पातञ्जल योगसूत्र (स्वामी विवेकानन्द भाष्य एवं सूत्र व्याख्या)

Patanjali Yoga Sutras
this argument is without much value, but the most curious part
of it is that, in Western Countries, the idea that this clinging to
life indicates a possibility of a future life applies only to men,
but does not include animals. In India this clinging to life has
been one of the arguments to prove past experience and
existence. For instance, if it be true that all our knowledge has
come from experience, then it is sure that that which we never
experienced we cannot imagine, or understand. As soon as
chickens are hatched they begin to pick up food. Many times
it has been seen where ducks have been hatched by hens, that,
as soon as they come out of the eggs, they flew to water, and
the mother thought they would be drowned. If experience be
the only source of knowledge, where did these chickens learn
to pick up food, or the ducklings that the water was their
natural element? If you say it is instinct, it means nothing—it
is simply giving it a word, but is no explanation. What is this
instinct? We have many instincts in ourselves. For instance,
most of you ladies play the piano, and remember, when you
first learned, how carefully you had to put your fingers on the
black and the white keys, one after the other, but now, after
long years of practice, you can talk with your friends, and
your hand goes on just the same. It has become instinct, it
becomes automatic, but so far as we know, all the cases which
we now regard as automatic are degenerated reason. In the
language of the Yogi, instinct is involved reason.
Discrimination becomes involved, and gets to be automatic
Samskaras. Therefore it is perfectly logical to think that all
we call instinct in this world is simply involved reason. As
reason cannot come without experience, all instinct is,
therefore, the result of past experience. Chickens fear the
hawk, and ducklings love the water, and these are both the
60