[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Religion and philosophy](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion) › [A History of Indian Philosophy](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922) › v2.c19 # A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19: Chapter XII. The Philosophy of the Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [v2.c19.s1 The Ultimate Entity](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1) — 16 parts - [v2.c19.s2 Origination](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2) — 11 parts - [v2.c19.s3 Karma, Manas and the Categories](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3) — 10 parts - [v2.c19.s4 The World-Appearance](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4) — 11 parts - [v2.c19.s5 Nature of Agency (Kartṛtva) and the Illusion of World Creation](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5) — 9 parts - [v2.c19.s6 The Stage of the Saint (Jīvan-mukta)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6) — 36 parts - [v2.c19.s7 Energy of Free-will (Pauruṣa)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s7) — 16 parts - [v2.c19.s8 Prāṇa and its Control](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s8) — 32 parts - [v2.c19.s9 Stages of Progress](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s9) — 21 parts - [v2.c19.s10 Methods of Right Conduct](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s10) — 11 parts - [v2.c19.s11 Yoga-vāsiṣṭha, Śaṅkara Vedānta and Buddhist Vijñānavāda](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s11) — 13 parts ### Chapter XII. The Philosophy of the Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha ### [v2.c19.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.2) The philosophical elements in the various Purāṇas will be taken in a later volume. The \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-Rāmāyaṇa\* may be included among the \*purāṇas\*, but it is devoid of the general characteristics of the \*purāṇas\* and is throughout occupied with discussions of Vedāntic problems of a radically monistic type, resembling the Vedāntic doctrines as interpreted by Śaṅkara. This extensive philosophical poem, which contains twenty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty-four verses (ignoring possible differences in different manuscripts or editions) and is thus very much larger than the \*Śrīmad-bhagavad-gītā\*, is a unique work. The philosophical view with which it is concerned, and which it is never tired of reiterating, is so much like the view of Śaṅkara and of Vijñānavāda Buddhism, that its claim to treatment immediately after Śaṅkara seems to me to be particularly strong. Moreover, the various interpretations of the \*Vedānta-sūtra\* which will follow are so much opposed to Śaṅkara's views as to make it hard to find a suitable place for a treatment like that of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* unless it is taken up immediately after the chapter dealing with Śaṅkara. ### [v2.c19.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.3) The work begins with a story. A certain Brahmin went to the hermitage of the sage Agastya and asked him whether knowledge or work was the direct cause of salvation (\*mokṣa-sādhana\*). Agastya replied that, as a bird flies with its two wings, so a man can attain the highest (\*paramaṃ padam\*) only through knowledge and work. To illustrate this idea he narrates a story in which Kāruṇya, the son of Agniveśya, having returned from the teacher's house after the completion of his studies, remained silent and did no work. When he was asked for the reason of this attitude of his, he said that he was perplexed over the question as to whether the action of a man in accordance with scriptural injunction was or was not more fitted for the attainment of his highest than following a course of self-abnegation and desirelessness (\*tyāga-mātra\*). On hearing this question of Kāruṇya Agniveśya told him that he could answer his question only by narrating a story, after hearing which he might decide as he chose. A heavenly damsel (\*apsarāḥ\*), Suruci by name, sitting on one of the peaks of the Himālayas, once saw a messenger of Indra flying through the sky. She asked him where he was going. In reply he said that a certain king, Ariṣṭanemi by name, having given his kingdom to his son and having become free from all passions, was performing a course of asceticism (\*tapas\*), and that he had had to go to him on duty and was returning from him. The damsel wanted to know in detail what happened there between the messenger and the king. The messenger replied that he was asked by Indra to take a well-decorated chariot and bring the king in it to heaven, but while doing so he was asked by the king to describe the advantages and defects of heaven, on hearing which he would make up his mind whether he would like to go there or not. In heaven, he was answered, people enjoyed superior, medium and inferior pleasures according as their merits were superior, medium or inferior: when they had exhausted their merits by enjoyment, they were reborn again on earth, and during their stay there they were subject to mutual jealousy on account of the inequality of their enjoyments. On hearing this the king had refused to go to heaven, and, when this was reported to Indra, he was very much surprised and he asked the messenger to carry the king to Vālmīki’s hermitage and make Vālmīki acquainted with the king’s refusal to enjoy the fruits of heaven and request him to give him proper instructions for the attainment of right knowledge, leading to emancipation (\*mokṣa\*). When this was done, the king asked Vālmīki how he might attain \*mokṣa\*, and Vālmīki in reply wished to narrate the dialogue of Vaśiṣṭha and Rāma (\*Vaśiṣṭha-rāma-saṃvāda\*) on the subject. ### [v2.c19.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.4) Vālmīki said that, when he had finished the story of Rāma—the work properly known as \*Rāmāyaṇa\*—and taught it to Bharadvāja, Bharadvāja recited it once to Brahmā (the god), and he, being pleased, wished to confer a boon on him. Bharadvāja in reply said that he would like to receive such instructions as would enable people to escape from sorrow. Brahmā told him to apply to Vālmīki and went himself to him (Vālmīki), accompanied by Bharadvāja, and asked him not to cease working until he finished describing the entire character of Rāma, by listening to which people will be saved from the dangers of the world. When Brahmā disappeared from the hermitage after giving this instruction, Bharadvāja also asked Vālmīki to describe how Rāma and his wife, brother and followers behaved in this sorrowful and dangerous world and lived in sorrowless tranquillity. ### [v2.c19.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.5) In answer to the above question Vālmīki replied that Rāma, after finishing his studies, went out on his travels to see the various places of pilgrimage and hermitages. On his return, however, he looked very sad every day and would not tell anyone the cause of his sorrow. King Daśaratha, Rāma’s father, became very much concerned about Rāma’s sadness and asked Vasiṣṭha if he knew what might be the cause of it. At this time the sage Viśvāmitra also visited the city of Ayodhyā to invite Rāma to kill the demons. Rāma’s dejected mental state at this time created much anxiety, and Viśvāmitra asked him the cause of his dejection. ### [v2.c19.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.6) Rāma said in reply that a new enquiry had come into his mind and had made him averse from all enjoyments. There is no happiness in this world, people are born to die and they die to be born again. Everything is impermanent (\*asthira\*) in this world. All existent things are unconnected (\*bhāvāḥ…parasparam asaṅginaḥ\*). They are collected and associated together only by our mental imagination (\*manaḥ-kalpanayā\*). The world of enjoyment is created by the mind (\*manaḥ\*), and this mind itself appears to be non-existent. Everything is like a mirage. ### [v2.c19.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.7) Vasiṣṭha then explained the nature of the world-appearance, and it is this answer which forms the content of the book. When Vālmīki narrated this dialogue of Vasiṣṭha and Rāma, king Ariṣṭanemi found himself enlightened, and the damsel was also pleased and dismissed the heavenly messenger. Kāruṇya, on hearing all this from his father Agniveśya, felt as if he realized the ultimate truth and thought that, since he realized the philosophical truth, and since work and passivity mean the same, it was his clear duty to follow the customary duties of life. When Agastya finished narrating the story, the Brahmin Sutīkṣṇa felt himself enlightened. ### [v2.c19.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.8) There is at least one point which may be considered as a very clear indication of later date, much later than would be implied by the claim that the work was written by the author of the \*Rāmāyaṇa\*. It contains a \*śloka\* which may be noted as almost identical with a verse of Kālidāsa’s \*Kumāra-sambhava\*¹. It may, in my opinion, be almost unhesitatingly assumed that the author borrowed it from Kālidāsa, and it is true, as is generally supposed, that Kālidāsa ### [v2.c19.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.9) ¹ \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\*, III. 16. 50: ### [v2.c19.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.10) \*atha tām atimātra-vihvalāṃ\* \*sakṛpākāśabhavā sarasvatī\* \*śapharīṃ hrada-śoṣa-vihvalāṃ\* \*prathamā vṛṣṭir ivānvakampata.\* ### [v2.c19.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.11) lived in the fifth century A.D. The author of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\*, whoever he may have been, flourished at least some time after Kālidāsa. It may also be assumed that the interval between Kālidāsa’s time and that of the author of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* had been long enough to establish Kālidāsa’s reputation as a poet. There is another fact which deserves consideration in this connection. In spite of the fact that the views of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* and Śaṅkara’s interpretation of Vedānta have important points of agreement neither of them refers to the other. Again, the views of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* so much resemble those of the idealistic school of Buddhists, that the whole work seems to be a Brahmanic modification of idealistic Buddhism. One other important instance can be given of such a tendency to assimilate Buddhistic idealism and modify it on Brahmanic lines, viz. the writings of Gauḍapāda and Śaṅkara. I am therefore inclined to think that the author of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* was probably a contemporary of Gauḍapāda or Śaṅkara, about A.D. 800 or a century anterior to them. ### [v2.c19.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.12) The work contains six books, or \*prakaraṇas\*, namely, \*Vairāgya\*, \*Mumukṣu-vyavahāra\*, \*Utpatti\*, \*Sthiti\*, \*Upaśama\* and \*Nirvāṇa\*. It is known also by the names of \*Ārṣa-Rāmāyaṇa\*, \*Jñāna-vāsiṣṭha\*, \*Mahā-Rāmāyaṇa\*, \*Vāsiṣṭha-Rāmāyaṇa\* or \*Vāsiṣṭha\*. Several commentaries have been written on it. Of these commentaries I am particularly indebted to the \*Tātparya-prakāśa\* of Ānandabodhendra. ### [v2.c19.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.13) The \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* is throughout a philosophical work, in the form of popular lectures, and the same idea is often repeated again and again in various kinds of expressions and poetical imagery. But the writer seems to have been endowed with extraordinary poetical gifts. Almost every verse is full of the finest poetical imagery; the choice of words is exceedingly pleasing to the ear, and they often produce the effect of interesting us more by their poetical value than by the extremely idealistic thought which they are intended to convey. ### [v2.c19.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.14) The \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* had a number of commentaries, and it was also summarized in verse by some writers whose works also had commentaries written upon them. Thus Advayāraṇya, son of Narahari, wrote a commentary on it, called \*Vāsiṣṭha-Rāmāyaṇa-candrikā\*. Ānandabodhendra Sarasvatī, pupil of Gaṅgādharendra Sarasvatī of the nineteenth century, wrote the \*Tātparya-prakāśa\*. Gaṅgādharendra also is said to have written a commentary of the same name. Rāmadeva and Sadānanda also wrote two commentaries on the work, and in addition to these there is another commentary, called \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-tātparya-saṃgraha\*, and another commentary, the \*Pada-candrikā\*, was written by Mādhava Sarasvatī. The names of some of its summaries are \*Bṛhad-yoga-vāsiṣṭha\*, \*Laghu-jñāna-vāsiṣṭha\*, \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-ślokāḥ\* and \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-saṃkṣepa\* by Gauḍa Abhinanda of the ninth century, \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-sāra\* or \*Jñāna-sāra\*, \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-sāra-saṃgraha\* and \*Vāsiṣṭha-sāra\* or \*Vāsiṣṭha-sāra-gūḍhārthā\* by Rāmānanda Tīrthā, pupil of Advaitānanda. The \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-saṃkṣepa\* of Gauḍa Abhinanda had a commentary by Ātmasukha, called \*Candrikā\*, and another called \*Saṃsāra-taraṇī\*, by Mummaḍideva. The \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-sāra\* also had two commentaries by Pūrṇānanda and Mahīdhara. Mr Sivaprasad Bhattacarya in an article on the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-Rāmāyaṇa\* in the \*Proceedings of the Madras Oriental Conference of\* 1924 says that the \*Mokṣopāya-sāra\*, which is another name for the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-sāra\*, was written by an Abhinanda who is not to be confused with Gauḍa Abhinanda. But he misses the fact that Gauḍa Abhinanda had also written another summary of it, called \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-saṃkṣepa\*. Incidentally this also refutes his view that the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* is to be placed between the tenth and the twelfth centuries. For, if a summary of it was written by Gauḍa Abhinanda of the ninth century, the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* must have been written at least in the eighth century. The date of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* may thus be regarded as being the seventh or the eighth century. ### The Ultimate Entity ### [v2.c19.s1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.1) The third book of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* deals with origination (\*utpatti\*). All bondage (\*bandha\*) is due to the existence of the perceptible universe (\*dṛśya\*), and it is the main thesis of this work that it does not exist. At the time of each dissolution the entire universe of appearance is destroyed, like dreams in deep sleep (\*suṣupti\*). What is left is deep and static (\*stimita-gambhīra\*), neither light nor darkness, indescribable and unmanifested (\*anākhyam anabhivyaktam\*), but a somehow existent entity. This entity manifests itself as another (\*svayam anya ivollasan\*); and through this dynamic aspect it appears as the ever-active mind (\*manas\*)—like moving ripples from the motionless ocean. But in reality whatever appears as the diversified universe is altogether non-existent; for, if it was existent, it could not cease under any circumstances¹. It does not exist at all. The ultimate indefinite and indescribable entity, which is pure extinction (\*nirvāṇa-mātra\*), or pure intelligence (\*paro bodhaḥ\*), remains always in itself and does not really suffer any transformations or modifications. Out of the first movement of this entity arises ego (\*svatā\*), which, in spite of its appearance, is in reality nothing but the ultimate entity. Gradually, by a series of movements (\*spanda\*) like waves in the air, there springs forth the entire world-appearance. The ultimate entity is a mere entity of pure conceiving or imagining (\*saṃkalpa-puruṣa\*)². The Muni held that what appears before us is due to the imagination of \*manas\*, like dreamland or fairyland (\*yathā saṃkalpa-nagaram yathā gandharva-pattanam\*). There is nothing in essence except that ultimate entity, and whatever else appears does not exist at all—it is all mere mental creations, proceeding out of the substanceless, essenceless mental creations of the ultimate entity. It is only by the realization that this world-appearance has no possibility of existence that the false notion of ourselves as knowers ceases, and, though the false appearance may continue as such, there is emancipation (\*mokṣa\*). ### [v2.c19.s1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.2) ¹ \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\*, III. 3. ### [v2.c19.s1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.3) ² \> \*sarveṣāṃ bhūta-jātānāṃ saṃsāra-vyavahāriṇām\* ### [v2.c19.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.4) This \*manas\*, however, by whose mental creations everything springs forth in appearance, has no proper form, it is merely a name, mere nothingness³. It does not exist outside or subjectively inside us; it is like the vacuity surrounding us everywhere. That anything has come out of it is merely like the production of a mirage stream. All characteristics of forms and existence are like momentary imaginations. Whatever appears and seems to have existence is nothing but \*manas\*, though this \*manas\* itself is merely a hypothetical starting-point, having no actual reality. For the \*manas\* is not different from the dreams of appearance and cannot be separated from them, just as one cannot separate liquidity from water or movement from air. \*Manas\* is thus nothing but the hypothetical entity from which all the dreams of appearance proceed, though these dreams and \*manas\* are merely the same and ### [v2.c19.s1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.5) ³ \> \*rāmāsya manaso rūpaṃ na kiṃcid api dṛśyate\* ### [v2.c19.s1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.6) \*prathamo ’sau pratispandaś citta-dehaḥ svatodayaḥ\* \*asmāt pūrvāt pratispandād ananyaitat-svarūpiṇī\* \*iyaṃ pravistṛtā sṛṣṭiḥ spanda-sṛṣṭir ivānilāt.\* @H III. 3. 14, 15. ### [v2.c19.s1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.7) \*nāma-mātrād ṛte vyomno yathā śūnya-jaḍākṛteḥ.\* ### [v2.c19.s1.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.8) it is impossible to distinguish between them¹. \*Avidyā\*, \*saṃsṛti\*, \*citta\*, \*manas\*, \*bandha\*, \*mala\*, \*tamas\* are thus but synonyms for the same concept². It is the perceiver that appears as the perceived, and it is but the perceptions that appear as the perceiver and the perceived. The state of emancipation is the cessation of this world-appearance. There is in reality no perceiver, perceived or perceptions, no vacuity (\*śūnya\*), no matter, no spirit or consciousness, but pure cessation or pure negation, and this is what we mean by Brahman³. Its nature is that of pure cessation (\*śānta\*), and it is this that the Sāṃkhyists call \*puruṣa\*, the Vedāntins call "Brahman," the idealistic Buddhists call "pure idea" (\*vijñāna-mātra\*) and the nihilists "pure essencelessness" (\*śūnya\*)⁴. It is of the nature of pure annihilation and cessation, pervading the inner and the outer world⁵. It is described as that essencelessness (\*śūnya\*) which does not appear to be so, and in which lies the ground and being of the essenceless world-appearance (\*yasmin śūnyaṃ jagat sthitam\*), and which, in spite of all creations, is essenceless⁶. The illusory world-appearance has to be considered as absolutely non-existent, like the water of the mirage or the son of a barren woman. The ultimate entity is thus neither existent nor non-existent and is both statical and dynamical (\*spandāspandātmaka\*)⁷; it is indescribable and unnameable (\*kimapy avyapadeśātmā\*) and neither being nor non-being nor being-non-being, neither statical being nor becoming (\*na bhāvo bhavanaṃ na ca\*). The similarity of the philosophy of the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* to the idealistic philosophy of the \*Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra\* is so definite and deep that the subject does not require any elaborate discussion and the readers are referred to the philosophy of the \*Laṅkāvatāra\* in the first volume of the present work. On Vedānta lines it is very similar to Prakāśānanda's interpretation of the Vedānta in later times, called \*dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vāda\*, which can probably be traced at least as far back as Gauḍapāda or Maṇḍana. Prakāśātman refers to the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* as one of his main authorities. ### [v2.c19.s1.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.9) ¹ \> \*pūrṇe pūrṇaṃ prasarati śānte śāntaṃ vyavasthitam\* ### [v2.c19.s1.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.10) ² III. 4. 46. ### [v2.c19.s1.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.11) ³ III. 5. 6–7. ### [v2.c19.s1.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.12) ⁴ \*nāśa-rūpo vināśātmā.\* III. 5. 16. ### [v2.c19.s1.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.13) ⁵ III. 7. 22. ### [v2.c19.s1.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.14) ⁶ III. 9. 59. ### [v2.c19.s1.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.15) ⁷ III. 9. 49. ### [v2.c19.s1.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s1.16) \*vyomany evoditaṃ vyoma brahmaṇi brahma tiṣṭhati\* \*na dṛśyam asti sad-rūpaṃ na draṣṭā na ca darśanaṃ\* \*na śūnyaṃ na jaḍaṃ no cic chāntam evedam ātatam.\* III. 4. 69, 70. ### Origination ### [v2.c19.s2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.1) The world as such never existed in the past, nor exists now, nor will exist hereafter; so it has no production or destruction in any real sense¹. But yet there is the appearance, and its genesis has somehow to be accounted for. The ultimate entity is, of course, of the nature of pure cessation (\*śānta\*), as described above. The order of moments leading to the manifestation of the world-appearance can be described in this way: At first there is something like a self-reflecting thought in the ultimate entity, producing some indescribable objectivity which gives rise to an egohood. Thus, on a further movement, which is akin to thought, is produced a state which can be described as a self-thinking entity, which is clear pure intelligence, in which everything may be reflected. It is only this entity that can be called conscious intelligence (\*cit\*). As the thought-activity becomes more and more concrete (\*ghana-saṃvedana\*), other conditions of soul (\*jīva\*) arise out of it. At this stage it forgets, as it were, its subject-objectless ultimate state, and desires to flow out of itself as a pure essence of creative movement (\*bhāvanā-mātra-sāra\*). The first objectivity is \*ākāśa\*, manifested as pure vacuity. At this moment arise the ego (\*ahaṃtā\*) and time (\*kāla\*). This creation is, however, in no sense real, and is nothing but the seeming appearances of the self-conscious movement (\*sva-saṃvedana-mātrakam\*) of the ultimate being. All the network of being is non-existent, and has only an appearance of existing. Thought (\*saṃvit\*), which at this moment is like the \*ākāśa\* and the ego and which is the seed (\*bīja\*) of all the conceivings of thought (\*bhāvanā\*), formulates by its movement air². Again, ### [v2.c19.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.2) ¹ \> \*bandhyā-putra-vyoma-bane yathā na staḥ kadācana\* \*jagad-ādy akhilaṃ dṛśyaṃ tathā nāsti kadācana\* \*na cotpannaṃ na ca dhvaṃsi yat kilādau na vidyate\* \*utpattiḥ kīdṛśī tasya nāśa-śabdasya kā kathā.\* III. 11. 4, 5. ### [v2.c19.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.3) ² \> \*manaḥ saṃpadyate lolaṃ kalanā-kalanonmukham; kalayantī manaḥ śaktir ādau bhāvayati kṣaṇāt. ākāśa-bhāvanāmācchāṃ śabda-bīja-rasonmukhīm; tatas tāṃ ghanatāṃ jātaṃ ghana-spanda-kramān manaḥ.\* IV. 44. 16, 17. ### [v2.c19.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.4) A comparison of numerous passages like these shows that each mental creation is the result of a creative thought-movement called \*bhāvanā\*, and each successive movement in the chain of a succession of developing creative movements is said to be \*ghana\*, or concrete. \*Ghana\* has been paraphrased in the \*Tātparya-prakāśa\* as accretion (\*upacaya\*). \*Bhāvāna\* is the same as \*spanda\*; as the result of each thought-movement, there was thought-accretion (\*ghana\*), and corresponding to each \*ghana\* there was a semi-statical creation, and following each \*ghana\* there was a \*spanda\* (\*ghana-spanda-kramāt\*). ### [v2.c19.s2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.5) following the \*ākāśa\* moment and from it as a more concrete state (\*ghanībhūya\*), comes forth the sound-potential (\*kha-tan-mātra\*). This sound-potential is the root of the production of all the Vedas, with their words, sentences and valid means of proof. Gradually the conceivings of the other \*tan-mātras\* of \*sparśa\*, \*tejas\*, \*rasa\* and \*gandha\* follow, and from them the entire objective world, which has no other reality than the fact that they are conceptions of the self-conscious thought¹. The stages then are, that in the state of equilibrium (\*sama\*) of the ultimate indescribable entity called the Brahman, which, though pure consciousness in essence, is in an unmanifested state, there first arises an objectivity (\*cetyatva\*) through its self-directed self-consciousness of the objectivity inherent in it (\*sataś cetyāṁśa-cetanāt\*); next arises the soul, where there is objective consciousness only through the touch or connection of objectivity (\*cetya-saṁyoga-cetanāt\*) instead of the self-directed consciousness of objectivity inherent in itself. Then comes the illusory notion of subjectivity, through which the soul thinks that it is only the conscious subject and as such is different from the object (\*cetyaika-paratā-vaśāt\*). This moment naturally leads to the state of the subjective ego, which conceives actively (\*buddhitvākalanāt\*), and it is this conceiving activity which leads to the objective conceptions of the different \*tan-mātras\* and the world-appearance. These are all, however, ideal creations, and as such have no reality apart from their being as mere appearance. Since their nature is purely conceptual (\*vikalpa\*), they cannot be real at any time. All that appears as existent does so only as a result of the conceptual activity of thought. Through its desire, "I shall see," there comes the appearance of the two hollows of the eye, and similarly in the case of touch, smell, hearing and taste. There is no single soul, far less an infinite number of them. It is by the all-powerful conceptual activity of Brahman that there arises the appearance of so many centres of subjective thought, as the souls (\*jīvas\*). In reality, however, the \*jīvas\* have no other existence than the conceptualizing activity which produces their appearance. There is no materiality or form: these are nothing but the self-flashings of thought (\*citta-camatkāra\*). ### [v2.c19.s2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.6) ¹ III. 12. ### [v2.c19.s2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.7) \*Manas\*, according to this theory, is nothing but that function of pure consciousness through which it posits out of itself an object of itself. Here the pure conscious part may be called the spiritual part and its objectivity aspect the material part¹. In its objectivity also the \*cit\* perceives nothing but itself, though it appears to perceive something other than itself (\*svam evānyatayā dṛṣṭvā\*), and this objectivity takes its first start with the rise of egohood (\*ahaṃtā\*). ### [v2.c19.s2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.8) ¹ \> \*cito yac cetya-kalanaṃ tan-manastvam udāhṛtam\* ### [v2.c19.s2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.9) But to the most important question, namely, how the original equilibrium is disturbed and how the present development of the conceptual creation has come about, the answer given in the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* is that it is by pure accident (\*kākatālīya-yogena\*) that such a course of events took place. It is indeed disappointing that such a wonderful creation of world-appearance should have ultimately to depend on accident for its origin². It is considered irrelevant to enquire into the possibility of some other cause of the ultimate cause, the Brahman³. ### [v2.c19.s2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.10) ² III. 96. 15, IV. 54. 7. ### [v2.c19.s2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s2.11) ³ \> \*Brahmaṇaḥ kāraṇaṃ kim syād iti vaktuṃ na yujyate\* ### Karma, Manas and the Categories ### [v2.c19.s3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.1) \*Karma\* in this view is nothing but the activity of the \*manas\*. The active states of \*manas\* are again determined by their preceding moments and may in their turn be considered as determining the succeeding moments. When any particular state determines any succeeding state, it may be considered as an agent, or \*kartā\*; but, as this state is determined by the activity of the previous state, otherwise called the \*karma\*, it may be said that the \*karma\* generates the \*kartā\*, the \*kartā\* by its activity again produces \*karma\*, so that \*karma\* and \*kartā\* are mutually determinative. As in the case of the seed coming from the tree and the tree coming from the seed, the cycle proceeds on from \*kartā\* to \*karma\* and from \*karma\* to \*kartā\*, and no ultimate priority can be affirmed of any one of them⁴. But, if this is so, then the responsibility of \*karma\* ceases; the root desire (\*vāsanā\*) through which a man is born also makes him suffer or enjoy in accordance with it; but, if \*kartā\* and \*karma\* spring forth together, then a particular birth ought not to be determined by the \*karma\* of previous birth, and this would mean ### [v2.c19.s3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.2) ⁴ \> \*yathā karma ca kartā ca paryāyeneha saṃgatau\* ### [v2.c19.s3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.3) \*cid-bhāgo 'trājaḍo bhāgo jāḍyam atra hi cetyatā.\* III. 91. 37. ### [v2.c19.s3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.4) \*svabhāvo nirviśeṣatvāt paro vaktuṃ na yujyate.\* IV. 18. 22. ### [v2.c19.s3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.5) \*karmaṇā kriyate kartā kartrā karma praṇīyate\* \*bījāṅkurādivan-nyāyo loka-vedokta eva saḥ.\* III. 95. 19, 20. ### [v2.c19.s3.6.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.6.1) that man's enjoyment and sorrow did not depend on his \*karma\*. In answer to such a question, raised by Rāmacandra, Vasiṣṭha says that \*karma\* is due not to \*ātman\*, but to \*manas\*. It is the mental movement which constitutes \*karma\*. When first the category of \*manas\* rises into being from Brahman, \*karma\* also begins from that moment, and, as a result thereof, the soul and the body associated with it are supposed to be manifested. \*Karma\* and \*manas\* are in one sense the same. In this world the movement generated by action (\*kriyā-spanda\*) is called \*karma\*, and, as it is by the movement of \*manas\* that all effects take place, and the bodies with all their associated sufferings or enjoyments are produced, so even the body, which is associated with physical, external \*karma\*, is in reality nothing but the \*manas\* and its activity. \*Manas\* is essentially of the nature of \*karma\*, or activity, and the cessation of activity means the destruction of \*manas\* (\*karma-nāśe mano-nāśaḥ\*)¹. As heat cannot be separated from fire or blackness from collyrium, so movement and activity cannot be separated from \*manas\*. If one ceases, the other also necessarily ceases. \*Manas\* means that activity which subsists between being and non-being and induces being through non-being: it is essentially dynamic in its nature and passes by the name of \*manas\*. It is by the activity of \*manas\* that the subject-objectless pure consciousness assumes the form of a self-conscious ego. ### [v2.c19.s3.6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.6.2) \*Manas\* thus consists of this constantly positing activity (\*ekānta-kalanaḥ\*). The seed of \*karma\* is to be sought in the activity of \*manas\* (\*karma-bījaṃ manaḥ-spanda\*), and the actions (\*kriyā\*) which follow are indeed very diverse. It is the synthetic function (\*tad-anusandhatte\*) of \*manas\* that is called the functioning of the conative senses, by which all actions are performed, and it is for this reason that \*karma\* is nothing but \*manas\*. \*Manas\*, \*buddhi\*, \*ahaṃkāra\*, \*citta\*, \*karma\*, \*kalpanā\*, \*saṃsṛti\*, \*vāsanā\*, \*vidyā\*, \*prayatna\*, \*smṛti\*, \*indriya\*, \*prakṛti\*, \*māyā\* and \*kriyā\* are different only in name, and they create confusion by these varied names; in reality, however, they signify the same concept, namely, the active functioning of \*manas\* or \*citta\*. These different names are current only because they lay stress on the different aspects of the same active functioning. They do not mean different entities, but only different moments, stages or aspects. Thus the first moment of self-conscious activity leading in different directions is called \*manas\*. When, after such oscillating movement, there is the position of either of the alternatives, as “the thus,” it is called \*buddhi\*. When by the false notions of associations of body and soul there is the feeling of a concrete individual as “I,” it is called \*ahaṃkāra\*. When there is reflective thought associated with the memory of the past and the anticipations of the future, it is called \*citta\*. ### [v2.c19.s3.6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.6.3) When the activity is taken in its actual form as motion or action towards any point, it is called \*karma\*. When, leaving its self-contained state, it desires anything, we have \*kalpanā\*. When the \*citta\* turns itself to anything previously seen or unseen, as being previously experienced, we have what is called memory (\*smṛti\*). When certain impressions are produced in a very subtle, subdued form, dominating all other inclinations, as if certain attractions or repulsions to certain things were really experienced, we have the root inclinations (\*vāsanā\*). In the realization that there is such a thing as self-knowledge, and that there is also such a thing as the false and illusory world-appearance, we have what is called right knowledge (\*vidyā\*). When the true knowledge is forgotten and the impressions of the false world-appearance gain ground, we have what are called the impure states (\*mala\*). The functions of the five kinds of cognition please us and are called the senses (\*indriya\*). As all world-appearance has its origin and ground in the highest self, it is called the origin (\*prakṛti\*). As the true state can neither be called existent nor non-existent, and as it gives rise to all kinds of appearance, it is called illusion (\*māyā\*)¹. Thus it is the same appearance which goes by the various names of \*jīva\*, \*manas\*, \*citta\* and \*buddhi\*². ### [v2.c19.s3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.7) ¹ III. 95. ### [v2.c19.s3.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.8) ¹ III. 96. 17–31. ### [v2.c19.s3.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.9) One of the peculiarities of this work is that it is not a philosophical treatise of the ordinary type, but its main purpose lies in the attempt to create a firm conviction on the part of its readers, by repeating the same idea in various ways by means of stories and elaborate descriptions often abounding in the richest poetical imagery of undeniably high aesthetic value, hardly inferior to that of the greatest Sanskrit poet, Kālidāsa. ### [v2.c19.s3.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s3.10) \*Jīva ity ucyate loke mana ity api kathyate\* \*cittam ity ucyate saiva buddhir ity ucyate tathā.\* ### The World-Appearance ### [v2.c19.s4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.1) The \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* is never tired of repeating that this world is like a hare’s horn, a forest in the sky, or a lotus in the sky. The state of Brahman is higher than the state of \*manas\*. It is by becoming \*manas\* that Brahman transforms itself into thought-activity and thus produces the seeming changeful appearances. But Brahman in itself cannot have anything else (\*brahma-tattve ’nyatā nāsti\*). But, though there is this change into \*manas\*, and through it the production of the world-appearance, yet such a change is not real, but illusory; for during all the time when this change makes its appearance and seems to stay, Brahman remains shut up within itself, change-less and unchangeable. All objective appearance is thus nothing but identically the same as the Brahman, and all that appears has simply no existence. The seer never transforms himself into objectivity, but remains simply identical with himself in all appearances of objectivity. But the question arises, how, if the world-appearance is nothing but the illusory creative conception of \*manas\*, can the order of the world-appearance be explained? The natural answer to such a question in this system is that the seeming correspondence and agreement depend upon the similarity of the imaginary products in certain spheres, and also upon accident. It is by accident that certain dream series correspond with certain other dream series¹. But in reality they are all empty dream constructions of one \*manas\*. It is by the dream desires that physical objects gradually come to be considered as persistent objects existing outside of us. But, though during the continuance of the dreams they appear to be real, they are all the while nothing but mere dream conceptions. The self-alienation by which the pure consciousness constructs the dream conception is such that, though it always remains identical with itself, yet it seems to posit itself as its other, and as diversified by space, time, action and substance (\*deśa-kāla-kriyā-dravyāiḥ\*). ### [v2.c19.s4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.2) ¹ \*melanam api svakīya-parakīya-svapnānāṃ daivāt kvacit saṃvādavat svāntaḥ-kalpanātmakam eva. Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-tātparya-prakāśa\*, IV. 18. 46. ### [v2.c19.s4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.3) The difference between the ordinary waking state and the dream state consists in this, that the former is considered by us as associated with permanent convictions (\*sthira-pratyaya\*), whereas the latter is generally thought to have no permanent basis. Any experience which persists, whether it be dream or not, comes to be regarded as permanent, whereas, if even our waking conceptions come to be regarded as changeful, they lose their validity as representing permanent objects, and our faith in them becomes shaken. If the dream experiences persisted in time and the waking experiences were momentary, then the waking state would be considered as a dream and the dream experiences would be considered as ordinary experiences in the dream state. It is only with the coming of the waking state that there is a break of the dream experiences, and it is then that the latter are contradicted and therefore regarded as false. But so long as the dream experiences lasted in the dream state, we did not consider them to be false; for during that time those dream experiences appeared somehow to be permanent and therefore real. There is thus no difference between dream states and waking states except this, that the latter are relatively persistent, continuous and permanent (\*sthira\*), while the former are changeful and impermanent (\*asthira\*)¹. ### [v2.c19.s4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.4) ¹ \> \*jāgrat-svapna-daśā-bhedo na sthirāsthirate vinā\* ### [v2.c19.s4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.5) There is within us a principle of pure consciousness, which is also the vital principle (\*jīva-dhātu\*), vitality (\*vīrya\*), and body heat (\*tejas\*). In the active condition, when the body is associated with manas, action and speech, the vital principle moves through the body, and on account of this all sorts of knowledge arise, and the illusion of world-appearance inherent in it is manifested as coming from outside through the various sense apertures. This being of a steady and fixed character is called the waking state (\*jāgrat\*). The \*suṣupta\*, or deep sleep state, is that in which the body is not disturbed by the movement of the \*manas\*, action or speech. The vital principle remains still in itself, in a potential state without any external manifestation, as the oil remains in the sesamum (\*taila-saṃvid yathā tile\*)². When the vital principle (\*jīva-dhātu\*) is very much disturbed, we have experiences of the dream state. ### [v2.c19.s4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.6) ² IV. 19. 23. ### [v2.c19.s4.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.7) Whenever the \*manas\* strongly identifies itself with any of its concepts, it appears to itself as that concept, just as an iron ball in fire becomes itself like fire. It is the \*manas\* that is both the perceiver (\*puruṣa\*) and the perceived universe (\*viśva-rūpatā\*)³. ### [v2.c19.s4.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.8) ³ IV. 20. 4. ### [v2.c19.s4.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.9) \*samaḥ sadaiva sarvatra samasto 'nubhavo 'nayoḥ\* \*svapno 'pi svapna-samaye sthairyājjāgrattvam ṛcchati\* \*asthairyāt jāgrad evāste svapnas tādṛśa-bodhataḥ.\* @H IV. 19. 11, 12. ### [v2.c19.s4.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.10) The followers of the Sāṃkhya consider \*manas\* to be pure consciousness; they have also explained their doctrines in other details, and they think that emancipation cannot be attained by any way other than that which the Sāṃkhya suggests. The followers of the Vedānta also consider that emancipation is attained if one understands that all this world is Brahman and if there is self-control and cessation of desires together with this knowledge, and that this is the only way of salvation. The Vijñānavādins (Idealistic Buddhists) think that, provided there is complete self-control and cessation of all sense desires, one may attain emancipation, if he understands that the world-appearance is nothing but his own illusion. Thus each system of thought thinks too much of its own false methods of salvation (\*svair eva niyama-bhramaiḥ\*), springing from the traditional wrong notions. But the truth underlying all these conceptions is that \*manas\* is the root of all creations. There is nothing intrinsically pleasurable or painful, sweet or bitter, cold or hot, and such appearances arise only through the habitual creations of the mind. When one believes and thinks with strong faith in any particular manner, he begins to perceive things in that particular manner during that particular time¹. ### [v2.c19.s4.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s4.11) ¹ \> \*na jñeneha padārtheṣu rūpam ekam udīryate\* ### Nature of Agency (Kartṛtva) and the Illusion of World Creation ### [v2.c19.s5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.1) Whenever we ascribe agency (\*kartṛtva\*) to any person in respect of deeds producing pleasure or pain, or deeds requiring strenuous exercise of will-power, as those of the Yoga discipline, we do it wrongly; for agency consists in the grasp of will and resolution, and so it is an internal determination of the mind, of the nature of dominant and instinctive desires and inclinations (\*vāsanābhidhānaḥ\*)². The inner movement of feeling in the person towards the enjoyment of experiences takes place in accordance with these fixed desires or inclinations leading him to specific forms of enjoyment. All enjoyment is thus a natural consequence of our nature and character as active agents. Since all active agency (\*kartṛtva\*) consists in the ### [v2.c19.s5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.2) ² \*yohyantara-sthāyāḥ manovṛtter niścayaḥ upādeyatā-pratyayo vāsanābhidhānatatkartṛtva-śabdenocyate.\* IV. 38. 2. ### [v2.c19.s5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.3) \*dṛḍha-bhāvanayā ceto yad yathā bhāvayaty alam\* \*tat tat-phalaṃ tad-ākāraṃ tāvat-kālaṃ prapaśyati.\* \*na tad asti na yat satyaṃ na tad asti na yan mṛṣā.\* @H IV. 21. 56, 57. ### [v2.c19.s5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.4) inner effort of will, the enjoyment following such an inner exercise of will is nothing but the feeling modifications of the mind following the lead of the active exercise of the will. All action or active agency is thus associated with root inclinations (\*vāsanā\*), and is thus possible only for those who do not know the truth and have their minds full of the root inclinations. But those who have no \*vāsanā\* cannot be said to have the nature of active agents or of enjoying anything. Their minds are no doubt always active and they are active all the time; but, as they have no \*vāsanā\*, they are not attached to fruit, and there is the movement without any attachment. Whatever is done by \*manas\* is done, and what is not done by it is not done; so it is the \*manas\* that is the active agent, and not the body; the world has appeared from the mind (\*citta\* or \*manas\*), is of the essence of \*manas\*, and is upheld in \*manas\*. Everything is but a mental creation and has no other existence. ### [v2.c19.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.5) Ultimately, everything comes from Brahman; for that is the source of all powers, and therefore all powers (\*śaktayaḥ\*) are seen in Brahman—existence, non-existence, unity, duality and multiplicity all proceed from Brahman. The \*citta\*, or mind, has evolved out of pure consciousness (\*cit\*) or Brahman, as has already been mentioned, and it is through the latter that all power of action (\*karma\*), root desires (\*vāsanā\*), and all mental modifications appear. But, if everything has proceeded from Brahman, how is it that the world-appearance happens to be so different from its source, the Brahman? When anything comes out of any other thing, it is naturally expected to be similar thereto in substance. If, therefore, the world-appearance has sprung forth from Brahman, it ought to be similar in nature thereto; but Brahman is sorrowless, while the world-appearance is full of sorrow; how is this to be explained? To such a question the answer is, that to a person who has a perfect realization of the nature of the world-appearance, as being a mere conceptual creation from the Brahman and having no existence at all, there is no sorrow in this world-appearance nor any such quality which is different from Brahman. Only in the eyes of a person who has not the complete realization does this difference between the world-appearance and Brahman seem to be so great, and the mere notion of the identity of Brahman and the universe, without its complete realization, may lead to all sorts of mischief. On this account instruction in the identity of the Brahman and the world-appearance should never be given to anyone whose mind has not been properly purified by the essential virtues of self-control and disinclination to worldly pleasures¹. As in magic (\*indrajāla\*), non-existent things are produced and existent things are destroyed, a jug becomes a cloth, and a cloth becomes a jug, and all sorts of wonderful sights are shown, though none of these appearances have the slightest essence of their own; so is the entire world-appearance produced out of the imagination of the mind. There is no active agent (\*kartṛ\*) and no one enjoyer (\*bhoktṛ\*) of the pleasures and sorrows of the world, and there is no destruction whatsoever². ### [v2.c19.s5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.6) ¹ \> \*ādau śama·dama-prāyair guṇaiḥ śiṣyaṃ viśodhayet\* \> \*paścāt sarvaṃ idaṃ brahma śuddhas tvam iti bodhayet.\* \> @H IV. 39. 23. ### [v2.c19.s5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.7) ² \> \*nātra kaścit kartā na bhoktā na vināśam eti.\* IV. 39. 41. ### [v2.c19.s5.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.8) Though the ultimate state is the indescribable Brahman or \*cit\*, yet it is from \*manas\* that all creation and destruction from cycle to cycle take their start. At the beginning of each so-called creation the creative movement of \*manas\* energy is roused. At the very first the outflow of this \*manas\* energy in the direction of a conceptual creation means an accumulation of energy in \*manas\*, called \*ghana\*, which is a sort of statical aspect of the dynamical energy (\*spanda\*). At the next stage there is a combination of this statical state of energy with the next outflow of energy, and the result is the stabilized accretion of energy of the second order; this is again followed by another outflow of energy, and that leads to the formation of the stabilized energy of the third order, and so on. The course of thought-creation is thus through the interaction of the actualized energy of thought with the active forms of the energy of thought, which join together, at each successive outflow from the supreme fund of potential energy. Thus it is said that the first creative movement of \*manas\* manifests itself as the \*ākāśa\* creation, and that, as a result of this creative outflow of energy, there is an accretion of energy in \*manas\*; at this moment there is another outflow (\*spanda\*) or movement on the part of \*manas\*, as modified by the accretion of energy of the previous state, and this outflow of \*manas\* thus modified is the creation of air. The outflow of this second order, again, modifies \*manas\* by its accretion, and there is a third outflow of energy of the \*manas\* as modified by the previous accretion, and so on. This process of the modification of energy by the outflow of the \*manas\* modified at each stage by the accretion of the outflow of energy at each of the preceding states is called \*ghana-spanda-krama\*¹. The creation of all the so-called \*tan-mātras\* (subtle states) of \*ākāśa\*, \*vāyu\*, \*tejas\*, \*ap\* and \*kṣiti\* takes place in this order, and afterwards that of the \*ahaṃkāra\* and \*buddhi\*, and thus of the subtle body (\*pury-aṣṭaka\*); thereafter the cosmic body of Brahman is formed and developed in accordance with the root desire (\*vāsanā\*) inherent in \*manas\*. Thus here we have first the \*ākāśa tan-mātra\*, then the \*vāyu tan-mātra\* from the \*ākāśa tan-mātra\* plus the outflow of energy, then, from the \*ākāśa tan-mātra\* plus the \*vāyu tan-mātra\* plus the outflow of energy of the third order, \*tejas tan-mātra\*, and so on. Then, after the \*tan-mātra\*, the \*ahaṃkāra\* and the \*buddhi\*, we have the subtle body of eight constituents (five \*tan-mātras\*, \*ahaṃkāra\*, \*buddhi\* and the root \*manas\*), called the \*pury-aṣṭaka\* of Brahmā. From this develops the body of Brahmā, and from the creative imagination of Brahmā we have the grosser materials and all the rest of the world-appearance. But all this is pure mental creation, and hence unreal, and so also are all the scriptures, gods and goddesses and all else that passes as real. ### [v2.c19.s5.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s5.9) ¹ IV. 44. 13–30. ### The Stage of the Saint (Jīvan-mukta) ### [v2.c19.s6.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.1) Emancipation (\*mukti\*) in this system can be attained in the lifetime of a person or after his death; in the former case it is called \*sa-deha-muktatā\*, or \*jīvan-muktatā\*. The \*jīvan-mukta\* state is that in which the saint has ceased to have any desires (\*apagataiṣaṇaḥ\*), as if he were in a state of deep sleep (\*suṣuptavat\*). He is self-contained and thinks as if nothing existed. He has always an inward eye, even though he may be perceiving all things with his external eye and using his limbs in all directions. He does not wait for the future, nor remain in the present, nor remember the past. Though sleeping, he is awake and, though awake, he is asleep. He may be doing all kinds of actions externally, though he remains altogether unaffected by them internally. He internally renounces all actions, and does not desire anything for himself. He is full of bliss and happiness, and therefore appears to ordinary eyes to be an ordinary happy man; but in reality, though he may be doing all kinds of things, he has not the delusion of being himself an active agent (\*tyakta-kartṛtva-vibhramaḥ\*). He has no antipathy, grief, emotions, or outbursts of pleasure. He is quite neutral to all who do him ill or well; he shows sympathetic interest in each person in his own way; he plays with a child, is serious with an old man, an enjoyable companion to a young man, sympathetic with the sorrows of a suffering man. He is wise and pleasant and loving to all with whom he comes in contact. He is not interested in his own virtuous deeds, enjoyments, sins, in bondage or emancipation. He has a true philosophic knowledge of the essence and nature of all phenomena, and, being firm in his convictions, he remains neutral to all kinds of happenings, good, bad, or indifferent. But from the descriptions it appears that this indifference on the part of a saint does not make him an exclusive and unnatural man; for, though unaffected in every way within himself, he can take part in the enjoyment of others, he can play like a child and can sympathize with the sorrows of sufferers¹. ### [v2.c19.s6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.2) ¹ v. 77. ### [v2.c19.s6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.3) \*Jīvan-mukti\*, or emancipation while living, is considered by Śaṅkara also as a possible state, though he does not seem to have used the term in his works. Thus, on the basis of \*Chāndogya\*, VI. 14. 2, he says that knowledge destroys only those actions which have not already begun to yield their fruits; those actions which have already begun to yield fruits cannot be destroyed by true knowledge, and so it is not possible for anyone to escape from their effects, good or bad; and it has to be admitted that even after the dawning of true knowledge the body remains until the effects of the actions which have already begun to yield fruits are exhausted by enjoyment or suffering. In explaining such a condition Śaṅkara gives two analogies: (1) as a potter's wheel goes on revolving when the vessel that it was forming is completed, so the body, which was necessary till the attainment of true knowledge, may continue to exist for some time even after the rise of knowledge; (2) as, when a man through some eye-disease sees two moons instead of one, he continues to do so even when he is convinced that there are not two moons but one, so, even when the saint is firmly convinced of the unreality of the world-appearance, he may still continue to have the illusion of world-appearance, though internally he may remain unaffected by it². Of the Upaniṣads only the later \*Muktika Upaniṣad\*, which seems to have drawn its inspiration from the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\*, mentions the word \*jīvan-mukta\*, meaning those saints who live till their fruit-yielding actions (\*prārabdha-karma\*) are exhausted¹. But, though the word is not mentioned, the idea seems to be pretty old. ### [v2.c19.s6.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.4) ² Śaṅkara's \*Śārīraka-bhāṣya\* or the \*Brahma-sūtra\*, IV. i. 15, 19. ### [v2.c19.s6.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.5) ¹ \*Muktika Upaniṣad\*, I. 42, also II. 33, 35, 76. ### [v2.c19.s6.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.6) The conception of \*sthita-prajña\* in the \*Śrīmad-bhagavad-gītā\* reminds us of the state of a \*jīvan-mukta\* saint. A \*sthita-prajña\* (man of steady wisdom) has no desires, but is contented in himself, has no attachment, fear or anger, is not perturbed by sorrow nor longs for pleasure, and is absolutely devoid of all likes and dislikes. Like a tortoise within its shell, he draws himself away from the sense-objects². This conception of the \*Śrīmad-bhagavad-gītā\* is referred to in the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\*, which gives a summary of it in its own way³. But it seems as if the conception of the saint in the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* has this advantage over the other, that here the saint, though absolutely unaffected by all pleasures and sufferings, by virtue and vice, is yet not absolutely cut off from us; for, though he has no interest in his own good, he can show enjoyment in the enjoyment of others and sympathy with the sufferings of others; he can be as gay as a child when with children, and as serious as any philosopher when with philosophers or old men. The \*Śrīmad-bhaga-vad-gītā\*, though it does not deny such qualities to a saint, yet does not mention them either, and seems to lay stress on the aspect of the passivity and neutral character of the saint; whereas the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\*, as we have already said, lays equal stress on both these special features of a saint. He is absolutely unattached to anything, but is not cut off from society and can seemingly take part in everything without losing his mental balance in any way. The \*Gītā\*, of course, always recommends even the unattached saint to join in all kinds of good actions; but what one misses there is the taking of a full and proper interest in life along with all others, though the saint is internally absolutely unaffected by all that he may do. ### [v2.c19.s6.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.7) ² \*Śrīmad-bhagavad-gītā\*, II. 55–58. ### [v2.c19.s6.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.8) ³ \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\*, VI. 52–58. ### [v2.c19.s6.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.9) The saint in the \*Yoga-vāsiṣṭha\* not only performs his own actions in an unattached manner, but to all appearance mixes with the sorrows and joys of others. ### [v2.c19.s6.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19.s6.10) The question whether a saint is above the tyranny of the effects of his own deeds was also raised in Buddhist quarters. Thus we find in the \*Kathā-vatthu\* that a discussion is raised as to whether a saint can be killed before his proper time of death, and it is said that no one can attain \*nirvāṇa\* without enjoying the fruits of accumulated intentional deeds¹. A story is told in the \*Dhamma-pada\* commentary (the date of which, according to E. W. Burlingame, is about A.D. 450), how the great saint Moggallāna was torn in pieces by thieves, and his bones were pounded until they were as small as grains of rice; such a miserable death of such a great saint naturally raised doubts among his disciples, and these were explained by Buddha, who said that this was due to the crime of parricide, which Moggallāna had committed in some previous birth; even though he had attained sainthood (\*arhattva\*) in that life, he could not escape suffering the effect of his misdeeds, which were on the point of bearing fruit². This would naturally imply the view that sainthood does not necessarily mean destruction of the body, but that even after the attainment of sainthood the body may continue to exist for the suffering of the effects of such actions as are on the point of bearing fruit. _First 82 of 219 passages. [Read on](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.dasgupta-1922.v2.c19)_ ## Cites (44) - [Yogavāsiṣṭha](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.upajivya.yogavasistha.3.16.50) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit - [Chāndogyopaniṣad](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.upanisad.mukhya.chandogya.6.14.2) — Sanskrit - [Brahmasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darsana.vedanta.brahmasutra-works.brahmasutra.2.4.10) — Bādarāyaṇa, Sanskrit - [Sāṃkhyasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darsana.samkhya.samkhyasutra.3.77) — Kapila, Sanskrit - [Nyāyasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darsana.nyaya.pracina.nyayasutra.4.2.42) — Akṣapāda Gautama, Sanskrit - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka.522) — Pāli - [Kathāvatthu](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.ap.kathavatthu.17.2) — Moggaliputta Tissa, Pāli - [Carakasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.med.samhita.caraka.1.12) — Agniveśa (Āyurveda) & Caraka, Sanskrit - [Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇopaniṣad](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.upanisad.mukhya.kausitaki.2.5) — Sanskrit - 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