Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna
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The translator’s English as printed (Avinash Chandra Kaviratna). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
They who deny the existence of Self have this difficulty to meet : viz., the fruits of acts done by human beings of a particular kind are enjoyed (or endured) by other human beings that only resemble the actors. As a matter of fact, however, differences are seen in respect of the causes (or instruments) of acts (but not in respect of the actor). Hence, he that is the actor is also the en¬ joyer (or endurer of the fruits of the acts done) ; for equipped with instruments it is the actor that is the cause (or doer) of all acts.f54-56
* These and the following verses are exceedingly abstruse, and their sense is difficult to catch. The fact is, the aphorisms, whether in prose or verse, are very geherally in the form of brief notes for the use of the preceptor in the lecture hall. They were, as I have remarked before, intended to be amplified by the aid of verbal explanations before the pupils could be expected to appre¬ hend their meaning.
The Rishi notices the opinions of the Lokayatikas (probably the predecessors of the Bauddhas, if not a sect of theirs). According to those philosophers, the universe consists of Beings sprung from other Beings, in gradual succession ; that Beings so born are of the same form and shape as their progenitors, and therefore are only the types of those progenitors ; that, in reality, they are different from them, that is, are not indentifiable with them ; that a Being that is born is only an aggregate of the three and twenty incidents, that is, reft of the twentyfourth which is lea or the one soul that propels, moves, controls, guides every¬ thing else and that is eternal and durable, connecting the new with the old Being. This theory is refuted by the Rishi in the following verses. — T.
t These two verses are as abstruse as the two preceding ones. The fact is, the arguments and the conclusions based upon them have been set forth very briefly. As stated, they are intelligible to only those who are familiar with such discussions in full. The statement in the previous verse is that the aggregate called Purusha is really an aggregate of the three and: twenty inci¬ dents, without the lea (or Self) which is eternal and durable and which con¬ nects the new Being with the old one whose mental and physical surroundings
p. 84
CHARAKA SAMHITA.
The time in which things disappear is briefer than even the twinkling of the eye. Those, again, that disappear (or are destroyed) do not come back. Hence, the act done attaches itself (as regards its fruits) not to another (but the doer alone).*56
And since this is the opinion of those who are conversant with have all disappeared. Now, they who maintain this theory believe still in re¬ wards and punishments enjoyed and endured in heaven and hell, or, at least, in next transformations of Being. The Rishi points out that the inevitable conse¬ quence of this theory is that the fruits of acts done by one man would be enjoyable or endurable by another. For if there be no connecting Self (that is, the • twentyfourth principle) between the Being that is reborn and the one that existed before, why should the reborn Being enjoy or endure the fruits of acts done by the Being that has disappeared ? The enjoyment or endurance is not denied. Practically, therefore, it is one Being that acts and another that enjoys or endures the fruits of those acts. For making this plainer, the Rishi proceeds to state that ‘ anyanyata ’ or difference is observable as regards the instrument of action. Thus one sees with the eye, hears with the ear, smells with the nose, etc. But no difference is observable as regards the actor. The actor, equipped with different instruments, is the cause or doer of all acts. Hence it is clear (according to the Rishi) that it is the actjr that enjoys or endures the fruits of his own acts in heaven or hell, or in a different state of existence after the disappearance of the mental and physical surroundings of that state of existence in which the acts are done. T.
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