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PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
In these two aphorisms, Patanjali refutes the philosophy of subjective idealism. Following Sankhya philosophy, he admits the reality of an objective world which is independent of our mental perception. Furthermore, he points out that the perceptions of one individual vary from those of another. The example given by the commentators is that of a young and beautiful married woman. She brings joy to her husband, causes other women to be jealous of her beauty, arouses lust in the lustful, and is regarded with indifference by the man of self-control. Which of these observers knows her as she really is? None of them. The object-in-itself cannot be known by sense-perception. (I, 43).
तदुपरागापेक्षित्वाच्चित्तस्य वस्तु ज्ञाताज्ञातम् ॥१६॥ 16. An object is known or unknown, depending upon the
moods of the mind. सदा ज्ञाताश्चित्तवृत्तयस्तत्प्रमोः पुरुषस्यापरि
fareta II pool1 17. Because the Atman, the Lord of the mind, is unchange
able, the mind's fluctuations are always known to it.
a day Fathri Rucares 118511 18. The mind is not self-luminous, since it is an object of
perception.
एकसमये चोभयानवधारणम् ॥१६॥ 19. And since it cannot perceive both subject and object
simultaneously.
As we saw at the very beginning of this book (1,2), the mind is not the seer, but the instrument of the Atman, which is eternally conscious. The mind is only intermittently conscious of objects, and its perceptions of them vary according to its
