Sramana Tradation

Author(s): G C Pandey
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 30

Sramanism As a Weltanschauung
tatpadam åpnoti samsärañcădhigacchati | He does not obtain that state. He obtains samsāra.' The hierarchy of being which is mentioned in this context - indriyebhyah para hy artha arthebhyaś ca param manah. The objects are beyond the senses, the mind beyond the objects etc.--- has been connected by scholars with the Sankhya. It may be remember: ed, however, that in the Sankhya, the senses are beyond the gross objects. So in the Gītā we find indriyani parāny áhuh. This, however, is generally based on the assumption that the Sankhya has an Upanisadic origin, an assumption similar to the assumption that the later Sramaņic sects owe their origin to the Upanisads. In fact, the hetero. dox nature of the Sānkhya is clearly recognized by the Vedāntasūtras in the well-known aphorism īkşaternāśabdam.' The Pradhana or insenti. ent nature cannot be the cause of the world because the cause is described in the scriptures as sentient'. Here the Sankhya Pradhana is described as 'heterodox' or aśabdam. The Vedic view of the universe is Puruşavāda, tracing the universe to a sentient, divine being (Satkāraņavāda), while the Sānkhya is Pradhānavāda, a doctrine of material or natural transformations. The Vedic tradition emphasized a positive and optimistic view of the life viśvam idam variştham (Mundaka). This is the best of all the worlds, kāmasyāptim jagataḥ pratisthām, 'The sati. sfaction of desires and recognition of the world,' (Katha ), anandam brahmaṇo vidvānna bibheti kutaścana, 'Knowing the bliss of Brahman, is not afraid of anything? The Sankhya, on the other hand, counted even the supreme happiness of contentment as part of Duhkha' and set about to seek final and absolute liberation from Duḥkha. In view of these considerations it would be reasonable to suppose that the origins of Särkhya are Śramaņic rather than Brahmaņic. The present context should then be interpreted not as an anticipation of Sankhya but as an influence of Sarikhva ideas. This hypothesis would hold about the other places such as in the Svetāśvatara where Sānkhyan echoes can be discovered. The Svetaśvatara does not give atheistic, Ur-Sankhya but a theistic adaptation of Sänkhya which is achieved by converting Prakrti into a power controlled by the Lord. It should be noticed that both in the Svetaśvatara and the Katha the central Upanisadic doctrine
1. Jaigişavya quoted in V yāsa-bhāş ya, Ś-3