Source
Texts:
The
Philosophy of Sânkhya
Tekst
1:
The
Supreme Lord said: 'And now I shall discuss with you the
analytic of knowledge ascertained by the classical authorities,
knowing which a person is able to immediately give up the
bewilderment based on the duality.
Lord
S'rî Krishna said: Now I shall describe to you the
science of Sânkhya, which has been perfectly
established by ancient authorities. By understanding this
science a person can immediately give up the illusion of
material duality.
Tekst
2
In the epoch of
dutifulness [krita]
there existed people expert in discrimination about the time
before, wherein the seer and the seen were simply but one and
the same [see also 11.22:
29].
Originally,
during the Krita-yuga, when all men were very expert in
spiritual discrimination, and also previous to that, during
the period of annihilation, the seer existed alone,
nondifferent from the seen object.
Tekst
3
That one
undifferentiated true inaccessible to speech and mind turned
into the twofold of the forms of the products of material
nature and the great of its being alike in nature
[prakriti
and purusha,
see 11.22].
That
one Absolute Truth, remaining free from material dualities
and inaccessible to ordinary speech and mind, divided
Himself into two categories - the material nature and the
living entities who are trying to enjoy the manifestations
of that nature.
Tekst
4
One of the two
indeed is she, the substance of material nature, consisting of
a double self [products and causes] and the other
entity is he, the knower, who is called the original person
[the enjoyer or male principle].
Of
these two categories of manifestation, one is material
nature, which embodies both the subtle causes and manifests
products of matter. The other is the conscious living
entity, designated as the enjoyer.
Tekst
5
From the
[pradhâna]
material nature became agitated by Me [as
Kâla],
and by the allowing original person, the modes of tamas, rajas
en sattva [the gunas]
manifest.
When
material nature was agitated by My glance, the three
material modes - goodness, passion and ignorance - became
manifest to fulfill the pending desires of the conditioned
souls.
Tekst
6
From
these arose the thread of primeval nature
[the
sûtra]
and in the transformation from the great [the
mahat-tattva]
conjoined with that was generated the identification [of
the purusha
with it as ahankâra
or false ego], which is the cause of
bewilderment.
From
these modes arose the primeval sûtra, along with the
mahat-tattva. By the transformation of the mahat-tattva was
generated the false ego, the cause of the living entities'
bewilderment.
Tekst
7
The I-ness
[ego] of the three categories being of emotion,
brilliance and darkness is in encompassing the sense objects
[tanmâtra],
the senses [indriyas]
and the mind [manas]
the cause of understanding and not understanding [the
so-called conscious and unconscious].
False
ego, which is the cause of physical sensation, the senses,
and the mind, encompasses both spirit and matter and
manifests, in three varieties - in the modes of goodness,
passion and ignorance.
Tekst
8
Out of the
slowness germinated the motives [the substance] and
their sensations, from the brilliance [the vigor, the
passion] sprouted the senses, and the eleven gods arose
from the emotion [or the goodness subject to change, see
deva].
From
false ego in the mode of ignorance came the subtle physical
perceptions, from which the gross elements were generated.
From false ego in the mode of passion came the senses, and
from false ego in the mode of goodness arose the eleven
demigods.
Tekst
9
By
the amalgamation of all elements was the egg of the universe
brought into being functioning as My supreme residence
[see from
11.22:
18].
Impelled
by Me, all these elements combined to function in an orderly
fashion and together gave birth to the universal egg, which
is My excellent place of residence.
Tekst
10
In the water of
the causal ocean I appeared within that egg [as
Nârâyana]
and from My navel arose a lotus known as universal and in that
was there the one selfborn [Brahmâ, see
3.8].
I
Myself appeared within that egg, which was floating on the
causal water, and from My navel arose the universal lotus,
the birthplace of self-born Brahmâ.
Tekst
11
He, the soul of
the universe, by his penance created, endowed with the passion,
by My mercy the different worlds in three called
earth,
the atmosphere and heaven
[bhûh,
bhuvah and svaha], along with its rulers [see
gâyatrî
and loka].
Lord
Brahmâ, the soul of the universe, being endowed with
the mode of passion, performed great austerities by My mercy
and thus created the three planetary divisions, called
Bhûr, Bhuvar and Svar, along with their presiding
deities.
Tekst
12
Heaven
became the home for the demigods, the atmosphere the home for
the ghostly spirits, the earthly places are the home of the
humans and other living beings and the beyond of these three is
for the ones of perfection [siddhaloka].
Heaven
was established as the residence of the demigods, Bhuvarloka
as that of the ghostly spirits, and the earth system as the
place of human beings and other mortal creatures. Those
mystics who strive for liberation are promoted beyond these
three divisions.
Tekst
13
The places
lower to the earth were by the master created as the residence
for the unenlightened and the ones perfect to the ego [the
'snakes', the nâgas];
of those under the influence of the gunas
are the destinations of the three worlds there according all
the types of karma [see B.G. 4:
17,
10.1:
42-43].
Lord
Brahmâ created the region below the earth for the
demons and the Nâga snakes. In this way the
destinations of the three worlds were arranged as the
corresponding reactions for different kinds of work
performed within the three modes of nature.
Tekst
14
By penance,
yoga and even by forsaking [in sannyâsa]
is one of the spotless destinations of mahar,
janas,
tapas
and satya,
but My destination [vaikunthha]
is there by devotional service.
By
mystic yoga, great austerities and the renounced order of
life, the pure destinations of Maharloka, Janoloka, Tapoloka
and Satyaloka are attained. But by devotional yoga, one
achieves My transcendental abode.
Tekst
15
As arranged by
Me, the Supporter, the Self of Time, rises one up and drowns
one in the mighty stream of the modes of this world of being
bound to profitminded labor.
All
results of fruitive work have been arranged within this
world by Me, the supreme creator acting as the force of
time. Thus one sometimes rises up toward the surface of this
mighty river of the modes of nature and sometimes again
submerges.
Tekst
16
Whatever the
small, the great, the thin and the massive one may notice of
the manifestation, is all joined together by both the material
nature and the enjoyer [see also B.G. 18:
16].
Whatever
features visibly exist within this world - small or great,
thin or stout - certainly contain both the material nature
and its enjoyer, the spirit soul.
Tekst
17
Like it is with
common things - as things of gold and articles made of clay -
is a product in the transformation from its beginning to its
middle stage and to its end there for real [as the
'ingredient cause', compare 6.16:
22, 10.87:
15,
11.22:
8].
Gold
and earth are originally existing as ingredients. From gold
one may fashion golden ornaments such as bracelets and
earrings, and from earth one may fashion clay pots and
saucers. The original ingredients gold and earth exist
before the products made from them, and when the products
are eventually destroyed, the original ingredients, gold and
earth, will remain. Thus, since the ingredients are present
in the beginning and at the end, they must also be present
in the middle phase, taking the form of a particular product
to which we assign for convenience a particular name, such
as bracelet, earring, pot or saucer. We can therefore
understand that since the ingredient cause exists before the
creation of a product and after the product's destruction,
the same ingredient cause must be present during the
manifest phase, supporting the product as the basis of its
reality.
Tekst
18
That thing of
which as the previous ingredient cause another thing is
produced as its transformation, is called true when it is there
from the beginning to the end [compare B.G.
2:
13,
2:
16].
A
material object, itself composed of an essential ingredient,
creates another material object through transformation. Thus
one created object becomes the cause and basis of another
created object. A particular thing may thus be called real
in that it possesses the basic nature of another object that
constitutes its origin and final state.
Tekst
19
The
material nature that is the foundation
[âdhâra] of the ingredient cause, the real
that is the Original Person Supreme, and the agitating agent of
Time, these three [kâla, purusha and prakriti]
make up the Absolute Truth [the brahman]
that I am.
The
material universe may be considered real, having nature as
its original ingredient and final state. Lord
Mahâ-Vishnu is the resting place of nature, which
becomes manifest by the power of time. Thus nature, the
almighty Vishnu and time are not different from Me, the
Supreme Absolute Truth.
Tekst
20
For
as long [as I am] looking after, does for the purpose
of the bountiful diversity of life to the modes, the creation
in that sense of parents and children continue to exist
perpetually until the end of its
maintenance
[see also B.G. 3:
24].
As
long as the Supreme Personality of Godhead continues to
glance upon nature, the material world continues to exist,
perpetually manifesting through procreation the great and
variegated flow of universal creation.
Tekst
21
Endowed with
its different planets enabled to display the five gross
elements' their properties, is the universal form, pervaded by
Me epochal manifesting the variety [see
yugas,
manvantaras,
en B.G. 11:
13].
I
am the basis of the universal form, which displays endless
variety through the repeated creation, maintenance and
destruction of the planetary systems. Originally containing
within itself all planets in their dormant state, My
universal form manifests the varieties of created existence
by arranging the coordinated combination of the five
elements.
Tekst
22-27
The mortal
frame is [at the time of annihilation] being merged in
the food, the food in the grains, the grains in the earth and
the earth in the fragrance. The fragrance is being merged in
the water, the water in its quality, that taste in the fire and
the fire in the form. Form is being merged in the touch, the
touch then into the ether, ether in the subtle object of sound
and the senses [of sound etc.] in their sources
[the gods of the sun and moon etc.]. The sources
[as ahankâra
ego of passion] are merged into the emotions [the ego
of goodness], My dearest, and they merge in the mind, the
controller of the sound, which dissolves in the original of the
elements [ego of slowness], and that all powerful
primal elementary merges in the cosmic intelligence
[mahat].
That greater of nature merges in its own modes and they in
their ultimate abode of the unmanifest which becomes merged in
the infallible Time. Time merges in the Individual [the
jîva]
of the Supreme directing the illusory potency and that
individuality merges in Me, the Supreme Self Unborn
[âtmâ],
who, characterized by creation and annihilation, established in
Himself remains alone [see also 3.11:
28,
4.23:
15-18,
11.3:
12-15].
At
the time of annihilation, the mortal body of the living
being becomes merged into food. Food merges into the grains,
and the grains merge back into the earth. The earth merges
into its subtle sensation, fragrance. Fragrance merges into
water, and water further merges into its own quality, taste.
That taste merges into fire, which merges into form. Form
merges into touch, and touch merges into ether. Ether
finally merges into the sensation of sound. The senses all
merge into their own origins, the presiding demigods, and
they, O gentle Uddhava, merge into the controlling mind,
which itself merges into false ego in the mode of goodness.
Sound becomes one with false ego in the mode of ignorance,
and all-powerful false ego, the first of all the physical
elements, merges into the total nature. The total material
nature, the primary repository of the three basic modes,
dissolves into the modes. These modes of nature then merge
into the unmanifest form of nature, and that unmanifest form
merges into time. Time merges into the Supreme Lord, present
in the form of the omniscient Mahâ-purusha, the
original activator of all living beings. That origin of all
life merges into Me, the unborn Supreme Soul, who remains
alone, established within Himself. It is from Him that all
creation and annihilation are manifested.
Tekst
28
How can, just
like the darkness with the sun rising in the sky, this way, of
one carefully examining, the bewilderment of the dual mind
remain in the heart?
Just
as the rising sun removes the darkness of the sky,
similarly, this scientific knowledge of cosmic annihilation
removes all illusory duality from the mind of a serious
student. Even if illusion somehow enters his heart, it
cannot remain there.
Tekst
29
By Me the
Overseer of the Spiritual and Material world, was thus spoken
this sânkhya direction of analysis [see also
3.25-33]
which breaks the bondage of doubts in the going along and going
against the nature of things.
Thus
I, the perfect seer of everything material and spiritual,
have spoken this knowledge of Sânkhya, which destroys
the illusion of doubt by scientific analysis of creation and
annihilation.
