Sambodhi

SR No.: 014027
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1980
Total Pages: 304
Language: English, Hindi, Gujarati
Classification: Seminar & Articles
File Size: 18 MB

Page 195

Revicw
a number of consistent arguments, the author has proved that the plurality of the purusas is a necessary outcome of the Samkhya-yoga view of the dualistic universe, because here the knower, the ego and the knowable are not false at the stage preceding Kaivalya.
85
The attempts of the yoga system to prove the reality of the external world as against the idealistic Buddhists are described in one separate chapter viz ch. III.
In the chapter on the process of evolution, he stresses the fact that in this system, each unit of change is measured by the unit of time. Thus time is not a substantive reality as in the Vaiseṣika system, but is only a mental concept.
He points out that this system deserves credit for establishing Mahat as the last point where the objective and the subjective are one. This becomes possible, because the gunas contain within themselves the germs of both subjectivity and objectivity.
Dr. S. N. Dasgupta distinguishes the Satkāryavada theory from the Satkaryavāda theory of the Vedantists, for with the latter, the cause alone is true.
The second part on yoga ethics begins with an analysis of the mental states. Dr. Dasgupta draws our attention to the fact that the yoga system does not hold that the citta has got an astral body. Instead it holds that there are Karaṇacittas which contract or expand and appear as our individual cittas (Karyacittas) in our various bodies of successive rebirths. This philosophy attaches much importance to the uprooting of avidya by the attainment of true knowledge, because this avidya is at the root of the Karmāśayas.
The importance of yogangas in removing the impurities of the mind is duly stressed.
The author is fully justified in devoting one whole chapter to the place of God in the yoga system, because the admission of Isvara is the most important factor distinguishing the yoga from the Samkhya system. He conjectures that Iśvara was admitted into this system because of a practical need. For Isvara was traditionally believed in the yoga school to be a protector of the yogins-Isvarapranidhana is considered one of the important means of attaining yoga. Isvara is all merciful, but this does not nullify the law of Karma. God punishes or rewards people according to their Karmas and pursuits.
The metaphysical functions ascribed to Isvara, such as the removal of obstacles in the way of the evolution of prakṛti and holding fast the unalterable nature of the world, seem to be later additions.