Chapter VII (3)

within it the minds (_buddhi_) of all puru@sas which were lost in the prak@rti during the pralaya. The very first work of the evolution of prak@rti to serve the puru@sas is thus manifested by the separating out of the old buddhis or minds (of the puru@sas) which hold within themselves the old specific ignorance (_avidyâ_) inherent in them with reference to each puru@sa with which any particular buddhi is associated from beginningless time before the pralaya. This state of evolution consisting of all the collected minds (buddhi) or all the puru@sas is therefore called _buddhitattva._ It is a state which holds or comprehends within it the buddhis of all individuals. The individual buddhis of individual puru@sas are on one hand integrated with the buddhitattva and on the other associated with their specific puru@sas. When some buddhis once begin to be separated from the prak@rti, other buddhi evolutions take place. In other words, we are to understand that once the transformation of buddhis is effected for the service of the puru@sas, all the other direct transformations that take place from the prak@rti take the same line, i.e. a preponderance of sattva being once created by the bringing out of some buddhis, other transformations of prak@rti that follow them have also the sattva preponderance, which thus have exactly the same composition as the first buddhis. Thus the first transformation from prak@rti becomes buddhi-transformation. This stage of buddhis may thus be regarded as the most universal stage, which comprehends within it all the buddhis of individuals and potentially all the matter of which the gross world is formed. Looked at from this point of view it has the widest and most universal existence comprising all creation, and is thus called _mahat_ (the great one). It is called _li@nga_ (sign), as the other later existences or evolutes give us the ground of inferring its existence, and as such must be distinguished from the prak@rti which is called _ali@nga,_ i.e. of which no li@nga or characterise may be affirmed.

This mahat-tatva being once produced, further modifications begin to take place in three lines by three different kinds of undulations representing the sattva preponderance, rajas preponderance and tama preponderance. This state when the mahat is disturbed by the three parallel tendencies of a preponderance of tamas, rajas and sattva's called _aha@mkâra,_ and the above three tendencies are respectiviy called _tâmasika aha@mkâra_ or _bhûtâdi_, _râjasika_ or _taijasa aha@mâra,_ and _vaikârika aha@mkâra._ The râjasika aha@mkâra cannot make a new preponderance by itself; it only

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helps (_sahakâri_) the transformations of the sattva preponderance and the tamas preponderance. The development of the former preponderance, as is easy to see, is only the assumption of a more and more determinate character of the buddhi, for we remember that buddhi itself has been the resulting transformation of a sattva preponderance. Further development with the help of rajas on the line of sattva development could only take place when the buddhi as mind determined itself in specific ways. The first development of the buddhi on this line is called _sâttvika_ or _vaikârika aha@mkâra_. This aha@mkâra represents the development in buddhi to produce a consciousness-stuff as I or rather "mine," and must thus be distinguished from the first stage as buddhi the function of which is a mere understanding and general datun as thisness.

The ego or aha@mkâra (_abhimâna-dravya_) is the specific expression of the general consciousness which takes experience as mine. The function of the ego is therefore called _abhimâna_ (self-assertion). From this again come the five cognitive senses of vision, touch, smell, taste, and hearing, the five cognitive senses of speech, handling, foot-movement, the ejective sense and the generative sense; the _prâ@nas_ (bio-motor force) which help both conation and cognition are but aspects of buddhi-movement as life. The individual aha@mkâras and senses are related to the individual buddhis by the developing sattva determinations from which they had come into being. Each buddhi with its own group of aka@mkâra (ego) and sense-evolutes thus forms a microcosm separate from similar other buddhis with their associated groups. So far therefore as knowledge is subject to sense-influence and the ego, it is different for each individual, but so far as a general mind (_kâra@na buddhi_) apart from sense knowledge is concerned, there is a community of all buddhis in the buddhitattva. Even there however each buddhi is separated from other buddhis by its own peculiarly associated ignorance (_avidyâ_). The buddhi and its sattva evolutes of aha@mkâra and the senses are so related that though they are different from buddhi in their functions, they are all comprehended in the buddhi, and mark only its gradual differentiations and modes. We must again remember in this connection the doctrine of refilling, for as buddhi exhausts its part in giving rise to aha@mkâra, the deficiency of buddhi is made good by prak@rti; again as aha@mkâra partially exhausts itself in generating sense-faculties, the deficiency

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is made good by a refilling from the buddhi. Thus the change and wastage of each of the stadia are always made good and kept constant by a constant refilling from each higher state and finally from prak@rti.

The Tanmâtras and the Paramâ@nus [Footnote ref 1].

The other tendency, namely that of tamas, has to be helped by the liberated rajas of aha@mkâra, in order to make itself preponderant, and this state in which the tamas succeeds in overcoming the sattva side which was so preponderant in the buddhi, is called _bhûtâdi._ From this bhûtâdi with the help of rajas are generated the _tanmâtras,_ the immediately preceding causes of the gross elements. The bhûtâdi thus represents only the intermediate stage through which the differentiations and regroupings of tamas reals in the mahat proceed for the generation of the tanmâtras. There has been some controversy between Sâ@mkhya and Yoga as to whether the tanmâtras are generated from the mahat or from aha@mkâra. The situation becomes intelligible if we remember that evolution here does not mean coming out or emanation, but increasing differentiation in integration within the evolving whole. Thus the regroupings of tamas reals marks the differentiation which takes place within the mahat but through its stage as bhûtâdi. Bhûtâdi is absolutely homogeneous and inert, devoid of all physical and chemical characters except quantum or mass. The second stadium tanmâtra represents subtle matter, vibratory, impingent, radiant, instinct with potential energy. These "potentials" arise from the unequal aggregation of the original mass-units in different proportions and collocations with an unequal distribution of the original energy (_rajas_). The tanmâtras possess something more than quantum of mass and energy; they possess physical characters, some of them penetrability, others powers of impact or pressure, others radiant heat, others again capability of viscous and cohesive attraction [Footnote ref. 2].

In intimate relation with those physical characters they also possess the potentials of the energies represented by sound, touch, colour, taste, and smell; but, being subtle matter, they are devoid

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[Footnote 1: I have accepted in this section and in the next many of the translations of Sanskrit terms and expressions of Dr Seal and am largely indebted to him for his illuminating exposition of this subject as given in Ray's _Hindu Chemistry._ The credit of explaining Sâ@mkhya physics, in the light of the text belongs entirely to him.]

[Footnote 2: Dr Seal's _Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus_.]

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of the peculiar forms which these "potentials" assume in particles of gross matter like the atoms and their aggregates. In other words, the potentials lodged in subtle matter must undergo peculiar transformations by new groupings or collocations before they can act as sensory stimuli as gross matter, though in the minutest particles thereof the sensory stimuli may be infra-sensible (_atîndriya_ but not _anudbhûta_) [Footnote ref 1].

Of the tanmatras the _s'abda_ or _âkâs'a tanmâtra_ (the sound-potential) is first generated directly from the bhûtâdi. Next comes the _spars'a_ or the _vâyu tanmâtra_ (touch-potential) which is generated by the union of a unit of tamas from bhûtâdi with the âkâs'a tanmâtra. The _rûpa tanmâtra_ (colour-potential) is generated similarly by the accretion of a unit of tamas from bhûtâdi; the _rasa tanmâtra_ (taste-potential) or the _ap tunmâtra_ is also similarly formed. This ap tanmâtra again by its union with a unit of tamas from bhûtâdi produces the _gândha tanmâtra_ (smell-potential) or the _k@siti tanmâtra_ [Footnote ref 2]. The difference of tanmâtras or infra-atomic units and atoms (_paramâ@nu_) is this, that the tanmâtras have only the potential power of affecting our senses, which must be grouped and regrouped in a particular form to constitute a new existence as atoms before they can have the power of affecting our senses. It is important in this connection to point out that the classification of all gross objects as k@siti, ap, tejas, marut and vyoman is not based upon a chemical analysis, but from the points of view of the five senses through which knowledge of them could be brought home to us. Each of our senses can only apprehend a particular quality and thus five different ultimate substances are said to exist corresponding to the five qualities which may be grasped by the five senses. In accordance with the existence of these five elements, the existence of the five potential states or tanmâtras was also conceived to exist as the ground of the five gross forms.

The five classes of atoms are generated from the tanmâtras as follows: the sound-potential, with accretion of rudiment matter from bhûtâdi generates the âkâsa-atom. The touch-potentials combine with the vibratory particles (sound-potential) to generate the

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[Footnote 1: Dr Seal's _Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus_.]

[Footnote 2: There were various ways in which the genesis of tanmâtras and atoms were explained in literatures other than Sâ@mkhya; for some account of it see Dr Seal's _Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus_.]

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vâyu-atom. The light-and-heat potentials combine with touch-potentials and sound-potentials to produce the tejas-atom. The taste-potentials combine with light-and-heat potentials, touch-potentials and sound-potentials to generate the ap-atom and the smell-potentials combine with the preceding potentials to generate the earth-atom. The âkâs'a-atom possesses penetrability, the vâyu-atom impact or mechanical pressure, the tejas-atom radiant heat and light, the ap-atom viscous attraction and the earth-atom cohesive attraction. The âkâsa we have seen forms the transition link from the bhûtâdi to the tanmâtra and from the tanmâtra to the atomic production; it therefore deserves a special notice at this stage. Sâ@mkhya distinguishes between a kâra@na-âkâs'a and kâryâkâs'a. The kâra@na-âkâs'a (non-atomic and all-pervasive) is the formless tamas--the mass in prak@rti or bhûtâdi; it is indeed all-pervasive, and is not a mere negation, a mere unoccupiedness (_âvara@nâbhâva_) or vacuum [Footnote ref 1]. When energy is first associated with this tamas element it gives rise to the sound-potential; the atomic âkâs'a is the result of the integration of the original mass-units from bhûtâdi with this sound-potential (_s'abda tanmâtra_). Such an âkâs'a-atom is called the kâryâkâs'a; it is formed everywhere and held up in the original kâra@na âkâs'a as the medium for the development of vâyu atoms. Being atomic it occupies limited space.

The aha@mkâra and the five tanmâtras are technically called _avis'e@sa_ or indeterminate, for further determinations or differentiations of them for the formation of newer categories of existence are possible. The eleven senses and the five atoms are called _vis'e@sa,_ i.e. determinate, for they cannot further be so determined as to form a new category of existence. It is thus that the course of evolution which started in the prak@rti reaches its furthest limit in the production of the senses on the one side and the atoms on the other. Changes no doubt take place in bodies having atomic constitution, but these changes are changes of quality due to spatial changes in the position of the atoms or to the introduction of new atoms and their re-arrangement. But these are not such that a newer category of existence could be formed by them which was substantially different from the combined atoms.

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[Footnote 1: Dr B.N. Seal in describing this âkâs'a says "Âkâs'a corresponds in some respects to the ether of the physicists and in others to what may be called proto-atom (protyle)." Ray's _History of Hindu Chemistry_, p. 88.]

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The changes that take place in the atomic constitution of things certainly deserve to be noticed. But before we go on to this, it will be better to enquire about the principle of causation according to which the Sâ@mkhya-Yoga evolution should be comprehended or interpreted.

Principle of Causation and Conservation of Energy [Footnote ref 1].

The question is raised, how can the prak@rti supply the deficiencies made in its evolutes by the formation of other evolutes from them? When from mahat some tanmâtras have evolved, or when from the tanmâtras some atoms have evolved, how can the deficiency in mahat and the tanmâtras be made good by the prak@rti?

Or again, what is the principle that guides the transformations that take place in the atomic stage when one gross body, say milk, changes into curd, and so on? Sâ@mkhya says that "as the total energy remains the same while the world is constantly evolving, cause and effect are only more or less evolved forms of the same ultimate Energy. The sum of effects exists in the sum of causes in a potential form. The grouping or collocation alone changes, and this brings on the manifestation of the latent powers of the gu@nas, but without creation of anything new. What is called the (material) cause is only the power which is efficient in the production or rather the vehicle of the power. This power is the unmanifested (or potential) form of the Energy set free (_udbhûta-v@rtti_) in the effect. But the concomitant conditions are necessary to call forth the so-called material cause into activity [Footnote ref 2]." The appearance of an effect (such as the manifestation of the figure of the statue in the marble block by the causal efficiency of the sculptor's art) is only its passage from potentiality to actuality and the concomitant conditions (_sahakâri-s'akti_) or efficient cause (_nimitta-kâra@na_, such as the sculptor's art) is a sort of mechanical help or instrumental help to this passage or the transition [Footnote ref 3]. The refilling from prak@rti thus means nothing more than this, that by the inherent teleology of the prak@rti, the reals there are so collocated as to be transformed into mahat as those of the mahat have been collocated to form the bhûtâdi or the tanmâtras.

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[Footnote 1: _Vyâsabhâ@sya_ and _Yogavârttika_, IV. 3; _Tattvavais'âradî_, IV. 3.]

[Footnote 2: Ray, _History of Hindu Chemistry_, p. 72.]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid._ p. 73.]

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Yoga however explains this more vividly on the basis of transformation of the liberated potential energy. The sum of material causes potentially contains the energy manifested in the sum of effects. When the effectuating condition is added to the sum of material conditions in a given collocation, all that happens is that a stimulus is imparted which removes the arrest, disturbs the relatively stable equilibrium, and brings on a liberation of energy together with a fresh collocation(_gu@nasannives'avis'e@sa_). As the owner of an adjacent field in transferring water from one field to another of the same or lower level has only to remove the obstructing mud barriers, whereupon the water flows of itself to the other field, so when the efficient or instrumental causes (such as the sculptor's art) remove the barrier inherent in any collocation against its transformation into any other collocation, the energy from that collocation flows out in a corresponding manner and determines the collocation. Thus for example the energy which collocated the milk-atoms to form milk was in a state of arrest in the milk state. If by heat or other causes this barrier is removed, the energy naturally changes direction in a corresponding manner and collocates the atoms accordingly for the formation of curd. So also as soon as the barriers are removed from the prak@rti, guided by the constant will of Îs'vara, the reals in equilibrium in the state of prak@rti leave their state of arrest and evolve themselves into mahat, etc.

Change as the formation of new collocations.

It is easy to see from what we have already said that any collocation of atoms forming a thing could not change its form, unless the barrier inherent or caused by the formation of the present collocation could be removed by some other extraneous instrumental cause. All gross things are formed by the collocation of the five atoms of k@siti, ap, tejas, marut, and vyoman. The difference between one thing and another is simply this, that its collocation of atoms or the arrangement or grouping of atoms is different from that in another. The formation of a collocation has an inherent barrier against any change, which keeps that collocation in a state of equilibrium, and it is easy to see that these barriers exist in infinite directions in which all the other infinite objects of the world exist. From whichever side the barrier is removed, the energy flows in that direction and helps the

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formation of a corresponding object. Provided the suitable barriers could be removed, anything could be changed into any other thing. And it is believed that the Yogins can acquire the powers by which they can remove any barriers, and thus make anything out of any other thing. But generally in the normal course of events the line of evolution follows "a definite law which cannot be overstepped" (_pari@nâmakramaniyama_) or in other words there are some natural barriers which cannot be removed, and thus the evolutionary course has to take a path to the exclusion of those lines where the barriers could not be removed. Thus saffron grows in countries like Kashmere and not in Bengal, this is limitation of countries (_des'âpabandha_); certain kinds of paddy grow in the rainy season only, this is limitation of season or time (_kâlâpabandha_); deer cannot beget men, this is limitation by form (_âkârâpabandha_); curd can come out of milk, this is the limitation of causes (_nimittâpabandha_). The evolutionary course can thus follow only that path which is not barricaded by any of these limitations or natural obstructions [Footnote ref 1].

Change is taking place everywhere, from the smallest and least to the highest. Atoms and reals are continually vibrating and changing places in any and every object. At each moment the whole universe is undergoing change, and the collocation of atoms at any moment is different from what it was at the previous moment. When these changes are perceivable, they are perceived as _dharmapari@nâma_ or changes of _dharma_ or quality; but perceived or unperceived the changes are continually going on. This change of appearance may be viewed from another aspect by virtue of which we may call it present or past, and old or new, and these are respectively called the _lak@sa@napari@nâma_ and _avasthâpari@nâma_. At every moment every object of the world is undergoing evolution or change, change as past, present and future, as new, old or unborn. When any change is in a potential state we call it future, when manifested present, when it becomes sub-latent again it is said to be past. Thus it is that the potential, manifest, and sub-latent changes of a thing are called future, present and past [Footnote ref 2].

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[Footnote 1: _Vyâsabhâ@sya, Tattvavais'âradî_ and _Yogavârttika,_ III. 14.]

[Footnote 2: It is well to note in this connection that Sâ@mkhya-yoga does not admit the existence of time as an independent entity like the Nyâya-Vais'e@sika. Time represents the order of moments in which the mind grasps the phenomenal changes. It is hence a construction of the mind (_buddhi-nirmâ@na_). The time required by an atom to move its own measure of space is called a moment (_k@sa@na_) or one unit of time. Vijñâna Bhik@su regards one unit movement of the gu@nas or reals as a moment. When by true wisdom the gu@nas are perceived as they are both the illusory notions of time and space vanish. _Vyâsabhâ@sya, Tattvavais'âradî_, and _Yogavârttika_, III. 52 and III. 13.]

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Causation as Satkâryavâda (the theory that the effect potentially exists before it is generated by the movement of the cause).

The above consideration brings us to an important aspect of the Sâ@mkhya view of causation as _satkâryavâda_. Sâ@mkhya holds that there can be no production of a thing previously non-existent; causation means the appearance or manifestation of a quality due to certain changes of collocations in the causes which were already held in them in a potential form. Production of effect only means an internal change of the arrangement of atoms in the cause, and this exists in it in a potential form, and just a little loosening of the barrier which was standing in the way of the happening of such a change of arrangement will produce the desired new collocation--the effect. This doctrine is called _satkâryavâda,_ i.e. that the kârya or effect is _sat_ or existent even before the causal operation to produce the effect was launched. The oil exists in the sesarnum, the statue in the stone, the curd in the milk, The causal operation (_kârakaiyâpâra_) only renders that manifest (_âvirbhûta_) which was formerly in an unmanifested condition (_tirohita_) [Footnote ref 1].

The Buddhists also believed in change, as much as Sâ@mkhya did, but with them there was no background to the change; every change was thus absolutely a new one, and when it was past, the next moment the change was lost absolutely. There were only the passing dharmas or manifestations of forms and qualities, but there was no permanent underlying dharma or substance. Sâ@mkhya also holds in the continual change of dharmas, but it also holds that these dharmas represent only the conditions of the permanent reals. The conditions and collocations of the reals change constantly, but the reals themselves are unchangeable. The effect according to the Buddhists was non-existent, it came into being for a moment and was lost. On account of this theory of causation and also on account of their doctrine of s'ûnya, they were called _vainâs'ikas_ (nihilists) by the Vedântins. This doctrine is therefore contrasted to Sâ@mkhya doctrine as _asatkâryavâda._

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[Footnote 1: _Tattvakaumudî,_ 9.]

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The jain view holds that both these views are relatively true and that from one point of view satkâryavâda is true and from another asatkâryavâda. The Sâ@mkhya view that the cause is continually transforming itself into its effects is technically called _pari@nâmavâda_ as against the Vedânta view called the _vivarttavâda_: that cause remains ever the same, and what we call effects are but illusory impositions of mere unreal appearance of name and form--mere Maya [Footnote ref. 1].

Sâ@mkhya Atheism and Yoga Theism.

Granted that the interchange of the positions of the infinite number of reals produce all the world and its transformations; whence comes this fixed order of the universe, the fixed order of cause and effect, the fixed order of the so-called barriers which prevent the transformation of any cause into any effect or the first disturbance of the equilibrium of the prak@rti? Sâ@mkhya denies the existence of Îs'vara (God) or any other exterior influence, and holds that there is an inherent tendency in these reals which guides all their movements. This tendency or teleology demands that the movements of the reals should be in such a manner that they may render some service to the souls either in the direction of enjoyment or salvation. It is by the natural course of such a tendency that prak@rti is disturbed, and the gu@nas develop on two lines--on the mental plane, _citta_ or mind comprising the sense faculties, and on the objective plane as material objects; and it is in fulfilment of the demands of this tendency that on the one hand take place subjective experiences as the changes of the buddhi and on the other the infinite modes of the changes of objective things. It is this tendency to be of service to the puru@sas (_puru@sârthatâ_) that guides all the movements of the reals, restrains all disorder, renders the world a fit object of experience, and finally rouses them to turn back from the world and seek to attain liberation from the association of prak@rti and its gratuitous service, which causes us all this trouble of sa@msâra.

Yoga here asks, how the blind tendency of the non-intelligent

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[Footnote 1: Both the Vedânta and the Sâ@mkhya theories of causation are sometimes loosely called _satkâryyavâda._ But correctly speaking as some discerning commentators have pointed out, the Vedânta theory of causation should be called satkâra@navâda for according to it the _kâra@na_ (cause) alone exists (_sat_) and all _kâryyas,_ (effects) are illusory appearances of the kâra@na; but according to Sâ@mkhya the kâryya exists in a potential state in the kâra@na and is hence always existing and real.]

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prak@rti can bring forth this order and harmony of the universe, how can it determine what course of evolution will be of the best service to the puru@sas, how can it remove its own barriers and lend itself to the evolutionary process from the state of prak@rti equilibrium? How too can this blind tendency so regulate the evolutionary order that all men must suffer pains according to their bad karmas, and happiness according to their good ones? There must be some intelligent Being who should help the course of evolution in such a way that this system of order and harmony may be attained. This Being is Îs'vara. Îs'vara is a puru@sa who had never been subject to ignorance, afflictions, or passions. His body is of pure sattva quality which can never be touched by ignorance. He is all knowledge and all powerful. He has a permanent wish that those barriers in the course of the evolution of the reals by which the evolution of the gu@nas may best serve the double interest of the puru@sa's experience (_bhoga_) and liberation (_apavarga_) should be removed. It is according to this permanent will of Îs'vara that the proper barriers are removed and the gu@nas follow naturally an intelligent course of evolution for the service of the best interests of the puru@sas. Îs'vara has not created the prak@rti; he only disturbs the equilibrium of the prak@rti in its quiescent state, and later on helps it to follow an intelligent order by which the fruits of karma are properly distributed and the order of the world is brought about. This acknowledgement of Îs'vara in Yoga and its denial by Sâ@mkhya marks the main theoretic difference between the two according to which the Yoga and Sâ@mkhya are distinguished as Ses'vara Sâ@mkhya (Sâ@mkhya with Îs'vara) and Nirîs'vara Sâ@mkhya (Atheistic Sâ@mkhya) [Footnote ref 1].

Buddhi and Puru@sa.

The question again arises that though puru@sa is pure intelligence, the gu@nas are non-intelligent subtle substances, how can the latter come into touch with the former? Moreover, the puru@sa is pure inactive intelligence without any touch of impurity and what service or need can such a puru@sa have of the gu@nas? This difficulty is anticipated by Sâ@mkhya, which has already made room for its answer by assuming that one class of the gu@nas called sattva is such that it resembles the purity and the intelligence of the puru@sa to a very high degree, so much so

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[Footnote 1: _Tattvavais'âradî,_ IV. 3; _Yogavârttika,_ I. 24; and _Pravavanabhâsya,_ V. 1-12.]

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that it can reflect the intelligence of the puru@sa, and thus render its non-intelligent transformations to appear as if they were intelligent. Thus all our thoughts and other emotional or volitional operations are really the non-intelligent transformations of the buddhi or citta having a large sattva preponderance; but by virtue of the reflection of the puru@sa in the buddhi, these appear as if they are intelligent. The self (puru@sa) according to Sâ@mkhya-Yoga is not directly demonstrated by self-consciousness. Its existence is a matter of inference on teleological grounds and grounds of moral responsibility. The self cannot be directly noticed as being separate from the buddhi modifications. Through beginningless ignorance there is a confusion and the changing states of buddhi are regarded as conscious. These buddhi changes are further so associated with the reflection of the puru@sa in the buddhi that they are interpreted as the experiences of the puru@sa. This association of the buddhi with the reflection of the puru@sa in the buddhi has such a special fitness (_yogyatâ_) that it is interpreted as the experience of the puru@sa. This explanation of Vâcaspati of the situation is objected to by Vijñâna Bhik@su. Vijñâna Bhik@su says that the association of the buddhi with the image of the puru@sa cannot give us the notion of a real person who undergoes the experiences. It is to be supposed therefore that when the buddhi is intelligized by the reflection of the puru@sa, it is then superimposed upon the puru@sa, and we have the notion of an abiding person who experiences [Footnote ref 1]. Whatever may be the explanation, it seems that the union of the buddhi with the puru@sa is somewhat mystical. As a result of this reflection of _cit_ on buddhi and the superimposition of the buddhi the puru@sa cannot realize that the transformations of the buddhi are not its own. Buddhi resembles puru@sa in transparency, and the puru@sa fails to differentiate itself from the modifications of the buddhi, and as a result of this non-distinction the puru@sa becomes bound down to the buddhi, always failing to recognize the truth that the buddhi and its transformations are wholly alien to it. This non-distinction of puru@sa from buddhi which is itself a mode of buddhi is what is meant by _avidyâ_ (non-knowledge) in Sâ@mkhya, and is the root of all experience and all misery [Footnote ref 2].

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[Footnote 1: _Tattvavais'âradî_ and _Yogavârttika_, I. 4.]

[Footnote 2: This indicates the nature of the analysis of illusion with Sâ@mkhya. It is the non-apprehension of the distinction of two things (e.g. the snake and the rope) that is the cause of illusion; it is therefore called the _akhyâti_ (non-apprehension) theory of illusion which must be distinguished from the _anyathâkhyâti_ (misapprehension) theory of illusion of Yoga which consists in positively misapprehending one (e.g. the rope) for the other (e.g. snake). _Yogavârttika,_ I. 8.]

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Yoga holds a slightly different view and supposes that the puru@sa not only fails to distinguish the difference between itself and the buddhi but positively takes the transformations of buddhi as its own. It is no non-perception of the difference but positively false knowledge, that we take the puru@sa to be that which it is not (_anyathâkhyâti_). It takes the changing, impure, sorrowful, and objective prak@rti or buddhi to be the changeless, pure, happiness-begetting subject. It wrongly thinks buddhi to be the self and regards it as pure, permanent and capable of giving us happiness. This is the avidyâ of Yoga. A buddhi associated with a puru@sa is dominated by such an avidyâ, and when birth after birth the same buddhi is associated with the same puru@sa, it cannot easily get rid of this avidyâ. If in the meantime pralaya takes place, the buddhi is submerged in the prak@rti, and the avidyâ also sleeps with it. When at the beginning of the next creation the individual buddhis associated with the puru@sas emerge, the old avidyâs also become manifest by virtue of it and the buddhis associate themselves with the puru@sas to which they were attached before the pralaya. Thus proceeds the course of sa@msâra. When the avidyâ of a person is rooted out by the rise of true knowledge, the buddhi fails to attach itself to the puru@sa and is forever dissociated from it, and this is the state of mukti.

The Cognitive Process and some characteristics of Citta.

It has been said that buddhi and the internal objects have evolved in order to giving scope to the experience of the puru@sa. What is the process of this experience? Sâ@mkhya (as explained by Vâcaspati) holds that through the senses the buddhi comes into touch with external objects. At the first moment of this touch there is an indeterminate consciousness in which the particulars of the thing cannot be noticed. This is called _nirvikalpa pratyak@sa_ (indeterminate perception). At the next moment by the function of the _sa@mkalpa_ (synthesis) and _vikalpa_ (abstraction or imagination) of manas (mind-organ) the thing is perceived in all its determinate character; the manas differentiates, integrates, and associates the sense-data received through the senses, and

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thus generates the determinate perception, which when intelligized by the puru@sa and associated with it becomes interpreted as the experience of the person. The action of the senses, ahamkâra, and buddhi, may take place sometimes successively and at other times as in cases of sudden fear simultaneously. Vijñâna Bhik@su differs from this view of Vâcaspati, and denies the synthetic activity of the mind-organ (manas), and says that the buddhi directly comes into touch with the objects through the senses. At the first moment of touch the perception is indeterminate, but at the second moment it becomes clear and determinate [Footnote ref 1]. It is evident that on this view the importance of manas is reduced to a minimum and it is regarded as being only the faculty of desire, doubt and imagination.

Buddhi, including ahamkâra and the senses, often called _citta_ in Yoga, is always incessantly suffering changes like the flame of a lamp, it is made up of a large preponderance of the pure sattva substances, and is constantly moulding itself from one content to another. These images by the dual reflection of buddhi and puru@sa are constantly becoming conscious, and are being interpreted as the experiences of a person. The existence of the puru@sa is to be postulated for explaining the illumination of consciousness and for explaining experience and moral endeavour. The buddhi is spread all over the body, as it were, for it is by its functions that the life of the body is kept up; for the Sâ@mkhya does not admit any separate prana vâyu (vital breath) to keep the body living. What are called _vâyus_ (bio-motor force) in Vedânta are but the different modes of operation of this category of buddhi, which acts all through the body and by its diverse movements performs the life-functions and sense-functions of the body.

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[Footnote 1: As the contact of the buddhi with the external objects takes place through the senses, the sense data of colours, etc., are modified by the senses if they are defective. The spatial qualities of things are however perceived by the senses directly, but the time-order is a scheme of the citta or the buddhi. Generally speaking Yoga holds that the external objects are faithfully copied by the buddhi in which they are reflected, like trees in a lake

"_tasmims'ca darpane sphâre samasta vastudrstayah
imâstâh pratibimbanti sarasiva tatadrumâh_" _Yogavarttika_, I. 4.

The buddhi assumes the form of the object which is reflected on it by the senses, or rather the mind flows out through the senses to the external objects and assumes their forms: "_indriyânyeva pranâlikâ cittasancaranamargah taih samyujya tadgola kadvârâ bâhyavastusûparaktasya cittasyendryasahityenaivârthakarah parinâmo bhavati_" _Yogavârttika_, I. VI. 7. Contrast _Tattvakaumudî_, 27 and 30.]

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Apart from the perceptions and the life-functions, buddhi, or rather citta as Yoga describes it, contains within it the root impressions (_sa@mskâras_) and the tastes and instincts or tendencies of all past lives (_vâsanâ_) [Footnote ref 1]. These sa@mskâras are revived under suitable associations. Every man had had infinite numbers of births in their past lives as man and as some animal. In all these lives the same citta was always following him. The citta has thus collected within itself the instincts and tendencies of all those different animal lives. It is knotted with these vâsanâs like a net. If a man passes into a dog life by rebirth, the vâsanâs of a dog life, which the man must have had in some of his previous infinite number of births, are revived, and the man's tendencies become like those of a dog. He forgets the experiences of his previous life and becomes attached to enjoyment in the manner of a dog. It is by the revival of the vâsanâ suitable to each particular birth that there cannot be any collision such as might have occurred if the instincts and tendencies of a previous dog-life were active when any one was born as man.

The sa@mskâras represent the root impressions by which any habit of life that man has lived through, or any pleasure in which he took delight for some time, or any passions which were

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[Footnote 1: The word sa@mskâra is used by Pâ@nini who probably preceded Buddha in three different senses (1) improving a thing as distinguished from generating a new quality (_Sata utkar@sâdhâna@m sa@mskâra@h_, Kâs'ila on Pâ@nini, VI. ii. 16), (2) conglomeration or aggregation, and (3) adornment (Pâ@nini, VI. i. 137, 138). In the Pi@takas the word sa@nkhâra is used in various senses such as constructing, preparing, perfecting, embellishing, aggregation, matter, karma, the skandhas (collected by Childers). In fact sa@nkhâra stands for almost anything of which impermanence could be predicated. But in spite of so many diversities of meaning I venture to suggest that the meaning of aggregation (_samavâya_ of Pâ@nini) is prominent. The word _sa@mskaroti_ is used in Kau@sîtaki, II. 6, Chândogya IV. xvi. 2, 3, 4, viii. 8, 5, and B@rhadâra@nyaka, VI. iii. 1, in the sense of improving. I have not yet come across any literary use of the second meaning in Sanskrit. The meaning of sa@mskâra in Hindu philosophy is altogether different. It means the impressions (which exist subconsciously in the mind) of the objects experienced. All our experiences whether cognitive, emotional or conative exist in subconscious states and may under suitable conditions be reproduced as memory (sm@rti). The word vâsanâ (_Yoga sûtra_, IV. 24) seems to be a later word. The earlier Upanis@sads do not mention it and so far as I know it is not mentioned in the Pâli pi@takas. _Abhidhânappadîpikâ_ of Moggallâna mentions it, and it occurs in the Muktika Upani@sad. It comes from the root "_vas_" to stay. It is often loosely used in the sense of sa@mskâra, and in _Vyâsabhâ@sya_ they are identified in IV. 9. But vâsanâ generally refers to the tendencies of past lives most of which lie dormant in the mind. Only those appear which can find scope in this life. But sa@mskâras are the sub-conscious states which are being constantly generated by experience. Vâsanâs are innate sa@mskâras not acquired in this life. See _Vyâsabhâ@sya, Tattvâvais'âradî_ and _Yogavârttika_, II. 13.]

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engrossing to him, tend to be revived, for though these might not now be experienced, yet the fact that they were experienced before has so moulded and given shape to the citta that the citta will try to reproduce them by its own nature even without any such effort on our part. To safeguard against the revival of any undesirable idea or tendency it is therefore necessary that its roots as already left in the citta in the form of sa@mskâras should be eradicated completely by the formation of the habit of a contrary tendency, which if made sufficiently strong will by its own sa@mskâra naturally stop the revival of the previous undesirable sa@mskâras.

Apart from these the citta possesses volitional activity (ce@s@tâ) by which the conative senses are brought into relation to their objects. There is also the reserved potent power (s'akti) of citta, by which it can restrain itself and change its courses or continue to persist in any one direction. These characteristics are involved in the very essence of citta, and form the groundwork of the Yoga method of practice, which consists in steadying a particular state of mind to the exclusion of others.

Merit or demerit (_pu@nya, pâpa_) also is imbedded in the citta as its tendencies, regulating the mode of its movements, and giving pleasures and pains in accordance with it.

Sorrow and its Dissolution [Footnote ref 1].

Sâ@mkhya and the Yoga, like the Buddhists, hold that all experience is sorrowful. Tamas, we know, represents the pain substance. As tamas must be present in some degree in all combinations, all intellectual operations are fraught with some degree of painful feeling. Moreover even in states of temporary pleasure, we had sorrow at the previous moment when we had solicited it, and we have sorrow even when we enjoy it, for we have the fear that we may lose it. The sum total of sorrows is thus much greater than the pleasures, and the pleasures only strengthen the keenness of the sorrow. The wiser the man the greater is his capacity of realizing that the world and our experiences are all full of sorrow. For unless a man is convinced of this great truth that all is sorrow, and that temporary pleasures, whether generated by ordinary worldly experience or by enjoying heavenly experiences through the performance of Vedic sacrifices, are quite unable to

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[Footnote 1: Tattavais'âradî and Yogavârttika, II. 15, and Tattvakaumudî, I.]

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eradicate the roots of sorrow, he will not be anxious for mukti or the final uprooting of pains. A man must feel that all pleasures lead to sorrow, and that the ordinary ways of removing sorrows by seeking enjoyment cannot remove them ultimately; he must turn his back on the pleasures of the world and on the pleasures of paradise. The performances of sacrifices according to the Vedic rites may indeed give happiness, but as these involve the sacrifice of animals they must involve some sins and hence also some pains. Thus the performance of these cannot be regarded as desirable. It is when a man ceases from seeking pleasures that he thinks how best he can eradicate the roots of sorrow. Philosophy shows how extensive is sorrow, why sorrow comes, what is the way to uproot it, and what is the state when it is uprooted. The man who has resolved to uproot sorrow turns to philosophy to find out the means of doing it.

The way of eradicating the root of sorrow is thus the practical enquiry of the Sâ@mkhya philosophy [Footnote ref 1]. All experiences are sorrow. Therefore some means must be discovered by which all experiences may be shut out for ever. Death cannot bring it, for after death we shall have rebirth. So long as citta (mind) and puru@sa are associated with each other, the sufferings will continue. Citta must be dissociated from puru@sa. Citta or buddhi, Sâ@mkhya says, is associated with puru@sa because of the non-distinction of itself from buddhi [Footnote ref 2]. It is necessary therefore that in buddhi we should be able to generate the true conception of the nature of puru@sa; when this true conception of puru@sa arises in the buddhi it feels itself to be different, and distinct, from and quite unrelated to puru@sa, and thus ignorance is destroyed. As a result of that, buddhi turns its back on puru@sa and can no longer bind it to its experiences, which are all irrevocably connected with sorrow, and thus the puru@sa remains in its true form. This according to Sâ@mkhya philosophy is alone adequate to being about the liberation of the puru@sa. Prak@rti which was leading us through cycles of experiences from birth to birth, fulfils its final purpose when this true knowledge arises differentiating

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[Footnote 1: Yoga puts it in a slightly modified form. Its object is the cessation of the rebirth-process which is so much associated with sorrow {_du@hkhabahla@h sa@msârah heya@h_).]

[Footnote 2: The word _citta_ is a Yoga term. It is so called because it is the repository of all sub-conscious states. Sâmkhyn generally uses, the word buddhi. Both the words mean the same substance, the mind, but they emphasize its two different functions. Buddhi means intellection.]

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puru@sa from prak@rti. This final purpose being attained the prak@rti can never again bind the purusa with reference to whom this right knowledge was generated; for other puru@sas however the bondage remains as before, and they continue their experiences from one birth to another in an endless cycle.

Yoga, however, thinks that mere philosophy is not sufficient. In order to bring about liberation it is not enough that a true knowledge differentiating puru@sa and buddhi should arise, but it is necessary that all the old habits of experience of buddhi, all its samskaras should be once for all destroyed never to be revived again. At this stage the buddhi is transformed into its purest state, reflecting steadily the true nature of the puru@sa. This is the _kevala_ (oneness) state of existence after which (all sa@mskâras, all avidyâ being altogether uprooted) the citta is impotent any longer to hold on to the puru@sa, and like a stone hurled from a mountain top, gravitates back into the prak@rti [Footnote ref 1]. To destroy the old sa@mskâras, knowledge alone not being sufficient, a graduated course of practice is necessary. This graduated practice should be so arranged that by generating the practice of living higher and better modes of life, and steadying the mind on its subtler states, the habits of ordinary life may be removed. As the yogin advances he has to give up what he had adopted as good and try for that which is still better. Continuing thus he reaches the state when the buddhi is in its ultimate perfection and purity. At this stage the buddhi assumes the form of the puru@sa, and final liberation takes place.

Karmas in Yoga are divided into four classes: (1) _s'ukla_ or white (_pu@nya_, those that produce happiness), (2) _k@r@s@na_ or black (_pâpa_, those that produce sorrow), (3) _s'ukla-k@r@s@na_ (_pu@nya-pâpa_, most of our ordinary actions are partly virtuous and partly vicious as they involve, if not anything else, at least the death of many insects), (4) _as'uklâk@r@s@na_ (those inner acts of self-abnegation, and meditation which are devoid of any fruits as pleasures or pains). All external actions involve some sins, for it is difficult to work in the world and avoid taking the lives of insects [Footnote ref 2]. All karmas

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[Footnote 1: Both Sâ@mkhya and Yoga speak of this emancipated state a _Kaivalya_ (alone-ness), the former because all sorrows have been absolutely uprooted, never to grow up again and the latter because at this state puru@sa remains for ever alone without any association with buddhi, see _Sâ@mkhya kârikâ_, 68 and _Yoga sûtras_, IV. 34.]

[Footnote 2: _Vyâsabhâ@sya_ and _Tattvavais'âradî_, IV. 7.]

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proceed from the five-fold afflictions (_kles'as_), namely _avidyâ, asmitâ, râga, dve@sa_ and _abhinives'a_.

We have already noticed what was meant by avidyâ. It consists generally in ascribing intelligence to buddhi, in thinking it as permanent and leading to happiness. This false knowledge while remaining in this form further manifests itself in the other four forms of asmitâ, etc. Asmitâ means the thinking of worldly objects and our experiences as really belonging to us--the sense of "mine" or "I" to things that really are the qualities or transformations of the gu@nas. Râga means the consequent attachment to pleasures and things. Dve@sa means aversion or antipathy to unpleasant things. Abhinives'a is the desire for life or love of life--the will to be. We proceed to work because we think our experiences to be our own, our body to be our own, our family to be our own, our possessions to be our own; because we are attached to these; because we feel great antipathy against any mischief that might befall them, and also because we love our life and always try to preserve it against any mischief. These all proceed, as is easy to see, from their root avidyâ, which consists in the false identification of buddhi with puru@sa. These five, avidyâ, asmitâ, râga, dve@sa and abhinives'a, permeate our buddhi, and lead us to perform karma and to suffer. These together with the performed karmas which lie inherent in the buddhi as a particular mode of it transmigrate with the buddhi from birth to birth, and it is hard to get rid of them [Footnote ref 1]. The karma in the aspect in which it lies in the buddhi as a mode or modification of it is called _karmâs'aya_. (the bed of karma for the puru@sa to lie in). We perform a karma actuated by the vicious tendencies (_kles'a_) of the buddhi. The karma when thus performed leaves its stain or modification on the buddhi, and it is so ordained according to the teleology of the prak@rti and the removal of obstacles in the course of its evolution in accordance with it by the permanent will of Îs'vara that each vicious action brings sufferance and a virtuous one pleasure.

The karmas performed in the present life will generally accumulate, and when the time for giving their fruits comes, such a life is ordained for the person, such a body is made ready for him according to the evolution of prak@rti as shall make it possible for him to suffer or enjoy the fruits thereof. The karma of the

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[Footnote 1: _Vyâsabhâ@sya_ and _Tattvavais'âradî_, II. 3-9.]

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present life thus determines the particular kind of future birth (as this or that animal or man), the period of life (_âyu@s_) and the painful or pleasurable experiences (_bhoga_) destined for that life. Exceedingly good actions and extremely bad actions often produce their effects in this life. It may also happen that a man has done certain bad actions, for the realization of the fruits of which he requires a dog-life and good actions for the fruits of which he requires a man-life. In such cases the good action may remain in abeyance and the man may suffer the pains of a dog-life first and then be born again as a man to enjoy the fruits of his good actions. But if we can remove ignorance and the other afflictions, all his previous unfulfilled karmas are for ever lost and cannot again be revived. He has of course to suffer the fruits of those karmas which have already ripened. This is the _jîvanmukti_ stage, when the sage has attained true knowledge and is yet suffering mundane life in order to experience the karmas that have already ripened (_ti@s@thati sa@mskâravas'ât cakrabhramivaddh@rtas'arîra@h_).

Citta.

The word Yoga which was formerly used in Vedic literature in the sense of the restraint of the senses is used by Patañjali in his _Yoga sûtra_ in the sense of the partial or full restraint or steadying of the states of citta. Some sort of concentration may be brought about by violent passions, as when fighting against a mortal enemy, or even by an ignorant attachment or instinct. The citta which has the concentration of the former type is called _k@sipta_ (wild) and of the latter type _pramû@dha_ (ignorant). There is another kind of citta, as with all ordinary people, in which concentration is only possible for a time, the mind remaining steady on one thing for a short time leaves that off and clings to another thing and so on. This is called the _vik@sipta_ (unsteady) stage of mind (_cittabhûmi_). As distinguished from these there is an advanced stage of citta in which it can concentrate steadily on an object for a long time. This is the _ekâgra_ (one-pointed) stage. There is a still further advanced stage in which the citta processes are absolutely stopped. This happens immediately before mukti, and is called the _nirodha_ (cessation) state of citta. The purpose of Yoga is to achieve the conditions of the last two stages of citta.

The cittas have five processes (_v@rtti_), (1) _pramâ@na_ [Footnote ref 1] (valid

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[Footnote 1: Sâ@mkhya holds that both validity and invalidity of any cognition depend upon the cognitive state itself and not on correspondence with external facts or objects (_svata@h prâmâ@nya@m svata@h aprâmâ@nya@m_). The contribution of Sâ@mkhya to the doctrine of inference is not definitely known. What little Vâcaspati says on the subject has been borrowed from Vâtsyâyana such as the _pûrvavat, s'e@savat_ and _sâmânyatodr@s@ta_ types of inference, and these may better be consulted in our chapter on Nyâya or in the Tâtparya@tîkâ_ of Vâcaspati. Sâ@mkhya inference was probably from particular to particular on the ground of seven kinds of relations according to which they had seven kinds of inference "_mâtrânimittasa@myogivirodhisahacâribhi@h. Svasvâmibadhyaghâtâdyai@h sâ@mkhyânâ@m saptadhânumâ_" (_Tâtparya@tîkâ_, p. 109). Sâ@mkhya definition of inference as given by Udyotakara (I.I. V) is "_sambandhâdekasmât pratyak@sacche@sasiddhiranumânam_."]

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cognitive states such as are generated by perception, inference and scriptural testimony), (2) _viparyaya_ (false knowledge, illusion, etc.), (3) _vikalpa_ (abstraction, construction and different kinds of imagination), (4) _nidrâ_ (sleep, is a vacant state of mind, in which tamas tends to predominate), (5) _sm@rti_ (memory).

These states of mind (_v@rtti_) comprise our inner experience. When they lead us towards sâ@msara into the course of passions and their satisfactions, they are said to be _kli@s@ta_ (afflicted or leading to affliction); when they lead us towards liberation, they are called _akli@s@ta_ (unafflicted). To whichever side we go, towards sa@msara or towards mukti, we have to make use of our states of mind; the states which are bad often alternate with good states, and whichever state should tend towards our final good (liberation) must be regarded as good.

This draws attention to that important characteristic of citta, that it sometimes tends towards good (i.e. liberation) and sometimes towards bad (sâ@msara). It is like a river, as the _Vyâsabhâ@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 sâ@msara as well as the liberation tendency.