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24. The Philosophy of Sankhya
Krishna said: Now I shall describe to you the science of Sankhya, which has been perfectly established by ancient authorities. By understanding this science a person can immediately give up the illusion of material duality. [24.1]
Originally, during the Krita-yuga, when all men were very expert in spiritual discrimination, and also previous to that, during the period of annihilation, the seer existed alone, nondifferent from the seen object. [24.2]
That one Absolute Truth, remaining free from material dualities and inaccessible to ordinary speech and mind, divided Himself into two categories — the material nature and the living entities who are trying to enjoy the manifestations of that nature. [24.3]
Of these two categories of manifestation, one is material nature, which embodies both the subtle causes and manifests products of matter. The other is the conscious living entity, designated as the enjoyer. [24.4]
When material nature was agitated by my glance, the three material modes — goodness, passion and ignorance — became manifest to fulfill the pending desires of the conditioned souls. [24.5]
From these modes arose the primeval sutra, along with the mahat-tattva. By the transformation of the mahat-tattva was generated the false ego, the cause of the living entities' bewilderment. [24.6]
False ego, which is the cause of physical sensation, the senses, and the mind, encompasses both spirit and matter and manifests, in three varieties: in the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. [24.7]
From false ego in the mode of ignorance came the subtle physical perceptions, from which the gross elements were generated. From false ego in the mode of passion came the senses, and from false ego in the mode of goodness arose the eleven gods. [24.8]
Impelled by me, all these elements combined to function in an orderly fashion and together gave birth to the universal egg, which is my excellent place of residence. [24.9]
I Myself appeared within that egg, which was floating on the causal water, and from my navel arose the universal lotus, the birthplace of self-born Brahma. [24.10]
Brahma, the soul of the universe, being endowed with the mode of passion, performed great austerities by my mercy and thus created the three planetary divisions, called Bhur, Bhuvar and Svar, along with their presiding deities. [24.11]
Heaven was established as the residence of the gods, Bhuvarloka as that of the ghostly spirits, and the earth system as the place of human beings and other mortal creatures. Those mystics who strive for liberation are promoted beyond these three divisions. [24.12]
Brahma created the region below the earth for the demons and the Naga snakes. In this way the destinations of the three worlds were arranged as the corresponding reactions for different kinds of work performed within the three modes of nature. [24.13]
By mystic yoga, great austerities and the renounced order of life, the pure destinations of Maharloka, Janoloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka are attained. But by devotional yoga, one achieves my transcendental abode. [24.14]
All results of fruitive work have been arranged within this world by me, the supreme creator acting as the force of time. Thus one sometimes rises up toward the surface of this mighty river of the modes of nature and sometimes again submerges. [24.15]
Whatever features visibly exist within this world — small or great, thin or stout — certainly contain both the material nature and its enjoyer, the spirit soul. [24.16]
Gold and earth are originally existing as ingredients. From gold one may fashion golden ornaments such as bracelets and earrings, and from earth one may fashion clay pots and saucers. The original ingredients gold and earth exist before the products made from them, and when the products are eventually destroyed, the original ingredients, gold and earth, will remain. Thus, since the ingredients are present in the beginning and at the end, they must also be present in the middle phase, taking the form of a particular product to which we assign for convenience a particular name, such as bracelet, earring, pot or saucer. We can therefore understand that since the ingredient cause exists before the creation of a product and after the product's destruction, the same ingredient cause must be present during the manifest phase, supporting the product as the basis of its reality. [24.17]
A material object, itself composed of an essential ingredient, creates another material object through transformation. Thus one created object becomes the cause and basis of another created object. A particular thing may thus be called real in that it possesses the basic nature of another object that constitutes its origin and final state. [24.18]
The material universe may be considered real, having nature as its original ingredient and final state. Maha-Visnu is the resting place of nature, which becomes manifest by the power of time. Thus nature, the almighty Visnu and time are not different from me, the Supreme Absolute Truth. [24.19]
As long as the Lord continues to glance on nature, the material world continues to exist, perpetually manifesting through procreation the great and variegated flow of universal creation. [24.20]
I am the basis of the universal form, which displays endless variety through the repeated creation, maintenance and destruction of the planetary systems. Originally containing within itself all planets in their dormant state, my universal form manifests the varieties of created existence by arranging the coordinated combination of the five elements. [24.21]
At the time of annihilation, the mortal body of the living being becomes merged into food. Food merges into the grains, and the grains merge back into the earth. The earth merges into its subtle sensation, fragrance. Fragrance merges into water, and water further merges into its own quality, taste. That taste merges into fire, which merges into form. Form merges into touch, and touch merges into ether. Ether finally merges into the sensation of sound. The senses all merge into their own origins, the presiding gods, and they, gentle Uddhava, merge into the controlling mind, which itself merges into false ego in the mode of goodness. Sound becomes one with false ego in the mode of ignorance, and all-powerful false ego, the first of all the physical elements, merges into the total nature. The total material nature, the primary repository of the three basic modes, dissolves into the modes. These modes of nature then merge into the unmanifest form of nature, and that unmanifest form merges into time. Time merges into the Supreme Lord, present in the form of the omniscient Maha-purusa, the original activator of all living beings. That origin of all life merges into me, the unborn Supreme Soul, who remains alone, established within himself. It is from him that all creation and annihilation are manifested. [24.22-27]
Just as the rising sun removes the darkness of the sky, similarly, this scientific knowledge of cosmic annihilation removes all illusory duality from the mind of a serious student. Even if illusion somehow enters his heart, it cannot remain there. [24.28]
Thus I, the perfect seer of everything material and spiritual, have spoken this knowledge of Sankhya, which destroys the illusion of doubt by scientific analysis of creation and annihilation. [24.29]
The mind, bound to the reactions of fruitive work, always meditates on the objects of the senses, both those that are seen in this world and those that are heard about from Vedic authority. Consequently, the mind appears to come into being and to suffer annihilation along with its objects of perception, and thus its ability to distinguish past and future is lost. (22.38)
When the living entity passes from the present body to the next body, which is created by his own karma, he becomes absorbed in the pleasurable and painful sensations of the new body and completely forgets the experience of the previous body. This total forgetfulness of one's previous material identity, which comes about for one reason or another, is called death. (22.39)
Most charitable Uddhava, what is called birth is simply a person's total identification with a new body. One accepts the new body just as one completely accepts the experience of a dream or a fantasy as reality. (22.40)
Just as a person experiencing a dream or daydream does not remember his previous dreams or daydreams, a person situated in his present body, although having existed prior to it, thinks that he has only recently come into being. (22.41)
Because the mind, which is the resting place of the senses, has created the identification with a new body, the threefold material variety of high, middle and low class appears as if present within the reality of the soul. Thus the self creates external and internal duality, just as a man might give birth to a bad son. (22.42)
Dear Uddhava, material bodies are constantly undergoing creation and destruction by the force of time, whose swiftness is imperceptible. But because of the subtle nature of time, no one sees this. (22.43)
The different stages of transformation of all material bodies occur just like those of the flame of a candle, the current of a river, or the fruits of a tree. (22.44)
Although the illumination of a lamp consists of innumerable rays of light undergoing constant creation, transformation and destruction, a person with illusory intelligence who sees the light for a moment will speak falsely, saying, "This is the light of the lamp." As one observes a flowing river, ever-new water passes by and goes far away, yet a foolish person, observing one point in the river, falsely states, "This is the water of the river." Similarly, although the material body of a human being is constantly undergoing transformation, those who are simply wasting their lives falsely think and say that each particular stage of the body is the person's real identity (22.45)
A person does not actually take birth out of the seed of past activities, nor, being immortal, does he die. By illusion the living being appears to be born and to die, just as fire in connection with firewood appears to begin and then cease to exist. (22.46)
Impregnation, gestation, birth, infancy, childhood, youth, middle age, old age and death are the nine ages of the body. (22.47)
Although the material body is different from the self, because of the ignorance due to material association one falsely identifies oneself with the superior and inferior bodily conditions. Sometimes a fortunate person is able to give up such mental concoction. (22.48)
By the death of one's father or grandfather one can surmise one's own death, and by the birth of one's son one can understand the condition of one's own birth. A person who thus realistically understands the creation and destruction of material bodies is no longer subject to these dualities. (22.49)
One who observes the birth of a tree from its seed and the ultimate death of the tree after maturity certainly remains a distinct observer separate from the tree. In the same way, the witness of the birth and death of the material body remains separate from it. (22.50)
An unintelligent man, failing to distinguish himself from material nature, thinks nature to be real. By contact with it he becomes completely bewildered and enters into the cycle of material existence. (22.51)
Made to wander because of his fruitive work, the conditioned soul, by contact with the mode of goodness, takes birth among the sages or gods. By contact with the mode of passion he becomes a demon or human being, and by association with the mode of ignorance he takes birth as a ghost or in the animal kingdom. (22.52)
Just as one may imitate persons whom one sees dancing and singing, similarly the soul, although never the doer of material activities, becomes captivated by material intelligence and is thus forced to imitate its qualities. (22.53)
The soul's material life, his experience of sense gratification, is actually false, descendant of Dasarha, just like trees' appearance of quivering when the trees are reflected in agitated water, or like the earth's appearance of spinning due to one's spinning his eyes around, or like the world of a fantasy or dream. (22.54-55)
For one who is meditating on sense gratification, material life, although lacking factual existence, does not go away, just as the unpleasant experiences of a dream do not. (22.56)
Therefore, Uddhava, do not try to enjoy sense gratification with the material senses. See how illusion based on material dualities prevents one from realizing the self. (22.57)
Even though neglected, insulted, ridiculed or envied by bad men, or even though repeatedly agitated by being beaten, tied up or deprived of one's occupation, spat on or polluted with urine by ignorant people, one who desires the highest goal in life should in spite of all these difficulties use his intelligence to keep himself safe on the spiritual platform. (22.58-59)
Uddhava said: Best of all speakers, please explain to me how I may properly understand this. (22.60)
Soul of the universe, the conditioning of one's personality in material life is very strong, and therefore it is very difficult even for learned men to tolerate the offenses committed against them by ignorant people. Only your devotees, who are fixed in your loving service and who have achieved peace by residing at your lotus feet, are able to tolerate such offenses. (22.61]
