Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

* ‘ Ether and the rest,’ in their gross forms enter into the composition of a born Being. Besides these five, there are the other three, viz.. Intellect, Consciousness, and the Unmanifest, meaning the Self. These eight are ‘ avikriti,’ i. e., they stand by themselves, without being the modifications or products of anything else. The other sixteen principles that enter into the composition of the aggregate called ‘ Purusha ’ are the ten organs of knowledge and action, mind, and the five objects of the senses or organs of knowledge. All these sixteen are ‘ vikriti,’ i. e., modifications or products of other principles. It should be noted that the five objects of the senses or organs of knowledge, which are, of course, sound and the rest, are not the objective forms of those that go by these names, but their subjective forms. All knowledge is ultimately reducible to the ideas of sound and the rest, plus those which have their origin in mind and the Intellect.— T.

CHARAKA SAMHITA.

pairs of opposites, and who are develoted to selfishness. These are not theirs who, however, are otherwise.*75

* The gradual development of Purusha is explained in these verses, as also what truly constitutes birth and dissolution. At first there was the great Un¬ manifest. Then springs Intellect (called Mahattattwa or Buddhi). From Intellect springs up the idea or conviction of individuality or Personal Identity. After this, Ether and Lhe rest follow, meaning the five Great Elements or principles, their five adjuncts of sound and the rest, the five senses or organs of knowledge with ‘ mar.as ’ as the sixth, and the five organs of action. When all these have appeared, the result is Purusha full-limbed and fully developed. Even this what is known as birth. When death comes, all that takes place is a dissociation of the united principles. These are called ‘ Ishta,’ implying ‘ desired,’ because the union resulting in (or constituting) birth, is entirely due to the action of Desire. (As regards the creation of the universe, the Hindu scriptures, following the lead of both the Sankhya and the Vedanta system of poilosophy, declare that the Supreme Brahma, originally all alone, desired to make himself many. Simi¬ larly, every Chit-Soul, under the influence of Desire which itself is the offspring of Avidya or Ignorance, or matter or material energy, gathers to itself a material case ).

The three principles of ‘ Sattwa,’ 1 Rajas,’ and 1 Tamas ’ have been explained previously. Birth and death are due to the action of ‘ Rajas ’ and ‘ Tamas.’ Emancipation from rebirth is due to Sattwa. 5 Dwandwa 1 means pairs or couples (of opposites), such as heat and cold, weal and woe, desire and aversion, light and darkness, gain and loss, &c. To be subject to these pairs of opposites is the nature of man. When he rises superior to these, he reverts to his own original nature of Self, or becomes Emancipate. In the 1 Bhagavadgita,’ Krishna exhorts Arjuna to rise above ‘ Dwandwas,’ as follows : —

‘ Traigunyavishaya vedah nistraigunyabhavarjuna,

Nirdwandwo nityasattwasiho niryogakhema atmavan.’

The meaning is, — ‘ The topics of the Vedas involve the three attributes {vis.. Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas). Be thou, O Arjuna, above those three attributes ; do thou shake off the pairs of opposites ; do thou ever dwell in Sattwa ; be thou above the desire of acquiring the unacquired and protecting the acquired 1 ’

By ‘ udaya ’ is meant ‘ appearance,’ hence, birth. By ‘ pralaya ’ is meant ‘disappearance’ or ‘dissolution.’ The Hiudu idea of birth is the appearance of Self in a particular condition, vis., investment in a material case with certain mental capacities. Even this is what is called the manifestation of the Un¬ manifest. The idea of death is a disjunction of principles joined together, that is, a disappearance or dissolution. No principle is actually destroyed or annihilated. The Unmanifest, which had become Manifest, reverts to its condition of being Unmanifest. So in the ‘ Bhagavadgita,’