Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/288

27 2 The KaPila and the Piitaiijala Siil!lkhya [CH. long in this stage the old potencies (saf!1skaras) or impressions due to the continued experience of worldly events tending towards the objective world or towards any process of experiencing inner thinking are destroyed by the production of a strong habit of the nirodha state. At this stage dawns the true knowledge, when the buddhi becomes as pure as the puru!?a, and after that the citta not being able to bind the purua any longer returns back to prakfti. In order to practise this concentration one has to see that there may be no disturbance, and the yogin should select a quiet place on a hill or in a forest. One of the main obstacles is, however, to be found in our constant respiratory action. This has to be stopped by the practice of pni?ziiyiima. Pral}ayama consists in taking in breath, keeping it for a while and then giving it up. Vith practice one may retain breath steadily for hours, days, months and even years. When there is no need of taking in breath or giving it out, and it can be retained steady for a long time, one of the main obstacles is removed. The process of practising concentration is begun by sitting in a steady posture, holding the breath by pral}ayama, excluding all other thoughts, and fixing the mind on any object (dhiira1}a). At first it is difficult to fix steadily on any object, and the same thought has to be repeated constantly in the mind, this is called dhyiilla. After sufficient practice in dhyana the mind attains the power of making itself steady; at this stage it becomes one with its object and there is no change or repetition. There is no consciousness of subject, object or thinking, but the mind becomes steady and one with the object of thought. This is called samadhi 1 . We have already described the six stages of samadhi. As the yogin acquires strength in one stage of samadhi, he passes on to a still higher stage and so on. As he progresses onwards he attains miracu]ous powers (vibhltti) and his faith and hope in the practice increase. Miraculous powers bring with them many temptations, but the yogin is firm of purpose and even though the position of Indra is offered to him he does not relax. His wisdom (prajfia) also increases at each step. Prajfia know- ledge is as clear as perception, but while perception is limited to 1 It should be noted that the word samiidhi cannot properly be translated either by "concentration" or by " meditation." It means that peculiar kind of concentra- tion in the ' oga sense by which the mind becomes one with its object and there is no movement of the mind into its passing states.