Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

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INTROVERT-CONCENTRATION
ment or pride; for then the undesired consequences will
"' 11
recur.
"Those in high places" are the gods. They are not omnipotent, according to the view of Yoga, but are in fact inferior to the accomplished yogi. They are merely highly favored beings. themselves involved in delights-the delights of their supremely favorable, celestial circumstances. The meaning of this curious aphorism is that the temptation of the prospect of heaven is not to be allowed to distract the serious practitioner of Yoga from his effort to transcend the allurements of all the worlds of form.
In the commentary on this passage it is stated that there are four degrees of yogic accomplishment and, correspondingly, four types of yogi:
1. There is the so-called "observant of practice," for whom light is just beginning to dawn.
2. There is the practitioner with "truth-bearing insight."
3. There is the one who has subjugated the organs and the elements and is consequently provided with the means to retain his gains (e.g., the insights of the various super-reflective states). He has means commensurate, that is to say, both with what has been cultivated and with what is yet to be cultivated. He has the means to go on to perfection.
4. There is the one who has passed beyond what can be cultivated, whose sole aim now is to resolve the mind into its primary
cause.
"The purity of the harmonious consciousness of the Brahman who has directly experienced the second or so-called 'Honeyed Stage' is observed by those in high places, and they seek to tempt him by means of their high places: 'Sir,' they say, 'will you sit
bhāṣya. According to the view of Vijñānabhiksu, all of the orthodox systems of Indian philosophy (of which Sankhya and Yoga are two) contain the highest truth, though leading to it from diverse and apparently antagonistic starting points.
11 Yoga-sutras 3. 51.
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