Sambodhi 1975 Vol 04

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 31

29
Vedic Origin of the Säikhya Dialectic as well as Taittiriya-U panişado) may as well be taken to correspond to the sat-asat pair of the hymn of creation. In that case, sat and a-sat would mean immortal (satya) and mortal (an-şta) respectively. Thus, the terms 2-sat' and 'tamas' occurring in the creation hymn become synonymous.
The roga-Sūtra appears to refer to the guna-trilogy under a different nomenclature: 'prakasa-kriya-sthiti.'100 literally, light, activity and inertia, standing respectively for sattva, rajas, and tamas. This, too, serves to buttress the above thesis.
From the foregoing considerations, the conclusion is irresistible that a-sat, rajas, and sat of the creation hymn of the Rg - Veda are the precursors and prototypes of the three guna-s - tamas, rajas, and sattva - of the Sankhya system,
From an interesting passage in the Taittiriya-Bralımana, it appears that the terms 'a-sat”, “rajas', and 'sat of the hymn of creation are also identifiable with the Vedic triad of the three worlds - earth, firmament, and the solar world. We have seen that the opening verse of the creation hymn says that (originally) there was neither sat, nor rajas, nor asar. The unmistakable import of this statement is that there was nothing whatever. The 'Taittiriya Brahamana also has it that first there was nothing whatever (naiva kiñcana) and, father in explanation of the 'nothing whatever', hastens to add that there was no solar world (dyo), no earth (přthiui), no firmament (antariksa) 101 - none of the three worlds. So, there appears to be an agreement between the following triads: A-sat Rajas
Sat Earth Firmament
Solar world Incidentally, the Vedic-Brāhmaṇic nothing' is not pure void. It is something inscrutable, the 'one' of the creation-hymn already referred to. That is why the Brahmana text adds that the 'nothing' decided to 'be'. 102 and gave birth to the mind (manas), which begot Prajapati (the lord of of creation) who created the world.105
The trilogies related to the trilogy of guņa-s and discused above are culled below for a synoptic view of the matter : Tamas Rajas Sattva Slumber Dream Wakefulness Earth Firmament Sun | Dark/Black Red White Darkness Energy Light | Solid Below Middle Above A-sat Rajas . Sat Fire Air/Indra Sun
| Nothing Becoming Being Rudra/śiva Brahman Vişnu 1 A-sat Neither sat Sat (masculine)
nor a-sat Chaos Creation Cosmos | A-sat Both sat Sat Night: Dawn Day
and a-sat Inertia Activity Light
Heat