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CHAPTER 3
The Contribution of Haribhadra
to the Yoga-Vidyā
RAMJEE SINGH
The Indian systems of thought and culture are not mere speculations on the external nature of things but also of the mysteries of our mind and soul. Even frankly realistic disciplines like Jainism, Nyāya-Vaiśesika and Mīmāṁsaka, show most serious concern to fathom the depths of the mind and unravel the mysteries of spirit. The common channels and sources of knowledge like perception, inference, etc., are found to be inadequate and it has been the abiding spiritual ambition of man to extend the frontiers of his knowledge. Even to a scientist, any attempt to put a limit to our knowledge is a result of some wrong notions. Nothing is regarded as static or absolute. Even to the Marxists, 'there is nothing in the nature which cannot be explained. Thus the growth of human knowledge has been due to a sort of progression of septical and agnostic attitudes. It seems that it can extend without assignable limits with regard to the knowledge of mankind.
A spiritual conviction and a constant urge for the ultimate truth are the basis of our common Sādhanā. It is not only the perfection of the cognitive faculty of the self but also its ultimate end. Hence, 'know thyself (ātmānam viddhi), has been regarded as the climax of our spiritual Sadhanā. There are
