________________
THE SYSTEMS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
being confused with sense and knowledge, convey no precise meaning if they happen to be beyond our previous acquaintance.47 The fact however is that every meaning is eternally existent and is as eternally connected with particular sounds and therefore conveys or reveals the same sense wherever it is uttered. Acting on this theory and performing on the three, i. e. sounds, sense and knowledge, separately the yogi comprehends the sense of all sounds uttered by any sentient being in nature.48 Even so can the music of nature be heard and the joyous within be cognized
and understood.
50
26.
is also claimed to produce a knowledge of former births. In all the philosophies based on the Vedas, as well as in Buddhism and Jainism, transmigration of the soul-re-incarnation from one body to another-is the one doctrine which runs parallel in all of them. As to the grounds on which it is based, we will fully discuss them when we come to Jainism. In this place however we have simply to refer to the Yoga doctrine that by performing H, which is the same thing as complete mental presentation, on the impressions inherent in the mind from time immemorial, there arises knowledge of previous incarnations.49
27. Yoga also claims that leads to the power of mind reading. When a yogi performs with referrence to any sign such as the complexion, the voice or any such thing, he at once understands the state of the
47. As judged from the next sentence, the argument seems to be that since ordinarily a word becomes meaningful to us only in case someone tells us that such is the meaning of this word what we ordinarily do is to confuse a word with its meaning or with the knowledge this word conveys. 48. YS 3.17
49. YS 3.18
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
