Verses on Sāṃkhya 16.3

16.3

kāraṇamastyavyaktamiti kriyākārakasambandhaḥ / bhedānāṃ parimāṇāloke yatra karttāsti tasya parimāṇaṃ dṛṣṭaṃ yathā kulālaḥ parimitairmṛtpiṇḍaiḥ parimitāneva ghaṭān karoti evaṃ mahadapi mahadādiliṅgaṃ parimitaṃ bhedataḥ pradhānakāryamekā buddhireko 'haṃkāraḥ pañca tanmātrāṇi ekādaśendriyāṇi pañcatanmātrāṇi ekādaśendriyāṇi pañcamahābhūtānītyevaṃ bhedānāṃ parimāṇādasti pradhānaṃ kāraṇaṃ yadvyaktaṃ parimitamutpādayati /yadi pradhānaṃ na syāttadā niḥparimāṇamidaṃ vyaktamapi na syāt parimāṇācca bhedānāmasti pradhānaṃ yasmādvyaktamutpannam / tathā samanvayādiha loke prasiddhirdṛṣṭā yathā vratadhāriṇaṃ baṭuṃ dṛṣṭvā samanvayati nūnamasya pitarau brāhmaṇāviti evamidaṃ triguṇaṃ mahadādiliṅgaṃ dṛṣṭvā sādhayāmo 'sya yat kāraṇaṃ bhaviṣyatīti ataḥ samanvayādasti pradhānam / tathā śaktitaḥ pravṛtteśca iha yo yasmin śaktaḥ sa tasminnevārthe pravarttate yathā kulālo ghaṭāsya karaṇe samartho ghaṭameva karoti na paṭaṃ rathaṃ vā / tathāsti pradhānaṃ kāraṇaṃ kutaḥ kāraṇakāryavibhāgāt / karotīti kāraṇam / kriyata iti kāryam / kāraṇasya kāryasya ca vibhāgo yathā ghaṭo dadhimadhūdakapayasāṃ dhāraṇe samartho na tathā taktāraṇaṃ mṛtpiṇḍaḥ / mṛtpiṇḍo vā ghaṭaṃ niṣpādayati na caivaṃ ghaṭo mṛtpiṇḍam / evaṃ mahadādiliṅgaṃ dṛṣṭvānumīyate / asti vibhaktaṃ tat kāraṇaṃ yasya vibhāga idaṃ vyaktamiti / itaśca avibhāgādvaiśvarūpasya viśvaṃ jagat tasya rūpaṃ vyaktiḥ / viśvarūpasya bhāvo vaiśvarūpaṃ tasyāvibhāgādasti pradhānaṃ yasmātrailokyasya pañcānāṃ pṛthivyādīnāṃ mahābhūtānāṃ parasparaṃ vibhāgo nāsti mahābhūteṣvantarbhūtāstrayo lokā iti pṛthivyāpastejovāyurākāśamiti etāni pañcamahābhūtāni pralayakāle sṛṣṭikrameṇaivāvibhāgaṃ yānti tanmātreṣu pariṇāmiṣu tanmātrāṇyekādaśendriyāṇi cāhaṃkāre ahaṃkāro buddhau buddhiḥ pradhāne evaṃ trayo lokāḥ pralayakāle prakṛtāvavibhāgaṃ gacchanti tasmādavibhāgāt kṣīradadhivadvyaktāvyaktayoravyaktaṃ kāraṇam // 15 //

“The unmanifest exists as the cause”: this is the syntactical connection. “Because of the finite measure of individual forms”: in the world, wherever there is an agent, a finite measure of it is observed. Just as a potter makes only a finite number of jars with finite lumps of clay, so the mark [consisting of] the great principle and the rest, though great, is finite in terms of individual forms, as an effect of primary matter: one intellect, one ego-maker, five subtle elements, eleven sense faculties, five gross elements. Thus, from the finite measure of individual forms, primary matter exists as the cause which produces the finite manifest. If primary matter did not exist, then this manifest would also not exist, being without measure; and because of the finite measure of individual forms, primary matter exists, from which the manifest has arisen. Likewise, “because of common concordance”: in this world, an acknowledged fact is observed, as when seeing a religious student keeping vows, one infers: “Surely his parents are brahmins.” In this way, seeing this mark [consisting of] the great principle and the rest endowed with the three fundamental qualities, we establish what its cause will be. Therefore, from common concordance, primary matter exists. Likewise, “because of activity through potency”: in this world, whatever is capable of something acts in that very purpose; just as a potter, being capable of making a jar, makes only a jar, not a cloth or a chariot. Likewise, primary matter exists as a cause. Why? “Because of the distinction between cause and effect.” That which makes is the cause; that which is made is the effect. There is a distinction between cause and effect: just as a jar is capable of holding curd, honey, water, and milk, while its cause, the lump of clay, is not so; or the lump of clay produces the jar, but the jar does not produce the lump of clay. In this way, seeing the mark [consisting of] the great principle and the rest, it is inferred: that cause exists as distinct, whose differentiation this manifest is. For this reason too: “because of the undividedness of the manifold universe.” The universe is the world; its form is manifest appearance; the state of having the form of the universe is the manifold universe. Because of its undividedness, primary matter exists. Because the three worlds, [consisting of] the five gross elements beginning with earth, have no separate division from one another—the three worlds are included within the gross elements—these five gross elements, namely earth, water, fire, wind, and space, at the time of dissolution, undergo undividedness in the reverse order of creation into the transformable subtle elements; the subtle elements and the eleven sense faculties [dissolve] into the ego-maker, the ego-maker into the intellect, and the intellect into primary matter. Thus, at the time of dissolution, the three worlds merge into undividedness in primordial nature; therefore, from this undividedness, as in the case of milk and curd, the unmanifest is the cause of the manifest and the unmanifest. // 15