Verse 223-225

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

यथाऽहेः कुण्डलावस्था व्यपैति तदनन्तरम् ।
संभवत्यार्जवावस्था सर्पत्वं त्वनुवर्त्तते ॥ २२३ ॥
तथैव नित्यचैतन्यस्वभावस्यात्मनोऽपि न ।
निःशेषरूपविगमः सर्वस्यानुगमोऽपि वा ॥ २२४ ॥
किन्त्वस्य विनिवर्त्तन्ते सुखदुःखादिलक्षणाः ।
अवस्थास्ताश्च जायन्ते चैतन्यं त्वनुवर्त्तते ॥ २२५ ॥

yathā'heḥ kuṇḍalāvasthā vyapaiti tadanantaram |
saṃbhavatyārjavāvasthā sarpatvaṃ tvanuvarttate || 223 ||
tathaiva nityacaitanyasvabhāvasyātmano'pi na |
niḥśeṣarūpavigamaḥ sarvasyānugamo'pi vā || 224 ||
kintvasya vinivarttante sukhaduḥkhādilakṣaṇāḥ |
avasthāstāśca jāyante caitanyaṃ tvanuvarttate || 225 ||

“Just as, in the case of the serpent, the ‘coiled’ form disappears, and after that, appears the ‘straightened’ form; but the character of being ‘serpent’ continues through both states;—in the same manner, in the case of the soul, there is no complete disappearance of the character of ‘eternal sentience’; nor is there continuance of its whole character; there is disappearance of such of its states as ‘pleasure’, ‘pain’ and the like,—and these appear again; but through all these ‘sentience’ continues.”—(223-225)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Question—“How is it possible for one and the same Soul to have the two mutually contradictory characters of being ‘exclusive’ and ‘inclusive’?”

The answer to this from the Sankhya point of view is as follows:—[see verses 223-225 above]

In the case of the Serpent,—snake,—though it remains one and the same, the coiled form disappears and the straightened form appears,—and yet the character of the ‘Serpent’ continues in both forms;—in the same manner, in the case of the Soul,—though it is of the nature of eternal Intelligence, and one only,—yet, there never is disappearance of its whole character,—nor is there a continuance of its whole character,—as postulated by the Naiyāyīka in regard to their ‘Soul’; what happens is that its states of Pleasure, etc. go on disappearing and appearing again, but the form of ‘Intelligence’ continues to permeate through all these states; hence there is no incompatibility between the ‘exclusive’ and ‘inclusive’ character.—Such is the sense of the Text as a whole.

The meaning of the words is as follows:—The compound word ‘nityacaitanyasvabhāvasya’ is to be explained as ‘that which has eternal Intelligence for its form’;—‘whole character’,—i.e. of the entire form;—‘continuity’—‘there is not’; such is the construction;—‘and these appear again’,—i.e. the states of ‘Pleasure’ and the like.—(223-225)