विपर्ययो मिथ्याज्ञानमः अतद्रूपप्रतिष्ठमः ॥ ८॥
viparyayo mithyā-jñānamḥ a-tad-rūpa-pratiṣṭhamḥ
Misconception is that erroneous knowledge not based on the actual appearance of the object.
Patañjali says the most frequent activity of the mind is misconception. I like this sutra. Just when I was typing out what I had understood from the class, I got confused between inference (from the previous sutra) and misconception. Clarity is the ultimate goal of yoga, so I refer to the dictionary for precision. Its getting better now.
If one were to draw a pie chart of the activities of the mind, then this activity would be a big piece of the pie. So, this is what the mind is involved with for most of the people. Misconception is not getting the picture right. Even though the entire scene is there to see, the mind is viewing it through its own lens. The things that muck the picture could be from the conditioning and memory. The fact that there is something wrong with the picture may never be understood at all.
On an aside, I understand that viparita means accident/danger (as in viparita karani the inversions), which is not normal or incorrect. May be viparyayo is related to viparita.
viparyayo mithyā-jñānamḥ a-tad-rūpa-pratiṣṭhamḥ
viparyayo – Misconception
mithyā – false, erroneous, from root word mith ‘to conflict with’
jñāna – knowledge, from root word jna is to know
a-tad – not that
rūpa – form, appearance
pratiṣṭha – steadfast, here: based on, from pra + root word stha is to stand
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