Sambodhi

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 10

Shantilal M. Desai
thus covered four more factors. Haribhadra describes the worldly life as a terrible disease (Mahāvyādhi) after the fashion common to all Indian philosophies in Karikas 188 of Yogadşştisamuccaya.
It is a great wonder that there is the greatest majority of people who are prone to enjoy this world though they find it miserable ! Not only the philosophies and religions of the world declare the worldly life to be mise
but even the common experience of the people at large has the same say. The duhkha is not a subject of guessing but a hard fact of human experience and even then most of the common men seek worldly enjoyment and that is the greatest of human paradox. Very few people seek the human goal of Mokşa eventhough all the people know of it. The question why for such a dichotomy is an age-old question. It can be answered successfully by philosophy that could only be solved by yoga. Haribhadra describes such men as are after the worldly enjoyments as Bhavābhinandi in Kārikās 75, 76 of Yogad ştisamuccaya and rightly too. All systems of yoga readily agree on this apparent fact of the tendency on the part of common man to enjoy life. In this wise Haribhadra has covered the seventh common factor for his synthesis. And the last and not the least, he seeks a common ground in the matter of the means to get rid of all the obstacles coming in the way of the realization of the goal. Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct are the most common ground as far as the means to the common end is concerned. All philosophies, all religions and all systems of yoga and sādhanā unreservedly prescribe these threefold means for the realization of the spiritual goal. There is hardly any difference even in the expression and content of these threefold means. Dr. K.K. Dixit honestly doubts Haribhadra's attempts at seeking such a common ground in this threefold means because he feels that the core of faith, knowledge and conduct cannot be the same in all systems.5 But Haribhadra does not desire that the faith be in the same deity. He is content to see that the seeker has a higher faith. Content of all good faith is the higher aim. So is the case in the matter of knowledge and conduct. Full knowledge is possible only after the attainment of the goal. Even different categories of sādhakas cannot have the intensity of faith, the same depth of knowledge and the same purity of action. Even then all of them are bent on having right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. So Haribhadra to my mind has made a marvellous attempt in the matter of seeing the common ground as to the means of realizing the goal of Moksa. Thus Haribhadra covered seven common grounds of synthesis of yoga and they are in nutshell like this: (1) The goal of mok sa (2) The Soul, seeker of the goal (3) klesas, the obstacles (4) duḥkha in the world (5) the human efforts to get rid of the obstacles and duḥkha (6) the tendency of