Indian Philosophy v1.c8.s5.28

v1.c8.s5.28

It is obviously wrong to think that according to the hymn we discussed there was originally non-being from out of which being grew. The first condition is not absolute non-existence, for the hymn admits the reality of the one breathing breathless by itself. It is their way of describing the absolute reality, the logical ground of the whole universe. Being and non-being, which are correlative terms, cannot be applied to the One which is beyond all opposition. Non-being only means whatever now visibly exists had then no distinct existence. In x. 72. 1, it is said, “the existent sprang from the non-existent.” Even here it does not mean being comes from non-being but only that distinct being comes from non-distinct being. So we do not agree with the view that the hymn is “the starting-point of the natural philosophy which developed into the Sāmkhya system.”³