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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 4 - Illumination
20. Neither can it know two objects simultaneously, itself and that which is external to itself. None of the sheaths through which the soul functions has self-knowledge; they are only the channels through which knowledge is gained and [414] life experience undergone. The mind does not know itself, for that would predicate self-consciousness, and therefore not having individual consciousness it is unable to say "this is I, myself, and this is external to me, and consequently the not-self." It is simply another sense whereby information is gained and a further field of knowledge revealed. It is naught but an instrument, as said before, capable of a dual function, registering contacts from one of two directions and transmitting that knowledge to the brain from the soul or to the soul from the lower man. This must be meditated upon and the whole trend of one's endeavor be to bring that instrument into such a condition that it can be used to the best possible advantage. This is what the three last means of yoga seek to do. As this has been covered earlier it is needless to enlarge upon this here.
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