Argumentation means - a discussion in which reasons are advanced for and against some proposition or some proposal.
Generally, any significant task begins with a thought. That thought, when looked at structurally, is directly or indirectly a desire.
But, when individuals decide to see the dreams materialized, they prepare an action plan. Thus, now a desire becomes an aspiration. For an instance, an individual aspires to have a new house for himself. The moment an aspiration starts to manifest and translate into action; more often than not, some sort of argumentation is projected on the layer of the mind.
The argumentation here in the given example would be - to buy an apartment or to personally supervise a construction of the house or to buy a readymade villa.
The argumentation leads to a state of incertitude and it entails- doubts, queries, application of logic, following the gut feeling, consulting adept people for guidance, so on and so forth. The first step, which encompasses all the above procedures, is called the stage of argumentation or vitarka.
The argumentation would seize in totality when one decides to zero in on one aspect of the thought in relation to buying a house. In this case, let us assume that an individual decided to buy an apartment. The seed of argumentation here was - deciding to buy one house between the three approaches of buying a house. It is when this seed thought of argumentation is completely terminated, that a state of symphonic integrity in the mind is achieved. In simple terms, it is the fulfilment of achieving small scale perfection. When this harmony permeates into the greater depths of the existence of an individual, it becomes meditation. This journey from argumentation to no argumentation is an applaudable accomplishment and meagrely a humble beginning.
Here to contextualize and define a ‘non-performer’ as per Patañjali’s performance theory is – ‘performers who keep their desires dormant without translating them to aspiration’.
The Stage of Musing:
Musing means – “a calm, lengthy, intent consideration” or “to think deeply about a subject or question over a period of time”
Next phase of the performance is the dawn of musing, which is but an extension of the dusk of argumentation.
If an individual by chance harks back to the earlier stage of argumentation, it makes him unanimously disqualified to enter the stage of musing.
Firmly believing that one has sailed to the stage of musing, let us now consider that the individual has zeroed in on buying an apartment. As a result, the individual directs his energy enthusiastically and participates in a full-fledged manner musing over - which apartment should be bought? Where should that be located? How should that be? When should it be bought? Etc.
Here, one can observe the process of musing or vicāra. The individual is here musing over an apartment. Musing is a stage where one thought is considered for lengthy period without an ounce of distraction. Such musing is regarded good and productive.
Eventually, in vicāra, like before, the seed thought has to be eliminated entirely. Here the seed thought was ‘which, where, when and how to buy an apartment’? The seed thought lingers only if there is even a tinge of musing left over. The seed thought has now been eliminated by obtaining the desired object.
The experience of surpassing the stage of musing in entirety is achieved by annihilating the seed of vicāra. This has to now percolate deep into the greater depths of the individual’s existence, which Patañjali considers to be a form of meditation.
Here, contextually, one can define ‘under-performance’, as - ‘performers who contemplate on working out on their desires, but, would go about it in a disorganized manner and adopt disordered methodology and thereby fail to achieve even when they have the ability to complete the task’.
The Stage of experiencing Happiness:
The sense of happiness or ānanda here is only but a consequence that has followed the previous phenomenon called owning a house.
If owning of a house doesn’t fetch the individual happiness, it denotes sense of incompletion in the levels prior to this. The incompletion may even be traced back to the level of argumentation too. If the individual’s demands weren’t met or if the individual compromised for something lower than what he aspired, unhappiness enveloping him is an inevitable result. Incompletion coupled with incorrect execution of argumentation and musing, has resulted in pain.
Contrastively, if all worked as per the proposed plan and if an individual even got better than what he aspired, indispensably happiness engulfs him.
Tertiary procedure generates in one, the state or fact of being an owner of the task. It can be termed as ‘Sense of ownership’. Only an owner can appreciate completion of a performance at each plane. The above mentioned methodology paves way for one to experience happiness.
Performance is heightened in its value, only when it transforms the individual into a sublime being. True performance revolves around the nucleus called ‘sense of ownership’.
Similar to the ways of previous procedures, the seed thought called sense of happiness has to be now altogether extinguished. This extinction or transcending happiness is called trance or samādhi. In trance or samādhi, absorption of the wholesomeness has to penetrate into the fathomable depths of the being. Here one should not confuse the idea of extinguishing the seed of happiness with accumulating unhappiness or pain. This theme conveys transcending the sense of happiness for a higher purpose, which becomes clear by the explanation of the last stage of performance.
