Great Throughts Treasury

"The subjects treated in the seventy verses are those of the entire science of sixty themes (shashtitantra), exclusive of illustrative tales, and devoid of polemical consideration of rival doctrines."

"The Self (purusha) exists, since an aggregate must be for another's use, since this must be the converse of that which has the three gunas, since there must be a superintendent and also someone to experience, and since activity is for the sake of freedom."

"The primary dispositions are innate; the acquired ones, like virtue and the rest, depend on the instruments. The uterine germ and the rest belong to the effect."

"The subtle bodies, the bodies born of mother and father, together with the great elements, are three kinds of specific objects. Among these, the subtle are lasting and those born of parents are perishable."

"The Self stands indifferent, having seen Nature; Nature desists, having been seen. Though their coexistence continues, there is no motive for creation."

"The unmanifest (avyakta) exists as a general cause because the particulars are finite, because of homogeneity, because production is through power, because there is differentiation of effect from cause, and because there is merging of the effect with the cause."

"The subtle body (linga) is primeval, unconfined, constant, composed of the principles (tattvas) beginning with Intellect (mahat) and ending with the subtle elements (tanmatras). It transmigrates, free from experience, and is tinged with dispositions (bhavas)."

"The subtle elements (tanmatras) are non-specific; from these five proceed the five gross elements which are specific, tranquil, turbulent or stupefying."

"The varieties of obscurity (tamas) are eight-fold, as also those of delusion (moha); extreme delusion (mahamoha) is ten-fold; gloom is eighteen-fold, and so is utter darkness."

"Therein does the conscious Self (purusha) experience pain caused by decay and death, until dissociation from the subtle body; thus suffering is in the very nature of things."

"These, characteristically different from one another and variously modified by the gunas, present to the intellect (buddhi) the whole purpose of the Self (purusha), illumining it like a lamp."

"This evolution, from Intellect (mahat) to the specific elements (bhuta), brought about by the modifications of matter (prakriti), is for the emancipation of the individual Self (purusha). This is for the sake of another, though seemingly for itself."

"This is an intellectual creation, termed obstruction, infirmity, complacency and attainment. Through the disparity in influence of the gunas, its varieties are fifty."

"This Secret Doctrine (guhya) leading to the emancipation of the Self, and wherein the origin, duration and dissolution of beings has been considered, has been fully expounded by the great Seer (paramarishi) Kapila."

"This briefly expounded treatise has not sacrificed anything of the content of the science, and is an image reflected in a mirror of the compendious tantra."

"Through virtue there is ascent; through vice there is descent; through knowledge there is deliverance; there is bondage through the reverse."

"This, which was handed down through a succession of pupils, has been compendiously set down in the arya metre bythe noble-minded and devout Ishvarakrishna, who thoroughly comprehended the established doctrine."

"This supreme purificatory wisdom was imparted, through the compassion of the Sage, to Asuri. Asuri transmitted it to Panchashikha, by whom the system (tantra) was elaborated."

"Thus, through conjunction with the Self (purusha), the insentient seems to be sentient, and though the agency really belongs to the gunas, the neutral stranger appears as if it were active."

"Through the attainment of perfect wisdom, virtue and the rest cease to function as causes; yet the Self continues tobe invested with the body, just as a potter's wheel continues to whirl owing to the momentum imparted by a prior impulsion."

"Verily, therefore, the Self is neither bounded nor emancipated, nor does it transmigrate; it is Nature alone, abiding in myriad forms, that is bounded, released and transmigrates."

"Without dispositions (bhavas) there would be no subtle body (linga), and without the subtle body there would be no cessation of dispositions. Evolution, therefore, proceeds in two ways, the elemental and the intellectual."

"When separation from the body takes place and Nature ceases to act, its purpose having been fulfilled, the Self attains to absolute and final emancipation (kaivalya)."