the time of an experience. We know our mind, and we also know the object which has
caused the reaction in our mind.
If we are careful enough to go deep into the nature of any experience, we will know
something more about the object which has caused that experience than we did
earlier, and also we will know a little more about our own selves at that particular
time. The susceptibility of the individual to a particular type of experience is also
known because of the experience itself. All experiences are due to susceptibilities on
the part of the subject; otherwise, there would be a universal experience in our mind
at every time. All things in the universe will be known to us simultaneously if we are
not to be susceptible only to certain types of reaction, and impervious to others.
Thus, we know something about ourselves by means of the knowledge that we are
susceptible to certain characters in the world, and also we know something about the
object because it starts becoming less and less attractive by more and more
experience.
The object gradually discloses its true character by repeated experience thereof,
because the purpose of the contact of the senses with objects is to exhaust the forces
of karma which are responsible for the contact. When there is a diminution of the
intensity of the forces of karma which are the causes of this experience, the intensity
of the feeling involved in the experience also diminishes, and so the attraction for the
object also diminishes. The pleasure that we get from the object also decreases and
then, finally, we get disgusted with the object; we do not want the object any more.
That thing which caused so much joy once upon a time becomes an object of dislike
after awhile, merely because the reason behind the experience of the object is no
more existent. The purpose for which the contact was motivated does not any more
operate.
It works out like this: experiences are intended for the purusha, for the soul, for the
consciousness, for the purpose of exhausting its previous karmas, and also for the
purpose of newer types of experiences. The sutra in this connection is: sva svāmi
śaktyoḥ svarūpopalabdhi hetuḥ saṁyogaḥ (II.23). Samyogah is contact. The contact of
the senses with objects is for a purpose, for a hetuh. What is a hetuh? Svarūpopalabdhi
hetuḥ—for the purpose of the recognition of one’s own self. Whose self? Sva svāmi
śaktyoḥ—one’s own self, as well as the object. The nature of one’s own self, as well as
the nature of the object, is revealed at the time of an experience; and this revelation
on both sides takes place simultaneously. It is simultaneous because the subject-
object relationship is the cause of all experience. The subject alone cannot become
the cause of experience, nor can the object alone, independently; they must come
together and collaborate to bring about the experience.
Thus, experience is a reaction more than an action. It is a new type of product which
comes out of the union of the susceptible conditions of the subject and the
corresponding characters of the object. Just as when there is a reaction between acid
and alkali there is a new product coming out, likewise there is a new product which is
called experience, whether it is pleasurable or otherwise, caused by this union.
Though the experience may look like a new product altogether, it is a mixture of the
properties which have been inherent in the object as well as the subject. It is not an
entirely new thing. Whatever be the taste of water and its capacity to quench thirst, it
is nothing but a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. It is nothing but that, in certain