विपर्ययो मिथ्याज्ञानमतद्रूपप्रतिष्ठम् ॥८॥
पदविभाग: (separating individual words): विपर्ययो, मिथ्याज्ञानम्, अतद्रूपप्रतिष्ठम्
अन्वय: (Rearranging in logical prose sequence): अतद्रूपप्रतिष्ठम् मिथ्याज्ञानं विपर्ययो
प्रतिपदार्थ: (word-by-word meaning): अतद्रूपप्रतिष्ठम् = not established in its true nature (not corresponding to the actual form of the object), मिथ्याज्ञानम् = false knowledge (illusory cognition), विपर्ययः = Misconception
तात्पर्यम्: (final translation): Misconception is false knowledge that is not established in the true nature of the object.
Further context on the 8th Sutra from Patanjali’s Yogasutras
अतद्रूपप्रतिष्ठम् translates to “not the true nature of itself”. This Vritti occurs whenever an object is mistaken for something that’s not its true nature. This kind of Vritti is not just lack of knowledge, in fact an active mental projection. The mind acts like a faulty projector, overlaying an incorrect image onto reality.
How do we know what’s the true nature of something? To answer this, in IKS, philosophically, things have either intrinsic properties or incidental properties.
Intrinsic properties are the ones that can be explained by itself, for instance fire. Incidental properties are the ones that are borrowed, for instance hot potato. So the question to ask is, is there anything that has existence as an intrinsic property? There is. And it is YOU. But because of mithya (something that does not exist but appears to exist for time being with borrowed existence) we wrongly believe this body to be the be-all and end-all. Even at a psychological level, our minds tend to hallucinate. Sleep paralysis is a common instance where the mind creates imagery which is completely unreal. This ability of the mind to construct fake realities is a विपर्ययो that needs to be observed and restrained from.
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