Chapter 3.3a - Prakṛti (material principle) in Sāṅkhya

Prakṛti

In Sāṅkhya, the analysis of experience and existence is as important as the knowledge of the transcendental self. The system makes a naturalistic approach to the phenomenal world and explains the same with reference to a primordial substance called Prakṛti, which comes under the second of the four major categories. Prakṛti is the material principle.^[1]

Four divisions of padārthas

Vācaspati Miśra explains Prakṛti as ‘Prakarotīti Prakṛtiḥ’.^[2] It can never be a ‘vikṛti’ or a product. Why it is so is explained by the term ‘mūla’ i.e., it is that matter, which is the root of the universe and which is an aggregate of the products. Prakṛti or Pradhāna is the first category of Sāṅkhyas. After speaking about the original source, which is not a product the author proceeds to speak of certain products of Prakṛti which are also the source of the other products, i.e., those that are ‘prakṛtayaḥ’ as well as ‘vikṛtayaḥ’. They are spoken to be seven in number.The first one is mahat. Mahat is the source for ahaṃkāra, is the product of mahat. It is further the source of five tanmātras and the senses and these are the forms of subtle-matter.^[3] These five subtle elements are again the sources of five gross elements such as ‘pṛthvi’, etc. The seven categories involved here are mahat, ahaṃkāra and pancatanmātras. The five tanmātras are; pṛthvi-tanmātra, ap-tanmātra, tejo-tanmātra, vāyu-tanmātra and ākāśa-tanmātra.

The principle of ahaṃkāra which is the root of the five subtle primary substances together with the eleven sense organs is itself the product of mahat. Similarly the five subtle substances which are the root of the gross elements, ākāśa and the rest, are the products of ahaṃkāra. The pure and simple products are sixteen. The five gross substances and the eleven sense organs are mere products. They are not productive.^[4] The individual effects are manifold, while Prakṛti is one. They subsist in their causes, while Prakṛti does not subsist any other cause. They are determinate, while Prakṛti is indeterminate. They are composed of parts, while Prakṛti is part less. They are differentiated and heterogeneous while Prakṛti is undifferentiated and homogeneous. They are subordinate to Prakṛti, while Prakṛti is self-subsistent and independent.^[5] Prakṛti is the matrix of the whole psychological universe. It is the first cause of matter, life, mind, buddhi and ahaṃkāra. The unintelligent world cannot be transformation of an intelligent principle, since spirit cannot be transformed into matter.

Existence of Prakṛti

In Sāṅkhyatattvakaumudī the existence of Prakṛti has been proved as follows. Whatever the effects of the properties are; there is a cause behind it. The example quoted here is that of a cloth. The cloth has the same properties of the yarn. Likewise the mahat and 22 others are bestowed with the attributes like pleasure, pain, and delusion and all these are due to the respective causes existing in it. Thus the existence of the cause in the unmanifest in the form of primordial matter is proved.

The Prakṛti is also said to have these properties and it is established too:

“tathā mahadādilakṣaṇenāpi kāryeṇa sukhaduḥkhamoharūpeṇa svakāraṇagatasukhaduḥkhamohātmanā bhavitavyam| tathā ca tatkāraṇaṃ sukhaduḥkhamohātmakaṃ pradhānamavyaktaṃ siddhaṃ bhavati”^[6]

Here Jha opines that:

“The author proves this by the means of Aristotelian deductive reasoning. “Properties of the effect (mahat) are the properties of the cause (Prakṛti), Pleasure, etc., are properties of the effect (Intellect). Therefore Pleasure, etc., are properties of the cause (Prakṛti). And again:—Whatever has pleasure, etc. has indiscreetness etc. Prakṛti has pleasure, etc., (at first proved). Therefore Prakṛti has indiscreetness etc.”^[7]

The Vaiśeṣikas and the Naiyāyikas declare that the manifest is born out of manifest.

They say that the atoms are apparent and they give rise to the manifest as the outcome:

"vyaktāt vyaktamutpadyate iti kaṇabhakṣākṣicaraṇatanayā| paramāṇavo hi vyaktāḥ, taidvarthaṇukādikrameṇa pṛthivyādilakṣaṇaṃ kārye vyaktamārabhyate||"^[8]

The dual products like earth and water along with their qualities are produced in accordance with the constituents of the atoms itself.

The Prakṛti exists as the cause is due to the predetermined trait of a particular object, the uniform appearance of the objects, the origin, which is based on the cause, the disunity between the cause and its outcome and lastly the blending of the entire world. It has been said earlier that the outcome has been already ongoing in the cause of it. As the limbs of the tortoise that protrudes out at times is distinguished from it. The limbs of the tortoise enter into the body of the tortoise and disappear or become unmanifest. So also the products which already exist in a specific shape emerge out of its respective cause.^[9] These products are called primary elements and these become distinguished from it.

The primary elements which are the outcome of the cause along with the I-principle is distinguished from the cause. The ‘I’ principle which is there in the cause becomes distinguished from the mahat and finally the Great Principle is distinguished from the Highest unmanifest that is the Prakṛti. This is finally called as the distinction between the cause and the effect. In short the effect of evolution which takes the shape of a jar or crown dissolute into the things made of its cause and at last becomes the unmanifest.

The reality is that the fruition’s outcome is dependent on the competence of the cause. If the cause is not competent then there will be no outcome. The dormant competency in the cause is nothing else than the unmanifested form of outcome or result. The proposition is that the effect is said to exist and so there is no other form of contributory efficiency except the dormant form. This difference is compared to that sand and sesame by saying that the oil is hidden only in the sesame and not in the sand which helps its growth and also adds that the oil existent in it is in the form of unmanifested condition.

The objection raised against this is that why there is another unmanifest entity beyond the first one. The answer given is that the particular objects which are under study that is the Great Principle and the others are said to have an unmanifested being on the base of its cause. They are regarded as being in the shape of a jar or so and the cause of this jar or other shape is also getting as clay, gold, etc., and this is said to be the unmanifested form of that being. These situations lead the cause of the mahat to be the summit of the unmanifest which is considered as the final cause because there is no other way to put forward another reality concerned with the unmanifested. This is so because the Prakṛti which is unmanifested is infinite and so also its effects. Moreover, if this is stressed too much the case would be a ceaseless one.^[10]

For these reasons we can understand the particular objects which are under discussion should have such causes which make them unmanifested. The term homogeneous means similarity and here the similarity of various objects are taken for granted. The Great Principle and its adjuncts is said to manifest itself in the form of preference and the like are homogeneous, that is they are found in the pleasure, pain and delusion. The theory is that the object connected with a particular form, is said to have as its cause that which has the same form of the object. Thus, it is proved that the particular object and the unmanifested Prakṛti have the cause similar to the effect. The mahat and its attributes are habitually united with the pleasure, pain, and delusion and also with their cause Prakṛti and all of these are said to be in the unmanifseted form till the evolution takes place.

The unmanifest as the cause functions on the basis of three attributes. The process is by amalgamating and adjusting, owing to the dissimilarity which sprouts up from the dominance of one of the three attributes. The best example of this is water. At the time of the cosmic termination the three attributes, sattva, rajas, and tamas, is in the homogeneous form even during the alterations. The very characteristic of these attributes is altered and they can never be in a stagnant or rigid state. These attributes, even during the time of cosmic dissolution, acts according to their own whims and fancies, that too in a specific form. This is the status of equilibrium of the attributes which results in the evolution.^[11]

There is another mode of function pertained to the attributes. This is by amalgamating the attributes. This amalgamation is possible only if there is some sort of being in a lesser important position and this in turn needs some kind of discrepancy among the attributes. This discrepancy is possible only when one of the attributes is oppression of the other. This second method of functioning gives rise to the Great Principle and its adjuncts. The disturbance of the equilibrium of the attributes leads to the process of evolution, which awakens the dormant energy of the Prakṛti and results in the manifestations of intellect and so on.

The attributes having many forms take part in various operations. Vācaspati Miśra explains this by with the example that water is one, but it can accept various forms, shapes, smell, taste, and so in accordance with the alteration and situations it is in. When it comes to earth it assumes the form of fruit juices and so on. Likewise the attributes of Prakṛti are prevalent and is subject to be the cause of many modifications.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Indian Philosophy of Religion, p.198

[2]:

tatra kā prakṛtirityuktam "mūlaprakṛtiravikṛtiḥ" iti| prakarotīti prakṛtiḥ pradhānam, satvarajastamasāṃ sāmyāvasthā, sā avikṛtiḥ, prakṛtirevetyarthaḥ| kuta ityuktam-"mūleti" mūlañcāsau prakṛtiśceti mūlaprakṛtiḥ| viśvasya kāryasaṃghātasya sā mūlam,na tvasyā mūlāntaramasti, anavasthāprasaṅgāt| na cānavasthāyāṃ pramāṇamastīti bhāvaḥ|
Sāṅkhyatattvakaumudī 3

[3]:

Contribution of Vācaspati Miśra to Indian Philosophy, p.147

[4]:

Sāṅkhyakārikā 3 and also Ibid, p.148

[5]:

J.N. Sinha: Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, p.11

[6]:

Sāṅkhyatattvakaumudī on Sāṅkhyakārikā 14

[7]:

The Sāṃkhya-Tattva-Kaumudī (trans.), p.70

[8]:

Sāṅkhyatattvakaumudī on Sāṅkhyakārikā 14

[9]:

kāraṇe sat kāryamiti sthitam| tathā ca yathā kūrmaśarīre santyevāṅgāni niḥsaranti vibhajyante - ’idaṃ kūrmaśarīraṃ, etānyetasyāṅgāni- ’ iti; evaṃ niviśamānāni tasmin avyaktībhavanti|
Sāṅkhyatattvakaumudī on Sāṅkhyakārikā 15

[10]:

Sāṃkhya-Tattva-Kaumudī (trans.), P.75

[11]:

"pravartate triguṇataḥ" iti| pratisargāvasthāyāṃ sattvaṃ rajastamaśca sadṛśapariṇāmāni bhavanti|"
Sāṅkhyatattvakaumudī on Sāṅkhyakārikā 16