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83
AVIDYA IN THE YOGA SCHOOL
III. II]
this point. The worldly career is sustained and nourished by the ignorance or perverted knowledge of the spirit and it lasts as long as the ignorance or perverted knowledge lasts. It is a wonder why the spirit clings to the fall and deviation from the norm and is so unwilling to look backward to itself. The Indian mind had always been conscious of the innate potentiality of perfection of the spirit and the possibility of realization of self-perfection. It is this consciousness that moulded the culture and thought of India. It is this spiritualism that fostered tolerance and the spirit of mutual understanding in the Indian mind.
The principle which acts as hindrance against the apprehension of truth has been differently conceived in different systems under various names such as avidya (nescience), mithyātva (perversity), ajñāna (ignorance), mithya-jñāna (perverted knowledge), viparyaya (perversion), moha (delusion), darśana-moha (delusion of attitude) etc.1 The fundamental unity of all the conceptions lies in the fact that all of them refer to the principle commonly called avidya (nescience) or moha (delusion) which hides truth, deludes the spirit and lures it in the wrong direction. The immediate effect of this nescience is to create the soul's interest in the world process and to make it cling to it as the source of happiness. The spirit sticks to the world due to its influence. This leads to the cycle of rebirths. The common aim of all the systems of Indian thought is to show the way out of this cycle, and this can be done only by showing the means of destroying or getting rid of the nescience. The nature of this nescience is conceived in accordance with the conception of the nature of ultimate reality. The function of nescience is to present reality in a form which it has not, and thereby to misguide the spirit. In order to get rid of this nescience the first thing that is necessary is possession of spiritual conviction. Once this conviction lays hold upon the soul, it turns back and treads upon the right path.
We now address ourselves to the appraisal of the various conceptions of nescience in the well-known schools of Indian thought with particular reference to the Jaina position. In the interest of the convenience of procedure and clarification of relevant issues we propose to undertake an examination of the conception of avidya system by system.
II
AVIDYA IN THE YOGA SCHOOL
This school recognizes two primordial categories viz. puruşa and prakrti. Puruşa is the principle of consciousness which witnesses the
1 Vide verse 83 and the prose portion as well of TSIV on TSu I. 13; also see Yasovijaya's Vṛtti on YD, II. 3. et seq.
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