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THE SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY
17
disturbance in this state of equilibrium ? Without external.causes, Prakriti cannot be disturbed. Purusha the soul might have disturbed it. But in Kapila's opinion soul is actionless, changeless, without any qualities or attributes.
Secondly, the Great Mind and self-consciousness are considered by Kapila to be different from each other. According to him one is the product of the other. And both of them are the outcome of Prakriti which is really material. Now the Great Mind or gia or intellect is nothing but a phase of consciousness. Self-consciousness—'I am happy', 'I am unhappy'is only a particular instance illustrating that phase and both of them imply knowledge and are but the characters of the soul but can never be the products of primordial material essence.
With regard to subtle elements Kapila says that gross elements are produced from these subtle elements; e.g., from odour comes out earth, from taste water, from colour fire, from touch wind and from sound ether. If he means that the gross elements which we see outside the human or any other gross organic body are the products of these subtle elements, there is no reason to support it. The external elements we see are as eternal as anything else.
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