The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c11.48

c11.48

There is only one means by which nature can succeed in freeing spirit from fancied dependence on her, though she makes efforts in diverse ways: of the eight psychic states which are seen in intellect seven merely keep spirit fast in its bonds; with the eighth, knowledge, however, release is achieved. The knowledge which results in liberation is the realization that the spirit is not one or all of the principles, that it has no empiric existence, that nothing belongs to it, and that it does not exist as an empiric individual. The attainment of this knowledge through consideration of the facts of existence results in the cessation of the creative activity of nature: the other seven psychic states come to an end for ever, and spirit, in contentment, gazes as a mere spectator upon nature which no longer binds it. Recognizing that nature is not connected with it, spirit is indifferent to her, nature recognizing that her true character is understood ceases her activity, and though the union of the two remains in existence even after the attainment of true knowledge, there is no possibility of further production. But as the potter's wheel continues to revolve for a time, after he ceases to maintain its motion, by reason of the acquired velocity, so the psychic states which result from the previous life have to be finally exhausted, and not until the impressions, Saṃskāras, thus existing in the mind have been removed, can the complete release be attained in death, when spirit obtains the condition of complete isolation, which is unending, and which is free from any other characteristic.