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??????? Vitarka or Vitarkah (Sanskrit; Pali, vitakka, "positve: supposition, guess, imagination; neutral: discernment, logic, reasoning; negative: doubt, uncertainty"; Tibetan, rtog pa) in Buddhism, one of forty mind-associated sa?skara. Vitarka or savitarka describes the nature of consciousness in the first stage of samprajnata-samadhi. In Sutra 1:17 Patanjali tells us that samprajnata samadhi comprises four stages: "Complete high consciousness (samprajnata samadhi) is that which is accompanied by vitarka (reasoning), vicara (reflection), sananda (ecstasy), and sasmita (a sense of 'I'-ness or pure beingness)."
In Buddhist psychology vitarka is the initial application of the mind to its object. It is defined as the mind laying hold of the object of thought and directing attention towards it. Closely associated with vitarka, and usually following it, is vicara or ‘discursive thought’. The relationship between the two is said to be like taking hold of a bowl in one hand and scrubbing it with the other, to the striking of a bell and its resounding, or to the fixed point of a compass and the revolving point which moves around it. Both vitarka and vicara are eliminated from the mind in the early stages of transic meditation (dhyana).
According to Dr. John C. Lilly, vitarka represents, "the neutral biocomputer state, the state for the absorption and the transmission of new ideas; for the reception and transmission of new data and new programs; doing teaching and learning with maximum facilitation, neither in a positive of a negative state, neutral. On the earth."
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