Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

In some treatises, it is said that all diseases are caused by (vitiation or excitement of) the wind. In others that some diseases are caused by the wind and some are due to the action of evil spirits.87

* ‘ PrakS^aka ’ is one that discovers a thing or causes it to appear to the beholder. Hence, illuminator. The sun is an illuminator. An aphorism of Sankya is an illuminator, for it discloses a truth or truths of grave import. — T.

f ‘ Siddhanta’ is the point or truth that is finally established with the aid of hetus. It is the final determination or decision to which the distputants arrive. — T.

J Each of these terms is explained in the aphorisms that follow. — -T.

§ ‘ Siddhanta ’ being a determination, ' Sarvatantra-siddhanta ’ is that determination which occurs in all the treatises bearing upon the subject to which the siddhanta helongs. Hence, what is meant is an universally accepted propo¬ sition or truth. — T.

57°

CM A RA KA -SA M HI TA.

Adhikaraua-siddhanta, verily, means those topics which become d -termined (by implication) while a particular topic is being determined.

For instance ; He that is emancipated never does acts bound up (with fruits), because of his absence of desire.

This being established, the fruits of actions. Emancipation, the individual that acts, and re-birth, become determined.*3®

As to Abhyupagama-siddhanta :

Abpyupagama-siddhanta, verily, is that statement which, though unproved, unexamined, and untaught (in any authoritativetreatise), is still accepted by a physician at the time of disputation.

For instance ; substance is not foremost : attributes are fore¬ most. We shall assume this.

These are the four kinds of Siddhanta.f33

As to £avda (words). £avda, verily, is a combination of letters.

It is of four kinds: i. that whose meaning is addressed to the senses ; 2. that whose meaning is not addressed to the senses ; 3. that which corresponds with what is true ; and 4. that which does not correspond with what is true.

* One becomes emancipate when one is freed from the obligation of re¬ birth ; re-birth is the condition to which every soul or chit is subject. The mode of such birth is determined by acts, so that good acts lead to birth as a superior creature certain to enjoy felicity, and bad acts to birth as an inferior creature certain to endure misery. In every birth or state of existence, the fruits, good or bad, of the acts of previous lives are enjoyed or endured. New acts are done, and the creature dies with a remmant of acts the fruits of which he is to enjoy or endure in his next life. Emancipation is effected by yoga as the means. It is absorption into the Supreme Soul, or Godhead, or Brahma when such absorption takes place, separate or individual existence ceases.. Every soul or chit is a part of the Subreme Soul. — T.

f The last kind of Siddhanta is evidently an- hypothesis, assumed or granted tentatively, for purposes of disputation.

The hypothesis refered to is about the greater importance of attributes compared to the substance or essence to which they belong or inhere.— A

CHA RA KA -SA M HI TA.

57«

Among these, the following are instances of words whose meanings are addressed to the s nses :

Through these causes the faults become excited ;

Through six operations the excited faults become mitigated ;

If the sense of hearing and the rest exist, sound and the rest are capable of being apprehended.

Next, as to those words whose meanings are not addressed to the senses :

There is an after state of existence ; There is Emancipation {from re-birth).

As to words which correspond with what is true : True words are those which correspond with what is real :

Instructions are laid down in medical treatises; there are remedies for the cure of diseases that are curable ; efforts produce results.

Words that are the reverse of these are called untrue or false.

As too Pratyaksha ( or direct knowledge ) : That, verily, is Pratyaksha which a person apprehends by himself through his mind and the five senses.

Among these, the Pratyakshas apprehended by the mind are pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, and the like. Sound and the rest are the Pratyakshas apprehended by the senses:*41

* The word 'atrnan' here is used in the sense of 'mind'’ and not ‘soul.' In Hindu philosophy, the soul is that to which or whom the mind and the senses and the whole material case belongs. The soul, at rebritb, becomes invested with these. The soul feels neither pleasure nor pain. Actions touch it not. This is one theory. The other is that the soul is touched by actions and does feel pleasure and pain. When the soul becomes freed from the obligation of rebirth, it becomes Emancipated. It then returns to, or becomes absorbed in, the Supreme Soul, of which, of course, it is a part. How to bring about this union between the soul, incarnated or in veste d with a material case, and the Supreme Soul or Brahma, is the great problem of life, according to Hindu philosophy.