________________
Trends Seeking for a Subtle Cause
In the first Mandala (=Book) of Rgvedat there are mentioned thinkers who describe the same element sat in the various forms fire, water etc. That too is a form of way-to-synthesis. Just as the two extremes sat and asat got synthesized in the form of maoifest and unmanifest respectively so also the different earlier thought-currents giving prominences to air, water, fire, ether etc. got synthesized under the single title 'sat' that was almost indisputably recognized as the originating cause,
The philosophical speculation pursued uptill now decided this much that the originating cause of the world is sat - that is, that it cannot be merely of the form of nāsti or absence. This level of thought remained preserved even in such traditions as posited a multiplicity of originating elements. Thus Nyāya-Vaišaşikas treat sattā ( =existence ) as something eternal.5 Akşapāda too rejects the view that posits absence in an absolute fashion. The Jaina tradition too describes the fundamental element under the title astikāya (-existing-body).?
However, the thinkers did not rest satisfied with the mere view that the originating cause is something of the form of sat. The idea naturally occurred to them that the originating cause might well be sat and it might well be something unmanifest but that it must be possessed of a nature that has to be understood and elucidated through thought or intellect. This idea impelled a sige like Kapila to move in one direction, some other sage in some other direction. It appears that from this stage onward there began to flow two currents as regards characterizing the originating cause. Thus those who searched for an originating cause from among the physical elements chiefly relying on intellect or mental self-experience constituted one current while those who considered the nature of an originating cause chiefly relying on sense-experience constituted the other current. The Sankhya Viewpoint Regarding the Nature and the Cause of the World
The sages did recognize that with the help of sense-organs there takes
4 5
themselves came into existence after this creation had taken place. Who can therefore say as to where from all this originated ? That out of which this origination took place--did it undertake this creation or did it too not do so ? Only its Lord who resides in supreme heavens knows that-or may be He too does not."
Ekam sad viprä bahudhā vadanti. Rgveda 1.164.46
Sámányādinām trayānām svātmasattvam, buddhilaksanatyam. akāranatvam, asāmãnya visesavattvam, nityatyam, arthasabdäbhidheyatvam. -Prasastapādabhagya, Sadharmya-vaidharmya-prakarana.
Laksanabhedad eșăm dravyagunakarmabhyaḥ padārthāntaratvam siddham. Ata eva ca nityatvam.-Ibid., Sämänya-prakarana Nyāyasūtra 4.1.14-18
Ajivakäyā dharmadharmākāšapudgalāḥ Dravyāni jivās ca. Nityavasthitány arūpāpi. Rūpinah pudgalāḥ - Tattvärthasūtra 5.1-4
Sattā savvapayatthä savissarūvā anamtapajjāyä / Bhanguppādadbuvattā sapadivakkha havadi ekkā /18/1-Pañcāstikāya
6 7
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
