Samayasara OR Nature of Self

Author(s): A Chakravarti
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 95

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SAMAYASARA protoplasmic matter. No doubt modern science has not been able to bridge up the gulf between the inorganic and the organic. Nevertheless the life activity in protoplasmic matter which is the ultimate source foi the wealth and richness of animal life may be this very intra atomic energy, probably controlled and guided by a higher category not yet fully known to modern science, and most probably indicating to the same source of Ether. Towards the side of psychology many an abnormal phenomenon such as telepathy and clairvoyance are supposed to be due to some kind of Ether which is capable of transmitting thought waves Thus from cvery direction speculation leads to the same kind of origin When different departments of modern science agree to postulating a common entity-Ether, for the purpose of explaining their respective phenomena we may very well imagine that Kapıla contemplated some such ultimate basis which would account for the evolution of the cosmos as well as thc oiganic world. Kapıla's system not only describes the building up of things living and unliving fiom a primeval P1akriti but also contemplates the possibility of their loosing their concrete form and thus disappearing into the original Prakriti Thus as a tortoise thiows it limbs backwards so also will the universe retract all its cmanations and evolving things back to its own bosom. This in short is the account of the evolution of the world according to Kapıla.
This primeval Prakriti or Pradhana is considered to be the substratum of the three gunas, Satva, Rajasa and Tamasa. The Sankhya system emphasises the importance of the three gunas of Prakriti. Satva means good, or Truth; Rajasa means activity or passion. Tamasa means darkness or inertia. This conception of gunas is really an obscure doctrine in the Sankhya system. These three gunas are supposed to inhere in the primeval matter Prakriti. These do not belong to Purusha. The uncreated and indestructible Pradhana which has the potency of life and consciousness has also this privilege of owning these three Gunas which somehow are interested in the evolution of the Cosmos. The interplay of the three gunas in the Prakriti forms the starting point in the evolutionary process. When the three gunas are harmo