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492
VEDÂNTA-SOTRAS.
9. And (it is) objectionable on account of the contradictions.
The Sååkhya-system, moreover, labours from many internal contradictions. The Sankhyas hold that while Prakriti is for the sake of another and the object of knowledge and fruition, the soul is independent, an enjoying and knowing agent, and conscious of Prakriti; that the soul reaches isolation through the instrumentality of Prakriti only, and that as its nature is pure, permanent, unchanging consciousness, absence of all activity and isolation belong to that nature; that for this reason the accomplishing of the means of bondage and release and of release belong to Prakriti only; and that, owing to Prakriti's proximity to the unchanging non-active soul, Prakriti, by a process of mutual superimposition (adhyåsa), works towards the creation of a world and subserves the purposes of the soul's fruition and emancipation.— Since the aggregate of things is for the sake of another; since there is an opposite of the three gunas and the rest ; since there is superintendence ; since there is an experiencing subject, and since there is activity for the sake of isolation ; the soul exists' (Sankhya Kå. 17); And from that contrast the soul is proved to be a witness, isolated, neutral, cognising, and inactive' (18).And after having stated that the activity of the Pradhana is for the purpose of the release of the Self, the text says,
therefore no (soul) is either bound or released, nor does it migrate : it is Prakriti, which, abiding in various beings, is bound and released and migrates' (62). And 'From this connexion therewith (i.e. with the soul) the non-intelligent appears as intelligent; and although all agency belongs to the guras, the indifferent (soul) becomes an agent. In order that the soul may know the Pradhana and become isolated, the connexion of the two takes place like that of the lame and the blind; and thence creation springs' (20, 21).--Now to that which is eternally unchanging, nonactive and isolated, the attributes of being a witness and an enjoying and cognising agent can in no way belong. Nor also can such a being be subject to error resting on
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