7 Science of Mind and its application deal with the preparation of the mind to reach these states of
concentration, meditation and meditative absorption.
II. Literature Review
a. Introduction
Although fundamental questions concerning human existence have been asked in all cultures – about the purpose of life, nature of the self, and of the world – Indian philosophy has an evolved and
sophisticated quest for answering these questions. The philosophy and metaphysics of India is essentially about the search for Truth, the ultimate Reality, the nature of the True Self, and for the
knowledge and practice that makes it possible to experience these directly. Indian philosophy is not only concerned with the immediate experience of life in all its dimensions, but has been
characterised by a search for Reality and Truth that transcends space and time
12
b. Schools of Indian Philosophy
. The Vedas, which
were composed in the sacred language of Hinduism Sanskrit, are a substantial body of literature considered as revelation
śruti.
The substantial amount of literature of the Veda was open to analysis and interpretation. The search
for the fundamental questions about the self, the world and reality, continued in various traditions and commentaries and thus came into existence a vast amount of literature. The need to systemise
this literature on the one hand and to justify traditions by their proponents on the other, led to the development of the main six orthodox schools of thought in Hinduism. There were also the
heterodox schools such as the Buddhist, which challenged the Vedic tradition and developed along
atheistic lines.
12
J Fowler, Perspectives on Reality, an introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism, Sussex Academic , UK
2002, p32
8 The six schools of thought are also called the saddar
śana or ‘six views’. The term darśana is derived from the Sanskrit root
dŗś. ‘to see’, and can be considered an equivalent of the word ‘philosophy’. Each
darśana believed that it was interpreting the Veda in the correct way and pointed out the errors in the thought of the other schools. Common to all
darśanas was the idea that ignorance of the reality kept the human being in a cycle of reincarnation and suffering in countless lives. The
presentation of the nature and means to the knowledge of Reality were the differentiating features of the schools. The realisation of the knowledge was not only the means to liberation from the cycle
of birth and death but also the link between the microcosm of the individual and the macrocosm of the creation. The three schools which we will concern with in this study are the schools of
Sā
ṁ
khya , Yoga and
Vedānta.
c. The Yogasūtra of Pātānjali : The Classical School of Yoga i. Introduction
