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MYSTICISM IN INDIA
the right knowledge; second, when there comes to it false knowledge; third, when it is simply put in to complex imagination or fancy; fourth, when we are sleeping; fifth, when we are exercising the faculty of memory. Let us examine each condition. The theory as to how the external world is cognized is a complicated one, but in order to explain it in the simplest way, I would say that when organs of sense are put in contact with external objects they are put in a state of vibration and cause a similar vibration on the mind-substance. This change in the mind-substance is called direct cognition. The mind is also modified when it receives false knowledge, i. e., when a false conception is entertained of a thing whose real form does not correspond to that conception; for instance, when a mother-of-pearl is mistaken for silver, or a post in the dark is mistaken for a man. It is also modified by having fancied notions, i. e., notions called into being by mere words having nothing to answer to them in reality. The fourth way in which the mind is transformed is sleep and the fifth is memory.
Now the suppression of these transformations is the Yoga which leads to the realization of the self and the means of suppressing them are sustained application and non-attachment. The stages-the intermediate stages relate to the ethics prescribed in conformity with these. They are eight in number, Yama, Niyama Asana Pranayama, Pratyahāra, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. The first two are rules aiming at simultane
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