Yoga dictionary. Viparea
Everything is conditioned by the perception of the one who experiences this or that event. The perception of reality is influenced by the so – called “Vritti”-fluctuations of the mind, about which Patanjali writes in the yoga sutras. There are five types of Vritti. This is what Patanjali writes in the Sutra of the sixth Chapter of the first: right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fantasy, dream and memories. One type of Vritti – Viparyaya is false knowledge.
In Sanskrit “viparyaya” means “false knowledge”or” wrong knowledge”. The concept of “Viparyaya” Patanjali reveals in the Sutra of the eighth Chapter of the first. A. Bailey’s translation of the Sutra reads as follows:”Wrong knowledge is based on the perception of form, and not on the state of being.” That is, with this perception, the person behind the form does not see the essence. This false perception occurs because of the superimposition of mind projections formed by previous experience. The Krishnamacharya version of The translation reveals this concept more broadly:”a False understanding is one that is perceived as correct until favorable conditions reveal the true nature of the object.” This version of the translation gives a more complete understanding of what Viparyaya is.
False perception is a distortion based on misinterpreted information that comes from the senses. Unlike Vikalpa fantasy that has no real object, but is a combination of often disparate experiences of the past, Viparita is based on the perception of a real object, but the perception is a distorted projection of the mind. You can give an example of a dark room with a rope on the floor. A person, seeing a rope on the floor in the dimness of the room, can take it for a snake, because in poor light, the silhouette of the rope and the snake are similar to each other. This is a vivid example of such a phenomenon as Viparyaya. And as Krishnamacharya remarked in his version of the translation,” … until favorable conditions reveal the true nature of the object.” Let’s go back to the example of a dark room: if you turn on the light in this room, the wrong perception will immediately disappear – a person will see that there is not a snake on the floor, but just a rope.
For some reason, happens Viparea? Why does a rope feel like a snake in the dimness of a room? The silhouettes of both objects are similar, and a person might well assume that the rope is a rope. Due to the lack or distortion of information received in this case from the senses, a person has two options for the perception of the object. But the mind chooses to perceive the object as a snake. This is due to the Samskaras-karmic imprints, which are the storehouse of karma and past experience.
It is possible that in this life a person was once frightened by a snake or, for example, in one of the past lives died from a snake bite. The second is also no less likely. In the process of death, some of the deepest impressions in the mind are formed, which will be manifested in the future birth. And, perhaps, for this reason arose in this case Viparyaya-perception of strings as of the snake.
In the translation of this Sutra, Falkov’s version States: “Delusion arises as a result of false conclusions that do not correlate with reality.” This version of translation just does indicate that the cause of Viparyaya is the wrong work of the mind, or rather, a distorted interpretation of certain events and phenomena. Another striking example of Viparyaya is mental disorders. This is the most severe case of Viparyaya, when the mind of a person greatly distorts reality, and most often there is a strong belief in the correctness of his perception. No arguments that seem to be quite logical and indicate that a person is mistaken, do not work. More precisely, they do not even come to the consideration of man.
The influence of Samskaras on the mind of a person in this case is so powerful, and karmic imprints are so deep that a person can not see his obvious mistakes. The most severe form Vepriai in the form of a mental illness are delusional disorders persecuting character. Man is firmly convinced that certain persons or beings are pursuing him with the aim of causing harm, and there is no way to convince a person of this. This is one of the severe cases of Viparyaya, which most often persists throughout the incarnation of a person, and may even manifest itself in future incarnations.
However, in most cases Viparyaya are only temporary delusions of a person, which are based on a wrong perception of reality due to lack of some information or distortions of the mind. We must distinguish between Vipera and Avidly. Avidya is basic ignorance about the world order, self, And so on. For example, disbelief in the law of karma, reincarnation and so on is Avidya. Such misconceptions tend to be very difficult to correct from the outside. Moreover, even if one has learned of the immortality of the soul and believes it, the Avidya of the Ego can be preserved if one does not make an effort to realize one’s true Self. The same cannot be said about Viparyaya, which can disappear by itself when a person has enough information about an object or phenomenon.
