Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

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BRAHMANISM the charioteer; the thinking function (manas) is the bridle; the sense-forces (indriya) are the horses; and the objects or spheres of sense-perception (vişaya) are the ranging-ground (gocara: the roads and pasturages of the animal). The individual in whom the Self, the sense-forces, and the mind are joined is called the eater or enjoyer (bhoktar)." 24
The sense-forces of perception are (in sequence from the finest, or most subtle, to the most tangible and gross):
1. hearing, which is effected through thic ear, 2. seeing, which is effected through the eye, 3. smelling, which is effected through the nose, 4. tasting, which is cffccted through the tongue, 5. touching, which is effected through the skin.
These are the five sense-forces of knowing (jñānendriyāņi), which in living organisms make for the attitude of eater or enjoyer (bhoktar). The bhoktar is "he who experiences pleasant and unpleasant sensations and feelings, because endowed with receptivity." We eat, as it were, our sense perceptions, and these then are assimilated by the organism as a kind of food. The eyes swallow objects that are beautiful, the cars become drunk with music and the nose with delicate perfumes. But the contrary principle, that of activity or spontaneity (kartar), also is constantly in effect. Just as the bhoktar functions through the receptive senses, so the kartar through the forces of action (karmendriyāņi), which provide for:
1. speaking, which is effected through the organs of speech, 2. grasping, which is effected through the hands, 3. locomotion, which is effected through the feet, 4. evacuation, which is effected through the rectum, 5. generation, which is effected through the genitals.
28 lb. 3. 3-4.
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