Outlines of Indian Philosophy c19.37

c19.37

(ii) In the state of dissolution, the three guṇas of prakṛti, though perpetually active, are in perfect equilibrium. At the beginning of a period of evolution, this state ceases and is followed by one in which sattva predominates. It marks the starting-point of heterogeneous evolution and is called mahat (‘the great’), or buddhi. The initial stimulus for this alteration, according to the Yoga, comes from God or Īśvara.² According to the Sāṅkhya on the other hand which acknowledges no such supreme Being, the change is ascribed to the ‘mere presence’ (sāmnidhya-mātra),³ as it is termed, of the puruṣa; and the possibility of its influencing prakṛti, though continuing to be passive, is illustrated by a magnet attracting iron. This is a point which is far from satisfactory. In the first place, the puruṣa is eternal and omnipresent like prakṛti so that the condition determining the evolution of the latter is ever fulfilled while its course is supposed to be interrupted at intervals by dissolution. To explain the break in the course of evolution by the past karma of beings will not do, for the puruṣa, being really untouched by good or evil, karma and its effects should be taken to characterize the buddhi and therefore as internal to prakṛti.⁴ There is again the difficulty due to the admission of many selves in understanding what exactly is meant by the presence of puruṣa—whether it is of one or of all. To assume, as Vijñāna Bhikṣu does,⁵ that it refers to the influence of a chief Puruṣa in each kalpa or cycle of creation would virtually be to abandon the atheistic position and side with the Yoga.