Gita Rahasya -Tilak
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CHAPTER VII
THE KAPILA SAMKHYA PHILOSOPHY OR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE MUTABLE AND THE IMMUTABLE
(KAPILA SAMKHYA-SASTRA OR KSARAKSARA-VICARA) The Samkhya philosophers have, therefore, come to the conclusion that the one who knows (jnata) and that which is to he known (jneya), the one who sees and that which is to be seen, or the one who sees prakrti and Gross prakriti muet be two fundamentally different things [1]The one which has been described in the last chapter as the ksetrajna, or the Atman, is the one which sees, knows or enjoys, and it is known in the Samkhya philosophy as PTJRUSA (Spirit), or ' jfia ' (jnata). As this Knower is different from Matter, it follows that the Knower is inherently quality- less, that is, beyond the three constituents of prakrti, namely, sattva, rajas and tamas; that the Knower does not go through any change of form and does nothing else except seeing and knowing, and that all the activity which is going on in the world is only the aotivity of prakrti. In short, the doctrine of the Sarhkhya philosophers is that if MATTER prakrti) is acetana (lifeless), SPIRIT (purum) is sacetana (vitalised); if Matter is responsible for all activity, Spirit is apathetic and non-active; if Matter has three constituents, Spirit is iuneonstituted ; if Matter is blind, Spirit is seeing; and that these two different elements in this world are eternal, independent, and self-created. And it is with reference to this- [2] doctrine that the Bhagavadgita first says : " prakrtim purusam caiva viddhy anadi ubhav api ", that is, " prakrti and purusa are both without a beginning and are eternal "[3] and then goes on to say : " karj/akara?fa kartrtve hetuh prakrHr ucyate", i.e., the activities of the body and of the organs are carried on by prakrti : and that, "purustA sukhaduhkhanam bhoktrtve hetur ucyate", i. e., "the purusa is responsible for our experience of pain aud happiness ". But although the doctrine, that prakrti and purusa (Matter and Spirit) are both eternal, is acceptable to the Gita, yet it must be borne in mind that the Gita does not look upon these two elements as independent and self-oreated, as is done by Sarhkhya philosophers. Because, in the Gita itself the Blessed Lord has referred to Matter as his Illusion [4] and as regards the Spirit, he has said : " mamaivaviso jlvaloke " [5] i. e., " It is a part of me ". Therefore, the Gita has gone further than the Sarhkhya philosophy. But we will keep aside this aspect for the time bsing, and consider further what pure Sarhkhya philosophy says. |
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