emselves with the
puru@sas to which they were attached before the pralaya. Thus
proceeds the course of sa@msara. When the avidya of a person
is rooted out by the rise of true knowledge, the buddhi fails to
attach itself to the puru@sa and is forever dissociated from it, and
this is the state of mukti.

The Cognitive Process and some characteristics of Citta.

It has been said that buddhi and the internal objects have
evolved in order to giving scope to the experience of the puru@sa.
What is the process of this experience? Sa@mkhya (as explained
by Vacaspati) holds that through the senses the buddhi comes
into touch with external objects. At the first moment of this
touch there is an indeterminate consciousness in which the particulars
of the thing cannot be noticed. This is called _nirvikalpa
pratyak@sa_ (indeterminate perception). At the next moment by
the function of the _sa@mkalpa_ (synthesis) and _vikalpa_ (abstraction
or imagination) of manas (mind-organ) the thing is perceived in
all its determinate character; the manas differentiates, integrates,
and associates the sense-data received through the senses, and

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thus generates the determinate perception, which when intelligized
by the puru@sa and associated with it becomes interpreted as the
experience of the person. The action of the senses, ahamkara,
and buddhi, may take place sometimes successively and at other
times as in cases of sudden fear simultaneously. Vijnana Bhik@su
differs from this view of Vacaspati, and denies the synthetic
activity of the mind-organ (manas), and says that the buddhi
directly comes into touch with the objects through the senses.
At the first moment of touch the perception is indeterminate,
but at the second moment it becomes clear and determinate [Footnote ref 1].
It is evident that on this view the importance of manas is reduced
to a minimum and it is regarded as being only the faculty of desire,
doubt and imagination.

Buddhi, including ahamkara and the senses, often called _citta_
in Yoga, is always incessantly suffering changes like the flame
of a lamp, it is made up of a large preponderance of the pure
sattva substances, and is constantly moulding itself from one content
to another. These images by the dual reflection of buddhi
and puru@sa are constantly becoming conscious, and are being
interpreted as the experiences of a person. The existence of the
puru@sa is to be postulated for explaining the illumination of