Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali

Leanne Whitney

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781315448145
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy
• Index: Psychology

The East-West dialogue increasingly seeks to compare and clarify contrasting views on the nature of consciousness. For the Eastern liberatory models, where a nondual view of consciousness is primary, the challenge lies in articulating how consciousness and the manifold contents of consciousness are singular. Western empirical science, on the other hand, must provide a convincing account of how consciousness arises from matter. By placing the theories of Jung and Patañjali in dialogue with one another, Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali illuminates significant differences between dual and nondual psychological theory and teases apart the essential discernments that theoreticians must make between epistemic states and ontic beliefs.

Patañjali's Classical Yoga, one of the six orthodox Hindu philosophies, is a classic of Eastern and world thought. Patañjali teaches that notions of a separate egoic "I" are little more than forms of mistaken identity that we experience in our attempts to take ownership of consciousness. Carl Jung's depth psychology, which remains deeply influential to psychologists, religious scholars, and artists alike, argues that ego-consciousness developed out of the unconscious over the course of evolution. By exploring the work of key theoreticians from both schools of thought, particularly those whose ideas are derived from an integration of theory and practice, Whitney explores the extent to which the seemingly irremediable split between Jung and Patañjali's ontological beliefs can in fact be reconciled.

This thorough and insightful work will be essential reading for academics, theoreticians, and postgraduate students in the fields of psychology, philosophy of science, and consciousness studies. It will also appeal to those interested in the East–West psychological and philosophical dialogue.

Chapter 1

Patañjali

An overview of Patañjali

Patañjali was a Yoga scholar in India and the reputed author of the Yoga Sūtra. He was a pivotal theoretician whose work was derived from an integration of theory and practice. There is much argument in the scholarly literature regarding several aspects of Patañjali Yoga, including whether the Yoga Sūtra was written by one man or many and whether the Patañjali who authored the Yoga Sūtra is the same Patañjali who authored other ancient texts. The manner in which Patañjali’s Sūtras were composed is also questionable. For example, it is thought that the first three chapters may have been composed around the second century, but the fourth seems to be highly influenced by late-Buddhistic thought and was perhaps composed centuries later. Although no exact date is known, scholars have deduced the text would have been written no later than the fifth century of the current era (Bryant, 2009; Zimmer, 1969). While the majority of scholars believe Patañjali lived around the second to fifth century of the current era, still others have surmised a date a few centuries earlier. Given that written records were not of concern in India centuries ago, the country’s philosophical history is not always well documented (Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1957).

With its roots in a long lineage of tradition in India, the science of Patañjali’s Classical Yoga is an integral part of Hindu philosophy. Like any system of thought, Classical Yoga undoubtedly developed over a length of time and was then compiled by Patañjali in the Yoga Sūtra. There is much scholarship, old and new, around this very concise text, the oldest book of the Classical Yoga school. Both a classic of Eastern and world thought, few other written works on the planet, with fewer than 200 lines, provide such an enduring focus of international scholarship. According to renowned Indologist Henrich Zimmer (1969), the Yoga Sūtra, “must be reckoned among the most astounding works of philosophical prose in the literature of the world” (p. 283).

Yoga is a term etymologically derived from the root yuj meaning yoke, bind together, or harness. As both the method that joins and the harnessed state, this Sanskrit term has a variety of meanings. Most often the connotation of yoga is to unite or connect. The union referred to in Patañjali Yoga can be envisioned from multiple perspectives. It is both the union of the transcendent pole representing the possessor of power and the dynamic pole of creative power and energy and the union of the individual psyche with the transcendent Self (Whicher, 1998a). The individual psyche and the transcendent Self in Hindu philosophy are in essence the same and indivisible; however, the individual self, through misperception, becomes subjectively separated from the transcendent Self.

There are several paths of Indian yoga, including jñāna, the yoga of pure knowledge; hatha, the yoga of physical technique; and bhakti, the yoga of devotion and love. Many of these techniques are detectable in Patañjali’s text, but his main approach is Self-realization through the transformation of the mind, which is often referred to as Rāja Yoga, meaning royal union. While the approaches of the many historical yoga paths are distinct, the experience of Self-realization and the transcendence of suffering is the aim of all.

Indian thought centers around the problem of human conditioning, or suffering. Our conditioned mind stems from the confines of time and culture, binding us into a conceptual reality and limiting our ability to rest in our true nature. Pragmatic in approach, Hindu thought provides viable means towards the process of deconditioning and therefore viable means for releasing the bondage. Because of the holistic nature and integrative process of Classical Yoga methodology, Patañjali’s text has been noted to stand on its own: it “does not require the support of any science or philosophical system to uphold its claim” (Taimni, 1961, p. vii). So although little background information is known about Patañjali and although what is known is replete with contradictions, symbolically perhaps, the text can be studied apart from its author. Of course, the personal history of Patañjali may be interesting, but when considering the ultimate vision of the Sūtras, his personal history is ultimately not necessary. The Sūtras can therefore be amplified through situating the text within a rough time period in the canon of Hindu thought and classical Indian philosophy.

Indian philosophy is ancient and diverse, with six orthodox and three heterodox schools subsequently evolving into different streams and doctrines, each providing differing images and explanations for ultimate Reality and the manifest world. It is notable that there are significant foundational differences among the various traditions, specifically, in regards to consciousness as eternal being, theories of mind, and reliance upon the authority of scripture. For the purposes of this study, a general background of some of the influential systems that pre- and postdate Patañjali will be given to acknowledge the roots of the tradition and its ongoing development. Most specifically, Patañjali’s work will be positioned between the particular philosophical schools of Sāṃkhya and Advaita.

General background

There are four major periods in Indian philosophy: Vedic, Epic, Sūtra, and Scholastic. Most often the Vedic Period is situated between 2500 and 600 BCE, the Epic Period is between 500 BCE and 200 CE, the Sūtra Period is dated from the early centuries of the current era, and the Scholastic Period is from the Sūtra Period up until 1700 CE (Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1957).

The Vedic Period produced the Ṛg Veda (ca. 1200 BCE), the first known Indo-European text. Composed of Sanskrit hymns focusing on ritualism and sacrificial rites, this ancient text documents meditation on divine light (Radhakrishnan, 1996), indicating that the basic ideas and practices of Yoga arose during the time of the Ṛg Veda, if not before. The Yoga doctrine itself is believed to be as old as Brahmā, otherwise known as brahman,¹ the supreme Reality in Hindu thought (Radhakrishnan, 1996).

The Vedas were purportedly authored by seers (ṛṣis), people believed able to hear and see directly into the cosmos; hence, the Vedas are categorized as śruti, revealed and authoritative scripture. “Veda” signifies wisdom, a term that implies the scholarly search for understanding (Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1957). Through their search, the Supreme reality, brahman, was revealed to these ṛṣis as imperishable, unchanging, and partless, even though it appears in a multiplicity of transient images and forms. This realization “has been decisive” both for the history of Indian civilization and the course of Indian philosophy (Zimmer, 1969, p. 3). With the understanding that what is not permanent is not worth striving for, the directive of Indian philosophy is to know brahman, the Self.

Whereas the early Vedas often focused on ritualism and sacrificial rites, the later Vedas, the Upaniṣads (ca. 800–500 BCE), focused on philosophical discourse in connection to brahman and ātman, its localized expression. In this sacred scripture, gaining knowledge of ātman “is the most significant clue” to both personal and universal reality (Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1957, p. xxv). The Upaniṣadic or Vedāntic doctrines of spiritual monism, in which ātman and brahman are singular, have established “the tone if not the precise pattern” of Indian philosophical development to the present day (Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1957, p. xviii).

In the Kaṭha, Taittirīya, and Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣads, yoga as a technical term can be found, although the yoga mentioned is not identical with Patañjali Yoga (Radhakrishnan, 1996, p. 339). Complete uniformity notwithstanding, the echoes between the Upaniṣads and Patañjali’s sūtras, in regards to concentration and the conscious inward search for true nature, are audible. The Upaniṣads alongside the Brahma Sūtras and the Bhagavad Gītā comprise the three basic texts of Hindu philosophy.

The Bhagavad Gītā (ca. 150 BCE–250 CE), perhaps the Epic Period’s most famous text, is part of the heroic Hindu tale the Mahābhārata. The Bhagavad Gītā is not formally a part of primary, revealed scripture, or the canonical śruti. The epic texts are classed as noncanonical sacred literature known as “tradition” or smṛti (lit. “remembering” past wisdom) (Whicher, 1998a, p. 22). Smṛti texts are accepted by the Vedānta tradition if they are not incongruent with śruti. Within the Mahābhārata, “The terms yoga and yogī occur about nine hundred times” according to Bryant (2009), referencing “practices that are clearly relatable to the system of yoga as taught by Patañjali” (p. xxiv). An epic poem, the Mahābhārata is Indian epistemology in narrative form.

In addition to the Vedānta tradition, another significant system predating Patañjali’s Yoga is Buddhism, which developed in Northeast India around the fifth century BCE. Buddhism and Vedānta share many essential ideas, for example, karma, rebirth, and the universal cycles of arising, existing, and vanishing. Buddhism, however, is considered a heterodox philosophical system because it broke with Brahmanic tradition and does not prescribe to the authority of the Vedas. Specifically, Buddhism questions the Vedic authority, which claims śruti, or revealed truths, are not knowable by other means and posits anātmavāda, a refutation of ātman (puruṣa) as eternal, conscious being. Although Buddhism was a revolt against historical tradition, it could be said that it owes its inspiration to the Upaniṣads, hence the critical point of view that Buddhism presents does not uproot its system completely from the Indian canon (Radhakrishnan, 1996).

Although there is significant foundational difference between heterodox and orthodox thought in India, the yoga mentioned and developed in the early Upaniṣads would have been known to Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha of the fifth century BCE and would have influenced his thought. For instance, early Buddhist scripture, the Pāli Canon, revealed Siddhartha Gautama as a devotee of meditation, while the later Sanskrit scriptures referred to him as a yogin (Whicher, 1998a). Buddhism and Yoga share similarities. For instance, both systems view external reality as a never-ending flow of interdependent, interconnected phenomena. Yet Buddhism and Yoga are markedly different in that they appear to hold opposing views on basic foundational hypotheses regarding mind and consciousness. In distinction to Yoga, in mainstream Buddhism, all reality is considered momentary; neither consciousness nor mind has eternal, essential existence. Consciousness in mainstream Buddhism is typically understood as arising with conditions: absolutism is consistently rejected. However, quite notably, a few passages of the Pāli Canon refer to consciousness as “infinite and shining everywhere” (Loy, 1997, p. 193). Although beyond the scope of the present project, it is important to note that the true intent of the Buddha’s message remains under debate in modern scholarship, exemplified by the absolutist and non-absolutist strands in Mahāyāna Buddhism (King, 1995, p. 230). It is within Mahāyāna Buddhism that infinite consciousness gains greater distinction from conditioned consciousness in the Buddhist movement. For example, the tathāgatagarbha texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism (ca. 4–5 CE) teach of “a ‘buddha-seed’ inherent within (or perhaps even identical with) all sentient beings” (King, 1995, p. 206). Although present in all at all times, Buddha-nature is obscured by the mental phenomena that limit and distort our pristine awareness. Because what is conditioned is impermanent and subject to dissolution, we cannot take refuge in it. In postulating an unconditioned, unchanging, and eternal reality, the dharmakāya, the tathāgatagarbha texts bring absolutism into Buddhism (King, 1995) and therefore into alignment with the absolutism of Vedāntic tradition. Because the Yoga Sūtra at times uses terminology very similar to that of Mahāyāna Buddhism, this could indicate important connections between the two systems (Whicher, 1998a).

Arising a few centuries after Buddhism, around the beginning of the current era, there were six Brahmanical systems of thought written in sūtra style: Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Sāṃkhyan, Yoga, Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, and Vedānta. As opposed to the prose and poetry of the early scriptures, the six Brahmanical systems use sūtras, or threads, which are extremely concise aphorisms. It was through these systems of thought that “Strenuous attempts were made to justify by reason what faith implicitly accepts” (Radhakrishnan, 1996, p. 19). Being that the Vedas “were neither definite nor detailed,” it encouraged philosophers in later ages to work with the core truths of the scriptures while fashioning new ways of looking at and accessing these truths (Radhakrishnan, 1996, p. 21). Hence, in the sūtra systems, succinct texts that appeal to reason are used to build upon, or relate to, that which had already been revealed. No one system “openly stands in violation of the accepted intuitive insights of the ancient seers,” though they may vary in how they relate to them (Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1957, p. xxvi). All of the systems are interconnected through their honoring of Indian tradition and through the common enduring desire to “solve the mystery of existence” (Radhakrishnan, 1996, p. 20). None of the systems stand independently.

Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra is considered part of the Sūtra Period of texts, and therefore developed out of the older Upaniṣadic/Buddhistic systems of thought and builds upon them. Patañjali’s opus is laid out in either 195 or 196 sūtras, depending upon the translation. The text is composed of very incisive statements on the practice and process of Yoga. Written back to back without commentary, and double spaced, they comprise about 11 pages of text. As much information as possible is packed into the smallest amount of words.²

The Yoga Sūtra is not an introductory text to the process of Yoga. As yoga scholar Dr. Taimni (1961) has noted, “these Sūtras are meant to provide in a very condensed form all the essential knowledge for the advanced student of Yoga” (p. 32). Extraordinarily succinct, sūtras were designed to aid easy memorization but not necessarily understanding. Commentaries arose in subsequent centuries to amplify the meaning of the text for readers of the current day. The first commentary to elaborate on Patañjali’s thought, and to facilitate comprehension, was written by Vyāsa in the fifth century CE. Whereas for foreign readers, understanding Patañjali’s text is dependent upon accurate translation from Sanskrit, for many readers of the text, if not all, there is dependence on the commentaries. The commentaries and text have become embedded. Bryant (2009) has explained, “It cannot be overstated that Yoga philosophy is Patañjali’s philosophy as understood and articulated by Vyāsa” (p. xl). While Vyāsa and the subsequent commentators have been relatively consistent in their rendering of Patañjali’s metaphysics, whether these metaphysics are meant to be literalized or used for pedagogical purposes can be argued (Whicher, 1998a). Christopher Key Chapple (1994) has recently proposed that the standard interpretation given by Vyāsa be reconsidered, given that later commentators, apparently without exception, rely heavily upon Vyāsa for their own interpretations of the text. In the present study, Patañjali’s text is used as much as possible without reference to any commentary. As a result, sometimes multiple...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Patañjali
• 2 Jung
• 3 Jung and Patañjali: back to back
• 4 Jung on Yoga
• 5 A synthesis of Jung and Patañjali
• 6 Conclusion
• Afterword
• Index