96 Mr. H. T. Colebrooke on the Philosophy of the Hindus. 



To the intellect appertain eight modes, effects, or properties : four par- 

 taking of goodness ; namely, virtue, knowledge, dispassion, and power ; and 

 four, which are the reverse of those, and partake of darkness, viz. sin, error, 

 incontinency, and powerlessness. 



Virtue here intends moral or religious merit. Knowledge is either exterior 

 or interior ; that is, temporal or spiritual. Interior or spiritual knowledge 

 discriminates soul from nature, and operates its deliverance from evil. 

 Exterior or temporal knowledge comprehends holy writ, and every science, 

 but self-knowledge. 



Dispassion likewise is either exterior or interior ; as proceeding from a 

 temporal motive, aversion from trouble ; or a spiritual impulse, the convic- 

 tion that nature is a dream, a mere juggle and illusion. 



Power is eight-fold : consisting in the faculty of shrinking into a minute 

 form, to which every thing is pervious ; or enlarging to a gigantic body ; or 

 assuming levity (rising along a sunbeam to the solar orb) ; or possessing 

 unlimited reach of organs (as touching the moon with the tip of a finger) ; 

 or irresistible will (for instance, sinking into the earth, as easily as in water) : 

 dominion over all beings animate or inanimate ; faculty of changing the 

 course of nature ; ability to accomplish every thing desired. 



The notion, that such transcendent power is attainable by man in thi» 

 life, is not peculiar to the Sdnc'hya sect. It is generally prevalent among 

 the Hindus ; and amounts to a belief of magic. A Yogi, imagined to have 

 acquired such faculties, is, to vulgar apprehension, a sorcerer, and is so 

 represented in many a drama and popular tale. 



One of the four chapters of Patanjali's Ydga-sdstra (the third), relates 

 almost exclusively to this subject, from which it takes its title. It is full of 

 directions for bodily and mental exercises, consisting of intensely profound 

 meditation on special topics, accompanied by suppression of breath, and 

 restraint of the senses, while steadily maintaining prescribed postures. By 

 such exercises, the adept acquires the knowledge of every thing past and 

 future, remote or hidden ; he divines the thoughts of others, gains the 

 strength of an elephant, the courage of a lion, and the swiftness of the wind ; 

 flies in the air, floats in water, dives into the earth, contemplates all worlds 

 at one glance, and performs other strange feats. 



But neither power, however transcendent, nor dispassion, nor virtue, 

 however meritorious, suffices for the attainment of beatitude. It serves but 

 to prepare the soul for that absorbed contemplation, l>y which the great 

 purpose of deliverance is to be accomplished. 



