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II ADHYAYA, I PÂDA, 3.
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ditional cause of doubt presents itself, the practice of Yoga being enjoined in the Veda as a means of obtaining perfect knowledge; so, for instance, Bri. Up. II, 4, 5, '(The Self) is to be heard, to be thought, to be meditated upon 1' In the Svetåsvatara Upanishad, moreover, we find various injunctions of Yoga-practice connected with the assumption of different positions of the body, &c. ; so, for instance, Holding his body with its three erect parts even,' &c. (II, 8).
Further, we find very many passages in the Veda which (without expressly enjoining it) point to the Yoga, as, for instance, Ka. Up. II, 6, 11, 'This, the firm holding back of the senses, is what is called Yoga ; ' 'Having received this knowledge and the whole rule of Yoga' (Ka. Up. II, 6, 18); and so on. And in the Yoga-sâstra itself the passage, "Now then Yoga, the means of the knowledge of truth,' &c. defines the Yoga as a means of reaching perfect knowledge. As thus one topic of the sâstra at least (viz. the practice of Yoga) is shown to be authoritative, the entire Yogasmriti will have to be accepted as unobjectionable, just as the Smriti referring to the ashtakâs 2:—To this we reply that the formal extension (to the Yoga, of the arguments primarily directed against the Sankhya) has the purpose of removing the additional doubt stated in the above lines; for in spite of a part of the Yoga-smriti being authoritative, the disagreement (between Smriti and Sruti) on other topics remains as shown above. Although 3 there are many Smritis treating of the soul, we have singled out for refutation the Sankhya and Yoga because they are widely known as offering the means for accomplishing the highest
1 In which passage the phrase "to be meditated upon' (nididhyâsâ) indicates the act of mental concentration characteristic of the Yoga.
? The ash/akas (certain oblations to be made on the eighth days after the full moons of the seasons hemanta and sisira) furnish the stock illustration for the doctrine of the Pârvâ Mîm. that Smriti is authoritative in so far as it is based on Sruti.
But why-it will be asked-do you apply yourself to the . refutation of the Sankhya and Yoga only, and not also to that of
other Smritis conflicting with the Vedanta views ?
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