The Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha Part 16

The faculty of expatiation is the possession of transcendent supremacy even when such organs are not employed. Such is this active power.

All that is effected or educed, depending on something ulterior, it is threefold, sentiency, the insentient, and the sentient. Of these, sentiency is the attribute of the sentients. It is of two degrees according to its nature as cognitive or incognitive. Cognitive sentiency is dichotomised as proceeding discriminately and as proceeding indiscriminately. The discriminate procedure, manifestable by the instruments of knowledge, is called the cogitative. For by the cogitant organ every sentient being is cognisant of objects in general, discriminated or not discriminated, when irradiated by the light which is identical with the external things. The incognitive sentiency, again, is either characterised or not characterised by the objects of the sentient soul.

The insentient, which while unconscious is dependent on the conscious, is of two kinds, as styled the effect and as styled the cause. The insentient, styled the effect, is of ten kinds, viz., the earth and the other four elements, and their qualities, colour, and the rest.

The insentient, called the causal insentient, is of thirteen kinds, viz., the five organs of cognition, the five organs of action, and the three internal organs, intellect, the egoising principle, and the cogitant principle, which have for their respective functions ascertainment, the illusive identification of self with not-self, and determination.

The sentient spirit, that to which transmigratory conditions pertain, is also of two kinds, the appetent and non-appetent. The appetent is the spirit a.s.sociated with an organism and organs; the non-appetent is the spirit apart from organism and organs. The details of all this are to be found in the Panchartha-bhashyadipika and other works. The cause is that which retracts into itself and evolves the whole creation.

This though one is said to be divided according to a difference of attributes and actions (into Mahesvara, Vish?u, &c.) The Lord is the possessor of infinite, visual, and active power. He is absolutely first as connected eternally with this lordship or supremacy, as possessing a supremacy not advent.i.tious or contingent. This is expounded by the author of the adarsa, and other inst.i.tutional authorities.

Union is a conjunction of the soul with G.o.d through the intellect, and is of two degrees, that characterised by action, and that characterised by cessation of action. Of these, union characterised by action consists of pious muttering, meditation, and so forth; union characterised by cessation of action is called consciousness, &c.

Rite or ritual is activity efficacious of merit as its end. It is of two orders, the princ.i.p.al and the subsidiary. Of these, the princ.i.p.al is the direct means of merit, religious exercise. Religious exercise is of two kinds, acts of piety and postures. The acts of piety are bathing with sand, lying upon sand, oblations, mutterings, and devotional perambulation. Thus the revered Nakulisa says:--

"He should bathe thrice a day, he should lie upon the dust.

Oblation is an observance divided into six members."

Thus the author of the aphorisms says:--

"He should worship with the six kinds of oblations, viz., laughter, song, dance, muttering _hum_, adoration, and pious e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n."

Laughter is a loud laugh, Aha, Aha, by dilatation of the throat and lips. Song is a celebration of the qualities, glories, &c., of Mahesvara, according to the conventions of the Gandharva-sastra, or art of music. The dance also is to be employed according to the _ars saltatoria_, accompanied with gesticulations with hands and feet, and with motions of the limbs, and with outward indications of internal sentiment. The e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n _hum_ is a sacred utterance, like the bellowing of a bull, accomplished by a contact of the tongue with the palate, an imitation of the sound _hudung_, ascribed to a bull, like the exclamation Vashat. Where the uninitiated are, all this should be gone through in secret. Other details are too familiar to require exposition.

The postures are snoring, trembling, limping, wooing, acting absurdly, talking nonsensically. Snoring is showing all the signs of being asleep while really awake. Trembling is a convulsive movement of the joints as if under an attack of rheumatism. Limping is walking as if the legs were disabled. Wooing is simulating the gestures of an _innamorato_ on seeing a young and pretty woman. Acting absurdly is doing acts which every one dislikes, as if bereft of all sense of what should and what should not be done. Talking nonsensically is the utterance of words which contradict each other, or which have no meaning, and the like.

The subsidiary religious exercise is purificatory subsequent ablution for putting an end to the sense of unfitness from begging, living on broken food, &c. Thus it is said by the author of the aphorisms: Bearing the marks of purity by after-bathing.

(It has been stated above that omniscience, a form of the cognitive power, is cognition of principles ever arising and pervaded by truth, relative to all matters declared or not declared, summary, or in detail). The summary is the enouncement of the subjects of attributes generally. This is accomplished in the first aphorism: (Now then we shall expound the Pasupata union and rites of Pasupati). Detail is the fivefold enouncement of the five categories according to the instruments of true knowledge. This is to be found in the Rasikara-bhashya. Distribution is the distinct enouncement of these categories, as far as possible according to definitions. It is an enumeration of these according to their prevailing characters, different from that of other recognised systems. For example, the cessation of pain (or emanc.i.p.ation) is in other systems (as in the Sankhya) the mere termination of miseries, but in this system it is the attainment of supremacy or of the divine perfections. In other systems the create is that which has become, and that which shall become, but in this system it is eternal, the spirits, and so forth, the sentient and insentient. In other systems the _principium_ is determined in its evolution or creative activity by the efficacy of works, whereas in this system the _principium_ is the Lord not thus determined. In other inst.i.tutes union results in isolation, &c., while in these inst.i.tutes it results in cessation of pains by attainment of the divine perfections. In other systems paradise and similar spheres involve a return to metempsychosis, but in this system they result in nearness to the Supreme Being, either followed or not followed by such return to transmigratory experiences.

Great, indeed, an opponent may say, is this aggregate of illusions, since if G.o.d's causality be irrespective of the efficacy of works, then merits will be fruitless, and all created things will be simultaneously evolved (there being no reason why this should be created at one time, and that at another), and thus there will emerge two difficulties. Think not so, replies the Pasupata, for your supposition is baseless. If the Lord, irrespective of the efficacy of works, be the cause of all, and thus the efficacy of works be without results, what follows? If you rejoin that an absence of motives will follow, in whom, we ask, will this absence of motives follow? If the efficacy of works be without result, will causality belong to the doer of the works as to the Lord? It cannot belong to the doer of the works, for it is allowed that the efficacy of works is fruitful only when furthered by the will of the creator, and the efficacy so furthered may sometimes be fruitless, as in the case of the works of Yayati, and others. From this it will by no means follow that no one will engage in works, for they will engage in them as the husbandman engages in husbandry, though the crop be uncertain. Again, sentient creatures engage in works because they depend on the will of the creator. Nor does the causality pertain to the Lord alone, for as all his desires are already satisfied, he cannot be actuated by motives to be realised by works. As for your statement, continues the Pasupata, that all things will be simultaneously evolved, this is unreasonable, inasmuch as we hold that causal efficiency resides in the un.o.bstructed active power which conforms itself to the will of the Lord, whose power is inconceivable. It has accordingly been said by those versed in sacred tradition:--

"Since he, acting according to his will, is not actuated by the efficacy of works,

"For this reason is he in this system the cause of all causes."

Some one may urge: In another system emanc.i.p.ation is attained through a knowledge of G.o.d, where does the difference lie? Say not so, replies the Pasupata, for you will be caught in a trilemma. Is the mere knowledge of G.o.d the cause of emanc.i.p.ation, or the presentation, or the accurate characterisation, of G.o.d? Not the mere knowledge, for then it would follow that the study of any system would be superfluous, inasmuch as without any inst.i.tutional system one might, like the uninstructed, attain emanc.i.p.ation by the bare cognition that Mahadeva is the lord of the G.o.ds. Nor is presentation or intuition of the deity the cause of emanc.i.p.ation, for no intuition of the deity is competent to sentient creatures burdened with an acc.u.mulation of various impurities, and able to see only with the eyes of the flesh.

On the third alternative, viz., that the cause of emanc.i.p.ation is an accurate characterisation of the deity, you will be obliged to consent to our doctrine, inasmuch as such accurate characterisation cannot be realised apart from the system of the Pasupatas. Therefore it is that our great teacher has said:--

"If by mere knowledge, it is not according to any system, but intuition is unattainable;

"There is no accurate characterisation of principles otherwise than by the five categories."

Therefore those excellent persons who aspire to the highest end of man must adopt the system of the Pasupatas, which undertakes the exposition of the five categories.

A. E. G.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SAIVA-DARSANA.

[The seventh system in Madhava's Sarva-darsana-sa?graha is the Saiva-darsana. This sect is very prevalent in the South of India, especially in the Tamil country; it is said to have arisen there about the eleventh century A.D. Several valuable contributions have been lately made to our knowledge of its tenets in the publications of the Rev. H. R. Hoisington and the Rev. T. Foulkes. The former especially, by his excellent articles in the American Oriental Society's Journal, has performed a great service to the students of Hindu philosophy. He has there translated the Tattuva-Ka??alei, or law of the Tattwas, the Siva-Gnanapotham, or instruction in the knowledge of G.o.d, and the Siva-Pirakasam, or light of Siva, and the three works shed immense light on the outline as given by Madhava. One great use of the latter is to enable us to recognise the original Sanskrit names in their Tamil disguise, no easy matter occasionally, as _a?ul_ for _anugraha_ and _ti?chei_ for _diksha_ may testify.

The Saivas have considerable resemblance to the Theistic Sankhya; they hold that G.o.d, souls, and matter are from eternity distinct ent.i.ties, and the object of philosophy is to disunite the soul from matter and gradually to unite it to G.o.d. Siva is the chief deity of the system, and the relation between the three is quaintly expressed by the allegory of a beast, its fetters, and its owner. Pasupati is a well-known name of Siva, as the master or creator of all things.

There seem to be three different sets of so-called Saiva sutras. One is in five books, called by Colebrooke the Pasupati-sastra, which is probably the work quoted by Madhava in his account of the Nakulisa Pasupatas; another is in three books, with a commentary by Kshemaraja, with its first sutra, _chaitanyam atma_. The third was commented on by Abhinava-gupta, and opens with the sloka given in the Sarva-Darsana-Sa?graha, p. 91, lines 1-4. The MS. which I consulted in Calcutta read the first words--

_Kathanchid asadya Mahesvarasya dasyam._

None of these works, however, appear to be the authority of the present sect. They seem chiefly to have relied on the twenty-eight agamas and some of the Pura?as. A list of the agamas is given in Mr.

Foulkes' "Catechism of the Saiva Religion;" and of these the Kira?a and Kara?a are quoted in the following treatise.]

THE SAIVA-DARSANA.

Certain, however, of the Mahesvara sect receiving the system of truth authoritatively laid down in the Saiva agama,[112] reject the foregoing opinion that "the Supreme Being is a cause as independent of our actions, &c.," on the ground of its being liable to the imputation of partiality and cruelty. They, on the contrary, hold the opinion that "the Supreme Being is a cause in dependence on our actions, &c.;"

and they maintain that there are three categories distinguished as the Lord, the soul, and the world (or literally "the master," "the cattle," and "the fetter"). As has been said by those well versed in the Tantra doctrines--

"The Guru of the world, having first condensed in one sutra the great tantra, possessed of three categories and four feet, has again declared the same at full length."

The meaning of this is as follows:--Its three categories are the three before mentioned; its four feet are learning, ceremonial action, meditation, and morality, hence it is called the great Tantra, possessed of three categories and four feet. Now the "souls" are not independent, and the "fetters" are unintelligent, hence the Lord, as being different from these, is first declared; next follows the account of the souls as they agree with him in possessing intelligence; lastly follow the "fetters" or matter, such is the order of the arrangement.[113] Since the ceremony of initiation is the means to the highest human end, and this cannot be accomplished without knowledge which establishes the undoubted greatness of the hymns, the Lords of the hymns, &c., and is a means for the ascertainment of the real nature of the "cattle," the "fetter," and the "master," we place as first the "foot" of _knowledge_ (_jnana_) which makes known all this unto us.[114] Next follows the "foot" of _ceremonial action_ (_kriya_) which declares the various rules of initiation with the divers component parts thereof. Without meditation the end cannot be attained, hence the "foot" of _meditation_ (_yoga_) follows next, which declares the various kinds of _yoga_ with their several parts.

And as meditation is worthless without practice, _i.e._, the fulfilling what is enjoined and the abstaining from what is forbidden, lastly follows the fourth "foot" of practical duty (_charya_), which includes all this.

Now Siva is held to be the Lord (or master). Although partic.i.p.ation in the divine nature of Siva belongs to liberated souls and to such beings as Vidyesvara, &c., yet these are not independent, since they depend on the Supreme Being; and the nature of an effect is recognised to belong to the worlds, &c., which resemble him, from the very fact of the orderly arrangement of their parts. And from their thus being effects we infer that they must have been caused by an intelligent being. By the strength of this inference is the universal acknowledgment of a Supreme Being confirmed.

"But may we not object that it is not proved that the body is thus an effect? for certainly none has ever, at any time or place, seen a body being made by any one." We grant it: yet it is not proper to deny that a body has some maker on the ground that its being made has not been seen by any one, since this can be established from inference [if not from actual perception]. Bodies, &c., must be effects, because they possess an orderly arrangement of parts, or because they are destructible, as jars, &c.; and from their being effects it is easy to infer that they must have been caused by an intelligent being. Thus the subject in the argument [sc. bodies, &c.] must have had a maker, from the fact that it is an effect, like jars, &c.; that which has the afore-mentioned middle term (_sadhana_) must have the afore-mentioned major (_sadhya_); and that which has not the former will not have the latter, as the soul, &c.[115] The argument which establishes the authority of the original inference to prove a Supreme Being has been given elsewhere, so we refrain from giving it at length here. In fact, that G.o.d is the universal agent, but not irrespective of the actions done by living beings, is proved by the current verse[116]--

"This ignorant _jivatman_, incapable of its own true pleasures or pains, if it were only under G.o.d's direction [and its own merits not taken into account], would always go to heaven or always to h.e.l.l."[117]

Nor can you object that this opinion violates G.o.d's independence, since it does not really violate an agent's independence to allow that he does not act irrespectively of means; just as we say that the king's bounty shows itself in gifts, but these are not irrespective of his treasurer. As has been said by the Siddha Guru--

"It belongs to independence to be uncontrolled and itself to employ means, &c.;

"This is an agent's true independence, and not the acting irrespectively of works, &c."

And thus we conclude that inference (as well as Sruti) establishes the existence of an agent who knows the various fruits [of action], their means, material causes, &c., according to the laws of the various individual merits. This has been thus declared by the venerable B?ihaspati--

"He who knows the fruits to be enjoyed, their means and material causes,--

"Apart from him this world knows not how the desert that resides in acc.u.mulated actions should ripen."--

"The universe is the subject of our argument, and it must have had an intelligent maker,

"This we maintain from its being an effect, just as we see in any other effect, as jars, &c."

G.o.d's omniscience also is proved from his being identical with everything, and also from the fact that an ignorant being cannot produce a thing.[118] This has been said by the ill.u.s.trious M?igendra[119]--