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Chapter Eighteen CONTRIBUTION OF HARIBHADRA TO THE
YOGA-VIDYA
[1] 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, Nyaya-Vaiseșikas and the Mimamsakas show most serious concern to fathom the depths of 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 the 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 a sort of progressive limitation of sceptical and agnostic attitudes. It seems that it can extend without assignable limits to knowledge of mankind.1 A spiritual conviction and a constant urge for the ultimate truth is the mean of our common Sadhanā. It is not only the perfection of the cognitive faculty of the self but also its ultimate end.2 Hence “know Thyself' (Atma nam viddhi ) has been regraded as the climax of our spiritual Sadhanā. There are obvious limitations to our sensory knowledge, there are antinomies of reasons. Hence, we have to transcend these usual sources of knowledge in order to realise the truth. This pro1. Singh, Ramjee : The Concept of Omniscience in Ancient
Hindu Thought, Oriental Publisher, Delhi, 1979, p. 336. 2. Ibid, The Jaina Concept of Omniscience, L. D. Institute
of Indology, Ahmedabad, 1974, p. 221. 17
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