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SANKHYA AND YOGA
It is beheld at rest, which is the way it actually and always is: aloof from the natural processes that are taking place continually round about, in the mind-stuff, in the senses, in the organs of action, and in the animated outer world.
Truth is to be attained only through the recognition of the fact that, whatever happens, nothing affects or stains the lifemonad. It remains detached, completely so, even though it may seem to be carrying on individual life-processes, through the round of rebirths and in the present life. Our normal view attributes all the states and transformations of life to the lifemonad; they secm to be taking place within it, coloring it, and changing it for better or worse. Nevertheless, this illusion is merely an effect of nescience. The life-monad is not the least affected. In our fiery true Self we remain, forever, serene.
According to the Sänkhya-Yoga analysis, the spontaneous activities of the mind-stuff, which have to be suppressed before the true nature of the life-monad can be realized, are five: 1. right notions, derived from accurate perception (pramāna); 2. erroneous notions, derived from misapprehension (viparyaya): 3. fantasy or fancy (vikalpa); 4. sleep (nidrā); and 5. memory (smệti). When these five have been suppressed, the disappearance of desire, and of all other mental activities of an emotional character, automatically follows.
1. Right notions are based on, a) right perception, b) right inference, and c) right testimony."
a) Right perception. The thinking principle, i.e., the mind, assumes the shapes of its perceptions through the functioning of the senses. It can be compared to an ever-burning fire, concentrated into tips in its flames and reaching its objects through these foremost points. The foremost point of the thinking principle, when meeting objects through the senses, assumes their form. Because of this the process of perception is one of per
8 Patañjali, Yoga-sūtras 1. 6. 9 lb. 1. 7.
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