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Contribution of Haribhadra to the Yoga-vidya
he has fully mastered the scriptural injunctions and has developed the power to transcend them. There are the three broad divisions of all the possible stages of Yoga and the eight-fold dṛṣṭis are only the elaboration of these three.1 Similarly, Haribhadra's four-fold classification of Yogins, viz., gotra, kula, pravṛttacakra and niṣpanna. The first are not incapable of emancipation while the last have already achieved their final state. Hence, it is only the Kula and Pravṛttacakra yogins who need yogic instruction.2
In spite of these resemblances, there are fundamental differences also with the mystical way adopted by the Jaina monk. Yoga-system of Patanjali has not recognised the imperativeness of mystical conversion. Probably, it confuses moral with the mystical conversion, the importance of initiation by a Guru, and the necessity of seeking his guidance at every step, the possibility of fall from certain heights, i. e., dark-nights of the soul, the significance of Pratikramaņa and Pratyakhyāna. Haribhadra knew these differences but he wanted to establish a unity among the different systems of Indian thought. The process of spiritual development as traced in Yoga-dṛṣṭi-samuccaya is different from that we find in Yoga-bindu. Yoga-vimśikā does not describe the preliminary stages of spiritual development but it discuss adequately about the later stages. Altogether, Haribhadra's studies in Yoga-vidya is a landmark in Indian spiritual sădhanā.
1. Yoga-dṛṣṭi-samuccaya, p. 12. 2. Ibid, pp. 206-207, pp. 208-210.
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