The Sânkhya-system, moreover, labours from many internal contradictions.--
The Sânkhyas hold that while Prakriti is for the sake of another and the
object of knowledge and fruition, the soul is independent, an enjoying
and knowing agent, and conscious of Prakriti; that the soul reaches
isolation through the instrumentality of Prakriti only, and that as its
nature is pure, permanent, unchanging consciousness, absence of all
activity and isolation belong to that nature; that for this reason the
accomplishing of the means of bondage and release and of release belong
to Prakriti only; and that, owing to Prakriti's proximity to the
unchanging non-active soul, Prakriti, by a process of mutual
superimposition (adhyâsa), works towards the creation of a world and
subserves the purposes of the soul's fruition and emancipation.--'Since
the aggregate of things is for the sake of another; since there is an
opposite of the three gunas and the rest; since there is superintendence;
since there is an experiencing subject; and since there is activity for
the sake of isolation; the soul exists' (Sânkhya Kâ. 17); 'And from that
contrast the soul is proved to be a witness, isolated, neutral,
cognising and inactive' (18).--And after having stated that the activity
of the Pradhâna is for the purpose of the release of the Self, the text
says, 'therefore no (soul) is either bound or released, nor does it
migrate; it is Prakriti which, abiding in various beings, is bound and
released and migrates' (62). And 'From this connexion therewith (i.e.
with the soul) the non-intelligent appears as intelligent; and although
all agency belongs to the gunas, the indifferent (soul) becomes an agent.
In order that the soul may know the Pradhâna and become isolated, the
connexion of the two takes place like that of the lame and the blind;
and thence creation springs' (20, 21).--Now to that which is eternally
unchanging, non-active and isolated, the attributes of being a witness
and an enjoying and cognising agent can in no way belong. Nor also can
such a being be subject to error resting on superimposition; for error
and superimposition both are of the nature of change. And, on the other
hand, they also cannot belong to Prakriti, since they are attributes of
intelligent beings. For by superimposition we understand the attribution,
on the part of an intelligent being, of the qualities of one thing to
another thing; and this is the doing of an intelligent being, and
moreover a change. Nor is it possible that superimposition and the like
should take place in the soul only if it is in approximation to Prakriti.--
They may take place just on account of the non-changing nature of the
soul!--Then, we reply, they would take place permanently. And that mere
proximity has no effective power we have already shown under II, 1, 4.
And if it is maintained that it is Prakriti only that migrates, is bound
and released, how then can she be said to benefit the soul, which is
eternally released? That she does so the Sânkhyas distinctly assert, 'By
manifold means Prakriti, helpful and endowed with the gunas, without any
benefit to herself, accomplishes the purpose of the soul, which is
thankless and not composed of the gunas' (Sânkhya Kâ. 60).--The Sânkhyas
further teach that Prakriti, on being seen by any soul in her true
nature, at once retires from that soul--'As a dancer having exhibited
herself on the stage withdraws from the soul, so Prakriti withdraws from
the soul when she has manifested herself to it' (59); 'My opinion is
that there exists nothing more sensitive than Prakriti, who knowing "I
have been seen" does not again show itself to the soul' (61). But this
doctrine also is inappropriate. For, as the soul is eternally released
and above all change, it never sees Prakriti, nor does it attribute to
itself her qualities; and Prakriti herself does not see herself since
she is of non-intelligent nature; nor can she wrongly impute to herself
the soul's seeing of itself as her own seeing of herself, for she
herself is non-intelligent and the soul is incapable of that change
which consists in seeing or knowing.--Let it then be said that the
'seeing' means nothing more than the proximity of Prakriti to the soul!--
But this also does not help you; for, as said above, from that there
would follow eternal seeing, since the two are in eternal proximity.
Moreover, the ever unchanging soul is not capable of an approximation
which does not form an element of its unchanging nature.--Moreover, if
you define the seeing as mere proximity and declare this to be the cause
of Release, we point out that it equally is the cause of bondage--so
that bondage and release would both be permanent.--Let it then be said
that what causes bondage is wrong seeing--while intuition of the true
nature of things is the cause of Release!--But as both these kinds of
seeing are nothing but proximity, it would follow that both take place
permanently. And if, on the other hand, the proximity of Soul and
Prakriti were held not to be permanent, then the cause of such proximity
would have to be assigned, and again the cause of that, and so on _ad
infinitum_.--Let us then, to escape from these difficulties, define
proximity as nothing more than the true nature of soul and Prakriti!--As
the true nature is permanent, we reply, it would follow therefrom that
bondage and release would be alike permanent.--On account of all these
contradictory views the system of the Sânkhyas is untenable.
We finally remark that the arguments here set forth by us at the same
time prove the untenableness of the view of those who teach that there
is an eternally unchanging Brahman whose nature is pure, non-differenced
intelligence, and which by being conscious of Nescience experiences
unreal bondage and release. For those philosophers can show no more than
the Sânkhyas do how their Brahman can be conscious of Nescience, can be
subject to adhyâsa, and so on. There is, however, the following
difference between the two theories. The Sânkhyas, in order to account
for the definite individual distribution of birth, death, and so on,
assume a plurality of souls. The Vedântins, on the other hand, do not
allow even so much, and their doctrine is thus all the more irrational.
The assertion that there is a difference (in favour of the Vedântins)
between the two doctrines, in so far as the Vedântins hold Prakriti to
be something unreal, while the Sânkhyas consider it to be real, is
unfounded; for pure, homogeneous intelligence, eternally non-changing,
cannot possibly be conscious of anything different from itself, whether
it be unreal or real. And if that thing is held to be unreal, there
arise further difficulties, owing to its having to be viewed as the
object of knowledge, of refutation, and so on.