|
CHAPTER VIII
THE CONSTRUCTIN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE COSMOS
One comes across such classification in treatises later than the Upanisads, but it is
different from the Samkhya classification mentioned above.
The total number of elements is twenty-five. As sixteen
elements out of these are admittedly Vikrtis, that it, as they
are looked upon as created from other elements, even according
to Samkhya philosophy, they are not classified in these treatises-
as prakrti or fundamental substances. That leaves nine
elements :-(l) Spirit, (2) Matter, (3-9) Mahat, Ahamkara and
the five subtle elements (Tanmatras). The Samkhyas call
the last seven, after Spirit and Matter, 'prakrti-vikrti. But
according to Vedanta philosophy, Matter is not looked upon.
as independent. According to their doctrine, both Spirit and
and Matter come out of one Paramesvara (Absolute Isvara).
If this proposition is accepted, the distinction made by Samkhya
philosophers between fundamental Prakrti and prakrti-vikrti
comes to an end ; because, as Prakrti itself is looked upon as
having sprung from the Paramesvara, it cannot be called the
Root, and it falls into the category of 'prakrti-vikrti'. Therefore,
in describing the creation of the Cosmos, Vedanta philosophers
say that from the Paramesvara there spring on the one
hand the Jlva (Soul), and on the other hand, eight-fold Prakrti
(i. e., Prakrti and seven prakrti-vikrtis, such as Mahat etc.,)
[1]. That is to say, according
to Vedanta philosophers, keeping aside sixteen elements out
of twenty-five, the remaining nine fall into the two classes of
'Jiva ' (Soul) and the ' eight-fold Prakrti '. This classification
of Vedanta philosophers has been accepted in the Bhagavad-
gita; but therein also, a small distinction is ultimately made.
What the Samkhyas called ' Purusa ' is called ' Jlva ' by the
Gita, and the Jlva is described as being the ' pam-prakrti' or
the most sublime form of the Isvara, and that which the
Samkhyas call the 'fundamental Prakrti' is referred to in.
the Gita as the ' apara ' or inferior form of the Paramesvara
[2]. When in this way, two main divisions have been
made, then, in giving the further sub-divisions or kinds of the
second main division, namely, of the inferior form of the
Isvara, it becomes necessary to mention the other elements
which have sprung from this inferior form, in addition to that
inferior form. Because, the inferior form (that is, the funda-
mental Prakrti of Samkhya philosophy) cannot be a kind or
sub-division of itself. For instance, when you have to say
how many children a father has, you cannot include the father
in the counting of the children. Therefore, in enumerating
the sub-divisions of the inferior form of the Paramesvara,
one has to exclude the fundamental Prakrti from the eight-fold
Prakrti mentioned by the Vedantists, and to say that the
remaining seven, that is to say, Mahan, Ahamkara, and the
five Fine Elements are the only kinds or sub-divisions of the
fundamental Prakrti; but if one does this, one will have to say
that the inferior form of the Paramesvara, that is, fundamental
Prakrti is of seven kinds, whereas, as mentioned above, Prakrti
is of eight kinds according to the Vedantists. Thus, the
Vedantists will say that Prakrti is of eight kinds, and the Gita
will say that Prakrti is of seven kinds, and an apparent conflict
will come into existence between the two doctrines. The
author of the Gita, however, considered it advisable not to
create such a conflict, but to be consistent with the description
of Prakrti as ' eight-fold '.
|
|
