Sankhya

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Sankhya Continued

 

The Purusha

 

Characteristics of the Purusha

 

The Purusha or the Self is beyond Prakriti. It is eternally separate

from the latter. Purusha is without beginning or end. It is without

attributes and without qualities. It is subtle and omnipresent. It

is beyond mind, intellect and the senses. It is beyond time, space

and causality. It is the eternal seer. It is perfect and immutable.

It is pure consciousness (Chidrupa).

 

The Purusha is not the doer. It is the witness. The Purusha is like

a crystal without any colour. It appears to be coloured by the

different colours which are placed before it. It is not material. It

is not a result of combination. Hence it is immortal. The Purushas

or souls are infinite in number, according to the Sankhya. There are

many Purushas. If the Purushas were one, all should become free if

any one attained release.

 

The different souls are fundamentally identical in nature. There is

no movement for the Purusha. It does not go anywhere when it attains

freedom or release.

 

Souls exist eternally separate from each other and from Prakriti.

Each soul retains its individuality. It remains unchanged through

all transmigrations. Each soul is a witness of the act of a separate

creation, without taking part in the act. It is a looker-on uniting

itself with the unintelligent Prakriti, like a lame man mounted on a

blind man's shoulders, in order to behold the phenomena of a

creation, which Prakriti herself is not able to observe.

 

The Purusha or the Self is the witness (Sakshi), a spectator

(Drashta), a by-stander (Madhyastha), solitary (Kaivalya), passive

and indifferent (Udasina).

 

Inference of the Existence of the Purusha

 

Intelligence cannot belong to the intellect, because the intellect

is material and is the effect of Prakriti which is non-intelligent.

If intelligence is absent in the cause, it cannot manifest itself in

the effect. Therefore, there must be a distinct principle of

intelligence and this principle is Purusha or the Self.

 

The insentient body seems sentient on account of its union with the

Self, and the Self appears as the agent. Just as a pot with cold

water appears to be cold, with hot water seems to be hot, so

intellect and the rest seem to be sentient on account of union with

the Purusha. This mutual transfer of properties is like that of fire

and iron, or that of the sun and water.

 

There must be a Supervisor over and above the Pradhana or Prakriti.

The Supervisor is Purusha or the Self. Prakriti and its products are

objects of enjoyment. There must exist an enjoyer who must be an

intelligent principle. This intelligent enjoyer is Purusha or the

Self.

 

Just as chair and bench are for the use of another, so also this

body, senses and mind are for the use of the Self which is

immaterial, as it is destitute of attributes and as it is beyond the

Gunas. The Purusha is the witness of the Gunas. The Gunas are the

objects. Purusha is the witness-subject. Hence, it is not affected

by pleasure, pain and delusion which are attributes of the three

Gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, respectively. If pain is natural to

the Purusha and if the Purusha is not naturally free from the action

of the Gunas, no salvation from rebirth is possible.

 

Purusha and Prakriti – A Contrast

 

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