Verses on Sāṃkhya 3.13

3.13

ity aviśuddhiyuktaḥ sarvathā śrauto duḥkhatrayapratīkārahetuḥ | atha "apāma somam amṛtā abhūma" iti prāg uktam | tatredaṃ pratyuttaram | somapāyinām api nṛganahuṣendrayayātīnāṃ bedhabandhaparikleśā bahuvidhāḥ | karmaṇa upabhogād itareṣāṃ patanaṃ ca | ekāhādīnāṃ satrāṇāṃ dinaparimāṇavatāṃ kāraṇānāṃ parimāṇavad eva svargādi kāryaṃ dṛṣṭam | kāraṇānugamatvāt kāryasya | parimāṇavanmṛtpiṇḍāt parimāṇavān eva ghaṭaḥ syāt | evam ānuśravikāṇāṃ phalaparimāṇatvāt punaḥ kṣayaḥ | atiśayayuktaś ca | yathā āḍhyam avalokya daridrasya duḥkhaṃ syāt, surūpaṃ ca vīkṣya kurūpasya, prājñaṃ dṛṣṭvā mūrkhasya, tathā śatāpsarasaṃ svargiṇaṃ dṛṣṭvā pañcāpsarasas taṃ dṛṣṭvaikāpsaraso duḥkham utpadyate | evam ayaṃ dṛṣṭavat | tad evam anyonyātiśayāt svarge 'pi duḥkham avyāvṛttam | tasmāt | tadviparītaḥ śreyān | tābhyāṃ dṛṣṭānuśravikābhyāṃ hetubhyāṃ viparīto visadṛśa aikāntika ātyantiko viśuddho 'kṣayo 'nantaphalaḥ kaivalyān niratiśayo hetuḥ sa śreyān praśasyaḥ | kathaṃ punar asau bhavatīty āha --- vyaktāvyaktajñavijñānāt | vyaktaṃ cāvyaktaṃ ca jñaś ca teṣāṃ trayāṇāṃ vijñānād anubhavāt | bhavati hy asau avaśyaṃ phaladānād aikāntikaḥ, prakṛtijñānād ātyantikaḥ, yamaniyamādimattvāc chuddhaḥ, śarīrabhede punar anāveśyatvād akṣayaphalaḥ | kaivalyād anuttaratvāc ca niratiśayaphalam iti vākyaśeṣaḥ | tatra vyaktaṃ buddhyahaṅkārendriyatanmātrabhūtabhedāt trayoviṃśatikam | avyaktaṃ pradhānam | vyaktotpattikāraṇam | na hy akāraṇaṃ kāryam ity asya siddhiḥ | jñaḥ puruṣaḥ | sannidhisattāmātreṇa cumbaka iva lohasya pravṛttikāraṇam | ataḥ pradhānasya jaḍasya pravṛttihetur ayam astīti siddhiḥ | etāni pañcaviṃśatitattvāni vyaktāvyaktajñasaṃjñāni | yadvijñānād avaśyaṃ sarvathā tāpatrayeṇa vimucyate //

Thus, the Vedic means of counteracting the threefold suffering is accompanied in every way by impurity. Now, as to what was stated earlier: "We have drunk Soma, we have become immortal" [Ṛgveda 8.48.3]—to that, this is the reply: Even for drinkers of Soma such as Nṛga, Nahuṣa, Indra, and Yayāti, piercing, binding, and afflictions were manifold; and for others, there is a fall [from heaven] upon the exhaustion of the enjoyment of their karma. Sacrifices such as the one-day rites, which have a limited duration in days and are limited causes, are observed to produce an effect, such as heaven, that is likewise limited; for the effect conforms to the cause. From a limited lump of clay, only a limited pot can arise. In this way, because the fruit of scriptural means is limited, there is again decay. Moreover, it is accompanied by inequality. Just as suffering arises for a poor man on seeing a rich man, for an ugly man on seeing a handsome one, and for a fool on seeing a wise man, so too suffering arises for a heavenly resident possessing five Apsarases upon seeing one who possesses a hundred Apsarases, and for one possessing a single Apsaras upon seeing him. In this way, this [scriptural means] is just like the perceived means. Thus, on account of mutual inequality, suffering is unremitting even in heaven. Therefore: "The opposite of that is better" [Sāṅkhyakārikā 2]. The means that is the opposite of, dissimilar to, those two—the perceived and the scriptural means—being certain, absolute, pure, imperishable, yielding endless fruit, and unsurpassable because of isolation, is better, [that is,] superior. But how does this come about? He says: "from the knowledge of the manifest, the unmanifest, and the knower" [Sāṅkhyakārikā 2]. From the knowledge, [that is,] the direct experience, of these three: the manifest, the unmanifest, and the knower. For this [means] is certain because it necessarily grants its fruit; absolute because of the knowledge of nature; pure because of possessing restraints, observances, and so forth; and of imperishable fruit because, upon the dissolution of the body, there is no re-entry [into transmigration]. It yields unsurpassable fruit because of isolation and because nothing is higher—this is the completion of the sentence. Among them, the manifest is twenty-three-fold through the division of intellect, egoity, sense faculties, subtle elements, and gross elements. The unmanifest is primordial matter, the cause of the origination of the manifest; its establishment [rests on the principle] that an effect cannot lack a cause. The knower is the spirit, the cause of activity merely through the existence of its presence, like a magnet for iron; hence its establishment is that this is the cause of activity for insentient primordial matter. These are the twenty-five principles, designated as the manifest, the unmanifest, and the knower, from the knowledge of which one is certainly and entirely freed from the threefold suffering.