This draws attention to that important characteristic of citta, that it sometimes tends towards good (i.e. liberation) and sometimes towards bad (sa@msara).  It is like a river, as the Vyasabha@sya says, which flows both ways, towards sin and towards the good.  The teleology of prak@rti requires that it should produce in man the sa@msara as well as the liberation tendency.

Thus in accordance with it in the midst of many bad thoughts and bad habits there come good moral will and good thoughts, and in the midst of good thoughts and habits come also bad thoughts and vicious tendencies.  The will to be good is therefore never lost in man, as it is an innate tendency in him which is as strong as his desire to enjoy pleasures.  This point is rather remarkable, for it gives us the key of Yoga ethics and shows that our desire of liberation is not actuated by any hedonistic attraction for happiness or even removal of pain, but by an innate tendency of the mind to follow the path of liberation [Footnote ref 1].  Removal of pains

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[Footnote 1:  Sa@mkhya however makes the absolute and complete destruction of three kinds of sorrows, adhyatmika (generated internally by the illness of the body or the unsatisfied passions of the mind), adhibhautika (generated externally by the injuries inflicted by other men, beasts, etc.) and adhidaivika (generated by the injuries inflicted by demons and ghosts) the object of all our endeavours (puru@sartha).]

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is of course the concomitant effect of following such a course, but still the motive to follow this path is a natural and irresistible tendency of the mind.  Man has power (s’akti) stored up in his citta, and he has to use it in such a way that this tendency may gradually grow stronger and stronger and ultimately uproot the other.  He must succeed in this, since prak@rti wants liberation for her final realization [Footnote ref 1].

Yoga Purificatory Practices (Parikarma).

The purpose of Yoga meditation is to steady the mind on the gradually advancing stages of thoughts towards liberation, so that vicious tendencies may gradually be more and more weakened and at last disappear altogether.  But before the mind can be fit for this lofty meditation, it is necessary that it should be purged of ordinary impurities.  Thus the intending yogin should practise absolute non-injury to all living beings (ahi@msa), absolute and strict truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya), absolute sexual restraint (brahmacarya) and the acceptance of nothing but that which is absolutely necessary (aparigraha).  These are collectively called yama.  Again side by side with these abstinences one must also practise external cleanliness by ablutions and inner cleanliness of the mind, contentment of mind, the habit of bearing all privations of heat