If one mind were perceived by another, there would be infinite regress of cognitions and confusion of memories.

Patañjali anticipates and refutes an objection. Someone might propose that one mind is known by another mind, and that by another, forming a chain of mental knowers.

Atiprasaṅga is the technical term for infinite regress, a logical fallacy. If each mind needs another mind to know it, we would never reach a final knower. The chain would be endless.

Moreover, there would be smṛti saṅkara, confusion of memories. If different minds know different things, who unifies experience? Who remembers what?

The solution is recognizing a knower that is not mind: puruṣa, pure consciousness that knows without being known by something else, that is self-luminous and terminates the regress.

This argument is similar to the “regress to infinity” used in other philosophical traditions. It demonstrates the logical necessity of a foundation of consciousness that is neither material nor mental.