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26
The Bhagavata-purāṇa
[CH.
follows the previous one it is definitely stated that the world only appears in consciousness, but that in reality it does not exist1. It is clear that these passages of the Bhāgavata distinctly contradict the interpretation of its philosophy given by Jiva in the previous section, as they deny the reality of individual souls and the reality of worldappearance.2 But this is just what we may expect if we remember that the Bhagavata is a collection of accretions from different hands at different times and not a systematic whole. If the Samkhya theory described in II. 5, III. 5, III. 7 and III. 26 be interpreted consistently, then the result is that there are two fundamental categories, God and His own māyā, the prakṛti; that God, in His desire to realize Himself, reflects Himself in the prakṛti, which is but His own power, and it is through this impregnation of Himself in His own power that He appears as individual souls suffering the bondage of prakṛti; it is again through this impregnation of Himself that prakṛti is enlivened by consciousness; and then, through His creative effort, which is designated as time, the equilibrium of the gunas of prakṛti is disturbed, the transformatory movement is set up in the prakṛti, and the categories are evolved.
In a passage in the fifth chapter (v. 12. 6-9) the existence of wholes is definitely described as illusory. There are no entities but the partless atoms, and even these atoms are imaginary constructions without which it would not be possible to conceive of wholes. All our conceptions of the external world start with atoms, and all that we see or feel gradually grows through a series of accretions. This growth in accretion is not a real growth, but is only an application of the time-sense. Time is therefore co-pervasive with the universe. The conception of an atom is but the conception of the smallest moment, and the entire conception of wholes of atoms as developing into dyad molecules, grosser specks and so on is nothing but advancing temporal construction and the growing combination of time-moments. The ultimate reality underlying all these changes is one all-pervasive unchanging whole, which through the activity of time appears as moments and their accretions (corresponding to atoms and their combinations)3. Time is
1 Bhagavata-purana, III. 7. 9-12.
2 arthābhāvam viniścitya pratitasyāpi nātmanaḥ. Ibid. 111. 7. 18. anātmanaḥ prapañcasya pratitasyāpi arthābhavam artho'tra nāsti kintu pratiti-mātram. (Sridhara's comment on Bhagavata, III. 7. 18).
3 Ibid. III. 11. 1-5.
