Tattva Sangraha Vol 1

Author(s): Kamlashila, Ganganatha Jha
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 32

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DOCTRINE OF PRIMORDIAL MATTER.
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Productive". It has been said that- When Rudrila asserted that what is Curd is Milk and what is Milk is Curd, he gave evidence of his being Vindhyavasin, an inhabitant of the wilds of the Vindhya Hills'.*
[Under Sänkhyakärikā, 10] it has been declared that the Manifest has the character of being caused and the rest, and the Unmanifest is the reverse of all this;-this also is mere childish prattle. As a matter of fact, when one thing is not different in nature from another thing, it cannot be contrary to this latter; because contrariness' consists in difference of nature; otherwise, there would be an end to all notions of difference'; and as a consequence, there would be no grounds for accepting any difference among the Attributes of Harmony, Energy and Inertia (which are insentient) on the one hand and the sentient Spirits on the other; and the whole universe would be uniform; this would involve the contingency of the whole being produced and also destroyed at one and the same time. That all these contingencies would follow would be due to the fact that the notion of all kinds of Nondifference' must share the same fate (of being accepted or rejected). From this it follows that the Unmanifest' also, like the Manifest', should possess the qualities of being with cause' and the rest (which have been attributed to the Manifest only), for the simple reason that the forta (essence) of the Unmanifest is not different from that of the Manifest':-or (conversely) the Manifest should, like the Unmanifest', possess the qualities of being 'without cause' and the rest, on the ground of its form being not different from the Unmanifest; both these universal affirmative propositions would have to be accepted; otherwise undesirable contingencies would arise. Then again, in ordinary worldly experience, the relation of Cause and Effect is always apprehended on the basis of well-ascertained positive and negative concomitance; while as regards the subject under discussion, Cosmic Intelligence and other things are not ordinarily known to be produced from such causes as Primordial Matter and the rest. Nor again is any eternal thing found to have the nature of a Cause, on the basis of which the fact of the diverse Products being produced out of Primordial Matter (which is eternal) could be admitted. And the reason for this lies in the fact that, if an eternal thing is capable of any effective action, any idea of its operations being gradual or non-gradual (simultaneous), would involve self-contradictions.
The following argument might be urged-The relation of Cause and Effect that we postulate is not based upon the idea that the Cause produces something that did not exist before at all; and it is only such causal relation that would be incompatible with the non-difference in essence (form):what we do assert is that Primordial Matter undergoes modification into the form of Cosmic Intelligence and other Products,-just as the Coiled Serpent uncoils itself and becomes modified into the Elongated Serpent,-and it is in this sense that it is called the Cause of Cosmic Intelligence and other
There appears to be a pun here upon the name Vindhyavisin': Vindhya is the name given to the Vindhya Hills, so the direct meaning of the term Vindhyavasita' would be the character of being a denizen of the wilds of the Vindhya Range: the indirect inuendo is to the Sankhya author who gave expression to the opinion referred to here: his name was lindhyarasin. See Foreword, page LXI.