Yoga as philosophy and religionDasgupta, Surendranath
Religion
Yoga as philosophy and religion
Dasgupta, Surendranath
Hindu philosophy; Patañjali; Yoga
Now it is clear that when the self becomes conscious of itself as object
we see that there are three phases in it: (i) that in which the self
becomes an object to itself; (ii) when it directs itself or turns as the
subject upon itself as the object, this moment of activity which can
effect an aspect of change in itself; (iii) the aspect of the
consciousness of the self, the moment in which it perceives itself in
its object, the moment of the union of itself as the subject and itself
as the object in one luminosity of self-consciousness. Now that phase of
self in which it is merely an object to itself is the phase of its union
with prakṛti which further develops the prakṛti in moments of
materiality by a preponderance of the inert tamas of the bhūtādi into
tanmātras and these again into the five grosser elements which are then
called the _grāhya_ or perceptible.
The sattva side of this ego or self-consciousness which was hitherto
undifferentiated becomes further differentiated, specialised and
modified into the five cognitive senses with their respective functions
of hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell, synchronising with the
evolution of the prakṛti on the tanmātric side of evolution. These again
individually suffer infinite modifications themselves and thus cause an
infinite variety of sensations in their respective spheres in our
conscious life. The rajas side of the ego becomes specialised as the
active faculties of the five different conative organs.
There is another specialisation of the ego as the manas which is its
direct instrument for connecting itself with the five cognitive and
conative senses. What is perceived as mere sensations by the senses is
connected and generalised and formed into concepts by the manas; it is
therefore spoken of as partaking of both the conative and the cognitive
aspects in the _Sāṃkhya-kārikā_, 27.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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