III
SÂNKHYA AND ADVAITA
I will give you first a resumé of the Sânkhya philosophy, through which we have been going, because in this lecture we want to find where its defects are, and where Vedânta comes in as supplementary to these defects. You must remember that according to the Sânkhya philosophy, Nature is causing all these manifestations which we call thought and intellect, reason, love, hatred, touch, taste; that everything is from Nature. This Nature consists of three sorts of elements, one called Sattva, another Rajas, and the third Tamas. These are not qualities, but the materials out of which the whole universe is being evolved, and at the beginning of a cycle they remain in equilibrium. When creation comes this equilibrium is disturbed and these elements begin to combine and recombine, and manifest as the universe. The first manifestation of this is what the Sânkhya calls the Mahat (universal Intelligence), and out of that comes consciousness. And out of consciousness is evolved Manas (universal Mind). Out of this consciousness are also evolved the organs of the senses, and the tanmâtras,—sound particles, touch particles, taste particles, and so forth. All fine particles are evolved from this consciousness, and out of these fine particles come the gross particles which we call matter. After the tanmâtras (those particles which cannot be seen, or measured) come the gross particles which we can feel and sense. The chitta (“mind-stuff”) in its three-fold functions of intellect, consciousness and mind, is working and manufacturing the forces called prânas. These prânas have nothing to do with breath, you must at once get rid of that idea. Breath is one effect of the Prâna (universal Energy). By these prânas are meant the nervous forces that are governing and moving the whole body, which are manifesting themselves as thought, and as the various functions of the body. The foremost and the most obvious manifestation of these prânas is the breathing motion. If it were caused by air, a dead man would breathe. The prâna acts upon the air, and not air upon it. These prânas are the vital forces which manipulate the whole body, and they in turn are manipulated by the mind and the indriyas (the two kinds of organs). So far so good. The psychology is very clear and most precise, and just think of the age of it, the oldest rational thought in the world! Wherever there is any philosophy or rational thought, it owes something to Kapila. Wherever there is any attempt at psychology, or philosophy, there is some indebtedness to the great father of this thought, to this man Kapila.
So far we see that this psychology is wonderful, but we shall have to differ with it on some points, as we go on. We find that the principal idea on which Kapila works is evolution. He makes one thing evolve out of another, because his very definition of causation is “the effect is the cause reproduced in another form,” and because the whole universe, so far as we see it, is progressive and evolving. This whole universe must have evolved out of some material, out of Prakriti or Nature. Therefore this Nature cannot be essentially different from its cause, only when it takes form it becomes limited. The material itself is without form. But according to Kapila, from undifferentiated nature down to the last stage of differentiation, none of these is the same as Purusha, the “Enjoyer,” or “Enlightener.” Just as a lump of clay, so is a mass of mind, or the whole universe. By itself it has no light, but we find reason and intelligence in it, therefore there must be some Existence behind it, behind the whole of Nature, whose light is percolating through it and appearing as Mahat and consciousness and all these various things, and this Existence is what Kapila calls the Purusha, the Âtman or Self of the Vedantist. According to Kapila, the Purusha is a simple factor, not a compound. It is immaterial, the only one that is immaterial, whereas all the various manifestations are material. The Purusha alone knows. Suppose I see a blackboard, first the external instruments will bring that sensation to the organ (to the indriya according to Kapila), from the organ it will go to the mind and make an impression; the mind will cover it up with another factor,—consciousness, and will present it to the buddhi (intelligence), but buddhi cannot act; it is the Purusha behind that acts. These are all its servants, bringing the sensation to It, and It gives the orders, and the buddhi reacts. The Purusha is the Enjoyer, the Perceiver, the real One, the King on his throne, the Self of man, and It is immaterial. Because It is immaterial, it necessarily follows that It must be infinite, It cannot have any limitation whatever. So each one of these purushas is omnipresent, each is all-pervading, but can act only through fine and gross manifestations of matter. The mind, the self-consciousness, the organs and the vital forces compose what is called the fine body, or what in Christian philosophy is called the “spiritual body” of man. It is this body that comes to reward or punishment, that goes to the different heavens; that incarnates and reincarnates; because we see from the very beginning that the going and coming of the soul (Purusha) is impossible. Motion means going and coming, and that which goes from one place to another cannot be omnipresent. It is this linga-sarira (subtle body) which comes and goes. Thus far we see from Kapila’s psychology that the soul is infinite, and that the soul is the only principle that is not an evolution of Nature. It is the only one that is outside of Nature, but It has apparently got bound by Nature. This Nature is around the Purusha and It has identified Itself with Nature. It thinks “I am the linga-sarira,” It thinks “I am the gross matter, the gross body,” and as such is enjoying pleasure and pain; but these do not really belong to the soul, they belong to this linga-sarira, and to the gross body. When certain nerves are hurt we feel pain. We recognize that immediately. If the nerves in our fingers were dead we could cut the fingers and not feel it. So pleasure and pain belong to the nerve-centres. Suppose my organ of sight is destroyed, I do not feel pleasure or pain from color, although my eyes are there. So it is obvious that pleasure and pain do not belong to the soul. They belong to the mind and the body.
The soul has neither pleasure nor pain; it is the Witness of everything, the eternal Witness of things that are going on, but it takes no fruits from any work. “As the sun is the cause of sight in every eye, yet is not itself affected by the defects in any eye; as a piece of crystal appears red when red flowers are placed before it, so this Purusha appears to be affected by pleasure or pain from the reflection cast upon It by Nature, but it remains ever unchanged.” The nearest way to describe Its state is that it is meditation. This meditative state is that in which you approach nearest to the Purusha. Thus we see why the meditative state is always called the highest state by the Yogi, neither a passive nor an active state, but the meditative state. This is the Sânkhya philosophy.
Next, the Sânkhyas say that this manifestation of Nature is for the soul, all the combinations are for something outside of Nature. So these combinations which we call Nature, these constant changes are going on for the enjoyment of the soul, for its liberation, that it may gain all this experience from the lowest to the highest, and when it has gained it, the soul finds that it never was in Nature. It was entirely separate, and it finds that it is indestructible, that it neither goes nor comes, that going to heaven and being born again were in Nature and not in the soul. So the soul becomes free. All of Nature is working for the enjoyment and experience of the soul. It is getting this experience in order to reach the goal, and that goal is freedom. These souls are many, according to the Sânkhya philosophy. There is an infinite number of souls. And the other conclusion is that there is no God, as the Creator of the universe. Nature herself is sufficient to produce all these forms. God is not necessary, say the Sânkhyas.
Now we shall have to contest these three positions of the Sânkhyas. First that intelligence or anything of that sort does not belong to the soul, but that it belongs entirely to Nature; the soul being simply qualitiless, colorless. The second point is that there is no God, but Vedânta will show that without a God there cannot be any explanation whatever. Thirdly, we shall have to contend that there cannot be many souls, that there cannot be an infinite number, that there is only One Soul in the universe, and that One is appearing as many.
We will take the first proposition, that intelligence and reason belong entirely to Nature, and not to the soul. The Vedânta says that the soul is in its essence Existence-Knowledge-Bliss; but we agree with the Sânkhyas that all that they call intelligence is a compound. For instance, let us look at our perceptions. We remember that the chitta (or the “mind-stuff”) is what is combining all these things, and upon which all these impressions are made, and from which reactions come. Suppose there is something outside. I see the blackboard. How does the knowledge come? The blackboard itself is unknown, I can never know it. It is what the German philosophers call the “thing in itself.” That blackboard, that “X,” is acting on my mind, and the chitta reacts. The chitta is like a lake; throw a stone upon it, and as soon as the stone strikes it a reactionary wave comes towards the stone. This wave is what you really know. And this wave is not like the stone at all, it is a wave. So that blackboard, “X,” is the stone which strikes the mind and the mind throws up a wave towards that object which strikes it, and this wave which is thrown towards it is what we call the blackboard. I see you. You as reality are unknown and unknowable. You are “X” and you act upon my mind, and the mind throws a wave towards the point from which the action came, and that wave is what I call Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So.
There are two elements in this, one from inside and the other from outside, and the combination of these two, “X” plus mind, is our external universe. All knowledge is by reaction. In the case of a whale it has been determined by calculation how long after its tail is struck, its mind reacts upon the tail and the tail feels the pain. Take the case of the pearl oyster, in which the pearl is formed by the oyster throwing its own juice around the grain of sand that enters the shell and irritates him. There are two things which cause the pearl. First the oyster’s own juice, and second the blow from outside. So this table is “X” plus my mind. The very attempt to know it will be made by the mind; therefore the mind will give some of its own substance to enable it to understand, and when we understand it, it has become a compound thing,—“X” plus the mind. Similarly in internal perception; when we want to know ourselves. The real Self, which is within us, is also unknown and unknowable. Let us call it “Y.” When I want to know myself as Mr. So-and-So it is “Y” plus the mind. That “Y” strikes a blow on the mind, and when I want to know myself I must throw a blow upon the mind also. So our whole world is “X” plus mind (the external world), and “Y” plus mind (the internal world). We shall see later how this Advaitist idea can be demonstrated mathematically.
“X” and “Y” are simply the algebraic unknown quantities. We have seen that all knowledge is a combination, and this world, the universe, is a combination, and intelligence is similarly a combination. If it is internal intelligence it is “Y” plus the mind, if an external object, it is “X” plus the mind. Knowledge is a combination of “Y” plus the mind and matter is a combination of “X” plus the mind. We first take the internal group. Intelligence which we see in Nature cannot be wholly in Nature, because intelligence itself is a compound of “Y” plus the mind. “Y” comes from the Self. So the intelligence that we know is a compound of the power of the light of the soul plus nature. Similarly, the existence which we know must be a compound of “X” plus the mind. We find therefore that in these three factors, I exist, I know and I am blessed, the idea that I have no want, which comes from time to time, is the central idea, the grand basic idea of our life, and when it becomes limited, and becomes a compound, we think it happiness and misery. These factors manifest as existence phenomenal, knowledge phenomenal, and love phenomenal. Every man exists, and every man must know, and every man is made for bliss. He cannot help it. So through all existence; animals and plants, from the lowest to the highest existence, all must love. You may not call it love; but they must all exist, must all know and must all love. So this existence which we know is a compound of “X” and the mind, and knowledge also is a compound of that “Y” inside plus mind, and that love also is a compound of that “Y” and mind. Therefore these three factors which come from inside and are combining themselves with the external things to manufacture phenomenal existence, knowledge and love, are called by the Vedantists “Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute.”
That Absolute Existence which is limitless, which is unmixed, uncombined, which knows no change, is the free soul, and that Real Existence, when it gets mixed up, muddled up, as it were, with the elements of Nature is what we call human existence. It is limited and manifests as plant life, animal life, human life, just as infinite space is apparently limited by the walls of this room, or by any other enclosure. That Knowledge Absolute means not the knowledge we know, not intelligence, not reason, not instinct, but that which when it becomes manifested we call by these names. When that Knowledge Absolute becomes limited we call it intuition, and when it becomes still more limited we call it reason, instinct, etc. That Knowledge Absolute is Vijnâna. The nearest translation of it is “all-knowingness.” There is no combination in it. It is the nature of the soul. That Bliss Absolute when it becomes limited we call love, attraction for the gross body, or the fine bodies, or for ideas. These are but distorted manifestations of this blessedness which is not a quality of the soul, but the essence, the inherent nature of the soul. Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge, and Absolute Blessedness are not qualities of the soul, but its essence; there is no difference between them and the soul. And the three are one; we see the one thing in three different lights. They are beyond all knowledge and by their reflection Nature appears to be intelligent.
It is that eternal Knowledge Absolute of the Self percolating through the mind of man that becomes our reason and intelligence. It varies according to the medium through which it is shining. There is no difference as soul between me and the lowest animal, only his brain is a poorer medium through which the knowledge shines, and we call it instinct. In man the brain is much finer, so the manifestation is much clearer, and in the highest man it has become entirely clear, like a piece of glass. So with existence; this existence which we know, this limited bit of existence is simply a reflection of that Existence Absolute which is the nature of the soul. So with bliss; that which we call love or attraction is but the reflection of the eternal blessedness of the Self, because with these manifestations come limitations, but the unmanifested, the natural, essential existence of the soul is unlimited, to that blessedness there can be no limit. But in human love there are limitations. I may love you one day, I may cease to love you the next. My love increases one day, decreases the next, because it is only a limited manifestation. The first thing therefore that we find against Kapila is that he conceives the soul to be a mere qualitiless, colorless, inactive something. Vedânta teaches that it is the essence of all Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss; infinitely higher than all knowledge that we know, infinitely more blessed than any human love that we can think of, infinitely existing. The soul never dies. Death and birth are simply unthinkable in connection with the Self, because it is Existence Absolute.
The second point where we will contend with Kapila is with regard to his idea of God. Just as this series of limited manifestations of Nature, beginning with the individual intellect and ending with the individual body, requires the Self behind as the ruler and governor on the throne, so in the Cosmos, we must enquire what the universal Intelligence, the universal Mind, the universal fine and gross materials have as their ruler and governor? How will that series become complete without one universal Self behind it as its ruler and governor? If we deny that there is a universal governor, we must deny there is a soul behind the lesser series, because the whole universe is a repetition of the same plan. When we know one lump of clay we know the nature of all clay. If we can analyze one human being, we shall have analyzed the whole universe, because it is all built on the same plan. Therefore if it be true that behind this individual series there stands one who is beyond all nature, who is not composed of materials, the purusha, the very same logic will apply to this universe, and this universe too will require such a Soul. The Universal Soul which is behind the modifications of Nature is called by Vedânta Isvara, the Supreme Ruler, God.
Now comes the more difficult point to fight. There can be but one Soul. To begin with, we can give the Sânkhyas a good blow by taking up their theories and proving that each soul must be omnipresent, because it is not composed of anything. Everything that is limited must be limited by something else. Here is the existence of the table. Its existence is circumscribed by many things, and we find that every limitation presupposes some limiting thing. If we think of space, we have to think of it as a little circle, but beyond that is more space. We cannot imagine a limited space in any other way. It can only be understood and perceived through the infinite. To perceive the finite, in every case we must apprehend the infinite; both stand or fall together. When you think of time, you have also to think of time beyond any particular period of time. The latter is limited time and the larger is unlimited time. Wherever you endeavor to perceive the finite, you will find it impossible to separate it from the infinite. If this be the case, we shall prove thereby that this Self must be infinite, omnipresent. Then comes a fine question. Can the omnipresent, the infinite be two? Suppose there are two infinites, one will limit the other. Suppose there are two infinites,—A and B; the infinite “A” limits the infinite “B,” because the infinite “B” you can say is not the infinite “A,” and the infinite “A” it can be said is not the infinite “B.” Therefore there can be but one infinite. Secondly, the infinite cannot be divided. Infinity divided into any number of parts must still be infinity, for it cannot be separated from itself. Suppose there is an infinite ocean of water, could you take up one drop from there? If you could, that ocean would no longer be infinite, that drop would limit it. The infinite cannot be divided by any means.
But there are stronger proofs that the Self is One. Not only so, but that the whole universe is one. We will once more take up our “X” and “Y”. We have shown how what we call the external world is “X” plus mind, and the internal world “Y” plus mind. “X” and “Y” are both unknown quantities, unknown and unknowable. What is the mind? The mind is the “time, space and causation.” This idea is the nature of the mind. You can never think without time, you can never conceive of anything without space, and you can never imagine anything without causation. These three are the forms in which both “X” and “Y” are caught, and which become the mind. Beyond that there is nothing to the mind. Take off these three forms which of themselves do not exist,—what remains? It is all one; “X” and “Y” are one. It is only this mind, this form, that has limited them apparently, and made them differ as internal and external world. “X” and “Y” are both unknown and unknowable. We cannot attribute any quality to them. As such they are both the same. That which is qualitiless and attributeless and absolute must be one. There cannot be two absolutes. When there are no qualities there can be only One. “X” and “Y” are both without qualities because they take qualities only in the mind, therefore this “X” and “Y” are one.
The whole universe is One. There is only One Self in the universe, only One Existence, and that One Existence, when it is passing through the forms of time, space and causation, is called buddhi, fine matter, gross matter, etc. All physical and mental forms, everything in the universe is that One, appearing in various ways. When a little bit of it gets into this network of time, space and causation, it apparently takes forms; remove the network and it is all One. This whole universe is all one, and is called in the Advaitist philosophy Brahman. Brahman appearing behind the universe is called God; appearing behind the little universe—the microcosm, is the soul. This very “Self” or Âtman therefore is God in man. There is only one Purusha, and He is called God, and when God and man are analyzed they are one. The universe is you yourself, the unbroken you; you are throughout this universe. “In all hands you work, through all mouths you eat, through all nostrils you breathe, through all minds you think.” The whole universe is you; this universe is your body; you are the universe, both formed and unformed. You are the soul of the universe, its body also. You are God, you are the angels, you are man, you are the animals, you are the plants, you are the minerals, you are everything; all manifestation is you. Whatever exists is you—the real “You”—the one undivided Self—not the little, limited personality that you have been regarding as yourself.
The question now arises,—how have you, that Infinite Being, broken into parts, become Mr. So-and-So, and the animals and so on? The answer is that all this division is only apparent. We know that the infinite cannot be divided, therefore this idea that you are a part has no reality, and never will have: and this idea that you are Mr. So-and-So was never true at any time; it is but a dream. Know this and be free. That is the Advaitist conclusion. “I am neither the mind, nor the body, nor am I the organs; I am Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I am He, I am He,” This is knowledge, and everything besides this is ignorance. Everything that is, is but ignorance, the result of ignorance. Where is knowledge for me, for I am knowledge itself! Where is life for me, for I am life itself! Life is a secondary manifestation of my nature. I am sure I live, for I am life, the one Being, and nothing exists except through me, and in me, and as me. I am manifested through elements, but I am the one free. Who seeks freedom? Nobody seeks freedom. If you think that you are bound, you remain bound; you make your own bondage. If you realize that you are free, you are free this moment. This is knowledge, knowledge of freedom. Freedom is the goal of all Nature.