Garbhe cittavikāso'viśiṣṭavidyāsvapnaḥ गर्भे चित्तविकासोऽविशिष्टविद्यास्वप्नः (sūtra II.4)

garbhaḥ - foundational ignorance. The cause of this ignorance is māyā or illusion; citta –mind; vikāsa – satisfaction; aviśiṣṭa - viśiṣṭa means excellent and by prefixing a, the meaning of viśiṣṭa is negated. Therefore aviśiṣṭa means inferior; vidyā – knowledge; svapnaḥ - dream.

An afflicted mind influenced by dualism is the cause for inferior knowledge which is referred as foundational ignorance. Knowledge is of two kinds and both unfold in the arena of mind as any experience can happen only in the mind. Therefore mind is considered as the cardinal factor in spiritual progression. One is the spiritual mind and another is the mundane mind. The essential factor that distinguishes the two is non-dualism. A person with an ordinary mind will look for the Lord either outside his body or beyond his consciousness and he continues to be associated with gross forms of Lord. Lord is extremely subtle in nature and beyond human perception. Such persons are religious but not spiritual. Being religious does not lead to liberation. At the most, it can lay a foundation for spiritualism. The Lord can only be realised and cannot be seen with a gross form. That is why, Lord is always referred as Self and self only refers to gross human form. A mind afflicted with illusion leads to dualism, which shows Lord as a different entity. The knowledge about self (gross human form) is said to be ignorant and compared to a dream. Such men make abortive attempts to see the Lord instead of visualizing Him.

This aphorism says that such attempt to perceive Him is like the state of dream. The dream is forgotten once one’s consciousness moves to lower level viz. awakening stage. The dream state is only temporary and nothing is achieved out of dream state. Dreams are nothing but the unfoldment of impressions in the mind or due unfulfilled desires called fantasies. Just like dreams lack reality, an ignorant mind also lacks in reality. Such minds are said to be inferior. Men with inferior mind simply waste their time by postponing eternal liberation.

Sage Patañjali says (III.36) “All enjoyment or experience is due false identification of the mind and the soul or Self, which are completely unmixed. Mind is for the sake of Self and not independent. Oneness with the Self gives knowledge.”

Even during spiritual progression one may come across certain siddhi-s (super human powers) that are to be ignored to realise the Ultimate Reality. If one gets associated with such self destructive powers, he is also said to be ignorant, even though he pursues the path of spirituality. This indirectly implies that merely following spiritual path is not enough, but one also needs to have will power and determination to realise the Lord. He cannot afford to nurture a second thought, the primary or sole thought process being his union with the Lord Himself. Lord is already united with him as He is inseparable from him and only thing that is required is to first understand and later realise this Reality.