"'Yudhishthira said, "O king thou hast duly propounded unto me, in the way
in which it should be, the path of Yoga which is approved by the wise,
after the manner of a loving preceptor unto his pupil. I ask now about
the principles of the Sankhya philosophy. Do thou discourse to me on
those principles in their entirety. Whatever knowledge exists in the
three worlds is known to thee!"
"'Bhishma said, "Listen now to what the subtile principles are of the
followers of the Sankhya doctrine have been established by all the great
and puissant Yatis having Kapila their first. In that doctrine O chief of
men, no errors are discoverable. Many, indeed, are its merits. In fact,
there is no fault in it. Comprehending with the aid of knowledge that all
objects exist with faults, indeed, understanding that the objects--so
difficult to cast off--with which human beings and Pisachas and Rakshasas
and Yakshas and snakes and Gandharvas and pitris and those that are
wandering in the intermediate orders of beings (such as birds and
animals) and great birds (such as Garuda and others) and the Maruts and
royal sages and regenerate sages and Asuras and Viswedevas and the
celestial Rishis and Yogins invested with supreme puissance and the
Prajapatis and Brahman himself are engaged, and understanding truly what
the highest limit is of one's period of existence in this world, and
apprehending also the great truth, O foremost of eloquent men, about what
is called felicity here, having a clear knowledge of what the sorrows are
that overtake when the hour comes all those that are concerned with
(transitory) objects and knowing full well the sorrows of those that have
fallen into the intermediate orders of being and of those that have sunk
into hell, perceiving all the merits and all the faults of heaven, O
Bharta, and all the demerits that attach to the declarations of the Vedas
and all the excellencies that are connected with them recognising the
faults and merits of the Yoga and the Sankhya systems of philosophy,
realizing also that the quality of Sattwa has ten properties, that of
Rajas has nine, and that of Tamas has eight, that the Understanding has
seven properties, the Mind has six, and Space has five, and once more
conceiving that the Understanding has four properties and Tamas has
three, and the Rajas has two and Sattwa has one, and truly apprehending
the path that is followed by all objects when destruction overtakes them
and what the course is of self knowledge, the Sankhyas, possessed of
knowledge and experience and exalted by their perceptions of causes, and
acquiring thorough auspiciousness, attain to the felicity of Emancipation
like the rays of the Sun, or the Wind taking refuge in Space.[1585]
Vision is attached to form, the sense of scent to smell, the ear to
sound, the tongue to juices, and the skin (or body) to touch. The wind
has for its refuge Space. Stupefaction has Tamas (Darkness) for its
refuge. Cupidity has the objects of the senses for its refuge. Vishnu is
attached to (the organs of) motion. Sakra is attached to (the organs of)
strength. The deity of fire is attached to the stomach, Earth is attached
to the Waters. The Waters have Heat (or fire) for their refuge. Heat
attaches itself to the Wind; and the wind has Space for its refuge; and
Space has Mahat for its refuge, and Mahat has the Understanding for its
foundation. The Understanding has its refuge in Tamas; Tamas has Rajas
for its refuge; Rajas is founded upon Sattwa; and Sattwa is attached to
the Soul. The soul has the glorious and puissant Narayana for its refuge.
That glorious deity has Emancipation for his refuge. Emancipation is
independent of all refuge. Knowing that this body, that is endued with
six and ten possessions, is the result of the quality of Sattwa,
understanding fully the nature of the physical organism and the character
of the Chetana that dwells within it, recognising the one existent Being
that lives in the body viz., the Soul, which stands aloof from every
concern of the body and in which no sin can attach, realising the nature
of that second object, viz., the acts of persons attached to the objects
of the senses, understanding also the character of the senses and the
sensual objects which have their refuge in the Soul, appreciating the
difficulty of Emancipation and the scriptures that bear upon it knowing
fully the nature of the vital breaths called Prana, Apana, Samana, Vyana,
and Udana, as also the two other breaths, viz., the one going downward
and the other moving upward, indeed, knowing those seven breaths ordained
to accomplish seven different functions, ascertaining the nature of the
Prajapatis and the Rishis and the high paths, many in number, of virtue
or righteousness, and the seven Rishis and the innumerable royal Rishis,
O scorcher of foes, and the great celestial Rishis and the other
regenerate Rishis endued with the effulgence of the Sun, beholding all
these falling away from their puissance in course of many long ages, O
monarch, hearing of the destruction of even of all the mighty beings in
the universe, understanding also the inauspicious end that is attained, O
king, by creatures of sinful acts, and the miseries endured by those that
fall into the river Vaitarani in the realms of Yama, and the inauspicious
wanderings of creatures through diverse wombs, and the character of their
residence in the unholy uterus in the midst of blood and water and phlegm
and urine and faeces, all of foul smell, and then in bodies that result
from the union of blood and the vital seed, of marrow and sinews,
abounding with hundreds of nerves and arteries and forming an impure
mansion of nine doors, comprehending also what is for his own good, what
those divers combinations are which are productive of good, beholding the
abominable conduct of creatures whose natures are characterised by
Darkness or Passion or Goodness, O chief of Bharata's race--conduct that
is reprehended, in view of its incapacity to acquire Emancipation, by the
followers of the Sankhya doctrine who are fully conversant with the Soul,
beholding the swallowing up of the Moon and the Sun by Rahu, the falling
of stars from their fixed positions and the diversions of constellations
from their orbits, knowing the sad separation of all united objects and
the diabolical behaviour of creatures in devouring one another, seeing
the absence of all intelligence in the infancy of human beings and the
deterioration and destruction of the body, marking the little attachment
creatures have to the quality of Sattwa in consequence of their being
overwhelmed by wrath and stupefaction, beholding also only one among
thousands of human beings resolved to struggle after the acquisition of
Emancipation, understanding the difficulty of attaining to Emancipation
according to what is stated in the scriptures, seeing the marked
solicitude that creatures manifest for all unattained objects and their
comparative indifference to all objects that have been attained, marking
the wickedness that results from all objects of the senses, O king, and the
repulsive bodies, O son of Kunti, of persons reft of life, and the
residence, always fraught with grief, of human beings, O Bharata, in
houses (in the midst of spouses and children), knowing the end of those
terrible and fallen men who become guilty of slaying Brahmanas, and of
those wicked Brahmanas that are addicted to the drinking of alcoholic
stimulants, and the equally sad end of those that become criminally
attached to the spouses of their preceptors, and of those men, O
Yudhishthira, that do not properly reverence their mothers, as also of
those that have no reverence and worship to offer to the deities,
understanding also, with the help of that knowledge (which their
philosophy imparts), the end that of all perpetrators of wicked acts, and
the diverse ends that overtake those who have taken birth among the
intermediate orders, ascertaining the diverse declarations of the Vedas,
the courses of seasons, the fading of years, of months, of fortnights,
and of days, beholding directly the waxing and the waning of the Moon,
seeing the rising and the ebbing of the seas, and the diminution of
wealth and its increase once more, and the separation of united objects,
the lapse of Yugas, the destruction of mountains, the drying up of
rivers, the deterioration of (the purity of) the several orders and the
end also of that deterioration occurring repeatedly, beholding the birth,
decrepitude, death, and sorrows of creatures, knowing truly the faults
attaching to the body and the sorrows to which human beings are subject,
and the vicissitudes to which the bodies of creatures are subject, and
understanding all the faults that attach to their own souls, and also all
the inauspicious faults that attach to their own bodies (the followers of
the Sankhya philosophy succeed in attaining to Emancipation)."
"'Yudhishthira said, "O thou of immeasurable energy, what are those faults
that thou seest attaching to one's body? It behoveth thee to expound
this doubt to me fully and truly."
"'Bhishma said, "Listen, O slayer of foes! The Sankhyas or followers of
Kapila, who are conversant with all paths and endued with wisdom, say
that there are five faults, O puissant one, in the human body. They are
Desire and Wrath and Fear and Sleep and Breath. These faults are seen in
the bodies of all embodied creatures. Those that are endued with wisdom
cut the root of wrath with the aid of Forgiveness. Desire is cut off by
casting off all purposes. By cultivation of the quality of Goodness
(Sattwa) sleep is conquered, and Fear is conquered by cultivating
Heedfulness. Breath is conquered by abstemiousness of diet O king. Truly
understanding gunas by the aid of hundreds of gunas, hundreds of faults,
and diverse causes by hundreds of causes, ascertaining that the world is
like the froth of water, enveloped by hundreds of illusions flowing from
Vishnu, like a painted edifice, and as unsubstantial as a reed, beholding
it to be (as terrible as) a dark pit, or as unreal as bubbles of water,
for the years that compose its age are as shortlived (compared to the
duration of eternity) as bubbles, seeing it exposed to immediate
destruction, bereft of happiness, having certain ruin for its end and
from which it can never escape, sunk in Rajas and Tamas, and utterly
helpless like an elephant sunk in mire,--noting all this--the Sankhyas, O
king, endued with great wisdom, casting off all affections arising from
one's relation towards one's children, by the aid, O king, of that
extensive and all-embracing knowledge which their system advocates and
cutting off quickly, with the weapon of knowledge and the bludgeon of
penances, O Bharata, all inauspicious scents born of Rajas and all scents
of a like nature arising from Tamas and all auspicious scents arising
from Sattwa and all pleasures of the touch (and of the other senses) born
of the same three qualities and inhering to the body, indeed, O Bharata,
aided by the Yoga of knowledge, these Yatis crowned with success,--cross
the Ocean of life. That Ocean, so terrible has sorrow for its waters.
Anxiety and grief constitute its deep lakes. Disease and death are its
gigantic alligators. The great fears that strike the heart at every step
are its huge snakes. The deeds inspired by Tamas are its tortoises. Those
inspired by Rajas are its fishes. Wisdom constitutes the raft for
crossing it. The affections entertained for objects of the senses are its
mire. Decrepitude constitutes its region of grief and trouble.[1586]
Knowledge, O chastiser of foes, is its island. Acts constitute its great
depth. Truth is its shores. Pious observances constitute the verdant
weeds floating on its bosom.[1587] Envy constitutes its rapid and mighty
current. The diverse sentiments of the heart constitute its mines. The
diverse kinds of gratification are its valuable gems. Grief and fever are
its winds. Misery and thirst are its mighty eddies. Painful and fatal
diseases are its huge elephants. The assemblage of bones are its flights
of steps, and phlegm is its froth. Gifts are its pearl-banks. The lakes
of blood are its corals. Loud laughter constitutes its roars. Diverse
sciences are its impassability. Tears are its brine. Renunciation of
company constitutes the high refuge (of those that seek to cross it).
Children and spouses are its unnumbered leeches. Friends and kinsmen are
the cities and towns on its shores. Abstention from injury, and Truth,
are its boundary line. Death is its storm-wave. The knowledge of Vedanta
is its island (capable of affording refuge to those that are tossed upon
its waters). Acts of compassion towards all creatures constitute its
life-buoys,[1588] and Emancipation is the priceless commodity offered to
those voyaging on its waters in search of merchandise. Like its
substantive prototype with its equine head disgorging flames of fire,
this ocean too has its fiery terrors. Having transcended the liability,
that is so difficult to transcend, of dwelling within the gross body, the
Sankhyas enter into pure space.[1589] Surya then bears, with his rays,
those righteous men that are practicers of the Sankhya doctrines. Like
the fibres of the lotus-stalk conveying water to the flower into which
they all converge, Surya, drinking all things from the universe, conveys
them unto those good and wise men.[1590] Their attachments all destroyed,
possessed of energy, endued with wealth of penances, and crowned with
success, these Yatis, O Bharata, are borne by that wind which is subtile,
cooling, fragrant, and delicious to the touch, O Bharata! In fact, that
wind which is the best of the seven winds, and which blows in regions of
great felicity, conveys them, O son of Kunti, to that which is the
highest end in space.[1591] Then space into which they are carried, O
monarch, conveys them to the highest end of Rajas.[1592] Rajas then bears
them to the highest end of Sattwa. Sattwa then bears them, O thou of pure
soul, to the Supreme and puissant Narayana. The puissant and pure-souled
Narayana at last, through himself, bears them to the Supreme Soul. Having
reached the Supreme Soul, those stainless persons who have (by that time)
become the body of (what is called) That attain to immortality, and they
have never afterwards to return from that position, O King! That is the
highest end, O son of Pritha, which is attained by those high-souled men
who have transcended the influence of all pairs of opposites."
"'Yudhishthira said, "O sinless one, have those persons of firm vows after
they have attained to that excellent position which is fraught with
puissance and felicity, any recollection of their lives including birth
and death? It behoveth thee to tell me properly what the truth is in
respect, O thou of Kuru's race. I do not think it proper to question any
one else than thee! Observing the scriptures bearing upon Emancipation, I
find this great fault in the subject (for certain scriptures on the topic
declare that consciousness disappears in the emancipate state, while
other scriptures declare the very reverse of this). If, having attained
to this high state, the Yatis continue to live in consciousness, it would
seem, O king, that the religion of Pravritti is superior. If, again,
consciousness disappears from the emancipate state and one who has become
emancipate only resembles a person sunk in dreamless slumber, then
nothing can be more improper than to say that there is really no
consciousness in Emancipation (for of all that happens in dreamless
slumber is that one's consciousness is temporarily overshadowed and
suspended, but never lost, for it returns when one awakes from that
slumber)."[1593]
"'Bhishma said, "However difficult it may be to answer it, the question
which thou hast asked, O son, is proper. Verily, the question is of such
a kind that even they that are possessed of great learning become
stupefied in answering it, O chief of Bharata's race. For all that, hear
what the truth is as expounded by me. The high-souled followers of Kapila
have set their high understandings on this point. The senses of
knowledge, O King, planted in the bodies of embodied creatures, are
employed in their respective functions of perception. They are the
instruments of the Soul, for it is through them that subtile Being
perceives.[1594] Disunited with the Soul, the senses are like lumps of
wood, and are without doubt, destroyed (in respect of the functions they
serve) like the froth that is seen on the bosom of the ocean.[1595] When
the embodied creature, O scorcher of foes, sinks into sleep along with
his senses, the subtile Soul then roves among all subjects like the wind
through space.[1596] The subtile Soul, during slumber, continues to see
(all forms) and touch all objects of touch, O king, and taken in other
perceptions, as well as when it is awake. In consequence of their
inability to act without their director, the senses, during sleep, all
become extinguished in their respective places (and lose their powers)
like snakes deprived of poison.[1597] At such times, the subtile Soul,
repairing into the respective place of all the senses, without doubt,
discharges all their functions.[1598] All the qualities of Sattwa, all
the attributes of the Understanding, O Bharata, as also those of Mind,
and space, and Wind, O thou of righteous soul, and all the attributes of
liquid substances, of Water, O Partha, and of Earth,--these senses with
these qualities,--O Yudhishthira, which inhere to Jiva-souls, are along
with the Jiva-soul itself, overwhelmed by the Supreme Soul or Brahma.
Acts also, good and bad, overwhelm that Jiva-soul. Like disciples waiting
upon their preceptor with reverence, the senses too wait upon the
Jiva-soul transcends Prakriti, it attains to Brahma that is without
change, that is highest, that is Narayana, that is beyond all pairs of
opposites, and that transcends Prakriti. Freed from both merit and
demerit, the Jiva-soul entering the Supreme Soul which is divested of all
attributes, and which is the home of all auspiciousness, does not return
thence, O Bharata. What remains, O son, is the mind with the senses, O
Bharata. These have to come back once more at the appointed season for
doing the bidding of their great master.[1599] Soon after, O son of
Kunti, (when this body is cast off) the Yati striving after Emancipation,
endued as he is with knowledge and desirous as he is of Guna, succeeds in
attaining to that Peace of Emancipation which is his who becomes
bodiless.[1600] [1601] The Sankhyas, O king, are endued with great
wisdom. They succeed in attaining to the highest end by means of this
kind of knowledge. There is no knowledge that is equal to this. Do not
yield to any kind of doubt. The knowledge which is described in the
system of the Sankhyas is regarded as the highest. That knowledge is
immutable and is eternally fixed. It is eternal Brahma in fulness. It has
no beginning, middle and end. It transcends all pairs of opposites. It is
the cause of the creation of the universe. It stands in fulness. It is
without deterioration of any kind. It is uniform, and everlasting. Thus
are its praises sung by the wise. From it flow creation and destruction
and all modifications. The great Rishis speak of it and applaud it in the
scriptures. All learned Brahmanas and all righteous men regard it as
flowing from Brahma, Supreme, Divine, Infinite, Immutable, and
Undeteriorating. All Brahmanas again that are attached to objects of the
senses adore and applaud it by ascribing to it attributes that belong to
illusion.[1602] The same is the view of Yogins well observant of penances
and meditation and of Sankhyas of immeasureable insight. The Srutis
declare, O son of Kunti, that the Sankhya form of philosophy is the form
of that Formless one. The cognitions (according to that philosophy) have,
O chief of Bharata's race, been said to be the knowledge of Brahma.[1603]
"'"There are two kinds of creatures on Earth, O lord of Earth, viz., mobile
and immobile. Of these that are mobile are superior. That high knowledge,
O king, which exists in persons conversant with Brahma, and that which
occurs in the Vedas, and that which is found in other scriptures, and
that in Yoga, and that which may be seen in the diverse Puranas, are all,
O monarch, to be found in Sankhya philosophy.[1604] Whatever knowledge is
seen to exist in high histories, whatever knowledge occurs, O king, in the
sciences appertaining to the acquisition of wealth as approved by the
wise, whatever other knowledge exists in this world,--all these,--flow, O
high-souled monarch, from the high knowledge that occurs among the
Sankhyas. Tranquillity of soul, high puissance, all subtile knowledge of
which the scriptures speak, penances of subtile force, and all kinds of
felicity, O king, have all been duly ordained in the Sankhya system.
Failing to acquire, O son of Pritha, that complete knowledge which is
recommended by their system, the Sankhyas attain to the status of deities
and pass many years in felicity. Lording it over the celestials as they
will, they fall, upon the expiration of the allotted period, among
learned Brahmanas and Yatis.[1605] Casting off this body, those
regenerate ones that follow the Sankhya system enter into the superior
state of Brahma like the celestials entering into the firmament by
devoting themselves wholly to that adorable system which is theirs and
which is worshipped by all wise men. Those regenerate persons that are
devoted to the acquisition of that knowledge which is recommended in the
Sankhya system, even if they fail to attain to eminence, are never seen
to fall among intermediate creatures, or to sink into the status of
sinful men. That high-souled person who is fully conversant with the
vast, high, ancient, ocean-like, and immeasurable Sankhya system that is
pure and liberal and agreeable, becomes, O king, equal to Narayana. I
have now told thee, O god among men, the truth about the Sankhya system.
It is the embodiment of Narayana, of the universe as it exists from the
remotest time.[1606] When the time of Creation comes, He causes the
Creation to start into life, and when the time comes for destruction, He
swallows up everything. Having withdrawn everything into his own body he
goes to sleep,--that inner Soul of the universe."'"[1607]