Thus, through the purity of the mind, the Self sees itself spontaneously

The śuddhi—purity—of the mind is not the result of moral practice or meditative technique. It is the natural state when vāsanās no longer stain perception with their projections. The impure mind is not morally deficient: it is epistemologically distorted, always seeing what is desired and feared instead of what is. When this distortion ceases—not through effort but through the exhaustion of the vāsanās—the mind is śuddha like the sky after a storm. The darśana—vision—that emerges is not an act of a subject upon an object: it is svayam—spontaneous, un-fallen—just as the sun does not act in order to illuminate. The Yoga Sūtra (III.2) defines dhyāna as tatra pratyaya-eka-tānatā—a continuity of the cognitive flow toward that object—but this dhyāna is still intentional. The darśana of which Vasiṣṭha speaks comes later: when intentionality itself dissolves, what remains is not a contemplated object but contemplation itself without a contemplator. Śuddhi does not produce this: it simply allows what was always present to be revealed, just as cleaning a mirror does not create the image but lets it be seen.

The śuddhi—purity—of the mind is not the result of moral practice or meditative technique. It is the natural state when vāsanās no longer stain perception with their projections. The impure mind is not morally deficient: it is epistemologically distorted, always seeing what is desired and feared instead of what is. When this distortion ceases—not through effort but through the exhaustion of the vāsanās—the mind is śuddha, like the sky after a storm. The darśana—vision—that emerges is not an act of a subject upon an object: it is svayam—spontaneous, un-fallen—just as the sun does not act to illuminate. The Yoga Sūtra (III.2) defines dhyāna as tatra pratyaya-eka-tānatā—a continuous flow of cognition toward that object—but this dhyāna is still intentional. The darśana of which Vasiṣṭha speaks comes later: when intentionality itself dissolves, what remains is not a contemplated object but contemplation itself without a contemplator. Śuddhi does not produce this; it simply allows what was always present to be revealed, just as cleaning a mirror does not create the reflection but lets it be seen.