- In consequence of the mind being coloured or not coloured by it, an ob-
ject is known or unknown.
The first essential for the mind of an individual ‘knowing’ an object is that the
object should affect or modify the mind in some way. The phrase actually used is ‘col-
ouring the mind’. The use of the word ‘colouring’ for ‘modifying’ is not merely a po-
etic way of stating a scientific fact. It is used with a definite purpose in view. The
word ‘modification’ would merely imply a partial change in the mind while the idea
which has to be conveyed is a change which may vary in intensity from a mere trace to
a depth of any intensity. The knowledge of the object may be extremely superficial or
very deep and all these progressively increasing degrees of understanding can best be
conveyed by using the word ‘colouring’, the depth of the colour indicating the degree
of assimilation of the object by the mind. Besides, it is only by the use of the word
‘colouring’ that the complete fusion of the object and the mind referred to in Sutra I-
41 can be properly understood.
Those who have ever tried to study a subject which is entirely new to them and
much beyond their mental capacity will be able to form some idea regarding the neces-
sity of an object ‘colouring’ the mind before it can be understood. The subject is not
assimilated by the mind at all, simply refuses to sink into the mind as a dye sometimes
refuses to stain a tissue. The mind must ‘take in’ the object to a certain extent at least
if it is to ‘know’ it and the extent to which it assimilates the object determines the de-
gree of knowledge. This ‘colouring’ of the mind by an external object is found on
deeper analysis to be nothing more than the capacity of the mental vehicle to vibrate in
response to the stimulus provided by the object. The more fully the vehicle can vibrate
in this manner the greater is the knowledge of the object which the mind acquires.
Herein comes the necessity of evolution of the vehicles in the earlier stages.