॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
***
In this chapter, Bhagavan gives a summary of the philosophy of Sankhya. Sankhya is a system where one perceives and categorises the differences in all creation and traces them to some root causes. This will finally lead one to understand that all the highs and lows of life are traceable to some root causes and hence one should revert to the original state rather than be stuck with the apparent dualities and contradictions.
श्रीभगवानुवाच
अथ ते सम्प्रवक्ष्यामि साङ्ख्यं पूर्वैर्विनिश्चितम् । यद् विज्ञाय पुमान् सद्यो जह्याद् वैकल्पिकं भ्रमम् ॥
आसीज्ज्ञानमथो अर्थ एकमेवाविकल्पितम् । यदा विवेकनिपुणा आदौ कृतयुगेऽयुगे ॥
T: Bhagavan Sri Krishna said: Now I shall describe to you the science of Sankhya, which has been perfectly established by ancient Rishis. By understanding this science, a person can immediately give up the illusion of material duality. Originally, during the Krita Yuga, when all men were very expert in spiritual insight, and also previous to that, during the period of cosmic dissolution, the seer (Atma) existed alone with singularity.
तन्मायाफलरूपेण केवलं निर्विकल्पितम् । वाङ्मनोऽगोचरं सत्यं द्विधा समभवद् बृहत् ॥
तयोरेकतरो ह्यर्थः प्रकृतिः सोभयात्मिका । ज्ञानं त्वन्यतमो भावः पुरुषः सोऽभिधीयते ॥
तमो रजः सत्त्वमिति प्रकृतेरभवन् गुणाः । मया प्रक्षोभ्यमाणायाः पुरुषानुमतेन च ॥
T: That one Absolute Truth, which we call Paramatma or Ishwara, remaining free from material dualities and inaccessible to ordinary speech and mind, divided himself (a person and not a thing is the root cause of creation!) into two categories. Of these two categories of manifestation, one is Prakriti or material nature, which embodies both the subtle causes and manifest products of matter. The other is the conscious living entity, Atma, designated as the enjoyer as Purusha. That Paramatma then agitated Prakriti and created the Gunas, so that different living entities would emerge with different propensities and become Jivas. Simultaneously, deploying Mahattattva, individuation in the form of ego, (I and Mine) was created in every Jiva. Each living entity is a combination of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, in varying proportions. This Ahamkara ( I and Mine) gave rise to gross matter through Tamas, the sense organs through Rajas (which compels interactions) and through Sattva, the eleven gods who control all experience were created.
We can already see where Sankhya is going. It is showing how by Bhagavan’s will, multiplicity came from singularity.
There then arose a mass of creation holding it all together in the cosmic egg. It was in the ocean, and Bhagavan manifested as Narayana. He then created Brahma. Brahma created the diverse universe out of that egg by Bhagavan’s order. The various Lokas ( Bhu, Bhuva, Sva, etc. together fourteen) where all the beings resided were created.
Bhagavan says that the goal of Yogis who strive spiritually is to go beyond these fourteen Lokas and their experiences in Prakriti. That is what is called Mukti. There is another route. To directly connect with Bhagavan, who pervades everything, through the insight of Bhakti!
योगस्य तपसश्चैव न्यासस्य गतयोऽमलाः । महर्जनस्तपः सत्यं भक्तियोगस्य मद्गतिः ॥
T: By mystic Yoga, great austerities and the renounced order of life, there is a gradual promotion of the Jiva through the pure destinations of Maharloka, Janoloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka are attained. But by Bhakti Yoga, one achieves Bhagavan’s abode in one single leap.
Karma (Cause and Effect) and Kaala (Time) are the two dimensions that control the Jiva’s journey through experiences, high and low.
अणुर्बृहत् कृशः स्थूलो यो यो भावः प्रसिध्यति । सर्वोऽप्युभयसंयुक्तः प्रकृत्या पुरुषेण च ॥
T: Whatever visibly exists within this world — small or great, thin or stout — certainly contains both the Prakriti and Purusha!
Bhagavan now gives the famous examples of articles made of gold or mud. Gold and mud are originally existing as ingredients. From gold one may fashion golden ornaments such as bracelets and earrings, and from mud, one may fashion clay pots and saucers. The original ingredients gold and mud exist before the products are made from them, and when the products are eventually destroyed, the original ingredients, gold and mud, 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 a 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 in everything during the manifest phase, supporting all perceived reality.
We can extend this to understand that from one article, another may be fashioned. Like a bar of iron may be shaped into a sword. The essential ingredient, iron, is the root cause and everything is intermediate cause and effect.
Bhagavan now stresses something. All creation exists under his watch and as a part of his omnipresence. We may worship Bhagavan as Maha Vishnu, but Bhagavan exists in all.
सर्गः प्रवर्तते तावत् पौर्वापर्येण नित्यशः । महान् गुणविसर्गार्थः स्थित्यन्तो यावदीक्षणम् ॥
विराण्मयासाद्यमानो लोककल्पविकल्पकः । पञ्चत्वाय विशेषाय कल्पते भुवनैः सह ॥
T: All creation, sustenance, and dissolution happens within Bhagavan. All the endless variety seen is only his manifestation.
What is dissolution or annihilation of creation? 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 merge into the cosmic mind. The total material nature, or Prakriti, 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 Mahapurusha, or Paramatma, the original activator of all living beings, the unborn Supreme Soul who play-acts this entire world of experience but who remains alone, established within himself as the original root cause. It is from him that all creation and annihilation are manifested.
एवमन्वीक्षमाणस्य कथं वैकल्पिको भ्रमः । मनसो हृदि तिष्ठेत व्योम्नीवार्कोदये तमः ॥
T: 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.
एष साङ्ख्यविधिः प्रोक्तः संशयग्रन्थिभेदनः । प्रतिलोमानुलोमाभ्यां परावरदृशा मया ॥
T: 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.
***
