History of Indian Philosophy

SR No.: 007593
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Surendranath Dasgupta
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Year: 1922
Total Pages: 2517
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 125 MB

Page 2425

XXXVII] Saiva Philosophy in the Vāyavīya-samhitā 113 and pervades all things. For this reason everything is under the domination of time. But Siva is not fettered by time; He is the master of all time. The unrestricted power of God is manifested through time, and for this reason no one can transcend the limits of time. No amount of wisdom can take us beyond time, and whatever deeds are done in time cannot be outstripped. It is time which decides the fates and destinies of persons in accordance with their deeds, yet no one can say what is the nature of the essence of time.
We have so far seen that the prakyti as superintended by puruşa evolves as the world before us by the inexorable will and order of God. The order of the evolution of the prakyti or the avyakta into different categories is more like what we have in the classical Sāmkhya. The creation is a process of emanation or emergence from the state of avyakta in the well-known classical line of Sāņkhya, and the dissolution takes place by a process of retrogression, in which the same process is reversed until the whole world of appearance returns to avyakta or prakyti.
Turning again to the nature and function of Siva, the supreme Lord, it is said that there is nothing but the tendency for helping others that may be regarded as the essential nature of Siva. He has nothing to do but help all beings to attain their best through their actions. He is otherwise without any specific character, except to be of service to the world consisting of the pašu and the pāśa. This extension of the grace of the Lord is often described as His ordering will. It is for the fulfilment of the function of the Lord's will that one has to admit the existence of something for the good of which the will of the Lord goes forward. For this reason God may not be said to be dependent on others for the exercise of His will. It is in and through the function of His will that things come into being and move forward in an orderly process in accordance with karma. The independence of God means that He is not dependent on anything else; dependence means the condition in which one thing depends on another
The whole world is supposed to be dependent on ajñāna or nescience, there is nothing of reality in the visible appearance of the world. All the characters of Siva as described in the scriptures atah svātantrya-sabdārthān anapekşatva-laksanah.
Ibid. VII. I. 31. 7.