Gita Rahasya -Tilak
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CHAPTER VIII
THE CONSTRUCTIN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE COSMOS
Let us now consider what the theory of the Samkhya phi- losophers is about the order in which the folds of Matter are un- folded. This order of unfoldment is known as ' gunotkarsa-vada ' (the theory of the unfolding of constituent qualities ), or ' guna- pmrinama-vada ' ( the theory of the development of qualities ). It need not be said that every man comes to a decision according to his own intelligence to perform an act or that he must first get the inspiration to do an act, before he commences to do the act. Nay, there are statements even in the Upanisads, that the universe came to be created after the One fundamental Paramatman was inspired with the desire to multiply, e. g., " balm syam prajayeya " [1]. On the same line of argument, imperceptible Matter first comes to a decision to break up its own equable state and to create the perceptible universe. Deoision means 'vyavasaya', and coming to a decision is a Bign of Reason. Therefore, the Samkhya philosophers have come to the conclusion that the first quality which comes into existence in Matter is Pure (deciding) Reason ( vyavasayatmika buddhi j. In short, in the same way as a man has first to be inspired with the desire of doing some particular act, so also is it necessary that Matter- should first be inspired with the desire of becoming diffuse. But because man is vitalised, that is to say, because in him there has taken place a union between the Reason of Matter and the vitalised Spirit ( Atman ), he understands this deciding Reason which inspires him ; and as Matter itself is non-vital or Gross, it does not understand its own Reason. This is the great difference between the two, and this difference is the result of the Consciousness which Matter has acquired as a result of its union with the Spirit. It is not the quality of Gross Matter. When one bears in mind that even modern Materialistic natural scientists have now begun to admit that unless one credits Matter with some Energy which, though non- self-intelligible ( asvayamvedya ), is yet of the same nature as human intelligence, one cannot reasonably explain the mutual attraction or repulsion seen in the material world in the shape of gravitation, or magnetic attraction or repulsion, or other chemical actions, [2] one need not be surprised about the- proposition of the Samhkhya philosophy that Reason is the first quality which is acquired by Matter. You may, if you like, give this quality which first arises in Matter the name of Reason which is non-vitalised or non-self-perceptible (asvayainvedya). , But it is clear that the desire which a man gets and the desire which inspires Matter belong originally to one and. the same class; and, therefore, both are defined in the same way in both the places. |
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References And Context
- ↑ ( Chan. 6. 2. 3 ; Tai. Z. 6 )
- ↑ Without the assumption of an atomic soul, the commonest and the most general phenomena of Chemistry are inexplicable. Pleasure and pain, desire and aversion, attraction and repulsion, must be common to al] atoms of an aggregate ; for the movements of atoms which must take place in the formation and dissolution of a chemical compound can be explained only by attributing to them Sensation and Will" — Haeckel in the Peng'sisofthe Plaslidule cited in Martineau's Types of Ethical Theory, Vol. II, p. 399, 3rd Ed. Haeckel himself explains this statement as follows : " I explicitly Btated- that I conceived the elementary psychic qualities of sensation and mil which may be attributed to atoms to be unconscious— just as- unconscious as the elementary memory which I, in common witb the distinguished psychologist Ewald Hering, consider to be a common function of all organised matter, or more correctly the living. substances "—The Riddle of the Universe, Ohap. IX p. 63 ( E. P. A. Cheap. Ed. ).