The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 2/Practical Vedanta and other lectures/Sankhya and Vedanta
SANKHYA AND VEDANTA
I shall give you a résumé of the Sânkhya philosophy, through which we have
been going. We, in this lecture, want to find where its defects are, and
where Vedanta comes in and supplements it. You must remember that according
to Sankhya philosophy, nature is the cause of all these manifestations which
we call thought, intellect, reason, love, hatred, touch, taste, and matter.
Everything is from nature. This nature consists of three sorts of elements,
called Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. These are not qualities, but elements, the
materials out of which the whole universe is evolved. In the beginning of a
cycle these remain in equilibrium; and when creation comes, they begin to
combine and recombine and manifest as the universe. The first manifestation
is what the Sankhya calls the Mahat or Intelligence, and out of that comes
consciousness. According to Sankhya, this is an element (Tattva). And out of
consciousness are evolved Manas or mind, the organs of the senses, and the
Tanmâtras (particles of sound, touch, etc.). All the fine particles are
evolved from consciousness, and out of these fine particles come the gross
elements which we call matter. The Tanmatras cannot be perceived; but when
they become gross particles, we can feel and sense them.
The Chitta, in its threefold function of intelligence, consciousness, and
mind, works and manufactures the forces called Prâna. You must at once get
rid of the idea that Prana is breath. Breath is one effect of Prana. By
Prana are meant the nervous forces governing and moving the whole body,
which also manifest themselves as thought. The foremost and most obvious
manifestation of Prana is the breathing motion. Prana acts upon air, and not
air upon it. Controlling the breathing motion is prânâyâma. Pranayama is
practised to get mastery over this motion; the end is not merely to control
the breath or to make the lungs strong. That is Delsarte, not Pranayama.
These Pranas are the vital forces which manipulate the whole body, while
they in their turn are manipulated by other organs in the body, which are
called mind or internal organs. So far so good. The psychology is very clear
and most precise; and yet it is the oldest rational thought in the world!
Wherever there is any philosophy or rational thought, it owes something or
other to Kapila. Pythagoras learnt it in India, and taught it in Greece.
Later on Plato got an inkling of it; and still later the Gnostics carried
the thought to Alexandria, and from there it came to Europe. So wherever
there is any attempt at psychology or philosophy, the great father of it is
this man, Kapila. So far we see that his psychology is wonderful; but we
shall have to differ with him on some points, as we go on. We find that the
basic principle on which Kapila works, is evolution. He makes one thing
evolve out of another, because his very definition of causation is "the
cause reproduced in another form," and because the whole universe, so far as
we see it, is progressive and evolving. We see clay; in another form, we
call it a pitcher. Clay was the cause and the pitcher the effect. Beyond
this we cannot have any idea of causation. Thus this whole universe is
evolved out of a material, out of Prakriti or nature. Therefore, the
universe cannot be essentially different from its cause. According to
Kapila, from undifferentiated nature to thought or intellect, not one of
them is what he calls the "Enjoyer" or "Enlightener". Just as is a lump of
clay, so is a lump of mind. By itself the mind has no light; but ate see it
reasons. Therefore there must be some one behind it, whose light is
percolating through Mahat and consciousness, and subsequent modifications,
and this is what Kapila calls the Purusha, the Self of the Vedantin.
According to Kapila, the Purusha is a simple entity, not a compound; he is
immaterial, the only one who is immaterial, and all these various
manifestations are material. I see a black-board. First, the external
instruments will bring that sensation to the nerve-centre, to the Indriya
according to Kapila; from the centre it will go to the mind and make an
impression; the mind will present it to the Buddhi, but Buddhi cannot act;
the action comes, as it were, from the Purusha behind. These, so to speak,
are all his servants, bringing the sensations to him, and he, as it were,
gives the orders, reacts, is the enjoyer, the perceiver, the real One, the
King on his throne, the Self of man, who is immaterial. Because he is
immaterial, it necessarily follows that he must be infinite, he cannot have
any limitation whatever. Each one of the Purushas is omnipresent; each one
of us is omnipresent, but we can act only through the Linga Sharira, the
fine body. The mind, the self-consciousness, the organs, and the vital
forces compose the fine body or sheath, what in Christian philosophy is
called the spiritual body of man. It is this body that gets salvation, or
punishment, or heaven, that incarnates and reincarnates, because we see from
the very beginning that the going and the coming of the Purusha or soul are
impossible. Motion means going or coming, and what goes or comes from one
place to another cannot be omnipresent. Thus far we see from Kapila's
psychology that the soul is infinite, and that the soul is the only thing
which is not composed of nature. He is the only one that is outside of
nature, but he has got bound by nature, apparently. Nature is around him,
and he has identified himself with it. He thinks, "I am the Linga Sharira",
"I am the gross matter, the gross body", and as such he enjoys pleasure and
pain, but they do not really belong to him, they belong to this Linga
Sharira or the fine body.
The meditative state is called always the highest state by the Yogi, when it
is neither a passive nor an active state; in it you approach nearest to the
Purusha. The soul has neither pleasure nor pain; it is the witness of
everything, the eternal witness of all work, but it takes no fruits from any
work. As the sun is the cause of sight of every eye, but is not itself
affected by any defects in the eye or as when a crystal has red or blue
flowers placed before it, the crystal looks red or blue, and yet it is
neither; so, the soul is neither passive nor active, it is beyond both. The
nearest way of expressing this state of the soul is that it is meditation.
This is Sankhya philosophy.
Next, Sankhya says, that the manifestation of nature is for the soul; all
combinations are for some third person. The combinations which you 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. When it has gained it, the soul finds it was never in nature,
that it was entirely separate, that it is indestructible, that it cannot go
and come; that going to heaven and being born again were in nature, and not
in the soul. Thus the soul becomes free. All 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. But the souls are many
according to the Sankhya philosophy. There is an infinite number of souls.
The other conclusion of Kapila is that there is no God as the Creator of the
universe. Nature is quite sufficient by itself to account for everything.
God is not necessary, says the Sankhya.
The Vedanta says that the Soul is in its nature Existence absolute,
Knowledge absolute, Bliss absolute. But these are not qualities of the Soul:
they are one, not three, the essence of the Soul; and it agrees with the
Sankhya in thinking that intelligence belongs to nature, inasmuch as it
comes through nature. The Vedanta also shows that what is called
intelligence is a compound. For instance, let us examine our perceptions. I
see a black-board. How does the knowledge come? What the German philosophers
call "the thing-in-itself" of the blackboard is unknown, I can never know
it. Let us call it x. The black-board x acts on my mind, and the mind
reacts. The mind is like a lake. Throw a stone in a lake and a reactionary
wave comes towards the stone; this wave is not like the stone at all, it is
a wave. The black-board x is like a stone which strikes the mind and the
mind throws up a wave towards it, and this wave is what we call the
black-board. 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 in the direction from
which the impact comes, and that wave is what I call Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so.
There are two elements in the perception, one coming from outside and the
other from inside, and the combination of these two, x+ 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 and the whale feels the pain. Similar is the case with internal
perception. The real self within me is also unknown and unknowable. Let us
call it y. When I know myself as so-and-so, it is y+ the mind. That y
strikes a blow on the mind. So our whole world is x+ mind (external), and y
+ mind (internal), x and y standing for the thing-in-itself behind the
external and the internal worlds respectively.
According to Vedanta, the three fundamental factors of consciousness are, I
exist, I know, and I am blessed The idea that I have no want, that I am
restful, peaceful, that nothing can disturb me, which comes from time to
time, is the central fact of our being, the basic principle of our life; and
when it becomes limited, and becomes a compound, it manifests itself as
existence phenomenal, knowledge phenomenal, and love. Every man exists, and
every man must know, and every man is mad for love. He cannot help loving.
Through all existence, from the lowest to the highest, all must love. The y,
the internal thing-in-itself, which, combining with mind, manufactures
existence, knowledge, and love, is called by the Vedantists. Existence
absolute, Knowledge absolute, Bliss absolute. That real existence is
limitless, unmixed, uncombined, knows no change, is the free soul; when it
gets mixed up, muddled up, as it were, with the mind, it becomes what we
call individual existence. It is plant life, animal life, human life, just
as universal space is cut off in a room, in a jar, and so on. And that real
knowledge is not what we know, not intuition, nor reason, nor instinct. When
that degenerates and is confused, we call it intuition; when it degenerates
more, we call it reason; and when it degenerates still more, we call it
instinct. That knowledge itself is Vijnâna, neither intuition, nor reason
nor instinct. The nearest expression for it is all-knowingness. There is no
limit to it, no combination in it. That bliss, when it gets clouded over, we
call love, attraction for gross bodies or fine bodies, or for ideas. This is
only a distorted manifestation of that blessedness. Absolute Existence,
absolute Knowledge, and absolute Blessedness are not qualities of the soul,
but the essence; there is no difference between them and the soul. And the
three are one; we see the one thing in three different aspects. They are
beyond all relative knowledge. That eternal knowledge of the Self
percolating through the brain of man becomes his intuition, reason, and so
on. Its manifestation varies according to the medium through which it
shines. As soul, there is no difference between man and the lowest animal,
only the latter's brain is less developed and the manifestation through it
which we call instinct is very dull. In a man the brain is much finer, so
the manifestation is much clearer, and in the highest man it becomes
entirely clear. So with existence; the existence which we know, the limited
sphere of existence, is simply a reflection of that real existence which is
the nature of the soul. So with bliss; that which we call love or attraction
is but the rejection of the eternal blessedness of the Self. With
manifestation comes limitation, but the unmanifested, the essential nature
of the soul, is unlimited; to that blessedness there is no limit. But in
love there is limitation. I love you one day, I hate you the next. My love
increases one day and decreases the next, because it is only a
manifestation.
The first point we will contend with Kapila is his idea of God. Just as the
series of modifications of Prakriti, beginning with the individual intellect
and ending with the individual body, require a Purusha behind, as the ruler
and governor, so, in the Cosmos, the universal intellect, the universal
egoism, the universal mind, all universal fine and gross materials, must
have a ruler and governor. How will the cosmic series become complete
without the universal Purusha behind them all as the ruler and governor? If
you deny a universal Purusha behind the cosmic series, we deny your Purusha
behind the individual series. If it be true that behind the series of
graded, evolved individual manifestations, there stands One that is beyond
them all, the Purusha who is not composed of matter, the very same logic
will apply to the case of universal manifestations. This Universal Self
which is beyond the universal modifications of Prakriti is what is called
Ishwara, the Supreme Ruler, God.
Now comes the more important point of difference. Can there be more than one
Purusha? The Purusha, we have seen, is omnipresent and infinite. The
omnipresent, the infinite, cannot be two. If there are two infinites A and
B, the infinite A would limit the infinite B, because the infinite B is not
the infinite A, and the infinite A is not the infinite B. Difference in
identity means exclusion, and exclusion means limitation. Therefore, A and
B, limiting each other, cease to be infinites. Hence, there can be but one
infinite, that is, one Purusha.
Now we will take up our x and y and show they are one. We have shown how
what we call the external world is x + mind, and the internal world y +
mind; x and y are both quantities unknown and unknowable. All difference is
due to time, space, and causation. These are the constituent elements of the
mind. No mentality is possible without them. You can never think without
time, you can never imagine anything without space, and you can never have
anything without causation. These are the forms of the mind. Take them away,
and the mind itself does not exist. All difference is, therefore, due to the
mind. According to Vedanta, it is the mind, its forms, that have limited x
and y apparently and made them appear as external and internal worlds. But x
and y, being both beyond the mind, are without difference and hence one. We
cannot attribute any quality to them, because qualities are born of the
mind. That which is qualityless must be one; x is without qualities, it only
takes qualities of the mind; so does y; therefore these 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 passes through the forms of time,
space, and causation, is called by different names, Buddhi, fine matter,
gross matter, all mental and physical forms. Everything in the universe is
that One, appearing in various forms. When a little part of it comes, as it
were, into this network of time, space, and causation, it takes forms; take
off the network, and it is all one. Therefore in the Advaita philosophy, the
whole universe is all one in the Self which is called Brahman. That Self
when it appears behind the universe is called God. The same Self when it
appears behind this little universe, the body, is the soul. This very soul,
therefore, is the Self in man. There is only one Purusha, the Brahman of the
Vedanta; God and man, analysed, are one in It. The universe is you yourself,
the unbroken you; you are throughout the 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; the universe is your body; you
are the universe both formed and unformed. You are the soul of the universe
and its body also. You are God, you are the angels, you are man, you are
animals, you are the plants, you are the minerals, you are everything; the
manifestation of everything is you. Whatever exists is you. You are the
Infinite. The Infinite cannot be divided. It can have no parts, for each
part would be infinite, and then the part would be identical with the whole,
which is absurd. Therefore the idea that you are Mr. So-and-so can never be
true; it is a day-dream. Know this and be free. This is the Advaita
conclusion. "I am neither the body, nor the organs, nor am I the mind; I am
Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss absolute; I am He." This is true knowledge;
all reason and intellect, and everything else is ignorance. Where is
knowledge for me, for I am knowledge itself! Where is life for me, for I am
life itself! 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 the
elements, but I am the free One. Who seeks freedom? Nobody. If you think
that you are bound, you remain bound; you make your own bondage. If you know
that you are free, you are free this moment. This is knowledge, knowledge of
freedom. Freedom is the goal of all nature.