The Study of Patanjali 17
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PRi N T E D BY A TU L C B A N D B H C H R Y Y B A ATTA A A , T H E C L CU U N I V E RS I TY PRE S S S E N E H OU S E C LCU AT A TTA , A T , A TTA PR E F A CE This book w as hurriedly written as th e Griffith Pri ze s a as 19 14 an d a a essay a e rly , it is published i n gre t H hurry on the eve of my depa rture for E ngla nd . ad it ’ not been for th e encourage ment of the Hon bl e Chief A su tosh M ook er ee K t . a Justice Sir i , , the gre t of a a av patron le rning , this ess y would never h e been a an a publish ed . I h ve tried to give here ccount of the Yoga System of thought as contained in the Yoga Sutra Patan ali as V asa Vach as ati a nd of j interpreted by y , p Vij nana Bhikshu with occasion al references to the views m a of ot her sy ste s . My work Yog Philosophy i n relation ” to other Indi an System s of Thought which I h ope will be published shortly by the Un iversity of Calcutta is a more advanced an d comprehen sive work th an the present B u t m a et ta attempt . since it y y ke some time before th at book is publis hed I do not m u c h hesitate to publish is m a a this essay . This y e rliest ttempt on Indi an Philo sophy and no one probably is m ore conscious of its defects as my seif . As I h ad to stay f ar a way from C alcutta a t Chittagong a n d as I h ad no ti me in my h and s m a E a m owin g to y dep rture to ngl nd , I do very uch regret th at I could not properly supervise the work of its a printing . M ny errors of printing h ave consequently is h e a escaped . It owev r hoped th t the errors m ay n ot be a a m such th t they will inconvenience the re der uch . S o little work h as u p till now been done in the field of India n a of its m a s Philosophy th t in spite ny defect , the au thor l l PREF ACE a h as some excuse in publ ishing it . The uthor will consider all his l abours rewarded if this essay is found to be of any use in any qua rter . It may seem convenient th at before entering into the details of the work I should give a h rief outline of the Yoga System of Patanj ali a t th e very beginning of the 0 m a m u s work , which I h pe y be of so e e to the beginners . Th e S t u d y of Pata nj a l i However dogm atic a system of philosophical enquiry m a a a m a y ppe r to us , it ust h ve been preceded by a criticism of the observed facts of n tr I od u ctory . a knowledge . The det ils of the criticis m and the processes of self- argu mentation by which the th inker a rrived at his theory of the Universe m ight as a m a i ndeed be suppressed , bein g rel tively uni port nt but a thoughtful reader would de tect them as lying in the background behi nd the sh adow of the genera l a at am m m O specul tions , but the s e ti e settin g the E ou r An or a Pat n al i a before View . Aristotle a j m y not m ake any direct m ention of the argu ments which led m to a ma a t of the dog tic sser ion their theories , but for a reader who intends to understa nd the m t horoughly it is absolutely necessary th at he should read them in the light as far as possible of the inferred presuppositions and inner argum ents of their m i nds ; it is i n this way alone th at he can put himself i n the same line of thinking with the thi nker he is willing to follow and can grasp ff h im to the fullest extent . In o ering this short study of Patan al a m ta a l the j e physics, I sh l therefore try to supple ement it with such of my i nferences of the presupposi ’ f Patan ali s m ad tions o j ind , which I think will d to the of a clearness the exposition of his views , though I m fully a live to the difficulties of making such i nferences a h iloso h er a a ab ou t p p whose psychologic l , soci l , religious m m and mora l environ ents differed so widely fro ours . 0 HE OF PATAN J ALI 1 T STUDY An enq uiry i nto the rel ations of the mental pheno mena to the physic al h as so meti mes given th e first start to philo a m to sophy . The rel tion of ind l p c e m a an m a m r ieféggzgx ffi e ggg: tter is such i port nt proble “0 11 5 m in a n d Of d of Philosophy th a t the existin g m a t t er . philosophical systems may roughly be classified according to the rel ative i mportance th at h as m m a been attached to ind or to atter . There h ve been m a m a a and a che ic l , ech nic l biologic l conceptions which have ignored mi nd as a separate entity and h ave d og mati cally affirmed it to be the product of Diff eren t h il oso h i' ! P P ma a tter only . There h ve been theories cal sp ecu l ation s com are . on m av p d the other extre e , which h e dispensed with matter altogether and h ave boldly affirmed th at matter as such h as no reality at all a nd a , th t thought is the only thing which can be a a in c lled Re l the highest sense . All matter as such is - B a a a non eing or M y or Avidy . There h ave been Nihilists S like the u nyavadi Buddhists wh o h ave gone so f ar as to a a of m ssert th t none the exists , neither the matter nor the m ind . There ha ve bee n some wh o asserted th at matter was t a z m only thought ex ern li ed , so e wh o regarded the ma as n a - in - principle of tter the U know ble Thing itself, m so e who regarded them as sep arate independent entities a held within higher reality called God or as t wo of his a r and m tt ibutes only , so e wh o regarded thei r difference as one a n being only of gr des of i telligence , one merging and m slowly i perceptibly into the othe 1 and held together in a concord with e ch othe1 by re- established h armony 0 p . Underlying the m a Pata n ali a et physics of j lso , we fi an a t a a nd cu e n lysis m a e a nd g of tt r thou ht . He T HE STUDY OF PATANJALI 3‘ on m a difi er nt the other, to be no thing ore th n two e kinds m a of ma a s of odific tions one pri l c u e, ’ l i s vi Pa tanj a ew . Bu b the Prakriti . t e distinguished from them a self- intelligent pri nciple which he called B Purush a or the Spirit . y the highest generalisation possible he discovered th at wh at w e ca ll matter consisted of r ma a a ta only three p i l qu lities or r ther subs ntive entities , a a a or th e - ff a which he c lled the S ttw intelligence stu , R j as — or energy a nd Tamas the factor of obstruction or mass m ffi ma a or Inerti a . It is indeed extre ely di cult to ke true conception of the n ature of these three qualities or Gunas m we a are as he called the , when consider th t these the only three elements which are regarded as formin g the m m a or a al l a . composition of pheno en , ent l physic l In order to comprehend them rightly it will be necess ary to grasp thoroughly the exact rel ation D iffi clflties th e 0 0 11 m and Of be tween the ental the physical .