4.24 · Built for Another

Though patterned by countless latent tendencies, the mind exists for another, because it works by combination.

Word by word

tat

that, the mind

asaṃkhyeya-vāsanābhiḥ

by countless latent tendencies

citram

patterned, many-coloured

api

although

para-artham

for the sake of another

saṃhatya-kāritvāt

because it acts by combining

Where it fits

Vyāsa asks 'For what further reason?', and gives the last argument. The mind, however patterned, works by combination, like a house, so it exists for another (2.21, 3.35). This other, he adds, cannot be a general entity of the kind the vaināśikas posit; it is the self. The case begun at 4.14 is complete.

Reading

Here the third step ends. The mind is richly patterned by countless tendencies, yet it does not exist for itself. Vyāsa's image: like a house, it is a combination of parts, and combinations exist for someone else. The mind's pleasure is not for the mind, and neither is its insight. Both serve the seer, first for experience and then for freedom, as 2.18 said. Your mind can be a good house. It is not the one who lives in it.

Vyāsa

“This mind, though patterned by countless latent tendencies, exists for another: for another's experience and freedom, not for its own sake. For, like a house, it works by combination.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 336.

Practice

Walk slowly through your home and notice that every part, the door, the chair, the kettle, exists for someone's use. Then sit for a few minutes and ask the same of your thoughts: whom are they for?

A question to sit with

Whom is your mind working for?

Key ideas

citta (the mind-field), puruṣa (the seer, the self), saṃskāra (latent impressions)