PB July 2013 Svarajya Siddhih: Attaining Self-dominion Gangadharendra Saraswati Translated from Sanskrit and annotated by Swami Narasimhananda (Continued from the previous issue ) veeÛewlevÙeeleØeOeeveb ØeYeJeefle Ûeefuelegb leefVemeie&efkeÇâÙeb Ûesled efvelÙeb meie&Øeme"es efveÙeeflejefhe Ùele: meie&hetJee& ve hetJe&ced ~ yevOees efvenxlegkeâ: mÙeelkeâLeceLe ve YeJesôvOecees#eeJÙeJemLee efve:meewKÙeb veeefhe cees#eb mhe=nÙeefle ceefleceevkeâeefheueb lesve og<šced ~~ 17 ~~ The pradhāna is incapable of creating (this uni- verse) because it is not conscious. If prakṛti is (held to be) by nature active, then the process of creation will go on forever (and there will be no dissolution). If the adṛṣṭa (the invisible effect of actions) is (held to be) the cause of the uni- verse, (that too cannot be) because it is not pres- ent before creation. (The puruṣa) is free from bondage and it cannot be the cause and how will not there be the absence of liberation? No intelligent person likes such liberation devoid of bliss. (Thus) the stand of Kapila is flawed (and hence cannot be accepted). Here the Sankhya school of Kapila is being quashed. Before entering into the argument for setting aside the con- clusions of this school, it will be helpful to go through the basic concepts of puruṣa, prakṛti, and the three guṇas. The Soul of Sankhya Sankhya philosophy is dualistic and posits two principles: prakṛti and puruṣa. Puruṣas can be loosely called souls and are many. They do not have any parts and qualities. They may oc- cupy a big or a small body, but remain the same themselves. The body they occupy does not change their size, they do not expand or con- tract. They are all-pervasive. Though they oc- cupy a body, they are not limited or contained by it. The experiences of this soul with respect to a body are stored in the mind. Any men- tal activity taking place in this mind is due to the relation of the body and the soul, puruṣa, and is its experience. Had there not been many puruṣas, when one took birth, all would have been born, and when one died, all would have died. This does not happen, and so it is only logical that there should be many puruṣas. It is very difficult to understand the nature of puruṣa, but this should be understood prop- erly to attain the goal envisaged by Sankhya philosophy. Puruṣa does not have any qualities. It is of the nature of pure and absolute Con- sciousness, cit. However, it is not of the nature of pure intelligence and bliss. Bliss is just a kind of pleasure in Sankhya and a quality of prakṛti, not of puruṣa. Puruṣas are many and each one of them is real. According to Sankhya, the knowledge we obtain of things are images or pictures in our mind. The object of knowledge, which is ex- ternal, is a material thing. This knowledge produces an impression on the mind. This im- pression is also material because it is limited in its nature, just like the object of which it is an impression. The knowledge or the information PB July 2013446 Prabuddha Bharata44 received through sense-perception is the like- ness of the respective object, just like a painting or a photograph. The external object is mat- ter and its knowledge is also matter. However, there is a difference in the degree of its gross- ness. While the external object is gross matter, its likeness produced in the mind out of sense- perception of this object is subtle matter. The images of the external objects appear conscious to us in the mind. They appear so because they are in contact with a principle of Conscious- ness, which is connected to the entire mind always and causes the experience of the per- son. However, we are generally unaware of this conscious principle that is behind every act of sense-perception and gives the semblance of Consciousness to all our experiences and their impressions stored in our mind. This conscious principle, often called the 'self ' is beyond our grasp. It cannot be found through the impres- sions in the mind, because it is distinct and separate from these impressions. It is a tran- scendent principle and its real nature is behind and beyond the subtle matter of knowledge. All our perceptions are different constructs of the subtle substance that the mind is made up of. What happens in the process of knowledge can be compared to a film projected from the projector-room, which is dark. Individually, one by one, a frame of the film is projected and put in front of light that illuminates it. In rapid succession this gives the semblance of a motion picture and we see objects and persons moving on the screen. They are being generated from stationary films, which are in darkness, moved in front of a light source. The puruṣa is like the light source, without which we cannot get any knowledge. All motion and appearances are qualities of matter, and so is their knowledge. How do we perceive them as moving and con- scious? There is a principle separated from these material objects that gives them the semblance of life. This principle is conscious and is so inter- twined with matter that it cannot be distinctly perceived. However, we can infer its presence in all our sense-perceptions. This principle of Consciousness does not move, has no form or quality, and is pure. The movement of the ex- ternal objects or their mental impressions takes place with this principle of Consciousness in the background, and all these objects and the impressions get illuminated. Now, every know- ledge or sense-perception can be divided, so to say, into two parts: the part that gives us the idea of something being conscious and the part of the content of the knowledge or the object of the knowledge. So, when we perceive an object, we come to know of the content of the object and also of its life-like consciousness, either exter- nally or internally, in our mind. The content is the material aspect of the object, and the life-like consciousness is the light of the puruṣa coming through the object. So, whenever there is a per- ception of an object, we perceive our self. The difficulty is that we are unable to differentiate or separate this part of consciousness and under- stand its source, the puruṣa. Just because the 'self ' is beyond our grasp, it does not mean that it is not real. It is very much real, but it is also transcendent, and that is why is beyond our reach. The objects we perceive are by themselves, diverse, incoherent, and unintel- ligent. The principle of Consciousness binds all our perceptions and gives them a unity. So, all the knowledge we acquire is bound and unified in the mind and thus become the coherent, sys- tematic, and seemingly intelligent experience of a person. This coherence and semblance of intel- ligence is brought about by the contact with the principle of Consciousness, the puruṣa. In other words, all our sense-perceptions do not make 'sense' without the principle of Consciousness 447PB July 2013 45Svarajya Siddhih: Attaining Self-dominion in the background. This principle gives sense to all our perception and their sum total becomes experience. According to Sankhya, every individ- ual has a puruṣa distinct and separate from that of the other individual. This puruṣa is of the na- ture of pure intelligence. The Triad of Subtle Entities There are three types of ultimate subtle entities in Sankhya, and this triad is called guṇas. Gen- erally, the Sanskrit word guṇa means 'quality'. However, here it has a different meaning. Guṇas are substances and not qualities. In Sankhya there is nothing such as a separate quality, and every quality is actually a substance. A subtle substance appears in a particular way, and this appearance is what we generally call quality. So, contrary to the general understanding, things or substances do not possess qualities, but qual- ities are different reactions of the substance. Whenever we perceive a quality, we actually perceive a particular reaction of a subtle sub- stance. As we saw earlier, the external objects of perception and their impressions on the mind are in essence matter and have many similar- ities. In the case of qualities too they are simi- lar. So, a quality stored in the mind, or a mental quality, is nothing but a particular reaction of an object stored in the mind. In Sankhya these subtle entities are called guṇas because they undergo various modifications and appear as qualities. The Sanskrit word guṇa also means 'rope'. Sankhya's guṇas can also be called ropes be- cause they are twines that bind the puruṣa to objects and their mental impressions. The other meaning of the word guṇa is 'a thing of second- ary importance'. This meaning also holds good for Sankhya's guṇas because they are constantly modified and changed by various permutations and combinations and are not primary and constant beyond modification like the puruṣa. Also, the guṇas are subtle substances that are matter and are definitely secondary to the con- scious puruṣa. However, guṇas are permanent and cannot be destroyed. They are substantive entities or subtle substances and not abstract qualities. They are infinite but are broadly clas- sified into three types, based upon their three main characteristics: sattva, rajas, and tamas. Sattva means 'real' or that which exists and is behind the process of manifestation of ob- jects through Consciousness. It is goodness and causes pleasure. It has the characteristics of luminosity, lightness, buoyancy, and is illu- minating. Its colour is white. The luminosity of light, the reflective power, any upward move- ment, pleasure, happiness, contentment, and bliss are caused by sattva. Generally, sattva is considered to be the guṇa of intelligence. Rajas is characterized by activity and is the principle of motion. Its literal meaning is 'foulness'; rajas produces pain. It results in restless activity, fe- verish effort, and wild stimulation. Its colour is red. It is considered to be the guṇa of energy. Tamas literally means 'darkness' and is the prin- ciple of inertia. It causes apathy and indiffer- ence. It results in ignorance, sloth, confusion, bewilderment, passivity, and negativity. It is heavy and enveloping and in these respects is the exact opposite of sattva. It is opposite to rajas in that it stops activity. Its colour is black. It is considered to be the guṇa of obstruction, mass, or matter. These three guṇas are constituents of prakṛti and are never separate but together in different proportions. Different substances show differ- ent qualities because of different proportions of these guṇas in them. These guṇas have ef- fects among themselves, and thus their propor- tions keep on changing thereby producing new qualities and substances. There is continuous PB July 2013448 Prabuddha Bharata46 compounding of these guṇas. They are both in conflict and in cooperation and always are intermingled. They are like the oil, the wick, and the flame of lamp, all of which are necessary to produce the light of lamp, yet all of which dif- fer in their characteristics. The guṇas cannot be perceived directly and can only be inferred from their effects. Every object or thing has all of these three guṇas, and the differences in ob- jects are caused due to the different proportions of these guṇas. The nature of an object is deter- mined by the predominant guṇa. There is a state when all these three guṇas are not compounded, and each of the guṇas are opposed by each of the other guṇas, creating thus a state of equilib- rium where none of the characteristics of these guṇas are manifested. This state is completely devoid of any characteristics and so is incoher- ent, indeterminate, and indefinite. It is a homo- geneous state without any quality. This state of being appears as though it were non-being. This state is called prakṛti. This state cannot be said to exist or to not exist. There is apparently no purpose of this state and it is the starting point of the creation of all things. This is the initial point of time or stage. It is only when this stage is disturbed that all modifications of objects take place. The State of Equilibrium According to Sankhya, creation starts from a state of complete equilibrium of the three guṇas, the state of prakṛti. In this state the guṇas had disintegrated into a state of dissolution and became disjointed, producing equilibrium by mutual opposition. The first disturbance that arose in this state of equilibrium caused cre- ation. This disturbance caused the disturbance of the separation of the guṇas, which once again started compounding among themselves thus producing variety among substances. Thus the universe that had become indeterminate, be- came more and more evolved and determinate. The guṇas are continuously separating and reu- niting. This series of evolution, beginning from the first disturbance of prakṛti to the creation of the order in the universe, is governed by a law that cannot be violated. This evolution com- prises the development of the differentiated within the undifferentiated, of the determin- ate within the indeterminate, of the coherent within the incoherent. This evolution is not from the part to the whole; it is not also from the whole to the part. It is from a less differen- tiated, less determinate, less coherent whole to a more differentiated, more determinate, more coherent whole. So, all the changes in terms of the different combinations of the guṇas ac- tually take place within prakṛti. The whole of prakṛti does not get disturbed. The totality of the guṇas does not leave the state of equilib- rium. Evolution only means that a large portion of guṇas have become disturbed. Evolution takes place upon the coming to- gether of puruṣa and prakṛti. Prakṛti is continu- ously changing, even in the state of dissolution. In the state of dissolution the change is homoge- nous. Heterogeneous change brings disturbance in the state of equilibrium and causes evolution. Evolution is cyclic and is followed by dissol- ution. Evolution serves the purpose of puruṣa. It gives objects of enjoyment to the puruṣa and also helps in its liberation by discernment between puruṣa and prakṛti. These are the basic concepts of Sankhya phil- osophy propounded by Kapila. Here, it is held that prakṛti is the equilibrium of the three guṇas and falling from this equilibrium state, modifi- cations like mahat, cosmic mind, are brought about. This is not possible. Why? Because prakṛti is matter and not conscious. (To be continued)