________________ Scholastic Orientation xxxvii Now we come to the Yogabindu. The object and purpose of yoga is the realization of truth. And as there is no controversy about this object and purpose of yoga there should be none regarding the nature of yoga as well. The worldly existence is a fact accepted by all. - And freedom from it is the summum bonum of every spiritual system. The problem before us is only the means to that end. Haribhadra says that the same principle is expressed by different terms in different systems, Thus the selfsame principle of consciousness is known as purusa in the Vedanta as well as the Jaina system, as ksetravit in the Sankhya system, as jnana in the Buddhist school. Similarly the fundamental ground of worldly existence is known as avidya in the Vedanta and the Buddhist system, prakrti in the Sankhya school, and karman in the Jaina system. Moreover, the relation between matter and spirit is known as bhranti in the Vedanta and the Buddhist systems, pravstti in the Sankhya school, and bandha in the Jaina system. There is thus fundamental unity among all the apparently conflicting systems of thought. There ought to be no real controversy among them about the fundamental things too. Truth is truth. It is our different ways of looking at it that is responsible for the building up of different systems. Haribhadra does not attempt at cheap and superfluous compromise, but only tries to show the fundamental unity of all thought. Every earnest student of philosophy has his own way of looking at the truth. And the result is the origination of different systems Haribhadra asks us to see unity in difference. At least for a spiritual aspirant it is necessary to avoid controversy and strive for self-realization. About the path of selfrealization there is absolutely no controversy among the otherwise mutually conflicting systems. Haribhadra lays down these five steps as a complete course of yoga : adhyatma or contemplation of truth accompanied with moral conduct, bhavana or repeated practice in the contemplation accompanied with the steadfastness of the mind, dhyana or concentration of the mind, samata or equanimity, and vrttisamksaya or the annihilation of all the traces of karman, But one is not capable of this yoga until and unless one has worked out the requisite purification of the self. The soul naturally moves towards emancipation. The worldly existence of a soul falls into two periods, viz. dark (krsna), and white (sukla). The duration of the white period is much shorter in 1 Cf. moksahetur yato yogo bhidyate na tatah kvacit/ sadhyabhedat tathabhave tu'ktibhedo na kiranim-Y Bi, 3. 2 YBI, 17-18 with Svopajnavstti. 3 YBI, 31.
