The Yogic Remedy
Ignorance, avidya ̄ [a, ‘not’; √vid, ‘to know’], refers particularly to the
Self’s ignorance of its true nature. Classical Yoga is an eight-fold remedy
to inhibit the activity of the mind, so that the Seer ceases to identify him-
self with the vÓrttisor mental experiences, and thus becomes established in
his true Self-nature, sva-rupa ̄ (YS 1.2–3). The Tattva-vai ́sarad ̄ ̄ıexplains:
By the word svar ̄upa, one’s own nature, the author excludes the appear-
ance of the calm, the agitated, and the dull, which have been fastened
upon it. The nature of the puruÓsais consciousness alone, unaffected by
the contact (of objects placed alongside it), not the cognitive action of
the buddhi(the power of intelligence) appearing as calm, etc.
TV 1.3Because ignorance is considered the source of bondage, liberation re-
quires right knowledge. The importance of knowledge in Yoga is not lim-
ited to problems of epistemology, for in Yoga, knowledge—higher or dis-
criminative knowledge—is itself the remedy for the human condition.
Correct judgment (productive of right knowledge), and incorrect
judgment (productive of wrong knowledge), along with the other mental
processes or vÓrttis—literally ‘turnings’ (√vÓrt, ‘to turn’)—are to be stopped
by a series of preliminary and meditative practices [YS 1.2]. Nirodha,
stoppage of the vÓrttis(√rudh ‘to stop’, ‘to obstruct’) embodies Yoga’s
goal: In the state of nirodha, the Seer is established in its own essential
and fundamental nature [YS 1.3]. In other states, the Seer identifies with
the vÓrttis[YS 1.4]. V ̄acaspati gives another analogy for the puruÓsa’s
knowing by means of being reflected in buddhi(the intelligence), but then
mistaking the buddhi for itself: the case of one who looks into a dirty
mirror, and concludes, “I am dim” [TV 1.4].
The vÓrttisor processes of the mind occur in five forms:
- Pram ̄ana:Correct judgment (productive of right knowledge) based
on perception, inference, or authority - Viparyaya:Incorrect judgment (productive of wrong knowledge)
based on perception, inference, or authority - Vikalpa:Imagination or conceptualization (mental constructions
without corresponding objects) based on images, words, concepts,
and/or symbols - Nidra: ̄ Sleep (including dreaming and dreamless sleep)
- SmÓrti:Memory [YS 1.5,6]
classical yoga as a religious therapeutic 97