To: K-list
Recieved: 1999/01/12 15:48
Subject: Re: [K-list]Siddha, Kriya and Kundalini Yogas
From: Raymond J Wand
On 1999/01/12 15:48, Raymond J Wand posted thus to the K-list:
The "Samkhya-karikas."
Relation to orthodoxy.
Ishvarakrsna's Samkhya-karika (or "Verses on Samkhya," c. 2nd century AD) is
the oldest available Samkhya work. Ishvarakrsna describes himself as laying
down the essential teachings of Kapila as taught to Asuri and by Asuri to
Pañcashikha. He refers also to Sastitantra ("Doctrine of 60 Conceptions"),
the main doctrines of which he claims to have expounded in the karikas. The
Samkhya of Caraka, which is substantially the same as is attributed to
Pañcashikha in the Mahabharata, is theistic and regards the unmanifested
(avyakta) as being the same as the purusa (the self). The Mahabharata refers
to three kinds of Samkhya doctrines: those that accept 24, 25, or 26
principles, the last of which are theistic. The later Samkhya-sutra is more
sympathetic toward theism, but the karikas are atheistic, and the
traditional expositions of the Samkhya are based on this work.
The nature of the self (purusa).
According to the karikas, there are many selves, each being of the nature of
pure consciousness. The self is neither the original matter (prakrti) nor an
evolute of it. Though matter is composed of the three gunas (qualities), the
self is not; though matter, being nonintelligent, cannot discriminate, the
self is discriminating; though matter is object (visaya), the self is not;
though matter is common, the self is an individual (asamanya); unlike
matter, the self is not creative (aprasavadharmin). The existence of selves
is proved on the ground that nature exhibits an ordered arrangement the like
of which is known to be meant for another (pararthatva). This other must be
a conscious spirit. That there are many such selves is proved on the grounds
that different persons are born and die at different times, that they do not
always act simultaneously, and that they show different qualities,
aptitudes, and propensities. All selves are, however, passive witnesses
(saksin), essentially alone (kevala), neutral (madhyastha), and not agents
(akarta). (see also Index: purusha)
The nature, origin, and structure of the world (prakrti).
Phenomenal nature, with its distinctions of things and persons (taken as
psychophysical organisms), is regarded as an evolution out of a primitive
state of matter. This conception is based on a theory of causality known as
the satkaryavada, according to which an effect is implicitly pre-existent in
its cause prior to its production. This latter doctrine is established on
the ground that if the effect were not already existent in its cause, then
something would have to come out of nothing. The original prakrti (primeval
stuff) is the primary matrix out of which all differentiations arose and
within which they all were contained in an undistinguished manner. Original
Matter is uncaused, eternal, all-pervading, one, independent, self-complete,
and has no distinguishable parts; the things that emerge out of this
primitive matrix are, on the other hand, caused, noneternal, limited, many,
dependent, wholes composed of parts, and manifested. But Matter, whether in
its original unmanifested state or in its manifested forms, is composed of
three gunas, nondiscriminating (avivekin), object (visaya), general,
nonconscious, and yet creative.
The order in which Matter evolves is laid down as follows: prakrti mahat or
buddhi (Intelligence) ahamkara (ego-sense) manas (mind) five tanmatras (the
sense data: colour, sound, smell, touch, and taste) five sense organs five
organs of action (tongue, hands, feet, organs of evacuation and of
reproduction) five gross elements (ether, air, light, water, and earth).
This emanation schema may be understood either as an account of cosmic
evolution or as a logical-transcendental analysis of the various factors
involved in experience or as an analysis of the concrete human personality.
The concept of the three qualities (gunas).
A striking feature of this account is the conception of guna: nature is said
to consist of three gunas--originally in a state of equilibrium and
subsequently in varying states of mutual preponderance. The karikas do not
say much about whether the gunas are to be regarded as qualities or as
component elements. Of the three, harmony or tension (sattva) is light
(laghu), is pleasing, and is capable of manifesting others. Activity (rajas)
is dynamic, exciting, and capable of hurting. Inertia (tamas) is
characterized by heaviness, conceals, is static, and causes sadness. Man's
varying psychological responses are thus hypostatized and made into
component properties or elements of nature--an argument whose fallacy was
exposed, among others, by Shankara.
Epistemology.
The Samkhya-karika delineates three ways of knowing (pramana): perception,
inference, and verbal testimony. Perception is defined as the application of
the sense organs to their respective objects (prativisayadhyavasaya).
Inference, which is not defined, is divided first into three kinds, and then
into two. According to the former classification, an inference is called
purvavat if it is based on past experience (such as when one, on seeing a
dark cloud, infers that it will rain); it is called shesavat when from the
presence of a certain property in one part of a thing the presence of the
same property is inferred in the rest (such as when, on finding a drop of
sea water to be saline, one infers the rest to be so); it is called
samanyato-drsta when it is used to infer what is not perceivable (such as
when one infers the movement of a star on seeing it occupy two different
positions in the firmament at different times). According to the other
classification, an inference may be either from the mark to that of which it
is the mark or in the reverse direction. Verbal testimony, in order to be
valid, must be the word of one who has authoritative knowledge.
There is, in addition to the three ways of knowing, consideration of the
modes of functioning of the sense organs. The outer senses apprehend only
the present objects, the inner senses (manas, antahkarana, and buddhi) have
the ability to apprehend all objects--past, present, and future. The sense
organs, on apprehending their objects, are said to offer them to buddhi, or
intelligence, which both makes judgments and enjoys the objects of the
senses. Buddhi is also credited with the ability to perceive the distinction
between the self and the natural components of the person.
Ethics.
In its ethics, the karikas manifest an intellectualism that is
characteristic of the Samkhya system. Suffering is due to ignorance of the
true nature of the self, and freedom, the highest good, can be reached
through knowledge of the distinction between the self and nature. In this
state of freedom, the self becomes indifferent to nature; it ceases to be an
agent and an enjoyer. It becomes what it in fact is, a pure witness
consciousness.
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