Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

t Unless led by the mind, the senses cannot act : when one is engaged in deep thought, one never sees the objects that pass before one’s eyes. It cannot be contended that at such times the physical conditions that lead to vision are annihilated. The presence of light, and of the contact of the reflected rays with the retina, cannot be doubted, yet there is no vision. The mind being absent, the eye does not see.— T.

t The senses, their constituent elements, and their respective objects have been stated in their proper order in the note inp. 84. The senses convey to the mind two kinds of impressions, viz. , transitory and durable or certain. The distinction is wellfounded. One may look at a landscape at a distance. It cannot be said that one does not see it. Indeed, one beholds all the objects of which that landscape is composed. But one cannot distinguish the particular objects composing it. To do this would require a nearer view and a more prolonged one, — T.

CHARAKA-ASMHITA.

p. 87

known by the name of Adhyatma. These are also the cause of our inclinations and disinclinations in respect of all good and bad acts. Then again all such effects as are produced by having recourse to particular objects, and which are (in medical science) especially known by the name of KriyU (operation), depend upon those very things as their cause.*7

Although the senses, as led by the reason, have for their essence the modifications of all the five great primal elements, yet the element of light especially enters into the composition of the sense of vision, of space into that of the sense of hearing, of earth

* These are very important aphorisms, explaining the connection of the physical with the mental world. At first the term Adhyatma is explained. By Adhyatma is meant everything depending on dtman or the Soul. The universe is believed to be only certain substances and attributes, which in their turn are displayed (or created) by the Mind including the Senses, the Understanding, and the Soul. (Certain systems of philosophy, however, regard the Soul to be only an inactive witness. ) The universe, then, of both things and acts, as it exists, exists only in Consciousness, i.e., the Mind including the senses, and the Understanding. The Mind only receives impressions, the Understanding causes the certitude of knowledge by the processes of ratiocination. (For fuller particulars, vide Mahabharata, Book XII, Sections 194 and 247.) The Mind and its functions (taking the word Mind as including the Senses), and the Understanding (leaving out the Soul, regarding it to be only an inactive witness), cons¬ titute the foundation on which all our inclinations and disinclinations in respect of both good and bad. acts depend for their manifestation or occurrence. Thus far for the universe of both things and acts regarded in the light of mere mental manifestations. He who can realise the universe to be such is said to possess True Knowledge and is sure to attain to Emancipation or identity with Supreme Brahma , which is not annihilation but pure Knowledge without the duality of knower and known. To realise the universe, however, as such, is difficult. It requires the training of Yoga. The universe is, again, as ordinary men take it, a physical or substantive reality. In this view, particular objects produce particular effects on the body, resulting in health or the reverse. These effects (such as vomitting, purging, &c.), for the good or otherwise of the body, depend upon the very same Mind and its functions, and the Understanding. The material world therefore, with its manifestations, is the world as existing in Consciousness viewed in a particular light (or, rather, through the darkness of ignorance) by ordinary men. It is with this world that medical science is concerned. The effects of particular sub¬ stances, called in especial Kriya or operation, depend upon or appertain to the same world which exists in Consciousness but which, viewed through the darkness of ignorance, is the material world.— T.

CHA RAKA -SAM HIT A.

into that of the scent, of water into that of taste, and of wind into that of touch.*8

That particular sense into whose composition a particular element enters, follows or apprehends that particular object which has that particular element for its essence, the reason being that both partake of the same nature, and one is invested with puisance over the other.f9

In consequence again of the exeessive correlation, the absence of (judicious) correlation, and the impropriety of correlation, of the senses with their respective objects, the senses including the mind, falling away from their normal condition, become hurtful to the perceptions of which they are the respective sources or channels. In consequence again of a judicious correlation of the senses with their objects, they preserve their normal condition, and maintain in their normal condition the perceptions or knowledge respect¬ ively derived through them. if 10

* The approved doctrine of Hindu philosophy is that “ this all, consisting of mobile and immobile creatures, is made of the five primal elements. Creation and Destruction is due to (the combination and the dissolution of) these five. The Creator of these ele¬ ments has placed them in different proportions in all created things.” (Mahabharata, Book XII, Section 247). Although the senses are the result of the modifications of the five great elements, and all although the elements exist in each sense, still some one of the elements is seen to predominate in the composition of some one of the senses. Thus light enters into the composition of vision, space of hearing, &c. Vision, hearing, &c., as also their objects, viz. , form, sound, &c., are again spoken of as the attributes of light, space, &c. (Mahabharata, Book XII, Section 252). — 71