Great Throughts Treasury

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Ishvarakrishna, aka Iśvarakṛṣṇa NULL

Indian Hindu Philosopher, Author of Samkhya Karika from the Samkhya School

"Intellect (buddhi) is for ascertainment. Virtue, wisdom, dispassion and lordliness are its faculties when goodness (sattva) predominates, and the reverse is true when darkness (tamas) predominates."

"Above, there is abundance of sattva; in the lower order of creation, tamas predominates; in the middle, rajas dominates. Such is creation from Brahma down to a blade of grass."

"Among these, the five organs of cognition are concerned with specific and non-specific objects. Speech is concerned with sound; the rest are concerned with all five objects."

"Among these, the mind (manas) is both an organ of sensation and of action. It is deliberative and it is an organ cognate with the rest. They are multifarious due to the specific modifications of the gunas, and so are the external diversities."

"Celestial evolution is of eight kinds; the groveling species is fivefold; the human is single and specific in form. This, in brief, is material evolution."

"Five are the varieties of obstruction; the varieties of infirmity due to organic defect are twenty-eight; complacency is nine-fold and attainment is eight-fold."

"Defects of the eleven organs, together with impairment of the intellect, are said to constitute infirmity. Injuries to the intellect are seventeen, resulting from the inversion of complacency and attainment."

"From primary matter (prakriti) comes Intellect (mahat), thence egoism (ahankara), and from this the set of sixteen; from five among these come the five elements."

"And from this divergence it follows that the Self (purusha) is witness, solitary, neutral, spectator and non-agent."

"From dispassion (vairagya) there is absorption into Nature (prakriti); transmigration results from passionate attachment (rajas); from power there is non-obstruction, and from the reverse, the contrary."

"From the vaikrita form of individuation proceeds the eleven-fold set characterized by goodness (sattva); from the bhutadi form of individuation proceed the subtle elements (tanmatras). In this, darkness (tamas) dominates. Both of these proceed from taijasa ahankara, in which rajas dominates."

"Formed for the sake of the purpose of the Self (purusha), the subtle body (linga) appears in different roles like adramatic performer, owing to the connection of causes and effects and through conjunction with the universal power of Nature (prakriti)."

"From the shock of triple misery comes the desire to know the means of prevention; nor is the enquiry superfluous because of visible remedies, for these cannot secure certain and permanent relief."

"In regard to sensory objects, the functions of all four organs are simultaneous as well as successive. In respect to imperceptible things, the functioning of the three internal organs is preceded by that of the fourth (cognition)."

"Instruments are of thirteen varieties; they function by grasping, sustaining and disclosing. Their objects are tenfold, to be grasped, sustained and disclosed."

"It operates, in the form of the three gunas, by blending and transformation, like water, modified according to the predominance of one or the other of the gunas."

"Just as insentient milk serves as nourishment for the calf, so too does Nature (prakriti) act for the sake of the Self's emancipation."

"Just as a dancer desists from dancing, having shown herself to spectators, so too does primal Nature (prakriti) desist, having revealed itself to the Self (purusha)."

"Just as a painting does not stand without a support, or a shadow cannot exist without a stake and the like, so too the cognitive apparatus cannot subsist without a support, without specific particles."

"Just as people engage in action to gratify desire, so too the unmanifest, unevolved Nature functions for the emancipation of the Self."

"Nine forms of complacency are propounded: four internal, relating to Nature (prakriti), means (upadana), time (kala)and luck (bhagya); five external, resulting from avoidance of enjoyment of objects."

"Nature by herself binds herself by seven modes, and by means of one mode (knowledge), releases herself for the sake of the Self."

"Munificent Nature, endowed with attributes, accomplishes by manifold means the purpose of the attributeless and uncaring Self, with no gain for itself."

"Like the visible means, the revealed mode is also tainted, destructive and excessive. Different from these and superior is that method consisting in discriminative knowledge of the manifest, the unmanifest and the knower."

"Of the three internal organs, the functions are their respective features; these are distinctive to each. The common function of these organs is breath and the rest of the five vital airs."

"Non-discriminativeness and the rest are proved by the existence of the three gunas and by the non-existence of these in their absence. The unmanifest is demonstrated by the effect possessing the properties of the cause."

"Non-perception may be because of extreme distance or proximity, impairment of the senses, mental unsteadiness, subtlety, interposition, suppression, blending with what is similar, and other causes."

"Nothing, in my view, is more gentle and gracious than Nature; once aware of having been seen, Nature does notexpose herself to the gaze of the Self."

"Perception is the ascertainment of specific objects. Inference is declared to be threefold and follows from the knowledge of the characteristic mark and of its possessor. Testimony comes from trustworthy persons and from revelation."

"Perception, inference and testimony are recognized as the threefold proof, since all other proofs are included in these. The establishment of all that is to be proven depends, verily, on the means of demonstration."

"Possessed of this self-knowledge, and the proliferation of Nature having ceased (owing to its withdrawal from its seven modes), the Self stands apart and at ease, like a spectator."

"Sattva is considered to be buoyant and luminous, rajas to be exciting and volatile, and tamas to be indeed heavy and enveloping. They function together, like a lamp, for a purpose."

"Primordial matter (mulaprakriti) is the root, not a product; the seven principles beginning with the great Intellect (mahat) are both products and productive; the sixteen are mere products; the Self (purusha) is neither a product nor productive."

"Primary matter is not apprehended on account of its extreme subtlety and not because of its non-existence, as it is perceived through its effects. Intellect (mahat) and the rest are effects which are both similar and dissimilar to primarymatter (prakriti)."

"Since it is the intellect (buddhi) which accomplishes the fruition of all that is to be enjoyed by the Self (purusha), it is also that which discerns the subtle difference between Nature (pradhana) and the Self (purusha)."

"Since intellect (buddhi), together with the other internal organs (ahankara and manas), ascertain all objects, these three instruments are the guardians and the rest are gates."

"Self-assertion is egoism (ahankara). Thence proceeds a dual evolution, the eleven-fold set and also the five subtle elements (tanmatras)."

"So through study of principles (tattvas) arises the ultimate, undistracted, pure knowledge that neither I am, nor is anything mine nor am I embodied."

"Sensory objects are known through perception, but that which is super-sensuous is known through inference; what is neither directly perceived nor secured through inference is established through testimony and revelation."

"The constituents (gunas) consist in the pleasant, the painful and the delusive; they serve the purpose of illumination, activity and restraint; they are mutually dominating, dependent, productive, cooperative and coexistent."

"The conjunction of the two, like that of the lame and the blind, is for the perception of Nature (pradhana) by the Self (purusha) and for the release of the Self. From this conjunction proceeds evolution."

"The function of five, in regard to sound and the rest, is simply observation. Speech, manipulation, motion, excretion and generation are the functions of five others."

"The effect subsists, for that which is non-existent cannot be brought into existence, and effects come from appropriate causes. Everything is not by every means possible, as capable causes produce only that which they can and the effect is of the same nature as the cause."

"The eight attainments are reasoning, oral instruction, study, the prevention of pain of three sorts, acquisition of friends, and charity. The three mentioned before (obstruction, infirmity and complacency) are the curbs on attainment."

"The manifest is composed of the three properties (gunas); it is non-discriminative, objective, common, insentient and prolific. So also is Nature (pradhana). The Self (purusha) is the reverse, and yet similar."

"The multiplicity of souls verily follows from the distributive allocation of birth, death and the instruments of causation, since occupations are not simultaneous, and since there are diverse modifications of the three gunas."

"The manifest is caused, perishable, finite, mutable, manifold, dependent, identifiable, composite and subordinate. The unmanifest is the reverse."

"The internal instrument is threefold. The external organs, which exhibit objects to these three, are tenfold. The external organs function in the present, and the internal instrument at all times."

"The organs of cognition are the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin; the organs of action are the voice, hands, feet, the excretory organ and the organ of generation."

"The instruments perform their respective functions, prompted by mutual sympathy. The purpose of the Self (purusha) is the sole cause; by nothing else is any instrument activated."