desirelessness born from the study of the Veda-reasoning and precepts—and remain quite distinct in itself, unmixed with the klishṭa states. A Brahman being in a village which is full of the Kirātas, does not himself become a Kirāta (a forest tribe) for that reason.

Each aklishṭa state produces its own potency or saṃskāra, and with the frequency of the states their saṃskāra is strengthened which in due course suppresses the aklishṭa states.

These klishṭa and aklishṭa modifications are of five descriptions: pramāṇa (real cognition), viparyyaya (unreal cognition), vikalpa (logical abstraction and imagination), nidrā (sleep), smṛti (memory). These vṛttis or states, however, must be distinguished from the six kinds of mental activity mentioned in Vyāsa-bhāshya, II. 18: grahaṇa (reception or presentative ideation), dhāraṇa (retention), ūha (assimilation), apoha (differentiation), tattvajñāna (right knowledge), abhiniveśa (decision and determination), of which these states are the products.

We have seen that from avidyā spring all the kleśas or afflictions, which are therefore seen to be the source of the klishṭa vṛttis as well. Abhyāsa and vairāgya—the aklishṭa vṛttis, which spring from precepts, etc., lead to right knowledge, and as such are antagonistic to the modification of the guṇas on the avidyā side.

We know also that both these sets of vṛttis—the klishṭa and the aklishṭa—produce their own kinds of saṃskāras, the klishṭa saṃskāra and the aklishṭa or prajñā saṃskāra. All these modifications of citta as vṛtti and saṃskāra are the dharmas of citta, considered as the dharmin or substance.