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96
Jaina View of Life
which it cannot go. Jayanta Bhatia showed that we can develop different degrees of perception leading to Yogic perception which sees all objects past, future, remote etc. He gives instances of cats which can see in darkness and the vultures from long distances. Yogis can see all objects, including the supersensible like dharmao. Such is the nature of divine per - ception also with the difference that the divine perception is eternal while the Yogic perception is acquired through the practice of meditation.
Prasastapāda divides Yogic perception into i) yukta in ecstatic condition ; and ii) viyukta, of those who have fallen from the ecstatic state. In the state of ecstacy one can see one's own self, other selves, akasa, time and atoms. Those who are not in ecstacy can see the supersensible and hidden objects through a peculiar contact of the self, manas, sense organs and the objects. Neo-Naiyyāyikas divide Yogic perception into : i) perception of those who have attained the union with the supreme Being; and ii) those who acquire it with some Yogic efforts. The former have constant perception. Ārsajñāna as intuition of sages has also been recognised
Vijñānabhikṣu states that the Yogis can come into contact with distant objects by virtue of a power acquired through meditation. This peculiar power of the mind consists in its all pervasiveness. Through such powers under the influence of Dharma, the Yogis can perceive objects in all times and places through the connection of the mind with praksti.
In the Pātañjala Yoga, mind is described as a continuous stream of functions flowing into five stages : i) kşipta, ii) müdha, iii) vikşipta, occasionally steady iv) ekāgra concentrated, and v) nirūạha, withdrawn. In the fourth and the fifth stages mind is withdrawn from the objects and concentrated on one of the objects. In the fourth the mind gets the conscious ecstacy
92. Tattvärtha Sūtra, I, 27, rūpiş v avadheḥ also Avas yaka Niryukti 45
and Nandi-Sūtra, 46.
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