Verses on Sāṃkhya 28

Here [an objector] says: The mind is a faculty; what is its defining characteristic? To this it is said:

Here the mind is of the nature of both; it is intending, and it is a faculty through sharing properties; / diversity is due to the particular transformation of the constituents, and because of the difference of grasped objects. //

"Here the mind is of the nature of both": among the action faculties it is an action faculty; among the sensory faculties it is a sensory faculty. Just as Devadatta, standing amidst cowherds, acts as a cowherd, and standing amidst wrestlers, acts as a wrestler. Why? Because it intends the functioning of the sensory faculties and of the action faculties. Therefore, the mind is of the nature of both. And what else? "And it is a faculty through sharing properties." "Sharing properties" is the state of having common properties. Because the action faculties and sensory faculties are produced from the luminous egoity, the mind is also produced from that very same [egoity]. Therefore, the mind is a faculty. In that regard, what is the functioning of the mind? Intention is its functioning. The functionings of the sensory faculties are sound and the rest; those of the action faculties are speaking and the rest. Thus the eleven faculties have been explained along with their functionings. Here [an objector] says: By whom were the eleven faculties made—by the spirit, by God, or rather by inherent nature? If you ask whence comes this doubt, these eleven faculties are graspers of eleven objects. In that regard, the internal instrument, primordial matter, intellect, egoity, and so forth are non-conscious. Therefore, surely [they were made] by the conscious spirit, or by God, or by inherent nature. To this it is said: "Diversity is due to the particular transformation of the constituents, and because of the difference of grasped objects." The constituents are the three beginning with sattva; as they transform, from that particular transformation of the constituents these eleven faculties are diverse. Their objects are distinct: sound, touch, form, taste, and odor for five; speaking, grasping, walking, excreting, and pleasure for five; and intention for the mind. The faculties will be the graspers of these very eleven [objects]. (p. 32) Now, this diversity is not made by God, nor by the intellect, nor by egoity, nor by primordial matter, nor by the spirit, nor by inherent nature; it is through the transformation of the constituents. Even if it was said that functioning of non-conscious constituents is improper, that is not so. If you ask why, it is explained: the activity of even non-conscious things is seen. For he will say:

"Just as the activity of non-conscious milk is for the sake of the nourishment of the calf, / so the activity of primordial matter is for the sake of the liberation of the spirit."

(Sāṅkhyakārikā 57).

Therefore, even non-conscious constituents transform in the form of the eleven sense faculties. Here someone asks: We grant, first of all, that the eleven sense faculties arise from egoity. But by whom was the arrangement of these sense faculties in their respective places made? [Thinking:] "The eye, positioned high up, will be capable of seeing far away; the ear, positioned in the region of the head, will be capable of hearing from afar; the skin, positioned inside and outside the body, will be capable of apprehending various touches; the tongue, positioned inside the mouth, will be capable of apprehending various tastes; likewise the nose, and speech." Was such an arrangement of the sense faculties made by the spirit, by God, or by inherent nature? To this it is replied: Here in Sāṅkhya, the spirit, God, and inherent nature are not the cause. What then? The arrangement was made by the three constituents—sattva, rajas, and tamas—situated in this egoity. Therefore we say: "Diversity [arises] from particular transformations of the constituents, and from difference in what is to be grasped." From the particular transformations of the constituents comes the difference among the eleven sense faculties. And from the difference in what is to be grasped: what is to be grasped are the objects of the eleven sense faculties, and from their difference, too, arises the difference among the sense faculties.