A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1Dasgupta, Surendranath
Religion
A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1
Dasgupta, Surendranath
Hindu philosophy; India -- Religion
present life thus determines the particular kind of future birth
(as this or that animal or man), the period of life (_âyu@s_) and the
painful or pleasurable experiences (_bhoga_) destined for that life.
Exceedingly good actions and extremely bad actions often produce
their effects in this life. It may also happen that a man has
done certain bad actions, for the realization of the fruits of which
he requires a dog-life and good actions for the fruits of which
he requires a man-life. In such cases the good action may remain
in abeyance and the man may suffer the pains of a dog-life first
and then be born again as a man to enjoy the fruits of his good
actions. But if we can remove ignorance and the other afflictions,
all his previous unfulfilled karmas are for ever lost and cannot
again be revived. He has of course to suffer the fruits of those
karmas which have already ripened. This is the _jîvanmukti_ stage,
when the sage has attained true knowledge and is yet suffering
mundane life in order to experience the karmas that have already
ripened (_ti@s@thati sa@mskâravas'ât cakrabhramivaddh@rtas'arîra@h_).
Citta.
The word Yoga which was formerly used in Vedic literature
in the sense of the restraint of the senses is used by Patañjali in
his _Yoga sûtra_ in the sense of the partial or full restraint or
steadying of the states of citta. Some sort of concentration may
be brought about by violent passions, as when fighting against
a mortal enemy, or even by an ignorant attachment or instinct.
The citta which has the concentration of the former type is called
_k@sipta_ (wild) and of the latter type _pramû@dha_ (ignorant). There
is another kind of citta, as with all ordinary people, in which
concentration is only possible for a time, the mind remaining
steady on one thing for a short time leaves that off and clings to
another thing and so on. This is called the _vik@sipta_ (unsteady)
stage of mind (_cittabhûmi_). As distinguished from these there is
an advanced stage of citta in which it can concentrate steadily on
an object for a long time. This is the _ekâgra_ (one-pointed) stage.
There is a still further advanced stage in which the citta processes
are absolutely stopped. This happens immediately before mukti,
and is called the _nirodha_ (cessation) state of citta. The purpose of
Yoga is to achieve the conditions of the last two stages of citta.
The cittas have five processes (_v@rtti_), (1) _pramâ@na_ [Footnote ref 1]
(valid
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