The Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha Part 15

It has thus been evinced that the sacred inst.i.tutes are the evidence of (the existence of) this (ultimate reality, _Brahman_). (The fourth aphorism is): But that is from the construction. In regard to this, the commencement and other elements are stated to be the marks of the construction, in the B?ihat-sa?hita:--

"Commencement, conclusion, reiteration, novelty, profit, eulogy, and demonstration, are the marks by which the purport is ascertained."

It is thus stated that in accordance with the purport of the Upanishads the absolute is to be apprehended only from the sacred inst.i.tutes. We have here given merely a general indication. What remains may be sought from the anandatirtha-bhashya-vyakhyana (or exposition of the Commentary of ananda-tirtha). We desist for fear of giving an undue prolixity to our treatise. This mystery was promulgated by Pur?a-prajna Madhya-mandira, who esteemed himself the third incarnation of Vayu:--

"The first was Hanumat, the second Bhima,

"The third Pur?a-prajna, the worker of the work of the Lord."

After expressing the same idea in various pa.s.sages, he has written the following stanza at the conclusion of his work:--

"That whereof the three divine forms are declared in the text of the Veda, sufficiently

"Has that been set forth; this is the whole majesty in the splendour of the Veda;

"The first incarnation of the Wind-G.o.d was he that bowed to the words of Rama (Hanumat); the second was Bhima;

"By this Madhva, who is the third, this book has been composed in regard to Kesava."

The import of this stanza may be learnt by considering various Vedic texts.

The purport of this is that Vish?u is the principle above all others in every system of sacred inst.i.tutes. Thus all is clear.[111]

A. E. G.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 111: For a further account of ananda-tirtha or Madhva see Wilson, Works, vol. i. pp. 138-150. His Commentary on the Brahma-sutras has been printed in Calcutta.]

CHAPTER VI.

THE PaSUPATA SYSTEM OF NAKULiSA.

Certain Mahesvaras disapprove of this doctrine of the Vaish?avas known by its technicalities of the servitude of souls and the like, inasmuch as bringing with it the pains of dependence upon another, it cannot be a means of cessation of pain and other desired ends. They recognise as stringent such arguments as, Those depending on another and longing for independence do not become emanc.i.p.ated, because they still depend upon another, being dest.i.tute of independence like ourselves and others; and, Liberated spirits possess the attributes of the Supreme Deity, because at the same time, that they are spirits they are free from the germ of every pain as the Supreme Deity is. Recognising these arguments, these Mahesvaras adopt the Pasupata system, which is conversant about the exposition of five categories, as the means to the highest end of man. In this system the first aphorism is: Now then we shall expound the Pasupata union and rites of Pasupati. The meaning is as follows:--The word _now_ refers to something antecedent, and this something antecedent is the disciple's interrogation of the spiritual teacher. The nature of a spiritual teacher is explicated in the Ga?akarika:--

"But there are eight pentads to be known, and a group, one with three factors;

"He that knows this ninefold aggregate is a self-purifier, a spiritual guide.

"The acquisitions, the impurities, the expedients, the localities, the perseverance, the purifications,

"The initiations, and the powers, are the eight pentads; and there are three functions."

The employment in the above line of the neuter numeral three (_tri?i_), instead of the feminine three (_tisra?_), is a Vedic construction.

(_a._) Acquisition is the fruit of an expedient while realising, and is divided into five members, viz., knowledge, penance, permanence of the body, constancy, and purity. Thus Haradattacharya says: Knowledge, penance, permanence, constancy, and purity as the fifth.

(_b._) Impurity is an evil condition pertaining to the soul. This is of five kinds, false conception and the rest. Thus Haradatta also says:--

"False conception, demerit, attachment, interestedness, and falling,

"These five, the root of bondage, are in this system especially to be shunned."

(_c._) An expedient is a means of purifying the aspirant to liberation.

These expedients are of five kinds, use of habitation, and the rest.

Thus he also says:--

"Use of habitation, pious muttering, meditation, constant recollection of Rudra,

"And apprehension, are determined to be the five expedients of acquirements."

(_d._) Locality is that by which, after studying the categories, the aspirant attains increase of knowledge and austerity, viz., spiritual teachers and the rest. Thus he says:--

"The spiritual teachers, a cavern, a special place, the burning-ground, and Rudra only."

(_e._) Perseverance is the endurance in one or other of these pentads until the attainment of the desired end, and is distributed into the differenced and the rest. Thus it is said:--

"The differenced, the undifferenced, muttering, acceptance, and devotion as the fifth."

(_f._) Purification is the putting away, once for all, of false conception and the other four impurities. It is distributed into five species according to the five things to be put away. Thus it is said--

"The loss of ignorance, of demerit, of attachment, of interestedness,

"And of falling, is declared to be the fivefold purification of the state of bondage."

(_g._) The five initiations are thus enumerated:--

"The material, the proper time, the rite, the image, and the spiritual guide as the fifth."

(_h._) The five powers are as follow:--

"Devotion to the spiritual guide, clearness of intellect, conquest of pleasure and pain,

"Merit and carefulness, are declared the five heads of power."

The three functions are the modes of earning daily food consistent with propriety, for the diminution of the five impurities, viz., mendicancy, living upon alms, and living upon what chance supplies.

All the rest is to be found in the standard words of this sect.

In the first aphorism above recited, the word _now_ serves to introduce the exposition of the termination of pain (or emanc.i.p.ation), that being the object of the interrogation about the putting away of pain personal, physical, and hyperphysical. By the word _pasu_ we are to understand the effect (or created world), the word designating that which is dependent on something ulterior. By the word _pati_ we are to understand the cause (or _principium_), the word designating the Lord, who is the cause of the universe, the _pati_, or ruler. The meaning of the words sacrifices and rites every one knows.

In this system the cessation of pain is of two kinds, impersonal and personal. Of these, the impersonal consists in the absolute extirpation of all pains; the personal in supremacy consisting of the visual and active powers. Of these two powers the visual, while only one power, is, according to its diversity of objects, indirectly describable as of five kinds, vision, audition, cogitation, discrimination, and omniscience. Of these five, vision is cognition of every kind of visual, tactual, and other sensible objects, though imperceptible, intercepted, or remote. Audition is cognition of principles, conversant about all articulate sounds. Cogitation is cognition of principles, conversant about all kinds of thoughts.

Discrimination is cognition of principles conversant about the whole system of inst.i.tutes, according to the text and according to its significance. Omniscience is cognition of principles ever arising and pervaded by truth, relative to all matters declared or not declared, summary or in detail, cla.s.sified and specialised. Such is this intellectual power.

The active power, though one only, is indirectly describable as of three kinds, the possession of the swiftness of thought, the power of a.s.suming forms at will, and the faculty of expatiation. Of these, the possession of the swiftness of thought is ability to act with unsurpa.s.sable celerity. The power of a.s.suming forms at will is the faculty of employing at pleasure, and irrespective of the efficacy of works, the organs similar and dissimilar of an infinity of organisms.