The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c11.33

c11.33

The pyschological character of the principle of individuation is emphasized by the derivation from it in its Sattva aspect of the mind and the five organs of perception and the five organs of action, and from it in its Tamas aspect of the five fine elements, thus developing a further parallelism of the subjective and the objective elements. In each derivation the Rajas aspect plays its part, both as serving to set the other constituents in action and as actually present in the results. The five organs of perception are those of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch; the five organs of action are the tongue, feet, hands, and the organs of evacuation and reproduction. Mind is, like these ten, an organ through which external reality is apprehended, but it has the important function of arranging the sense impressions into precepts, of suggesting alternatives, and of carying out the decisions of the will by means of the organs of action. The function of the organs of perception is merely observation, in contrast with the action of the organs of action. Mind with the organs* appears to be considered as producing by their action the five vital airs, which in the Vedānta system are given an independent place as the supporters of the life of nutrition as opposed to the conscious life. The distinction of ten senses is not explained, save by a reference to the diverse development of the constituents.