Liberation (mokṣa) as the ultimate moral end

In the modern view, the main concern of medical science is about psycho-somatic ailments and their cure. From that perspective Caraka, is expected to look upon man as a biological entity. He is expected to deal with the worldly life of man. But he surpasses such limited assumptions. Caraka not only engaged himself in finding the means to free man from his physiological and psychological tensions but in discovering the path that delivers him from the subtle challenges that arise from the habits themselves and that cannot so easily be met by the techniques of science. He is a true philosopher and thereby a “great doctor” who diagnosed and prescribed cure for the total human sufferings. For him, a human being is not a mere biological product of the evolution controlled by biological drives, motives and instincts and reflexes. On the other hand, he is a spiritual being. He is an altruistic humanistic being and a seeker of supreme good. He diagnosed that contemplation is the highest aspiration of man. A contemplative life is rich in its import, manifestation, and realization. A life of contemplation is exalted. So, in coherence with the philosophical systems, he places liberation (mokṣa) as the highest ideal of life and the final end of man.^[1]

Caraka calls death which terminates the limited life span by the epithets svabhāva (return to the former state), pravṛtteruparama (cessation of activities), maraṇa (death), anitya (ephemeral) and nirodha (obstruction to the continuity of life).⁷¹ The liberated state which ends the transmigratory existence is being designated as vipāpa (freed from sinful acts), viraja (free from attachments), śānta (quiescence), parā (absolute), akṣara (indistuctible), avyaya (immutable), amṛta (immortal), the Brahman (God), and nirvāna (the state of extinction of all sufferings).^[2] This shows that Caraka constructs his theory of liberation in terms of the Brahman.

Change is the nature of the phenomenal world. Cause (hetu), origin (utpatti), growth (vṛddhi), decay (upaplava), and death (viyoga) are the five different stages of change and they constitute suffering.^[3] This is actually the radical unremitting impermanence, the essential ontological dimension of one's unenlightened state of suffering.

The phenomenal self is never freed from ego, intellect, mind, volitions, and other defects. Since the mind is enveloped by rajas and tamas, all kinds of evils follow the individual until true knowledge occurs. The tainted mind and volitions engender powerful positive actions (pravṛtti)^[4] and, thereby, transmigratory existence.^[5] Thus, the phenomenal self in bondage undergoes all kinds of sufferings.

Experiences are in the form of happiness and pain. They are all sufferings, for they originate from cravings on the one hand and they give rise to cravings on the other hand. Craving in turn consists of ignorance, desire, and aversion.^[6]

All kinds of positive actions are sinful.^[7] The positive actions originate from prjñāparādha which springs from desire and aversion engendered by erroneous knowledge and such a person is engulfed in egoistic feelings (ahaṃkāra), vocal, mental, and physical actions (saṅga), doubt (saṃśaya), vanity (abhisaṃplava), selfish dispositions (abhyavapāta), erroneous knowledge in the form of a beneficial thing as harmful (vipratyaya), lack of distinction between conscious and unconscious elements, nature and its modification, attachment and detachment (aviśeṣa), and performance of rituals, priesthood and begging. (anupāya).^[8] Again, volitional transgression (prjñāparādha) is due to the derangement of apprehension (dhī), fortitude (dhṛti), and memory (smṛit).^[9] The derangement of intellect (dhībhraṃśa) means wrong apprehension like the apprehension of an eternal entity as ephemeral, a beneficial thing as non-beneficial. The correct apprehension is the cognition of a thing as it is. The derangement of fortitude (dhṛtibhraṃśa) is the unrestrained mental urge to do harm to worldly objects. The control of mind is called fortitude. Similarly, the derangement of memory (smṛtibhraṃśa) is the erroneous apprehension due to the envelopment of rajas and tamas.^[10]

This vindicates that if ignorance, that is, if the derangement of intellect, fortitude, and memory are totally eradicated, volitional transgression can be eliminated, and if volitional transgression is eliminated positive actions can be relinquished. Then again if positive actions cease, the vicious circle of craving and suffering in the form of experiences can be completely rooted out. So the primary thing is to eradicate ignorance. Caraka says that a person with pure mind and who practices yoga acquires true knowledge and eliminates ignorance. Thus, one is able to see things “the way they really are”. This insight will help one to renounce everything, thereby all cravings and suffering can be eradicated and ultimate freedom can be attained.^[11]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

All Indian religions and philosophical systems except the Cārvākas take freedom (mukti) from suffering as the goal of spiritual endeavour.

[2]:

vipāpaṃ virājaḥ śāntaṃ paramakṣaramavyayaṃ amṛtaṃ braḥma nirvāṇaṃ paryāyaiḥ śāntirucyate, CS, Śārīra - sthāna, V. 23.

[3]:

CS, Śārīra-sthāna, V. 8; cf. Yāska who mentions six kinds of modifications: birth, continuance, growth, transformation, decay and death. Nirukta, p. 1.

[4]:

Postive action (pravṛtti) is suffering and negative action (nivṛtti) is happiness. “pravṛtirdukhaṃ nivṛttih sukhaṃ”, For details see CS, Śārīra - sthāna, V. 10- 11.

[5]:

For details see Ibid., II. 37-38.

[6]:

icchā dveṣātmikā tṛṣṇā sukhaduḥkhāt pravartate tṛṣṇā ca sukhaduḥkhānāṃ kāraṇaṃ punarucyate., CS, Śārīra-sthāna, I. 134. Happiness is duḥkha because it is liable to change.

[7]:

sarvapravṛttiṣvaghasaṃjñā, ibid, V. 12.

[8]:

vide supra, p. 157, F. Note, 62.

[9]:

Loc. cit. p. 362.

[10]:

CS, Śārīra - sthāna, I. 99-101.

[11]:

Ibid., V. 16-18.