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The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c9.s6: Section 11. Life

The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c9.s6

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Section 11. Life

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These activities maintain the life of the organism, but what is this life itself?

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The *Chârvâkas* (materialists and sensationalists) answer that life (as well as consciousness) is a result of peculiar chemical combinations of dead matter (or the four elements) in organic forms, even as the intoxicating property of spirituous liquors results from the fermentation of unintoxicating rice and molasses. Similarly, the instinctive movements and expressions of new-born babes (sucking, joy, grief, fear, etc.) can be explained mechanically as due to external stimuli as much as the opening and closing of the lotus and other flowers at different hours of the day (or night), or the movement of iron under the influence of the loadstone. In the same way, the spontaneous generation of living organisms is frequently observed, *e.g.* the case of animalcules which develop in moisture or infusions, especially under the influence of gentle warmth (स्वेदज, उष्मज, दंशमशकादयः), or of the maggots or other worms which in the rainy season, by reason of the atmospheric moisture, are developed in the constituent particles of curds and the like, which begin to live and move in so short a time.

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Gotama, in his *Sûtras*, reports the Chârvâka explanation of instinctive emotional expressions in babes: पद्मादिषु प्रबोधसम्मोलनवत् तद्विकारः—Sûtra 20, Âhnika 1, Chapter III.; *cf.* the explanation of the movement preparatory to sucking: अयसो ऽयस्कान्ताभिगमनवत् तदुपसर्पणं—Sûtra 23, *ibid.* Jayanta, in the *Nyâya-manjarî*, reports the Chârvâka explanation of consciousness (and life).

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मदशक्तिवत् विज्ञानं । पृथिव्यादीनि भूतानि चत्वारि तत्त्वानि । तेभ्य एव देहाकारपरिणतेभ्यः मदशक्तिवत् चैतन्यमुपजायते ।

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For spontaneous generation, *vide* Jayanta's report:—

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वर्षासुच खेदादिना अनतिदवीयसैव कालेन दध्याद्यवयवा एव चलन्तः पूतनादिकृमिरूपा उपलभ्यन्ते ।—*Nyâya-manjarî*, Âhnika 7, भूतचैतन्यपक्षः ।

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The Sânkhya view of consciousness—Reply to the materialists:—

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The intoxicating power in liquor is a force, *i.e.* a tendency to motion, and this is the resultant of the tendencies (or subtile motions) present in the particles of the fermented rice, molasses, etc. A motion, or a tendency to motion, can in this way be the resultant of several other motions or tendencies. But consciousness (चैतन्य) is not a motion, and cannot be the resultant of (unconscious) natural forces or motions. Neither can the consciousness of the Self, or of the organism as a whole, be supposed to be the resultant of innumerable consciousnesses vested in the innumerable constituent particles of the body. One central abiding intelligence is a simpler and therefore more legitimate hypothesis than an assemblage of consciousnesses latent in different Bhûtas or particles, *cf.* Vijnâna-bhikṣu's comment on the Sûtra. मदशक्तिवच्चेत् प्रत्येकपरिदृष्टे सांहत्ये तदुद्भवः (Sûtra 22, Chapter III.) ननु यथा मादकताशक्तिः प्रत्येकद्रव्यावृत्तिरपि मिलितद्रव्ये वर्त्तते एवं चैतन्यमपि स्यादिति चेन्न प्रत्येकपरिदृष्टे सति सांहत्ये तदुद्भवः सम्भवेत्। प्रकृते तु प्रत्येकपरिदृष्टत्वं नास्ति ... ननु समुचिते चैतन्यदर्शनेन प्रत्येकभूते सूक्ष्मचैतन्यशक्तिरनुमेया इति चेन्न । अनेकभूतेषु अनेकचैतन्यशक्तिकल्पनायां गौरवेण लाघवादेकस्यैव नित्यचित्स्वरूपस्य कल्पनौचित्यात् । *Cf.* also भूतगतविशेषगुणानां सजातीयकारणगुणजन्यतया कारणे चैतन्यं विना देहे चैतन्यासम्भवात् । (*ibid.*).

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मद्ये मदशक्तिर्न गुणः । मद्यारम्भकानां पिष्टगुडमध्वादीनां यत् यस्य कर्म तै कर्मभिरारब्धं स्वस्वकर्म्मविरोधिक्कम्मे यदुच्यते प्रभाव इति । चैतन्यादिकं न कर्म्म । (Gangâdhara's *Jalpakalpataru* (1867, Calcutta), explaining the distinction between property (गुण) and power (प्रभाव), a technical term in medicine, which denotes a form of motion (कर्म्म) *Sûtrasthâna*, Jalpakalpataru).

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The Sânkhya view of Prâṇa (life):—

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Life, according to the Sânkhya, is not a *Vâyu* (bio-mechanical force) nor any mere mechanical motion resulting from the impulsion of *Vâyu*. The five vital operations, Prâṇa, Apâna, etc., are called *Vâyus*, but this is only a metaphor. Life is in reality a reflex activity, a resultant of the various *concurrent* activities of the *Antahkaraṇas*, *i.e.* of the sensori-motor (ज्ञानेन्द्रिय कर्म्मेन्द्रिय), the emotional (मनः) and the apperceptive reactions of the organism (for some add अहङ्कार).

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Vijnâna-bhikṣu notes that this explains the disturbing (elevating or depressing) effect on the vitality of pleasurable or painful emotions, like love (काम), which are activities of *Manas*, one of the *Antaḥkaraṇas* concerned in the reactions of the living organism. On the Sânkhya view, then, *Prâṇa* or life is not a *Vâyu*, nor is it evolved from the Bhutas, inorganic matter. *Prâṇa* is only a complex reflex activity (सम्भूयैका वृत्ति) resulting from the operations of the psycho-physical principles or forces in the organism. *Cf.* Śankara reporting the Sânkhya view—करणानि नियतवृत्तयः सन्तः सम्भूयैकां प्राणाख्यां वृत्तिं प्रतिपद्यन्ते।—*Śârîraka-bhâṣya*, Chapter II., Pada 4, Sûtra 9. सामान्यकरणवृत्तिः प्राणाद्या वायवः पञ्च।—Iśvarakriṣṇa, Kârikâ. Also Sûtra 31, Chapter II., where Vijnâna-bhikṣu notes :—

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वायुवत् सञ्चारात् वायवः प्रसिद्धाः। अस्माकं नायं नियमः यदिन्द्रियवृत्तिः क्रमेणैव भवति नैकदा। जातिसाङ्कर्य्यस्य अस्माकं अदोषत्वात्। सामग्रीसमवधाने सति अनेकैरपीन्द्रियैः एकदैकवृत्त्युत्पादने बाधकं नास्ति।—Vijnâna-bhikṣu, *Pravachana-bhâṣya*, Chapter II., Sûtras 31, 32. मनोधर्मस्य कामादेः प्राणक्षोभतया सामानाधिकरण्येनैव औचित्यात्।—*ibid.*

The Vedântic View of Prâṇa

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The Vedântists are believers in an independent vital principle. They agree with the Sânkhyas in holding that *Prâṇa* is neither a *Vâyu* nor the operation of a *Vâyu*. But neither is life a mere reflex or resultant of concurrent sensori-motor, emotive and apperceptive reactions of the organism. You may put eleven birds in a cage, and if they concurrently and continually strike against the bars of the cage in the same direction, the cage may move on under this conjoint action. But the sensory and motor activities cannot in this way originate the vital activity of the organism. For the deprivation of any one or more of the senses does not mean a deprivation of life, and above all there is this radical distinction: there is sameness of kind (समजातीयत्व) between the motions of the individual birds and the resultant motion of the cage, but the sensations do not explain life. *Life* (Prâṇa) must therefore be recognised as a separate principle, just as the *Manas* and the *Antaḥkaraṇas* generally are in the Sânkhya Philosophy. Life is a sort of subtle rarefied "ether-principle" (अध्यात्मवायु) pervasive of the organism—which is not gross *Vâyu*, but is all the same subtilised matter, like the Manas itself, for, in the Vedânta, everything other than the Self (आत्मा) is "material" (जड़).

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This Life is prior to the senses, for it regulates the development of the fertilised ovum, which would putrefy if it were not living, and the senses with their apparatus develop subsequently out of the ovum (न वायुक्रिये पृथगुपदेशात्), Chapter II., Pada 4, Sûtra 9; *vide* Śarîraka-Bhâṣya Śankara; also Vâchaspati Miśra, Bhâmatî:—

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सिद्धान्तस्तु न समानेन्द्रियवृत्तिः प्राणः । स हि मिलितानां वा वृत्तिर्भवेत् प्रत्येकं वा । न तावत् मिलितानां । एकद्वित्रिचतुरिन्द्रियाभावे तदभावप्रसङ्गात् । न खलु चूर्णहरिद्रासंयोगजन्मारुण्यमवयवतरभावे भवितुमर्हति । न च बहुष्विदिसार्ये शिविकोड्डहनं द्वित्रिविदिसार्थ्यं भवति । न च त्वगेकसाध्यं । तथा सति सामान्यवृत्तिव्वानुपपत्तेः । अपि च यत् सम्भूयकारकाणि निष्पादयन्ति तत् प्रधानव्यापारानुगुणावान्तरव्यापारेणैव । यथा वयसां प्रातिस्विको व्यापारः पिञ्जरचालनानुगुणः । इह्तु श्रवणाद्यवान्तरव्यापारोपेतः प्राणो न सम्भूय प्रास्यूरिति युक्तं प्रमाणाभावादत्यन्तविजातीयत्वाच्च श्रवणादिभ्यः प्राणनस्य । . . . तस्मादन्यो वायुक्रियाभ्यां प्राणः । . . . वायुरेवायमध्यात्मतामापन्नः मुख्योऽपि प्राणः ।

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—Śankara, *ibid.* *Cf.* also, ज्येष्ठश्च प्राणः शुक्रनिषेककालादारभ्य तस्य वृत्तिलाभात् । नचेत् तस्य तदानीं वृत्तिलाभः स्यात् शुक्रं पूयेत न सम्भवेद्वा श्रोत्रादीनान्तु कर्णशष्कुल्यादिस्थानविभागनिष्पत्तौ वृत्तिलाभात्र ज्येष्ठत्वं ।—Śankara, on Sûtra 9, Pâda 4, Chapter II.

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