Q. Why does it become so by Karma?
A. By desire and the rest (i.e., the passions).
Q. By what are desire and the rest produced?
A. By egotism.
Q. By what again is egotism produced?
A. By want of right discrimination.
Q. By what is this want of right discrimination produced?
A. By ignorance.
Q. Is ignorance produced by anything?
A. No, by nothing. Ignorance is without beginning and ineffable by
reason of its being the intermingling of the real (sat) and the unreal
(asat.)*** It is a something embodying the three qualities**** and is
said to be opposed to Wisdom, inasmuch as it produces the concept "I am
ignorant." The Sruti says, "(Ignorance) is the power of the Deity and
is enshrouded by its own qualities." *****
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* Chandogya Upanishad.
** This word it is impossible to translate. It means the doing of a
thing for the attainment of an object of worldly desire.
*** This word, as used in Vedantic works, is generally misunderstood. It
does not mean the negation of everything; it means "that which does not
exhibit the truth," the "illusory."
**** Satva (goodness), Rajas (foulness), and Tamas (darkness) are the
three qualities; pleasure, pain and indifference considered as
objective principles.
***** Chandogya Upanishad.
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The origin of pain can thus be traced to ignorance and it will not cease
until ignorance is entirely dispelled, which will be only when the
identity of the Self with Brahma (the Universal Spirit) is fully
realized.* Anticipating the contention that the eternal acts (i.e.,
those enjoined by the Vedas) are proper, and would therefore lead to the
destruction of ignorance, it is said that ignorance cannot be dispelled
by Karma (religious exercises).
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* This portion has been condensed from the original.
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Q. Why is it so?
A. By reason of the absence of logical opposition between ignorance and
act. Therefore it is clear that Ignorance can only be removed by
Wisdom.
Q. How can this Wisdom be acquired?
A. By discussion--by discussing the nature of Spirit and Non-Spirit.
Q. Who are worthy of engaging in such discussion?
A. Those who have acquired the four qualifications.
Q. What are the four qualifications?
A. (1) True discrimination of permanent and impermanent things. (2)
Indifference to the enjoyment of the fruits of one's actions both here
and hereafter. (3) Possession of Sama and the other five qualities.
(4) An intense desire of becoming liberated (from conditional
existence).
(1.) Q. What is the right discrimination of permanent and impermanent
things?
A. Certainty as to the Material Universe being false and illusive, and
Brahman being the only reality.
(2.) Indifference to the enjoyment of the fruits of one's actions in
this world is to have the same amount of disinclination for the
enjoyment of worldly objects of desire (such as garland of flowers,
sandal-wood paste, women and the like) beyond those absolutely necessary
for the preservation of life, as one has for vomited food, &c. The same
amount of disinclination to enjoyment in the society of Rambha, Urvasi,
and other celestial nymphs in the higher spheres of life beginning with
Svarga loka and ending with Brahma loka.*
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* These include the whole range of Rupa loka (the world of forms)
in Buddhistic esoteric philosophy.
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(3) Q. What are the six qualities beginning with Sama?
A. Sama, dama, uparati, titiksha, samadhana and sraddha.
Sama is the repression of the inward sense called Manas--i.e., not
allowing it to engage in any other thing but Sravana (listening to what
the sages say about the Spirit), Manana (reflecting on it), Nididhyasana
(meditating on the same). Dama is the repression of the external
senses.
Q. What are the external senses?
A. The five organs of perception and the five bodily organs for the
performance of external acts. Restraining these from all other things
but sravana and the rest, is dama.
Uparati is the abstaining on principle from engaging in any of the acts
and ceremonies enjoined by the shastras. Otherwise, it is the state of
the mind which is always engaged in Sravana and the rest, without ever
diverging from them.
Titiksha (literally the desire to leave) is the bearing with
indifference all opposites (such as pleasure and pain, heat and cold,
&c.) Otherwise, it is the showing of forbearance to a person one is
capable of punishing.
Whenever a mind, engaged in Sravana and the rest, wanders to any worldly
object of desire, and, finding it worthless, returns to the performance
of the three exercises--such returning is called samadhana.
Sraddha is an intensely strong faith in the utterances of one's guru and
of the Vedanta philosophy.
(4.) An intense desire for liberation is called mumukshatva.
Those who possess these four qualifications, are worthy of engaging in
discussions as to the nature of Spirit and Not-Spirit, and, like
Brahmacharins, they have no other duty (but such discussion). It is
not, however, at all improper for householders to engage in such
discussions; but, on the contrary, such a course is highly meritorious.
For it is said--Whoever, with due reverence, engages in the discussion
of subjects treated of in Vedanta philosophy and does proper service to
his guru, reaps happy fruits. Discussion as to the nature of Spirit and
Not-Spirit is therefore a duty.
Q. What is Spirit?
A. It is that principle which enters into the composition of man and is
not included in the three bodies, and which is distinct from the five
sheaths (Koshas), being sat (existence),* chit (consciousness),** and
ananda (bliss),*** and witness of the three states.
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* This stands for Purusha.
** This stands for Prakriti, cosmic matter, irrespective of the state we
perceive it to be in.
*** Bliss is Maya or Sakti, it is the creative energy producing changes
of state in Prakriti. Says the Sruti (Taittiriya Upanishad): "Verily
from Bliss are all these bhutas (elements) born, and being born by it
they live, and they return and enter into Bliss."
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Q. What are the three bodies?
A. The gross (sthula), the subtile (sukshma), and the causal (karana).
Q. What is the gross body?
A. That which is the effect of the Mahabhutas (primordial subtile
elements) differentiated into the five gross ones (Panchikrita),* is
born of Karma and subject to the six changes beginning with birth.** It
is said:--
What is produced by the (subtile) elements differentiated into the five
gross ones, is acquired by Karma, and is the measure of pleasure and
pain, is called the body (sarira) par excellence.
Q. What is the subtile body?
A. It is the effect of the elements not differentiated into five and
having seventeen characteristic marks (lingas).
Q. What are the seventeen?
A. The five channels of knowledge (Jnanendriyas), the five organs of
action, the five vital airs, beginning with prana, and manas and buddhi.
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* The five subtile elements thus produce the gross ones--each of
the five is divided into eight parts, four of those parts and one
part of each of the others enter into combination, and the result
is the gross element corresponding with the subtile element,
whose parts predominate in the composition.
** These six changes are--birth, death, existence in time, growth,
decay, and undergoing change of substance (parinam) as milk is changed
into whey.
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Q. What are the Jnandendriyas?
A. [Spiritual] Ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose.
Q. What is the ear?
A. That channel of knowledge which transcends the [physical] ear, is
limited by the auricular orifice, on which the akas depends, and which
is capable of taking cognisance of sound.
Q. The skin?
A. That which transcends the skin, on which the skin depends, and which
extends from head to foot, and has the power of perceiving heat and
cold.
Q. The eye?
A. That which transcends the ocular orb, on which the orb depends,
which is situated to the front of the black iris and has the power of
cognising forms.
Q. The tongue?
A. That which transcends the tongue, and can perceive taste.
Q. The nose?
A. That which transcends the nose, and has the power of smelling.
Q. What are the organs of action?
A. The organ of speech (vach), hands, feet, &c.
Q. What is vach?
A. That which transcends speech, in which speech resides, and which is
located in eight different centres* and has the power of speech.
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* The secret commentaries say seven; for it does not separate the lips
into the "upper" and "nether" lips. And, it adds to the seven centres
the seven passages in the head connected with, and affected by, vach--
namely, the mouth, the two eyes, the two nostrils and the two ears.
"The left ear, eye and nostril being the messengers of the right side of
the head; the right ear, eye and nostril, those of the left side." Now
this is purely scientific. The latest discoveries and conclusions of
modern physiology have shown that the power or the faculty of human
speech is located in the third frontal cavity of the left hemisphere of
the brain. On the other hand, it is a well known fact that the nerve
tissues inter-cross each other (decussate) in the brain in such a way
that the motions of our left extremities are governed by the right
hemisphere, while the motions of our right limbs are subject to the left
hemisphere of the brain.
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Q. What are the eight centres?
A. Breast, throat, head, upper and nether lips, palate ligature
(fraenum), binding the tongue to the lower jaw and tongue.
Q. What is the organ of the hands?
A. That which transcends the hands, on which the palms depend, and
which has the power of giving and taking.... (The other organs are
similarly described.)