Mokshadharma Parva — The principles of Sankhya Philosophy

Yudhishthira said O king, you have duly described to me, in the proper way, the path of Yoga which is approved by the wise, like a loving preceptor to his pupil.

I ask now about the principles of the Sankhya philosophy. Do you describe those principles to me in full. You know whatever knowledge exists in the three worlds.

Bhishma said Hear now what the subtile principles are of the followers of the Sankhya doctrine all of whom have a clear knowledge of the soul. Those principles have been laid down by all the great and powerful Yatis having Kapila for their first.

In that doctrine, O king no errors are seen. Its merits are manifold. In fact, there is no fault in it.

Comprehending with the help of knowledge that all objects exist with faults, with which human leings, Pishachas, Rakshasas, Yakshas, snakes, Gandharvas, and Pitris and those who are wandering in the intermediate orders of being, and great birds, and the Maruts and royal sages and regenerate sages and Asuras and V shvedevas and the celestial Rishis and Yogins invested with supreme power and the Prajapatis and Brahman himself are engaged, and understanding truly what the highest limit of a man's life in this world, and perceiving also the great-truth, O foremost of orator, about what is called happiness here, and having a perfect knowledge of what the miseries are that befall when the hour comes all those who are concerned with (transitory) objects, and knowing full well the miseries of those who have fallen into the intermediate orders of being and of those who have sunk into hell, perceiving all the merits and all the shortcomings of heaven, O Bharata, and all the demerits of the declarations of the Vedas and all the excellencies thereof, recognising the faults and merits of the Yoga and the Sankhya systems of philosophy, realizing also that the quality of Goodness has ten properties, that of Darkness has nine, and that of Ignorance has eight, that the Understanding has seven properties, the Mind has six, and Ether has five, and once more conceiving that the Understanding has four properties and Ignorance has three, and Darkness has two and Goodness has one, and truly undertaking the path that is followed by all objects when destruction befalls them and what the course is of self-knowledge, the Sankhyas, endued with knowledge and experience and exalted by their perceptions of causes, and acquiring thorough auspiciousness, attain to the happiness of Liberation like the rays of the Sun, or the Wind, taking refuge in Ether.

Vision is attached to form; the sense of scent to smells; the ear to sound; the tongue to juices; and the skin to touch. The Wind has for its refuge Ether. Stupefaction has Darkness for its refuge. Cupidity has the objects of the senses for its refuge.

Vishnu is attached to (the organs of) motion. Indra is attached to (the organs of) strength. The god of fire is attached to the stomach. Earth is attached to the Waters. The Waters have fire for their refuge.

Heat attaches itself to the Wind; and the Wind has Ether for its refuge; and Space has the principle of greatness for its refuge; and the principle of greatness has Understanding for its basis.

The Understanding has its refuge in Darkness; Darkness has Ignorance for its refuge; Rajas is founded upon the quality of goodness and quality of Goodness is attached to the Soul.

The Soul has the glorious and powerful goodness Narayana for its refuge. That glorious god has Liberation for his refuge. Liberation is independent of all refuge.

Knowing that this body, that is endued with sixteen possessions, is the result of the quality of goodness, understanding fully the nature of the physical organs and the consciousness that lives within it, recognising the one existent Being that lives in the body, viz., the Soul, which stands aloof from every physical concern which is affected by no sin, realising the nature of that second object, viz., the acts of persons attached to the objects of the senses, understanding also the nature of the senses and the sensual objects which have their refuge in the Soul, appreciating the difficulty of Liberation and the scriptures describing it, knowing fully the nature of the vital airs called Prana, Apana, Samana, Vyana, and Udana, as also the two other breaths, viz., the one going downward and the other going upward, indeed, knowing those seven vital airs ordained to perform seven different functions, ascertaining the nature of the Patriarchs and the Rishis and the numberless high paths, of virtue of righteousness, and the seven Rishis and the innumerable royal Rishis, scorcher of enemies, and the great celestial Rishis and, the other twice-born Rishis effulgent like the Sun, seeing all these losing their power in course of many long ages, O king, hearing of the destruction of even of all the powerful beings in the universe, understanding also the inauspicious end that is got, O king, by creatures of sinful deeds, and the miseries endured by those that fall into the river Vaitarni in the kingdom of Yama, and the inauspicious wanderings of creatures through various wombs, and the nature of their residence in the filthy uterus in the midst of blood and water and phlegm and urine and faeces, all of had smell, and then in bodies that originate from the union of blood and the vital seed, of marrow and sinews, full of hundreds of nerves and arteries and forining an impure palace of nine doors, understanding also what is for his well-being, what those various combinations are which produce good, seeing the abominable conduct of creatures whose natures characterised by Darkness, Goodness or Ignorance, O chief of Bharata's race, conduct that is censured, in view of its incapacity to acquire Liberation by the followers of the Sankhya doctrine who understand fully the Soul, seeing the swallowing up of the Moon and the Sun by Rahu, the falling of stars from their fixed positions and the diversions of constellations from their orbits, knowing the separation of all united objects, and the diabolical conduct of creatures in devouring one another, seeing the absence of all intelligence in the infancy of human beings and the deterioration and destruction of the body, marking the little attachment creatures have to the quality of Goodness account of their being overwhelmed by anger and stupefaction, seeing Own are on also only one among thousands of human beings determined to struggle after the acquisition of Liberation, understanding the difficulty of acquiring Liberation according to what is mentioned in the scriptures, marking the hankering that creatures shew for all unattained objects and their comparative indifference to all objects that have been acquired, marking the wickedness that proceeds from all objects of the senses, O king, and the repulsive bodies, O son of Kunti, of dead persons, and the residence, always fraught with sorrow, of human beings, O Bharata, in houses, knowing the end of those terrible and degraded men who become guilty of killing Brahmanas, and of those wicked Brahmanas who are given to the drinking of alcohol, and the equally sad end of those who visit the wives of their preceptors, and of those men, O Yudhisthira, who do not properly respect their mothers, as also of those who have no reverence and worship to offer to the gods, understanding also, with the help of that knowledge, the end that befalls all perpetrators of wicked deeds, and the various ends that befall those who have taken birth among the intermediate orders, ascertaining the various declarations of the Vedas, the courses of seasons, the fading of years, of months, of fortnights, and of days, seeing directly the waxing and the waning of the Moon, seeing the rising and the ebbing of the seas, and the decrease of wealth and its increase once more, and, the separation of united objects, the lapse of cycles, the destruction of mountains, the drying up of rivers, the deterioration of the several orders and the end also of that deterioration taking place repeatedly, seeing the birthi, decrepitude, death, and sorrows of creatures, knowing truly the faults relating to the body and the sorrows which human beings suffer from, and the changes to which the bodies of creatures are subject, and understanding all the faults which attach to their own souls, and also all the inauspicious faults that attach to their own bodied.

Yudhishthira said O you of immeasurable energy, what are those faults which you see in one's body? You should explain this doubt to me fully and truly.

Bhishma said Listen, O killer of enemies, the Sankhyas or followers of Kapila, who are conversant with all paths and gifted with wisdom, say that there are in all five faults, O powerful one, in the human, body.

They are Desire, Anger, Fear, Sleep and Breath. These faults are seen in the bodies of all embodied creatures. They who are gifted with wisdom cut the root of anger with the help of Forgiveness. Desire is cut off by renouncing all purposes.

By cultivation of the quality of Goodness (Sattva) sleep is conquered and Fear in conquered by cultivating carefulness. Breath is conquered by restriction of diet, О king.

Truly understanding qualities by the help of hundreds of qualities and faults by hundreds of faults, and various causes by hundreds of causes, determining that the world is like the froth of water, covered by hundreds of illusions flowing from Vishnu, like a painted place, and as unsubstantial as a reed, seeing it to be like a dark pit, or as unreal as bubbles of water, for the years that compose its age are as fleeting as bubbles, seeing it exposed to immediate destruction, bereft of happiness, having certain ruin for its end and from which it can never escape, sunk in Darkness and Ignorance and utterly helpless like an elephant sunk in mire,-noting all this-this the Sankhyas, O king, gifted with great wisdom, renouncing all affection arising from one's relations towards one's children, by the help, O king, of that extensive and all embracing knowledge which their system advocates, and cutting off quickly, with the weapon of knowledge and the bludgeon of penances, 0 Bharata, all inauspicious smell begotten of Darkness and all scents of a like nature originating from Ignorance and all auspicious scents arising from Goodness and all pleasures of the touch born of the same three qualities and attaching to the body, indeed, O Bharata, aided by the Yoga of knowledge, these Yatis crowned with success,-Cross the Ocean of life. That dreadful Ocean has sorrow for its waters. Anxiety and grief from its deep lakes. Disease and death are its huge alligators. The great fears that strike the heart at every step are its huge snakes.

The deeds begotton by Ignorance are its tortoises. Those begotten by Darkness are its fishes. Wisdom forms the raft for crossing it. The affections cherished for objects of the senses are its mire. Decrepitude forms its region of grief and trouble. Knowledge, O chastiser of enemies, is its island. Acts form its great depth. Truth is its shores. Pious observances form the verdant weeds floating on its bosom. Envy forms its rapid and powerful current. The various sentiments of the heart form its mines. The various sorts of gratification are its valuable gems. Grief and fever are its winds. Misery and thirst are its powerful eddies. Painful and fatal diseases are its huge elephants. The assemblage of bones form its flights of steps, and phlegm is its froth. gifts are the pearl-banks. The lakes of blood the corals. Loud laughter forms its roars. Various sciences are its impassability. Tears are its brine. Renunciation of company forms the high refuge. Children and wives are its unnumbered leeches. Friends and kinsmen are the cities and towns on its shores. Abstention from injury, and Truth, form its boundary line. Death is its storm-wave. The knowledge of Vedanta is the island. Acts of mercy towards all creatures from its life-buoys, and Liberation is the costly article offered to those going on its waters in search of merchandise. Like its prototype with its equine head sending out flames of fire, this occan too has its fiery dread. Having got over the liability, that is so difficult to get over, of living within the gross body the Sankhyas enter into pure ether.

The Sun-god then bears, with his rays, those pious men who prastise the Sankhya doctrines. Like the fibres of the lotus-stalk carrying water to the flower into which they all converge, the Sun-God, drinking all things from the universe, conveys them to those good and wise men.

Their attachments all dissipated, possesed of energy, endued with wealth of penances, and crowned with success, these Yatis, O Bharata, are carried by that wind, which is subtile, cooling, fragrant, and sweet to the touch, O Bharata! In fact, that wind which is the best of seven winds, and which blows in regions of great happiness, conveys them, O son of Kunti, to that which is the highest and in ether. Then ether into which they are carried, O king, conveys them to the highest and of Darkness.

Darkness then carries them to the highest end of Goodness. Goodness then bears them,O you of pure soul, to the Supreme and powerful Narayana.

The powerful and pure-souled Narayana at last through himself, carries them to the Supreme Soul, those pure persons, who have become the body of Brahman, attain to immortality, and they have never afterwards to come back from that position, O King! That is the highest end, O son of Pritha, which is acquired by those great men who have got over the influence of all pairs of opposites.

Yudhishthira said O pure one, have those persons of firm Vows, after they have acquired that excellent position which is fraught with power and happiness, and recollection of their lives including birth and death?

You should tell me properly what the truth is in this respect. O you of Kuru's race, I do not think it proper to ask any one else but you,

Following the scriptures relating to Liberation, I find this great fault in the subject, If, having attained to that high state, the Yatis continue to live in consciousness, it would appear, O king, that the religion of work is superior. If, again, consciousness disappear from the liberated state and one who has become liberated only resembles a person sunk in dreamless slumber, then nothing can be more improper than to say that there is really no consciousness in Liberation.

Bhishma said “However difficult it may be to answer it, the question which you have asked, O son, is proper. Verily, the question is of such a nature that even the highly learned men become stupefied in answering it, O chief of Bharata's racc.

For all that, hear what the truth is as explained by me. The great followers of Kapila have set their keen understandings on this point.

The senses of knowledge, O king, placed in the bodies of embodied creatures, are engaged in their respective functions of perception. They form the instruments of the Soul, for it through them that subtile Being perceives.

Disassociated from the Soul, the senses are like pieces of wood, and are, forsooth, destroyed like the forth that is seen on the bosom of the ocean.

When the embodied creature, O scorcher of enemies, goes into sleep together with his senses, the subtile Soul then roves among all objects like the wind through ether.

The Subtile Soul, during sleep continues to see and touch all objects of touch, O king, and get other perceptions, as well as when it is awake.

On account of their inability to act without their director, the senses, during slumber, all become extinguished in their respective places like snakes shorn of poison.

At such times, the subtile Soul, repairing into the respective places of all the senses, forsooth, performs all their functions,

All the qualities of Goodness, all the attributes of the Understanding, O Bharata, as also those of Mind, and Ether, and Wind, O you of righteous soul, and all the attributes of liquid substances, of Water, O Partha, and of Earth,-these senses with these qualities,-0 Yudhishthira, which stick to sentiences, are along with the individual Soul itself, overwhelmed by the Supreme Soul or Brahma. Acts also, good and bad, overwhelm that individual Soul. Like disciples attending their preceptor with respect, the senses too wait upon the individual Soul.

When the individual Soul, transcends Prakriti, it acquires Brahma that is changeless, that is highest, that is Narayana that is beyond all pairs of opposites, and that is above Nature.

Freed from both merit and demerit, the individual Soul, entering the Supreme Soul which is shorn of all attributes, and which is the home of all auspiciousness, does not return thence, O Bharata.

These remains, O son, only the mind with the senses, O Bharata. These have to return once more at the appointed time for satisfying the command of their great Master.

Soon after, O son of Kunti, cast off the Yati striving after Liberation, gifted as he is with knowledge and desirous as he is of quality, succeeds in attaining to that peace of Liberation which one enjoys without the body.

The Sankhyas, O king, are gifted with great wisdom. They acquire the highest end by means of this kind of knowledge. There is no knowledge that is equal to this.

Do not give way to any sort of doubt. The Knowledge which is described in the system of the Sankhyas is considered all the highest. That knowledge is immutable and is eternal. It is eternal Brahma.

It has no beginning, middle, and end. It is above all pairs of opposites. It is the cause of the creation of the universe. It stands fully. It is without decrease of any kind. It is uniform, and everlasting. Thus are its praises recited by the wise.

From it originate creation and destruction and all metamorphoses. The great Rishis speak of it and praise it in the scriptures.

All learned Brahmanas and all the gods and all pious men consider it as originating from Brahma. Supreme, Divine, Infinite, Immutable, and Undeteriorating.

All Brahmanas, again, who are attached to objects of the senses worship and applaud it by ascribing to it attributes that belong to illusion. The same is the opinion of Yogins well observant of penances and meditation and of Sankhyas of great insight.

The Shrutis say, O son of Kunti, that the Sankhya system of philosophy is the form of that Formless One. The cognition have, O chief of Bharata's race, been said to be the knowledge of Brahma.

There are two kinds of creatures on Earth, O king, viz., mobile and immobile. Of these, those that are mobile are superior.

That high knowledge, O king, which is in persons conversant with Brahma, and that which is in the Vedas, and that which is seen in other scriptures, and that in Yoga, and that which may be seen in the various Puranas, are all, O monarch, to be found in Sankhya philosophy.

Whatever knowledge is seen to exist in great histories, whatever knowledge is, O king, in the sciences about the acquisition of riches as approved by the wise, whatever other knowledge exists in this world,-all these,-originate, O great king, from the high knowledge that is among the Sankhyas.

Tranquillity of soul, high power, all subtile knowledge of which the scriptures speak, penances of subtile force, and all sorts of happiness, O king, have all been duly ordained in the Sankhya system,

Failing to acquire, O son of Pritha, that complete knowledge which is recommended by their system, the Sankhyas attain to the dignity of gods and pass many years in happiness. Ruling over the celestials as they will, they fall, upon the expiration of the fixed period, among learned Brahmanas and Yatis.

Renouncing this body, those twice-born ones that follow the Sankhya system enter into the superior state of Brahma like the gods entering into the sky by devoting themselves wholly to that worshipful system which is theirs and which is adored by all wise men.

Those twice-born ones who are given to the acquisition of that knowledge which is recommended in the Sankhya system, even if they fail to acquire eminence, are never seen to fall among intermediate creatures, or to sink into the state of sinful men.

That great person who is fully conversant with the vast, high, ancient, oncean-like, and immeasurable Sankhya system who is pure and liberal and agreeable, becomes, O king, equal to Narayana.

I have now told you, O god among men, the truth about the Sankhya system. It is the embodiment of Narayana, of the universe as it exists from antiquity. When the time of Creation comes, He causes the Creation to come into being, and when the time comes for destruction. He swallows up everything. Having withdrawn everything into his own body he goes to slumber,-that inner Soul of the universe.