A History of Indian Philosophy Part 38

Change as the formation of new collocations.

It is easy to see from what we have already said that any collocation of atoms forming a thing could not change its form, unless the barrier inherent or caused by the formation of the present collocation could be removed by some other extraneous instrumental cause. All gross things are formed by the collocation of the five atoms of [email protected], ap, tejas, marut, and vyoman. The difference between one thing and another is simply this, that its collocation of atoms or the arrangement or grouping of atoms is different from that in another. The formation of a collocation has an inherent barrier against any change, which keeps that collocation in a state of equilibrium, and it is easy to see that these barriers exist in infinite directions in which all the other infinite objects of the world exist. From whichever side the barrier is removed, the energy flows in that direction and helps the

256

formation of a corresponding object. Provided the suitable barriers could be removed, anything could be changed into any other thing.

And it is believed that the Yogins can acquire the powers by which they can remove any barriers, and thus make anything out of any other thing. But generally in the normal course of events the line of evolution follows "a definite law which cannot be overstepped"

([email protected]_) or in other words there are some natural barriers which cannot be removed, and thus the evolutionary course has to take a path to the exclusion of those lines where the barriers could not be removed. Thus saffron grows in countries like Kashmere and not in Bengal, this is limitation of countries (_des'apabandha_); certain kinds of paddy grow in the rainy season only, this is limitation of season or time (_kalapabandha_); deer cannot beget men, this is limitation by form (_akarapabandha_); curd can come out of milk, this is the limitation of causes (_nimittapabandha_). The evolutionary course can thus follow only that path which is not barricaded by any of these limitations or natural obstructions [Footnote ref 1].

Change is taking place everywhere, from the smallest and least to the highest. Atoms and reals are continually vibrating and changing places in any and every object. At each moment the whole universe is undergoing change, and the collocation of atoms at any moment is different from what it was at the previous moment. When these changes are perceivable, they are perceived as [email protected]_ or changes of _dharma_ or quality; but perceived or unperceived the changes are continually going on. This change of appearance may be viewed from another aspect by virtue of which we may call it present or past, and old or new, and these are respectively called the [email protected]@[email protected]_ and [email protected]_. At every moment every object of the world is undergoing evolution or change, change as past, present and future, as new, old or unborn. When any change is in a potential state we call it future, when manifested present, when it becomes sub-latent again it is said to be past. Thus it is that the potential, manifest, and sub-latent changes of a thing are called future, present and past [Footnote ref 2].

[Footnote 1: [email protected], Tattvavais'aradi_ and _Yogavarttika,_ III. 14.]

[Footnote 2: It is well to note in this connection that [email protected] does not admit the existence of time as an independent ent.i.ty like the [email protected] Time represents the order of moments in which the mind grasps the phenomenal changes. It is hence a construction of the mind ([email protected]_). The time required by an atom to move its own measure of s.p.a.ce is called a moment ([email protected]@na_) or one unit of time. Vijnana [email protected] regards one unit movement of the [email protected] or reals as a moment. When by true wisdom the [email protected] are perceived as they are both the illusory notions of time and s.p.a.ce vanish. [email protected], Tattvavais'aradi_, and _Yogavarttika_, III. 52 and III. 13.]

257

Causation as Satkaryavada (the theory that the effect potentially exists before it is generated by the movement of the cause).

The above consideration brings us to an important aspect of the [email protected] view of causation as _satkaryavada_. [email protected] holds that there can be no production of a thing previously non-existent; causation means the appearance or manifestation of a quality due to certain changes of collocations in the causes which were already held in them in a potential form. Production of effect only means an internal change of the arrangement of atoms in the cause, and this exists in it in a potential form, and just a little loosening of the barrier which was standing in the way of the happening of such a change of arrangement will produce the desired new collocation--the effect. This doctrine is called _satkaryavada,_ i.e.

that the karya or effect is _sat_ or existent even before the causal operation to produce the effect was launched. The oil exists in the sesarnum, the statue in the stone, the curd in the milk, The causal operation (_karakaiyapara_) only renders that manifest (_avirbhuta_) which was formerly in an unmanifested condition (_tirohita_) [Footnote ref 1].

The Buddhists also believed in change, as much as [email protected] did, but with them there was no background to the change; every change was thus absolutely a new one, and when it was past, the next moment the change was lost absolutely. There were only the pa.s.sing dharmas or manifestations of forms and qualities, but there was no permanent underlying dharma or substance.

[email protected] also holds in the continual change of dharmas, but it also holds that these dharmas represent only the conditions of the permanent reals. The conditions and collocations of the reals change constantly, but the reals themselves are unchangeable.

The effect according to the Buddhists was non-existent, it came into being for a moment and was lost. On account of this theory of causation and also on account of their doctrine of s'unya, they were called _vainas'ikas_ (nihilists) by the Vedantins. This doctrine is therefore contrasted to [email protected] doctrine as _asatkaryavada._

__________________________________________________________________

[Footnote 1: _Tattvakaumudi,_ 9.]

258

The jain view holds that both these views are relatively true and that from one point of view satkaryavada is true and from another asatkaryavada. The [email protected] view that the cause is continually transforming itself into its effects is technically called [email protected]_ as against the Vedanta view called the _vivarttavada_: that cause remains ever the same, and what we call effects are but illusory impositions of mere unreal appearance of name and form--mere Maya [Footnote ref. 1].

[email protected] Atheism and Yoga Theism.

Granted that the interchange of the positions of the infinite number of reals produce all the world and its transformations; whence comes this fixed order of the universe, the fixed order of cause and effect, the fixed order of the so-called barriers which prevent the transformation of any cause into any effect or the first disturbance of the equilibrium of the [email protected]? [email protected] denies the existence of is'vara (G.o.d) or any other exterior influence, and holds that there is an inherent tendency in these reals which guides all their movements. This tendency or teleology demands that the movements of the reals should be in such a manner that they may render some service to the souls either in the direction of enjoyment or salvation. It is by the natural course of such a tendency that [email protected] is disturbed, and the [email protected] develop on two lines--on the mental plane, _citta_ or mind comprising the sense faculties, and on the objective plane as material objects; and it is in fulfilment of the demands of this tendency that on the one hand take place subjective experiences as the changes of the buddhi and on the other the infinite modes of the changes of objective things. It is this tendency to be of service to the [email protected] ([email protected]_) that guides all the movements of the reals, restrains all disorder, renders the world a fit object of experience, and finally rouses them to turn back from the world and seek to attain liberation from the a.s.sociation of [email protected] and its gratuitous service, which causes us all this trouble of [email protected]

Yoga here asks, how the blind tendency of the non-intelligent

___________________________________________________________________

[Footnote 1: Both the Vedanta and the [email protected] theories of causation are sometimes loosely called _satkaryyavada._ But correctly speaking as some discerning commentators have pointed out, the Vedanta theory of causation should be called [email protected] for according to it the [email protected]_ (cause) alone exists (_sat_) and all _karyyas,_ (effects) are illusory appearances of the [email protected]; but according to [email protected] the karyya exists in a potential state in the [email protected] and is hence always existing and real.]

259

[email protected] can bring forth this order and harmony of the universe, how can it determine what course of evolution will be of the best service to the [email protected], how can it remove its own barriers and lend itself to the evolutionary process from the state of [email protected] equilibrium? How too can this blind tendency so regulate the evolutionary order that all men must suffer pains according to their bad karmas, and happiness according to their good ones?

There must be some intelligent Being who should help the course of evolution in such a way that this system of order and harmony may be attained. This Being is is'vara. is'vara is a [email protected] who had never been subject to ignorance, afflictions, or pa.s.sions. His body is of pure sattva quality which can never be touched by ignorance. He is all knowledge and all powerful. He has a permanent wish that those barriers in the course of the evolution of the reals by which the evolution of the [email protected] may best serve the double interest of the [email protected]'s experience (_bhoga_) and liberation (_apavarga_) should be removed. It is according to this permanent will of is'vara that the proper barriers are removed and the [email protected] follow naturally an intelligent course of evolution for the service of the best interests of the [email protected] is'vara has not created the [email protected]; he only disturbs the equilibrium of the [email protected] in its quiescent state, and later on helps it to follow an intelligent order by which the fruits of karma are properly distributed and the order of the world is brought about. This acknowledgement of is'vara in Yoga and its denial by [email protected] marks the main theoretic difference between the two according to which the Yoga and [email protected] are distinguished as Ses'vara [email protected] ([email protected] with is'vara) and Niris'vara [email protected] (Atheistic [email protected]) [Footnote ref 1].

Buddhi and [email protected]

The question again arises that though [email protected] is pure intelligence, the [email protected] are non-intelligent subtle substances, how can the latter come into touch with the former? Moreover, the [email protected] is pure inactive intelligence without any touch of impurity and what service or need can such a [email protected] have of the [email protected]? This difficulty is antic.i.p.ated by [email protected], which has already made room for its answer by a.s.suming that one cla.s.s of the [email protected] called sattva is such that it resembles the purity and the intelligence of the [email protected] to a very high degree, so much so

[Footnote 1: _Tattvavais'aradi,_ IV. 3; _Yogavarttika,_ I. 24; and _Pravavanabhasya,_ V. 1-12.]

260

that it can reflect the intelligence of the [email protected], and thus render its non-intelligent transformations to appear as if they were intelligent.

Thus all our thoughts and other emotional or volitional operations are really the non-intelligent transformations of the buddhi or citta having a large sattva preponderance; but by virtue of the reflection of the [email protected] in the buddhi, these appear as if they are intelligent. The self ([email protected]) according to [email protected] is not directly demonstrated by self-consciousness. Its existence is a matter of inference on teleological grounds and grounds of moral responsibility. The self cannot be directly noticed as being separate from the buddhi modifications. Through beginningless ignorance there is a confusion and the changing states of buddhi are regarded as conscious. These buddhi changes are further so a.s.sociated with the reflection of the [email protected] in the buddhi that they are interpreted as the experiences of the [email protected]

This a.s.sociation of the buddhi with the reflection of the [email protected] in the buddhi has such a special fitness (_yogyata_) that it is interpreted as the experience of the [email protected] This explanation of Vacaspati of the situation is objected to by Vijnana [email protected]

Vijnana [email protected] says that the a.s.sociation of the buddhi with the image of the [email protected] cannot give us the notion of a real person who undergoes the experiences. It is to be supposed therefore that when the buddhi is intelligized by the reflection of the [email protected], it is then superimposed upon the [email protected], and we have the notion of an abiding person who experiences [Footnote ref 1]. Whatever may be the explanation, it seems that the union of the buddhi with the [email protected] is somewhat mystical. As a result of this reflection of _cit_ on buddhi and the superimposition of the buddhi the [email protected] cannot realize that the transformations of the buddhi are not its own.

Buddhi resembles [email protected] in transparency, and the [email protected] fails to differentiate itself from the modifications of the buddhi, and as a result of this non-distinction the [email protected] becomes bound down to the buddhi, always failing to recognize the truth that the buddhi and its transformations are wholly alien to it. This non-distinction of [email protected] from buddhi which is itself a mode of buddhi is what is meant by _avidya_ (non-knowledge) in [email protected], and is the root of all experience and all misery [Footnote ref 2].

__________________________________________________________________

[Footnote 1: _Tattvavais'aradi_ and _Yogavarttika_, I. 4.]

[Footnote 2: This indicates the nature of the a.n.a.lysis of illusion with [email protected] It is the non-apprehension of the distinction of two things (e.g. the snake and the rope) that is the cause of illusion; it is therefore called the _akhyati_ (non-apprehension) theory of illusion which must be distinguished from the _anyathakhyati_ (misapprehension) theory of illusion of Yoga which consists in positively misapprehending one (e.g. the rope) for the other (e.g. snake). _Yogavarttika,_ I. 8.]

261

Yoga holds a slightly different view and supposes that the [email protected] not only fails to distinguish the difference between itself and the buddhi but positively takes the transformations of buddhi as its own. It is no non-perception of the difference but positively false knowledge, that we take the [email protected] to be that which it is not (_anyathakhyati_). It takes the changing, impure, sorrowful, and objective [email protected] or buddhi to be the changeless, pure, happiness-begetting subject. It wrongly thinks buddhi to be the self and regards it as pure, permanent and capable of giving us happiness. This is the avidya of Yoga.

A buddhi a.s.sociated with a [email protected] is dominated by such an avidya, and when birth after birth the same buddhi is a.s.sociated with the same [email protected], it cannot easily get rid of this avidya.

If in the meantime pralaya takes place, the buddhi is submerged in the [email protected]