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296 OUTLINES OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY ling the same. The principle underlying the whole discipline is that man's faculties are by long habit adjusted to the preservation of the empirical self and that they must be readjusted' so as to secure the totally opposite aim of restoring the purusa-element in it to its true condition. Of these several stages in reaching yogic perfection, it is necessary to add a few words of explanation only on the last, viz. samadhi, which directly leads to kaivalya. It is divided into a lower and a higher form known respectively as samprajñāta and asamprajñāta samadhi. The latter is the goal, the former serving but as a stepping-stone to it. In both alike there is need for the highest power of concentration. The first is a state in which the buddhi continues to function though it is wholly absorbed in the contemplation of a particular object, everything else being excluded except the fact that one is having a vision of it. It is accordingly described as 'conscious samadhi.' All sources of distraction are eradicated here and the buddhi shines forth with its sattva element in the ascendant. In asamprajñāta-samadhi, the consciousness of the object also disappears along with self-consciousness. It is consequently termed 'superconscious samadhi.' The buddhi ceases to function then or its vșttis, as it is expressed, become latent.3 In that condition not only are the inferior vșttis arising from the dominance of rajas and tamas overcome, but also those arising from sattva. When in the final form of asamprajñāta-samadhi the buddhi is thus concentrated on the self, it vanishes once for all, leaving the puruşa apart and alone. If we compare our common mental state to the ruffled surface of water in a lake which reflects an object like a tree on the bank as a distorted image, the samprajñāta condition may be likened to the calm surface containing a steady and faithful image of it and the asamprajñāta to the condition where the tree is by itself and there is no image at all for the lake has dried up. There are thus altogether three levels of life that may be distinguished: the first in which rajas or tamas is the chief governing factor, the second in which sattva predominates and the third which transcends sattva also. The lower 1 YSB. ii. 33
YS. i. 3 and 4.
; YS, i. 1.
