Verses on Sāṃkhya 20.3

20.3

tasmācca viparyāsāttasmācca yathoktatraiguṇyaviparyāsādviparyayānnirguṇaḥ puruṣo vivekī bhoktetyādiguṇānāṃ puruṣasya yo viparyāsa uktastasmāt sattvarajastamaḥsu karttṛbhūteṣu sākṣitvaṃ siddhaṃ puruṣasyeti yo 'yamadhikṛto bahutvaṃ prati / guṇā eva karttāraḥ pravarttante sākṣī na pravattate nāpi nivarttata eva / kiṃcānyat kaivalyaṃ kevalabhāvaḥ kaivalyamanyatvamityarthaḥ / triguṇebhyaḥ kevalaḥ / anyanmādhyasthyaṃ madhyasthabhāvaḥ parivrājakavat madhyasthaḥ puruṣaḥ / yathā kaścit parivrājako grāmīṇeṣu karṣaṇārtheṣu pravṛtteṣu kevalo madhyasthaḥ puruṣo 'pyevaṃ guṇeṣu varttamāneṣu na pravarttate / tasmāddraṣṭṛtvamakarttṛbhāvāśca yasmānmadhyasthastasmāddraṣṭā tasmādakarttā puruṣasteṣāṃ karmaṇāmiti sattvarajastamāṃsi trayo guṇāḥ karmakarttṛbhāvena pravarttante na puruṣa evaṃ puruṣasyāstitvaṃ ca siddham / yasmātkarttā puruṣastatkathamadhyavasāyaṃ karoti dharmaṃ kariṣyāmyadharmaṃ na kariṣyāmītyataḥ karttā bhavati na ca karttā puruṣa evamubhayātra doṣaḥ syāditi // 19 //

"And from that contrariety"—from that contrariety, namely, the reversal of the aforementioned possessing of the three fundamental qualities, the contrariety that pure consciousness is devoid of fundamental qualities, discriminative, an experiencer, and so on; from that stated reversal of the fundamental qualities of pure consciousness, while sattva, rajas, and tamas are the agents, the witness-hood of pure consciousness is established, pure consciousness being the one concerned with plurality. The fundamental qualities alone, as agents, engage in activity; the witness neither engages in activity nor desists from it. Furthermore: "isolation"—isolation is the state of being separate; the meaning is otherness. It is isolated from the three fundamental qualities. Another [characteristic] is "neutrality"—the state of being neutral; like an itinerant mendicant, pure consciousness is neutral. Just as an itinerant mendicant, when villagers are engaged in agricultural tasks, is solitary and neutral, so too pure consciousness, when the fundamental qualities are functioning, does not engage in activity. Therefore, [there is] "spectatorship and non-agency": because it is neutral, it is a spectator; therefore pure consciousness is a non-agent regarding those actions. Thus the three fundamental qualities—sattva, rajas, and tamas—proceed through the relation of action and agent, not pure consciousness. In this way, the existence of pure consciousness is established. If pure consciousness were an agent, how could it form the resolution: "I will perform virtue, I will not perform non-virtue"? Thus it would be an agent; but pure consciousness is not an agent. In this manner, there would be an error in both respects.