Patanjali Yoga Sutras

This is again Sankhya philosophy. We have seen from this
philosophy that from the lowest form up to intelligence all is
nature, but beyond nature are Purusas (souls), and these have
no qualities. Then how does the soul appear to be happy or
unhappy? By reflection. Just as if be piece of pure crystal be
put on a table and a red flower be put near it, the crystal
appears to be red, so all these appearances of happiness or
unhappiness are but reflections; the soul itself has no sort of
colouring. The soul is separate from nature; nature is one
thing, soul another, eternally separate. The Sankhyas say that
intelligence is a compounds, that it grows and wanes, that it
changes, just as the body changes, and that its nature is nearly
the same as that of the body. As a fingernail is to the body, so
is body to intelligence. The nail is a part of the body, but it can
be pared off hundreds of times, and the body will still last.
Similarly, the intelligence lasts æons, while this body can be
pared off, thrown off. Yet intelligence cannot be immortal,
because is changes— growing and waning. Anything that
changes cannot be immortal. Certainly intelligence is
manufactured, and that very fact shows us that there must be
something beyond that, because it cannot be free. Everything
connected with matter is in nature, and therefore bound for
ever. Who is free? That free one must certainly be beyond
cause and effect. If you say that the idea of freedom is a
delusion, I will say that the idea of bondage is also a delusion.
Two facts come into our consciousness, and stand or fall by
each other. One is that we are bound. If we want to go through
a wall, and our head bumps against that wall, we are limited
by that wall. At the same time we find will, and think we can
direct our will everywhere. At every step these contradictory
ideas are coming to us. We have to believe that we are free,
77