Systems of Indian Philosophy

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 62

THE SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY
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in question—that of the world regarded as a reality, there is no such temporary or occasional depravation of the sense because all, at all times cognize the world as a reality. Therefore the world is not an unrealitys.
Again he says : arugeyici Tjal—The production of that which does not already exist potentially is impossible like the horn of a man' 342Tafaqat Because there must of necessity be a material out of which a product is developed.10 85 gact oaletart Because everything is not possible everywhere and always (which might be the case if materials could be dispensed with).11 The meaning is this : 795 H at gaat ala 15 galaniastag fara-In the world we see that everything is not possible everywhere and at all times. And VTFT TRIPRUITTI--Because anything possible must be produced from something competent to produce it.12
In short, the Hindu philosopher's belief in the eternity of the world's substance arises from the fixed article 'Ex nihilo nihil fit,' nothing is produced out of nothing. All the ancient philosophers of Greece—who are believed to have borrowed their theories from India—seem to have agreed upon this point. Lucretius starts with laying down the same principle. He says: “If things proceed from nothing, everything might spring from everything and nothing would require a seed. Men might arise first from sea, and fish and birds from earth, and flocks and herds break into being from sky; every kind of beast might be produced at random in cultivated places or deserts. The same
8. Ibid 9. SS 1.114; SK 9 10. SS 1.115 11. SS 1.116 12. SS 1.117