The Double Activity in Mental Cognition :1.

The nature of an object is being discussed here in a few sutras. The philosophical status of an object has much to do with the practice of samyama in yoga, because yoga samyama is nothing but the resolution of the factors of relation between the subject and the object. The philosophy of yoga has a unique concept of the nature of the object, on the basis of which its psychology is directed and its practice is conducted.


What is an object? We have studied something about its nature previously, where it was said:
 The local presence of an object – the position of an object in space, the isolate)d existence of the object – is regarded as a kind of temporary presentation before the senses of a form taken by the cosmic prakriti in its manifold movement of the gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. A kind of concretion, we may say, a concentration of the three gunas in a particular manner, at a particular point in space and time, is the object. The outcome of this analysis is that every object has a cosmic significance. It is not something cut off entirely from other things.


Therefore, it is possible, through the samyama practised on any object, to enter into the heart of any other object also. This is a very great point that is made out here by this philosophical analysis of the nature of the object, because otherwise it would be difficult to understand how cosmic knowledge or omniscience can be the outcome of meditation on a single object, as there would be no relation between the two. The point made here is that the relation does exist. One can enter the ocean through any river in this world, because all rivers meet the same ocean. Likewise, one can enter the cosmic through any object, even if it is only a pencil or even a pin. It does not matter what it is, because this little thing called the pencil or the pin looks so small only from the point of view of our empirical sensory perception. But even this little pinhead has a cosmic background behind it, and it is only a projection of the forces of prakriti – called sattva, rajas and tamas. This subject was studied earlier in some detail.


Now, the question arises: how does an object become known? How are we aware that there is an object? It is stated in the subsequent sutra, , that varieties in perception of a single object depend upon the varieties of the constitution of minds. The various stresses through which the minds of individuals pass determine the variety in cognition and perception of objects. Though the object may be one and the same in respect of the perception of it by many others, its reception by the different minds may be variegated on account of the variety in the nature of the minds themselves. This means to say, the impression formed by the object upon minds is not always uniform, because though the force of the impress by the object upon the minds of perceivers may be uniform, the way in which this impress is received by the minds may be variegated on account of the different receptive capacities of the perceiving minds. I will give a crude example to illustrate this point. The same sunlight falling upon different kinds of mirrors may appear differently. A broken mirror, a coloured mirror, a dusty mirror, a mirror that is painted with pitch, etc. – these may allow the light of the sun to pass through them in different ways.


The moods of the mind – the vrittis of the manas – have something to do with the reaction which they set up in respect of the impress that the object makes upon them, so that even if the object is the same, the perceptions and cognitions may be variegated. This is a little point that is brought out here in connection with the psychology of perception. Objects are structurally different on account of the various constitutions of the gunas in different ways; that is one aspect or one side of the matter. The other side is that the same object can create different impressions on different minds, on account of the difference in their make-up. Not only that, even on the same mind the object can make different impressions during different moods or different stages of the manifestation of the vrittis of that particular mind.

To be continued  ....