The Samkhya Catechism - Part 5

Q37: What is the constituent cause of the internal and external faculties? What is its nature?


A37: Ahamkara or the mutative ego is the constituent cause. It is also known as abhimana or asmita. Ahamkara stands for varies mutations of the I-sense. Feelings like me, mine, etc. are the characteristics of the mutative ego.


Q38: What is the evolving cause of ahamkara?


A38: It has been said before that ahamkara or mutative ego is nothing but mutation of the I-sense. Therefore pure I-sense shorn of its varied mutation should be the cause of ahamkara. Pure I-sense in establishing relations with the non-self, changes itself into ahamkara as 'I am this or that' or 'I am the Knower', etc. Pure I-sense not engrossed  in feelings like 'me' and 'mine' is variously called mahat-tattva, mahan-atma, asmita-matra or asmiti-matra.


Q39: What is the constituent cause of mahat-tattva?


A39: Pradhana or the unmanifest is its constituent cause. It is also known as mula prakrti or traigunya. Terms like unmanifest (avyakta) and indiscrete (avyakrta) are also used to indicate the different aspects of pradhana.


Q40: What is really pradhana and why is it the cause of the phenomenal world?


A40: Pradhana is nothing the three gunas, viz. sentient sattva, mutative rajas and retentive tamas. (gunas here do not mean characteristics but they are the constituents, more like three strings intertwined.)
These three gunas are present in every object of the phenomenal world, i.e. in the mahat and all the other principles that are its derivatives. All physical and mental phenomena like sound, light, volition, imagination etc. when analysed, are found to be in a state of flux, i.e. they are by nature mutative. This trait of theirs is rajas or the mutative principle. We cannot speak of a change unless it becomes known or is detected by us. That is, whevever we speak of a change we must refer to a 'thing' that changes. The aspect of 'knowing' a thing represents sattva or the sentient principle. It is to be noted  that this 'knowing' or prakasa or sattva, the sentient principle, is conditioned knowing as distinguished from the absolute Awareness, known as the Svaprakasa or Purusa. Sattva is appearance of the object as knowable when associated with the absolute Knower. Again, every form of mutation or activity is always preceded and followed by a potential state without which activity is inconceivable. This state represents tamas or the retentive principle. It is opposed to the activity of rajas and it obscures the knowing aspect of sattva. Inertia is the physical world and insentience in the mental are evidences of tamas. If we analyse any object whether physical or mental we find that it is always changing from one state to another (krya or rajas), that these changes are being known (prakasa or sattva) by the Knower and that the activity that produces these changes lies conserved (sthiti or tamas) before and after every mutation. Thus knowing or sattva, mutation or rajas and inertness or tamas, which is opposed to both knowing and mutation, are the three principles that underlie everything known from the mahat down to the bhutas.
Different gold ornaments are said to be made of the same material because the properties of gold are found in every one of them. In the same manner the three gunas are collectively the constituent cause of the phenomenal world because in every phenomenon we find these and only these three principles, viz. sattva, rajas and tamas (sentience, mutation and stasis).
This can be explained in another manner. We know that there is some action behind each stimulation of our sense-organs. We cannot conceive of anything which may be the cause of this primal activity for sound, colour, hardness, etc. are all sensations derived from that activity. Therefore, activity is the entity at the back of all phenomena. Another fact we know is that activity is followed by sensation or appearance. So we have to conclude that there is principle of sentience. Activity and sensation without inertia and obscureness are, however, inconceivable. So we have to admit the existence of a conservation or static principle as well. There being nothing more to be known about the ultimate consititution of subjective and objective phenomena, these three are considered by Samkhyas as primary constituent principles.


Q41: What is the nature of pradhana?


A41: Pradhana is the ultimate material cause of all manifestations. Since it is the cause of all concepts like space, time, etc. pradhana like the Seer is neither spatial nor temporal. It is infinite, being the cause of this limitless universe. It is unitary, since as a knowable it is common to all Knowers. It is the aggregate of the three gunas. Being parts of the infinite pradhana, each of the three gunas in infinite. Pradhana is nothing but the three gunas in equilibrium.
The three gunas, being integral parts of the pradhana, are conjoint together and are never separated. What exists as latent energy (tamas) mutates (rajas) and on mutation becomes manifest (sattva). Hence separation or dissociation of any one  of the gunas from the other two is inconceivable, consciousness that is felt exists in the Seer. Pradhana is a knowable and opposite to the Seer, hence it is insentient.


Q42: In what different states does pradhana exist?


A42: Pradhana has two states - manifest and unmanifest. That which can be perceived by the senses or the mind is manifest, while  that which cannot be so perceived is unmanifest. Mahat and twenty-two principles evolved from it constitute the manifest state. When they disappear, they pass on to the latent state which is unmanifest. In the unmanifest state, the three gunas are in equilibrium; their disequilibrium occurs in the manifest state.


Q43: What is pradhana unmanifest when the three gunas are in equilibrium?


A43: When sentience equals insentience or mutation equals inertia, they cancel each other and there is no manifestation. It is like a rope kept immobile by pulling it with equal and opposite forces from its two ends. The forces though acting  will not discernible. Disequilibrium of the gunas is discernible in all manifest objects. Their equilibrium constitutes the unmanifest state.


Q44: How does manifestation ensue from disequilibrium of the gunas?


A44: Association of the self-luminous conscious Seer with insentient pradhana makes the latter sentient to a degree. In the first evolute of the primal association viz. buddhi there is, therefore, a surfeit of sentience which is disequilibrium of the gunas with predominance of sattva. Disequilibrium with rajas predominating consists in the mutation of buddhi - its disappearance and reappearance. With tamas predominating it consists in the existence of a thing in a dormant state, as latent impression.


Q45: Since when has this manifested state been in existence?


A45: It is existing from time without beginning. The Seer and pradhana, both being eternal entities, have been existing from time without beginning. The contact between them causes the gunas to lose their equilibrium. The cause of the contact is wrong cognition which could not have taken place all of a sudden. Cause of the contact must have been existing from eternity.

The Samkhya Catechism - Part 4

Q31: What are the pranas or the vital energies?


A31: The pranas are likewise faculties of the ego. They are five in number: prana, udana, vyana, apana and samana. They help in building the vital internal organs like the heart, the lungs and the kidneys, through which the pranas perform the three-fold function of maintaining the body viz. its build up, growth and sustenance. Since they also assist in the functioning of the sense-organs and the organs of action, the pranas are generally considered as being included in the two.


Q32: What is the nature of the mind?


A32: The mind is said to have two parts, one is called chitta and the other manas. The inner faculty which is directly related to the sense- organs and the organs of voluntary and involuntary action, and in fact rules over them as a master does over his servants is manas. The indriyas cannot perform their respective functions without the aid of manas. This is why when we are inattentive we cannot cognize any external object nor can we do any work.
Chitta is the seat of all conceptual and perceptual ideas and their samskaras (or latencies) while the aforesaid manas is the seat of samkalpana. Samkalpana includes volition, imagination and physical conation or krti. Willing is impossible without imagination. We cannot wish to go to a certain place without first visualizing it. After volition the manas comes down to the external organs and performs the desired work which is krti or physical conation. But imagination must be preceded by previous knowledge of the objects. So it requires samskaras or subliminal impressions (of previous cognitions) as well as recollection or smrti. Thus these are the functions of chitta.
Chitta and manas are used in many places to convey the same meaning.According to its functions (which are cognition, conation and retention) the mind is also divided into three parts: (1) chitta-vrtti or the various cognitions, (2) manas with its samkalpana or conation and (3) hrdaya or the store-house of all subliminal impressions.


Q33: What are the chitta-vrttis and how many are they?


A33: Chitta-vrttis are the cognized and modifications of the mind. They may be classified under five heads, viz. pramana or cognition or real objects, viparyaya or misapprehension (viparyaya is not merely misconception for it is misperception as well), vikalpa or vague conception by mere words without any real basis (such as negative terms and unreal predicative relations. Vikalpa is not imagination nor 'predicative relations', but it is the vague notion about unreal predicative relations of which it is not possible to form a mental image), nidra or the sleep-sense and smrti or recollection. A detailed account of the chitta-vrttis is to be found in the Yoga-sutras. Besides chitta-vrttis there is the samskara part of the mind.


Q34: What are samskaras or latencies?


A34: Every form of knowing whether conceptual or perceptual or a simple sensation leaves an impression on the mind and that subliminal impression which lies latent in the mind id called samskara. The impressions of cognitions are formed directly while the impressions of actions are effected by the sensations of the actions and are called the karma-samskaras. Thus is the three functions of the mind, sentience is dominant in cognition, activity in conation, and insentience in retention or subliminal conservation (sthiti) or both cognition and conation which thus become samskaras.


Q35: Which is the constituent cause of the mind?


A35: Like the other faculties, the mind also originates from the mutative ego. Feelings like 'I am the Knower' or 'I am possessed of the power of knowing and willing' are experienced by one and all. Every cognition as well as every mental activity like volition, imagination etc. is nothing but a modification of the ego. Cognition is that inner change or mutation of the ego in which sentience is dominant; where activity is dominant the change is known as conation while that change of the ego in which retention is dominant is known as samskara or the latency of the mind.

The Samkhya Catechism - Part 3

Q22: Very well; still if the Knowers are numerous how is it that each of them is infinite? If a room is filled by ten articles of the same size, each article will occupy one tenth of the room. Why will not the same logic apply to the case of Knowers as well ?

A22: Had the Knower been a spatial object then it would have been so, for the logic is applicable only to objects occupying space and not to others, such as cognition. For example, if ten persons standing together see an object, each of them will see not one tenth but the whole of it. Similarly the Knowers, though numerous, are not finite like spatial object. Apart from spatial objects there are temporal objects which likewise exist successively, i.e. they exist in successive moments of time. Thoughts exist in time and they limit one another by their sequence, i.e. by the break of one thought and the emergence of the next. But the absolute Knower being immutable is not a temporal object, and is only Consciousness which is singular, infinite and countless.

Q23: Notwithstanding all that has been said about the Self, how can it proved that a separate Seer exists?

A23: The answer to this question can be understood only after one has formed an idea of the knowable or drsya. (See Ans to Q50)

Q24: Into how many tattvas or principles is drsya classified and what are they?

A24: The principles are twenty-four in number. They are they five gross elemental principles viz. (1) ksiti (substratum of the property of smell) , (2) ap (substratum of the property of taste), (3) tejas (substratum of the property of light), (4) vayu (substratum of the property of touch) and (5) akasa (substratum of the property of sound); the five subtle monads (tanmatras) viz., (6) gandha tanmatra or the smell monad, (7) rasa tanmatra or the taste monad, (8) rupa tanmatra  or the light monad, (9) sparsa tanmatra or the thermal monad and (10) sabda tanmatra or the sound monad; the five organs of action viz. (11) vak or vocal organ, (12) pani or the organ of manual organ, (13) pada or the organ of locomotion, (14) payu or the excremental organ and (15) upastha or the genital organ; the five sense organs viz. (16) karna or the auditory sense, (17) tvak or the thermal sense, (18) chaksu or the visual sense, (19) jihva or the gustatory sense and (20) nasa or the olfactory sense; (21) manas or the mind; (22) ahamkara or the mutative ego; (23) mahat or buddhi-tattva or the pure I-sense and (24) prakrti or pradhana or the gunas which are different names of the ultimate constituent cause of all the above twenty-three principles.

These twenty-four principles and the (25) Knower Absolute beyond them make up the twenty-five principles of the Samkhyas.

Q25: How do we define bhutas or the five gross (1 to 5 in Ans 24) elemental principles?

A25: What we know of the external world through the five sense-organs are the five gross elements or bhutas. Objects endowed with qualities of sound, touch, form, taste and smell and exciting similar sensations in the five sense-organs are the five gross elements. Sound is the distinguishing  mark of akasa, thermal sensation of vayu, visibility of tejas, taste of ap, while smell is the characteristic of ksiti element. It should be noted that these words are used here in a special sense and do not mean the ordinary earth, water, etc. In the latter, all five bhutas are present together and hence they are called the bhautikas. The bhautikas are the objects of all the indriyas (i.e. sense-organs, organs of actions and vital energies) whereas bhutas are the objects of sense-organs only and are sense-data.

Q26: What are the tanmatras or subtle monads?

A26: Tanmatra means 'only that', i.e. the undiversified subtlest sensation of a gross element received by the sense-organs. Characteristics like the gross sound, touch, etc. are the aggregates of their subtle ones. The five tanmatras are therefore the constituents of the five gross elements of bhutas. the tanmatras are so subtle that diversities like different notes of octave, heat, cold, blueness, yellowness, etc. that are discerned in the bhutas are not found in them. It is this diversity in gross elements that produces feelings of pleasure or pain or stupor in us. According to our predilections and depending on external circumstances, certain sounds, sights, etc. appear as agreeable or disagreeable to us. Since no such diversity exists in tanmatras or subtle monads, they produce neither feelings of good or bad nor of pleasure or pain in us. That is why they are called avisesa or the undiversified.

Q27: How are the indriyas (sense-organs and organs of action) formed?

A27: Our mutative ego (abhimana) by dint of its latent energy appropriates to itself the five gross elements for building up three sets of organs or indriyas. Sentience is the dominating characteristic of sense-organs, mutation of organs of action and retentiveness of the vital energies or pranas.

Q28: How many classes of indriyas are there?

A28: There are broadly two classes: external and internal. Sense-organs, organs of action along with the pranas are the external organs. Mind is the internal organ.

Q29: How and of what are the sense-organs made?

A29: We can clearly see that the ears, eyes, etc. are physically formed out of conglomeration of the five bhutas, organized or arranged in such a way that they serve as instruments for receiving and perceiving sound etc. The powers which arrange or organize the bhutas and not the visible external organs are the real indriyas. Now the question arises as to the source of these powers. The ego is obviously the source as otherwise we could not have the feelings behind the expressions 'my ear' or 'I am endowed with the power of hearing'. So the sense-organs are nothing but modifications of the mutative ego. In other words, when the conglomeration of bhutas  or the external materials are so arranged by asmita or the mutative ego that it can receive and reveal sound etc. they can be said to have constituted the sense-organs. Through the five sense-organs we perceive respectively sound, temperature, light, taste and smell.

Q30: What is the real nature of the organs of action?

A30: Like the sense-organs and for the same reason, they are also modifications of the mutative ego. The specific powers that organize the parts of the body where voluntary action is dominant like the hands, the legs, etc. are the real organs of action and not the limbs of the body. Their functions are manipulation, locomotion, etc. which are all done of one's own volition.

The Samkhya Catechism - Part 2

Q18: Why is the Knower infinite?

A18: Absolute Knower is self-illumined Self. There being no other perception, such perception of Self is necessarily infinite.

Q19: Is there only one Drasta or are there many?

A19: There are countless living beings, each of them having a separate and distinct Knower as the illuminating cause of its ego. So we cannot but infer that Drastas are countless. But all of them are entirely similar inasmuch as all of them are beyond space and time.

Q20: What wrong is there in holding the view that there are no separate Drastas or Seers but there is only one absolute Knower abiding in all living beings?

A20: Mere assertion will be of no avail unless it is based on reason. What is actually perceived by all of us cannot be negated by someone's statement to the contrary. A counter question may be posed by asking if there is any rational basis for believing that there is one and only one absolute Knower behind all living beings?

Q21: Admittedly there is no rational basis for such a belief; yet the scriptures say. 'Brahma or Atman (Self) is one and one alone without a second!' The Mayavadin interprets the passage as supporting the view that one and only one self exists. How do you say that this view is fallacious?

A21: Only the Mayavadin says that Atman is one and only one  while the followers of all other systems of Indian philosophy do not. Thus you cannot establish it if you proceed by interpreting the scriptures according to your own light only.

In fact there is no reason whatsoever to support the view that only one Seer abides in many living beings. Each of us feels the existence of a Seer behind all mental perceptions. At any particular moment there arises only a single item of cognition in our mind. We never feel that we are cognizing several items simultaneously. It is therefore impossible to conceive of a Knower as the cognizer at the same moment of many items (e.g. I am seeing red color, I am seeing blue color, I am doing this, I am doing that, etc.). It is contrary to what we directly perceive.

To hold the view that there is only one knower common to all living beings one has to assume something which is in fact inconceivable, i.e. a Knower cognizing many items simultaneously. We admit the existence even of things which are beyond our imagination, if their existence is justifiable by reasoning, such as the existence of potential energy. But the view that there is only one Knower common to all living beings is not supported by evidence of any kind. Hence it should be rejected. Supporters of the view try to explain their stand by citing the example of the appearance of the sun as many through reflection in different surfaces of water. Such example equates the Seer with a spatial object which is absurd.

The Samkhya Catechism - Part 1

Q1: How do we define Samkhya doctrine?


A1: The system of philosophy that comprehensively categorises and explains the constituent principles or the tattvas constituting or causing the universe is called Samkhya. Since it enables the initiate to realize santa Brahma or the Self without attributes, it is also called santa Brahma vidya. Yoga, being the means whereby the tattvas can be directly apprehended, is included in Samkhya.


Q2: Who propounded the Samkhya-yoga philosophy?


A2: It was propounded by the great rsi or sage Kapila. Rsi(Sage) Kapila was born with supreme knowledge, virtues, spirit of non-attachment and super-normal powers acquired in his previous birth. He realized the ultimate reality without the help of any human teacher and propagated his doctrine after directly apprehending  the tattvas through samadhi.


Q3: What is the distinguishing feature of Samkhya?


A3: The distinguishing feature of Samkhya is that its tenets are based on reason and do not require  any blind faith for their  acceptance. The tattvas or the constituent principles are not mere abstract concepts but are entities that really exist and can be directly apprehended. Since Kapila, the first enlightened and the greatest of all rsis preached the doctrine after realizing  the tattvas himself, its authenticity is fully established.


Q4: What is its message?


A4: Cessation of all miseries, which are of three kinds, for all time to come is kaivalya moksa or liberation. It is parama purusartha or the highest goal of all living beings. Samkhya, in a practical and rational manner, indicates the means by which that state can be attained.


Q5: What are the purusarthas or aims?


A5: Broadly speaking, the aims or objectives are two in number, bhoga and apavarga. Bhoga means  experience of pleasure and pain; pleasure derived from getting the objects of desire, here and hereafter; and pain experienced  from coming in contact with the objects that are not wished for. Of the two, pleasure is the bhoga that is longed for, while pain is inevitably associated with it. Complete emancipation from three-fold misery is liberation or apavarga. Almost all living beings long for bhoga, very few aspire for apavarga.


Q6: What are the three kinds of misery?


A6: They are adhyatmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika. Pain arising from particular states of the body and mind, i.e. from what we consider as parts of our own being is adhyatmika. Pain caused by other living beings (e.g. snake, man, etc.) is adhibhautika, while pain which results from the unforseen external causes, such as earthquake, drought, etc. is adhidaivika.


Q7: How can we get rid of those miseries?


A7: We must first ascertain the root cause of all pain (which is avidya) and know the means (which is knowledge of self as distinct from non-self) whereby the root cause can be eradicated. Elimination of all miseries by such means leads to attainment of liberation. That is kaivalya or nirvana moksa.


Q8: What is the root cause of all sufferings?


A8: The basic cause is avidya (ignorance or wrong knowledge) or nescience 


Q9: What is avidya and what are its types?


A9: Avidya is the misapprehension or wrong cognition. From the point of view of attainment of liberation, avidya is divided into four klesas or afflictions: Asmita (identification of the non-self as Self), raga (attachment), dvesa (aversion) and abhinivesa (fear).


Q10: How does avidya cause pain or suffering?


A10: It is not difficult to visualize that attachment, aversion and fear cause endless miseries. Although Self, the absolute Knower, and the non-self, the knowable, are distinct and separate entities, their incorrect identification as one and the same is asmita, which is the root cause of misery. For, by it the knowable misery gets associated with the Knower and becomes known. Asmita generates feelings like  'I am such and such' or 'I have this and that'. All our sufferings are due to either to our lack of knowledge that attachment, aversion, asmita, etc. are the root causes of all miseries, or to our failure to live up to this truth even after it has been apprehended.


Q11: What are the meant by the term Drasta and drsya?


A11: Drasta is the principle which is at the root of all knowing; the knowable becomes manifest when it comes into contact with Drasta. Drsya is what becomes known.


Q12: What is the real nature of the absolute knower?


A12: Drasta is immutable and unconditioned Awareness. It is also called Chaitanya, Chit, Purusa, Atma, Drksakti, Jna, Svaprakasa, etc.


Q13: What are meant by Chit, Chaitanya, etc.?


A13: All these terms signify auto-science, i.e. Self knowing Self independently of anything else.


Q14: What is Drasta immutable?


A14: That which remains the same at all times and does not  change from one state to another is immutable. Absolute Knower is always the knower and cannot be conceived as becoming non-knower. Hence it is immutable.


Q15: What are the characteristics of Drasta?


A15: Drasta, the absolute Knower, is beyond time and space which are knowable. He is infinite and always abides in Himself. He is beyond mind and is the knower of the mind's quiescent as well as active states. The mind mutates but the knower remains immutable.


Q16: What are the objects with temporal and spatial attributes?


A16: Things having dimensions like length, breadth and thickness, and occupying space are spatial objects. All external objects are spatial. Things such as action, mental fluctuations, etc. whose attributes appear and disappear in time alone, are called temporal objects. Both spatial and temporal objects are aggregates of several parts and are capable of being reduced to their constituents and therefore mutable. Drasta has no physical form which can be described as big or small, all-pervasive or occupying a small space. Our knowledge or time is derived from succession of modifications or mutations. Abiding in Himself Drasta is immutable and therefore does not exist in time.


Q17: Why so? We generally speak of Drasta as abiding in us or as existing from eternity. These being spatial and temporal attributes, how is it that He is beyond time and space?


A17: We impute the above attributes to Drasta because we can conceive of Him only in terms of knowable. But Drasta is really not so. What remains after the complete cessation of all mental fluctuations, beyond all knowledge of space and time, is Drasta the self-illumined Entity.


Drasta is the Knower or the reflector of buddhi. Buddhi or pure I-sense resides in the body of every living being; which makes us wrongly regard Drasta as also abiding in us. To think of Drasta who is beyond time and space, as existing in this place or that is patently absurd.