Part 3.1 - Jyotiṣa and Karmavipāka: The Knowledge of Form

[Full title: The Knowledge and Derivation of Form (1): Jyotiṣa and Karmavipāka: The Knowledge of Form]

i. Gati as Vipāka

Gati (motion) of Jīva is due to the past actions on account of which Jīva transmigrates.^[1] Punarjanma (Rebirth) thereby is a function of Karmas (actions) which are believed to be the womb (yoni) of various beings maturing in various ways.^[2] Karma varies in accordance with the qualities therefore gati also varies on account of qualities (Guṇas).^[3] Karmagati carries a sense of binding in such instances. Bondage of actions also involves the bondage of time since the maturation and fruition (vipāka) of actions depends on time.^[4]

The fruits of action differ in accordance with the time of maturity thereby their consequences vary depending on their time of maturation.^[5]

ii. Karmavipāka and Kāla

Gati here is in sense of transmigration where Karma means past actions or daiva (accumulated karma) and Kāla is the force connected with the fruition of actions. Karma and Kāla are considered the causative factors for the repeated rounds of birth and death of Jīva.^[6] Future thereby in case of Karmavipāka automatically carries the angle of fate^[7] where the unexhausted Karma about to ripen become the ‘nimitta’ (efficient cause) of the production of the new body and the circumstances surrounding it. Karma along with Kāla constitute this activity,^[8] the Pūrvakṛta (good or bad actions) being the cause (hetu) of the fruition in the form of Jāti, Āyu and Bhoga.^[9]

iii. Vipāka: The Manifestation of Prārabdha

Fruition (Vipāka) is connected with the Prārabdhakarma, the term inclusive of release of past actions and the beginning of creative activity in the form of ‘manifestation’^[10] and thereby subjective to the above conditions.

The phenomenon is three phaseal Kriyā, Upacaya and Vipākaphala.^[11] In the process active Karma further leads to its accumulation or deposition possibly thereby is termed as material^[12] and is represented in a seed form^[13] the nature of the accumulated Karmas identified as ‘rūpa dharma derived from the Mahābhūtās’.^[14]

This in the process of manifestation or the unfolding of the Prārabdha leads to a form which has a semblance with the past actions. Form or shape is thereby in accordance with the convictions^[15] and actions of the past. Body form and mind of the present accords with the previous body form and mind and is a derivation of past actions is declared by Āyurveda.^[16] Thereby form at birth conduct or character of a person is a product of his past actions.^[17] Even the intellect is in accordance with the past actions and is involved in Karmavipāka.^[18]

Of the qualities, Rajas and Tamas are said to cause the ‘contact’ or transmigration of the soul,^[19] the sphere of Karma extending beyond body^[20] is expressed in the ideas of paths leading to different planes by force of one’s actions.^[21]

iv. Vipāka by the Gods

In the literature the authority to perform actions is of man.^[22] Fruition of actions (Karmavipāka) is accounted as for by the gods. The deities are subordinated already in the Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas as being responsible for the fruits.^[23] In later stage, Prakṛti is held responsible for conduct which is a fruition of actions.^[24] Also Svabhāva (Prakṛti) is said to be technical and not the creative authority and thereby does not accept the merits or demerits of anyone.^[25] Karmavipāka thus in the literature is projected as a mechanical law operating in the cosmos. An element of slavery in the form of daiva is depicted in it on account of the binding to actions which are in accordance with the inherent tendencies of the Prakṛti.^[26]

In the process of fruition^[27] the accumulated action which is presently stagnant is a motion released in some distant past, this comes in contact with the external forces^[28] resulting in manifestation and further activity. That which manifests and comes in motion is the ‘quality or the characteristics stored in the form of a potency’.^[29] Form is thereby ‘bhāva’^[30] in the sense of ‘coming to life’ or ‘birth and growth’ or else ‘being and becoming’.^[31] Since that what is Bhāvya (is happened or capable of happening) and that what becomes sat (vyakta)^[32] or manifests is the stored quality which comes to life with the motion of time aided with other relative factors. This potential of ‘quality’ resulting in action in the sense of manifestation in the process of Karmavipāka is in accordance with the Theory of ‘Satkāryavāda’ of the Sāṃkhya Philosophy.^[33] On which is dependent the ‘Gati’ and thereby the plane of existence along with the ‘form’ of manifestation.^[34]

In the process of Karmavipāka, past actions thus manifest by means of motion in a ‘form’ or shape and the time of manifestation of a form as a fruition of past actions is made a subject of study for the relevant future.

Knowledge is derived from Cosmic Actions by the further criteria:-

Cosmic motion is a pointer to the perceptive knowledge of man’s past actions their fruition manifesting in a ‘form’ divulging the past actions as well as the future.^[35]

Any manifested form as a fruition of past actions as a visible evidence leads to the insight that any action leads to fruition in future and is in accordance with the quality of that act.

Further, if every action leads to fruition, fruition being a cosmic response, ‘willful proper actions’ on part of human can be utilized to design the future with appropriate cosmic time with such a notion actions are arranged on specific times by the culture.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

[...] as birth and rebirth, Apte, V.S. p. 573.

[2]:

Carakasaṃhitā IV. 2.31, 35,36.

[3]:

Manusmṛti XII. 39,40. 184

[4]:

[...] Śāṅkarabhāṣya on Brahmasūtra III. 2.38.

[5]:

Appendix III in Doctrine of Karma, p. 592.

[6]:

Mahābhārata 12.206.13.

[7]:

X¡d in the sense of √ {Xd 10pp ‘to suffer’.

[8]:

[...] Mahābhārata 12.34.10.

[9]:

Patañjali’s Yogasūtras II.13., Padma Purāṇa II. 94.11., also according to the Buddhists, present circumstances are determined by one’s past actions. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. VII, p. 675.

[10]:

Gītā Rahasya p. 366.

[11]:

Kathāvatthuppakarṇa Aṭṭhakathā XV. 11(152).

[12]:

Karman as matter form, ‘pudgala’, ‘Karma in Jainism’ in the Doctrine of Karma, p. 39.

[13]:

Commentary of Buddhaghoṣa on Kathāvathu, XV. 11 (152).

[14]:

Classified by Vasubandhu. ‘The nature of Sañcita karma and Anātmavāda’ in the Doctrine of karma, p. 591.

[15]:

Chāndogya Upaniṣad III. 14.1.

[16]:

Caraka Saṃhitā IV. 2.36.

[17]:

Gītā III. 33.

[18]:

Commentary of Śaṅkarācārya on Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad II.1.19.

[19]:

Yājñavalkya-smṛti III.140.

[20]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad 4.15, 5.10; Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad VI. 2.2., Kauṣitaki-upaniṣad 1.2.3.

[21]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad 5.10.8., Kaṭha Up. 2.6.7., Gītā XVI. 19-21.

[22]:

[...] Gītā II. 47.

[23]:

Fruit is from the act of sacrifice with apūrva as the principle factor. Pūrva Mimāṃsā in its sources, pp. 296-317.

[24]:

Gītā III.33.

[25]:

Svabhāva in the sense of fruit giving authority expressed as [...] Gītā V. 14.

[26]:

Gītā XVIII.59,60.; Also [...] Gītā III.5. 185

[27]:

Fruition as a combination of various factors, Śrī Chintan, p. 100.

[28]:

An Autobiography of a Yogi, p. 232, 233, Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upani ads p. 221, Patañjali’s Yogasūtras p. 327.

[29]:

Patañjali’s Yogasūtras p. 394.

[30]:

Gītā Rahasya, p. 1056.

[31]:

Gītā Rahasya, p. 1063.

[32]:

Gītā Rahasya, p. 284.

[33]:

Sāṃkhyakārikā, verse 9., Chāndogya-upaniṣad VI. 2.2.

[34]:

Sāṃkhyakārikā verses 43-55, commentary of Śaṅkarācārya on Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad IV. 4.2.

[35]:

As an operation of cosmic Karmāśaya in the form of Śakunas both spontaneous as well as induced studied in the literature.