Yoga-sutras (with Vyasa and Vachaspati Mishra)
by Rama Prasada | 1924 | 154,800 words | ISBN-10: 9381406863 | ISBN-13: 9789381406861
The Yoga-Sutra 1.4, English translation with Commentaries. The Yoga Sutras are an ancient collection of Sanskrit texts dating from 500 BCE dealing with Yoga and Meditation in four books. It deals with topics such as Samadhi (meditative absorption), Sadhana (Yoga practice), Vibhuti (powers or Siddhis), Kaivaly (isolation) and Moksha (liberation).
Sūtra 1.4
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 1.4:
वृत्तिसारूप्यम् इतरत्र ॥ १.४ ॥
vṛttisārūpyam itaratra || 1.4 ||
vṛtti—with modifications, sārūpyam—identification. itaratra—at other times, elsewhere.
4. Identification with modifications elsewhere.
The Sankhya-pravachana commentary of Vyasa
[English translation of the 7th century commentary by Vyāsa called the Sāṅkhya-pravacana, Vyāsabhāṣya or Yogabhāṣya]
[Sanskrit text for commentary available]
How then? On account of objects being presented to it, identification with modifications takes place elsewhere. The conscious principle (puruṣa) is not unaffected by whatever may be the modifications of the mind in the state of outgoing activity. And so in the aphorism:—
“Knowledge is but one; discrimination alone is knowledge.”
The mind is like a magnet energized by nearness alone. Being seen it becomes the possession of its lord, the puruṣa. Therefore the reason for knowing the modifications of the mind is the eternal relation of the puruṣa.
The Gloss of Vachaspati Mishra
[English translation of the 9th century Tattvavaiśāradī by Vācaspatimiśra]
For the purpose of introducing another aphorism, the author puts the question, ‘How then?’ The meaning is this. In what manner does it shine then, if it is not perceived to be what it really is. Adding the word which explains the cause, he reads the aphorism:—
“On account of objects being presented to it, identification with modifications takes place elsewhere.”
Elsewhere:—In the state of outward activity, whatever may be the modifications of the mind, the calm, the ruffled, and the forgetful, the same are the manifestations of the conscious principle as he exists in that state.
The word Sa in Sārūpya (identification) means oneness. This is the meaning. The notions, ‘I am calm.’ ‘I am ruffled,’ ‘I am forgetful’, appear by fastening the modifications of the will-to-be upon the conscious principle, by taking the will-to-know and the conscious principle to be one on account of proximity, as in the case of the white crystal and the Japa flower. This happens in the same way as one looking his face reflected in a dirty mirror, becomes anxious and thinks, ‘I am dim.’ Although the fastening of the conscious principle upon the will-to-know, is like the knowledge of sound, &c., only a manifestation of the will-to-know, and although this manifestation must be considered to be unintelligent, having, as it does, its origin in the Prakṛti, showing forth as it does the will-to-know as the knower, the manifestation shines forth as a manifestation of consciousness. And similarly does this Ātma (self) appear to possess false knowledge, although in reality he has no false knowledge. He appears as the enjoyer, although he is not the enjoyer. He appears as possessed of discriminative knowledge, and illuminated thereby although devoid of it in reality.
This will be shown further under the aphorisms:—
“Consciousness not moving, takes its form and thus the will-to-know knows itself as such.”—22.4.
“Enjoyment (Bhoga) consists in the identification of the notions of the Objective Essence and the Conscious principle (puruṣa), which are quite distinct from each other.”—34.3.
The Commentator now says that this is recognized by another school also.
“So is the aphorism, &c.”
The aphorism “knowledge is but one; discrimination alone is knowledge,” is an aphorism of the Ācārya Pañcaśikhā.
But how is knowledge but one? The modifications of the will-to-be in the shape of the objects, sound, &c., and in the shape of discrimination, are to be considered Unintelligent. This is one knowledge. The intelligence of the Puruṣa is distinct from it. Its recognition also is knowledge. For this reason says, “Discrimination alone is knowledge.”
It is in view of the discrimination of the world possessing the characteristics of appearance and disappearance, that it is said
“Knowledge is but one.”
As to consciousness, it is the nature of the Puruṣa, not of the discriminative faculty. This, however, is not within the range of the perceptive cognition of the world. It falls within the sphere of the inferential and verbal cognitions. This is the meaning.
While showing thus that nescience is the radical cause of mental phenomena, in the state of outgoing activity, it is also indicated that conjunction, the cause of nescience, is the cause of enjoyment, and also that there exists between the two the relation of the owner and the owned. For the purpose of establishing this the Commentator says,
“It becomes the possession of its lord.”
This shows the relationship.
But the cognizer, puruṣa, can only be the lord of the mind, when it enjoys the benefit of the service rendered by the mind. And it is not possible that he should so enjoy the service without coming into relationship with the benefit rendered; but it cannot be beneficially acted upon, and there it cannot come into relationship. If, on the other hand, the enjoyment of the benefit is to be considered to be due to the conjunction thereof, then the puruṣa must be considered to be changeful.
For this reason he says, “act by mere nearness.”
The mind is not conjoined to the puruṣa; it is merely placed near him. The nearness of the puruṣa is not in space, nor yet in time, on account of the absence of juxtaposition. It is defined by fitness. The puruṣa possesses the power of enjoying as subject, while the mind possesses the power of being enjoyed. This' is meant by saying “Being seen, the mind becomes the possession of the lord.”
The meaning is that it becomes the object of enjoyment by being transformed into the form of sound, &c. As to enjoyment, although it is a characteristic of the mind, being as it is a modification in the form of sound, &c., still it is spoken of as being a characteristic of the Puruṣa, because of his identifications, with the modifications, on account of the absence of the conception of distinctness between the mind and consciousness.
Thus is established the enjoyment by the Puruṣa of the service rendered by the mind, although he is not conjoined to as is also established the unchanging nature of the Puruṣa.
Well then, the relation of owner and owned which is the cause of enjoyment, has its cause in nescience. But what is the cause of nescience? There must be some cause for it, because no effect can come into existence without some cause. As they say,
“What to him doth make,
“Nescience manifest,
“Like dream and so forth,”
This doubt is removed by putting the answer in the form of a summary:—“For this reason, &c.”
The meaning is this. The cause of the experience of the calm, the ruffled and the forgetful forms of mental modifications is the eternal conjunction caused by eternal nescience; and the relation of nescience and potentialization (vāsanā, in each being born from the other in eternal succession is without a beginning like the mutual relation of seed and sprout.)