tman_and_moksa

SR No.: 020053
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G N Joshi
Publisher: Gujarat University
Publication Year: 1965
Total Pages: 901
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 361

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Samkhya
passive (akarta) as it happens to be associated with them, it is wrongly supposed to be an agent." "1 Thus, the Puruşa is even inert or inactive and it only passively witnesses the activities of the nature.
The existence of Purusa is not an object of direct perception but the existence of the soul is known by inference. Certain proofs are presented for proving the existence of the Purușa. The 17th Kārikā of the Samkhya system runs as follows and contains the proofs of the soul."(a) Because all composite objects are for another's use, (b) because there must be absence of the three attributes and other properties, (c) because there must be control, (d) because there must be some one to experience, and (e) because there is a tendency towards 'Isolation' or final beatitude, therefore, the spirit must be there."2
It is worthwhile to examine the proofs offered to establish the existence of the soul. Firstly, from our common experience we find that composite things like the bedstead, the chair, exist not for themselves, but for some one else who makes a proper use of them; similarly, Gauḍapada says that this world being an assemblage of the five elements must be meant for some one who uses it; thus, the nature and world which are composite in nature must have been meant for something that is simple and noncomposite in its nature, in order to avoid the fallacy of regressus ad infinitum.
1 Ibid. See com. by Gaudapada-Kārikā 20-99. Tr. H. T.. Colebrooke.
* Mis'ra Vacaspati : The Tattva Kaumudi with com. pp. 58,59. Tra Ganganath Jha.
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