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Studies in Indian Philosophy
he arrived at a criterion for them by saying that they are texts "which discuss the path towards realisation of the ultimate knowledge which particular religion has to offer and which contain statements about the nature of such knowledge ". 19 Frederick J. Streng defined the meaning of mysticism as “an interior illumination of reality that results in ultimate freedom”. 18 Both these definitions include the Buddhist nirvāņa.
Of the three constituents of mysticism, experience is the one most emphasised and the path the one most elaborated in early Buddhism. The doctrine on the other hand was kept low. The Buddha avoided doctrinal formulations concerning the final reality as much as possible in order to prevent his followers from resting content with minor achievements on the path in which the absence of the final experience could be substituted by conceptual understanding of the doctrine or by religious faith, a situation which sometimes obtains, in both varieties, in the context of Brāhmapic systems of docrine.
The peak achievements of Upanisadic and Buddhist mysticism were truly elitist, but they also had popular appeal even though they were out of reach of most people, because of most people's lack of total practical commitment. But the best minds among earnest truth-seekers were attracted by them, as they appreciated the promise of a relatively speedy realisation of the goal. This was made possible by their careful concentration on the elaboration of the path. This feature of Indian mysticism of some schools accounts for the unique form it took which became known as Yoga The Buddha's eightfold path and Patañjali's asļārga yoga are the two most higbly systematised techniques of mystical training. One can almost say that Yoga, as a methodological device, is mysticism gone scientific.
However, because of the wider appeal of the goal of Yoga as a special individual achivement which did not require the mediation of priests, but involved at most a special relation to a teacher, usually believed to be an accomplished master,
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