Samayasara OR Nature of Self

SR No.: 011119
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A Chakravarti
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1950
Total Pages: 406
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 38 MB

Page 92

INTRODUCTION
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sha or self. It is only through the medium of this Buddhu that Purusha has knowledge of the external world. Sankhya writers compare Buddhi to a sort of mirror which reflects the knowledge of the external world for the benefit of Purusha. On the one hand, it reflects the outer world and on the other it reflects also the Purusha Buddhi is that peculiar medium in which the Purusha and his material environments are brought into relation which is the ultimate source of Samsara. It is because of this relation of Buddhi between the self and the non-self that there is a chance for the Purusha to mistake his true nature and to identify himself with Prakriti and thus to imagine that he is responsible for all the changes in the material environments The next step is the birth of "ahankara” from Buddhi. It is the I or the Ego which is the ground of our peisonal identity Here also we have to notice that ahankara, the Sankhya ego is not quite identical with the conception of the Ego or self of modern psychology. The ego of modern psychology corresponds to Purusha whereas the Sankhyan ahankara merely means some further modification of the subtle Buddhi which itself is a modification of achetana Prakriti The Sankhyan Ego probably refers to a process of individuation a process culminating in organic body. The self or Purusha becomes an organic individual through the means of ahankara. Next we have the origin of the five senses known as the Tanmatras. This term is a technical term of the Sankhya school meaning the sense qualities. These subtle sense qualities emanate from that principle of individuality known as ahankara. The Tanmatras are five in number, sound, touch, smell, taste and visibility. Even these tanmatras we have to remember are material categories. These sense elements or Tanmatras form the primary basis for the evolution of the grosser matter. This grosser matter which is derived from these Tanmatras is again of five kinds, the Panchabhutas. (Ether) Akasa, air, earth, water and fire. Ether arises from sound, air from touch, earth from smell, water from taste and fire from visibility or light. Thus the five bhutas are respectively derived from the five Tanmatras, the basic categories of the physical universe. This line of development from ahankara to the