Sutra 1.16
Aranya
"Indifference to the Gunas or the constituent principles, achieved through a knowledge of the nature of Purusha, is called Paravairagya (supreme detachment)"
A yogi who has attained the knowledge of ‘purusha’, or the highest form of discriminative knowledge, and has a sharpened intellect becomes indifferent to all manifest and unmanifested states of the three gunas. Only when this state is sustained for a long period of time, does the yogi achieve the state of "kaivalya" or liberation. After withdrawing the mind from the sense objects through ‘vashikara’ (mentioned in the previous sutra), the yogi needs to practice concentration on the ‘purusha’ principle. As long as there is identification of purusha with ‘buddhi’ (intellect), concentration cannot be complete and total dispassion involving detachment from the three ‘gunas’ cannot be attained.
Attachment is a function of the ‘buddhi’. The highest form of buddhi brings about a realization of the ‘purusha’ principle. As per Katha Upanishad, “The wise, knowing of the eternal bliss, do not look for the immutable in ephemeral things”.
Discussion
The discussion on the separation of purusha and buddhi (prakriti) resulted in a lively discussion of the distinction between the “dual” and “non-dual” philosophies. It was clarified that yoga, which is based on the Samkhya philosophy, is a dualistic philosophy in that it talks of the two totally independent entities called ‘purusha’ and ‘prakriti’. In the non-dual philosophy of ‘vedanta’ the prakriti and purusha (both individual ‘jiva’ and the supreme consciousness), all merge into a single entity termed Brahman. The goal in yoga is to achieve the state of ‘kaivalya’ which is liberation of purusha from its identification with prakriti.
Shloka 3.42 of Bhagavad Gita also talks about the ‘hierarchy’ of the elements of Prakriti, “They say that the senses are superior to the body, mind is superior to the senses, intellect is superior to the mind; one who is superior even to the intellect is HE (the Purusha)”. Shloka 3.43 continues, “Thus knowing Him who is superior to the intellect and restraining the self by the Self, conquer the enemy in the form of desires.”
In the Katha Upanishad there is a nice symbolism depicted, “the body is the chariot, the five senses are the five horses pulling the chariot in different directions, mind represents the reins – the driving instrument, pure intelligence (or Purusha) is the charioteer, the self (false ego) is the passenger”.
A question came up as to whether Samadhi can be medically induced (through drugs). The general feeling was that there are really no short-cuts to achieving samadhi; as per the guidelines of yoga, one has to follow the ‘ashtanga yoga’ (eight limbs of yoga) assiduously to achieve samadhi.
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