A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1Dasgupta, Surendranath
Religion
A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1
Dasgupta, Surendranath
Hindu philosophy; India -- Religion
the state of mok@sa comes about. Various kinds of moral endeavours
in the shape of association with good people, abandoning
of desires, determined attempts at discovering the truth with fixed
attention, are spoken of as indispensable means. Truth (tattva)
thus discovered should be recalled again and again [Footnote ref 1] and
this will ultimately effect the disunion of the body with the self.
As the self is avyakta (unmanifested) and has no specific nature or
character, this state can only be described as absolute cessation
(_mok@se niv@rttirni@hs'e@sâ_).
The main features of the Sâ@mkhya doctrine as given by Caraka
are thus: 1. Puru@sa is the state of avyakta. 2. By a conglomera
of this avyakta with its later products a conglomeration is formed
which generates the so-called living being. 3. The tanmâtras are
not mentioned. 4. Rajas and tamas represent the bad states of
the mind and sattva the good ones. 5. The ultimate state of
emancipation is either absolute annihilation or characterless absolute
existence and it is spoken of as the Brahman state; there is
no consciousness in this state, for consciousness is due to the
conglomeration of the self with its evolutes, buddhi, aha@mkâra etc.
6. The senses are formed of matter (_bhautika_).
This account of Sâ@mkhya agrees with the system of Sâ@mkhya
propounded by Pañcas'ikha (who is said to be the direct pupil of
Âsuri the pupil of Kapila, the founder of the system) in the
Mahâbhârata XII. 219. Pañcas'ikha of course does not describe
the system as elaborately as Caraka does. But even from what
little he says it may be supposed that the system of Sâ@mkhya
he sketches is the same as that of Caraka [Footnote ref 2]. Pañcas'ikha
speaks of the ultimate truth as being avyakta (a term applied in all
Sâ@mkhya literature to prak@rti) in the state of puru@sa
(_purusâvasthamavyaktam_). If man is the product of a mere combination
of the different elements, then one may assume that all ceases
with death. Caraka in answer to such an objection introduces a
discussion, in which he tries to establish the existence of a self as
the postulate of all our duties and sense of moral responsibility.
The same discussion occurs in Pañcas'ikha also, and the proofs
____________________________________________________________________
[Footnote 1: Four causes are spoken of here as being causes of memory:
(1) Thinking of the cause leads to the remembering of the effect,
(2) by similarity, (3) by opposite things, and (4) by acute attempt to
remember.]
[Footnote 2: Some European scholars have experienced great difficulty
in accepting Pañcas'ikha's doctrine as a genuine Sâ@mkhya doctrine.
This may probably be due to the fact that the Sâ@mkhya doctrines sketched
in _Caraka_ did not attract their notice.]
217
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