Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/287

 VII] Yoga Meditation 27 1 or a feeling of happiness for the good of all beings, and upeka or a feeling of equanimity and indifference for the vices of others. The last one indicates that the yogin should not take any note of the vices of vicious men. When the mind becomes disinclined to all worldly pleasures (vairiigya) and to all such as are promised in heaven by the per- formances of Vedic sacrifices, and the mind purged of its dross and made fit for the practice of Yoga meditation, the yogin may attain liberation by a constant practice (abhyii.sa) attended with faith, confidence (Sraddlzii.), strength of purpose and execution (virya) and wisdom (prajrzii.) attained at each advance. The Yoga Meditation. When the mind has become pure the chances of its being ruffled by external disturbances are greatly reduced. At such a stage the yogin takes a firm posture (ii.sana) and fixes his mind on any object he chooses. I t is, however, preferable that he should fix it on Isvara, for in that case Isvara being pleased removes many of the obstacles in his path, and it becomes easier for him to attain success. But of course he makes his own choice, and can choose anything he likes for the unifying concentration (samii.dhi) of his mind. There are four states of this unifying concentration namely vitarka, vicii.ra, ii.nanda and asmita. Of these vitarka and vicara have each two varieties, savitarka, nir'i}i- tarka,saviciira,llirvicii.ra 1. When the mind concentrates on objects, remembering their names and qualities, it is called the savitarka stage; when on the five tanmatras with a remembrance of their qualities it is called savicara, and when it is one with the tan- matras without any notion of their qualities it is called nirvicara. Higher than these are the ananda and the asmita states. In the ananda state the mind concentrates on the buddhi with its func- tions of the senses causing pleasure. In the asmita stage buddhi concentrates on pure substance as divested of all modifica- tions. In all these stages there are objects on which the mind consciously concentrates, these are therefore called the samprajlzii.ta (wi th knowledge of objects) types of samadhi. Next to this comes the last stage of samadhi called the asamprajiiii.ta or nirodha samadhi, in which the mind is without any object. By remaining 1 Vacaspati, however, thinks that ananda and asmita have also two other varieties, which is denied by Bhik!iiu.