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Cosmology samkhya

Although samkhya philosophy constitutes only one of the versions of the creation of the Universe and the bonds of filiation in Brahman, its influence on the system of beliefs is paramount since it justifies the existence of the trinity (Trimurti) Visnu, Siva, Brahmaa. The paramount Being, Brahman, is pure consciousness, indivisible (advait) and unqualifiable. Understand by this last term without definable qualities. The emergence of a duality within Brahman, consisting of a Universal Spirit, known under the name of Naaraayana or Purusha (the Man) distinct from paramount Nature, Prakriti, is the first stage of the evolution of Brahman and the last of His involution at the end of each cosmic cycle. Purusha is often regarded as a mere spectator of the material activities of Nature. He is the Soul (Aatmaa - you will find also in some texts Aatman or paraatma for supreme soul) impregnating the Universe, enjoying it and whose our true personality constitutes a negligible share. Here 2 notes may be of interest for westerner educated in the rational way of thinking inherited form Greek philosophy. First aatmaa corresponds more to the french word âme, from anima in latin having also given the word animal and meaning more or less life flame, than spirit from latin spiritus, which for greek philosophers was perfectly rational. Some philosophers in present time still write that God is definitely spiritual and devoid of soul. But they are searching since 3 thousand years for good definitions of Truth, Good and Beauty in rational terms. The following shloka (verse sentence ) of Gitaa gives evidence of the language discrepency:

aham aatmaa gudaakesha
sarva-bhutaasaya-sthitah
aham aadish ca madhyam ca
bhutaanaam anta eva ca

(Bh.G., shloka 10-20)- God says: I am the supreme Soul, seated in the heart of all living beings. I am the beginning, the medium and the end of all living beings.
The second sentence, often repeated in Gitaa recalls that He is the Creator, the Organizer and the Destroyer of the Life and the Universe. When it is said that our soul is a negligible share of God it should not be understood that Aatmaa is divided since God is advait but crudely speaking gifted of ubiquity. We will reconsider the implications of our divine and eternal nature, which constitutes the basis of the Veda philosophy (Vedanta). In the circumstance of creation, it is however Purusha who by His Maayaa (that I will temporarily translate by imagination) creates an imbalance between the three modes (gunas) within the paramount matter (Prakriti). It becomes driven by the Time (Kaal), directed by a cosmic intelligence (Mahat) and its activity is the karma.

The 3 modes, qualities or attributes of each manifestation of the divine activity (or human one also) are sattvam, rajah and tamah. Is “sattvic” (to anglicize the term) what is beautiful, good, luminous, true, spiritual. Lord Visnu who governs the cosmic order is sattvic. Let us note in the passing that Visnu is already a creation of Almighty, a personalization for not employing the term incarnation which implies material, since Visnu has a “quality”. The action, passion, energy are "raajasic" and Lord Brahmaa to whom the continuation of creation will be appointed is raajasic. The matter, inertia, the darkness, ignorance, death are taamasic and the concern of Lord Shiva. For the anecdote let us mention that Lord Shiva, who is also in charge of the destruction of the Universe is very pale and the white is the color of mourning, Brahmaa is red and Visnu is azure blue like the sky. The creation of a material world with a cosmic order confers an identity to each thing, each action and subject of this action, identity called ahamkaara (ego). For completing, Hindu philosophy recognizes the existence of 5 elements (bhuta) instead of 4 for the Western thinker. Each one proceeds of the precedent in the order of creation, presenting an identity of increasing complexity. The first of these elements is the ether/space which has the property to transport the sound waves and the corresponding cognitive sense (indryaa) is hearing. The air has the additional quality to allow the touch. For convincing you, remember the wind agitating the tree leaves or caressing your skin. The actor is Vayu, god of the winds, characterized by a great force which He transmitted to his sons Hanuman and Bhima (Bhima is one of the 5 Pandava in Mahaabhaarata). Fire has a color and a form, so consequently the associated sense is the sight. Its God is Agni, to whom many odes in verses are devoted in Rig Veda. Water has a form, a color, a touch and a sound and it has as complementary property a taste. The god of waters is Varuna. Finally the earth has an odor. It is often assimilated to the mother Nature, Durga, Uma or Parvati. The man has also 5 conative senses (active in opposition to the preceding cognitive sense), which are the speech, the hands, the feet, the penis and the anus and an internal sense of thought (mana), the brain or mind, which one can compare to our computer. Once again, as for soul and spirit, one must take care to distinguish the thought, commune with the majority of animal species, which transmit the useful informations between the cognitive and conative senses, from the intelligence (buddhi), instrument of knowledge, understanding and decision, specific to the man and to some extent upper species of animal kingdom. The divine “element” in the case of the man is the consciousness (jiva), which I will define as the soul subjugated to an association with a physical body in the dualism of our existence as an living being, soul invested with material desires. The goal of the believer should be to free himself from this dualism and recover his true divine nature, the aatmaa, and thus commune with God in the proper sense of the term.

indriyaani mano buddhir
asyaadhishthaanam ucyate
etair vimohayaty esa
jnaanam aavrtya dehinam

Thus says Lord Krishna in Bhaagvad Gitaa (Bh.G, shloka 3-40): The senses, the brain and the intelligence are the seats of lust, disorientating the creature and darkening its understanding.

About the presence of God in each of His works, impregnating it and possibly conferring it life and consciousness, I would like to share with you one of my preferred passages of Bhaagvad Gitaa:

raso ham apsu kaunteya
prabhaasmi shashi-suryayoh
pranavah sarva-vedesu
shabdah khe paurusham nrshu|
punyo gandhah prthivyam ca
tejas caasmi vibhaavasau
jivanam sarva-bhuteshu
tapash caasmi tapasvisu

(Bh. G., shloka 7-8,9): Oh son of Kunti (Arjun), I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the Om syllable in the Vedic mantras, the sound in ether and the human aptitudes. I am the original fragrance of the earth, the heat in fire, the life of all that lives and the penances of the ascetics.

All these definitions could appear superfluous to the neophyte who seeks to understand the originality of Hindu philosophy if the terms were not very often employed with misinterpretation in the translations which the Westerners made of the religious texts. Undoubtedly, they proceeded in all bona fide, impregnated of their “Judaic-Christian” sensitivity. That's how atmaa or jiva is often confused with buddhi in the English translations of the 19th century, probable result of a pragmatic way of thinking. The same type of mix-up often occurs for dharma, karma and yoga. The later became in the mind of many westerners simply a body discipline. The dharma finds an erroneous definition of social duty even in the spirit of certain agnostic Indian philosophers (Chaturvedi Badrinath, see bibliography at the end of this text). This definition of one of the 4 fundamental aspirations of the human being is well too restrictive when being aware of the fact that the fulfillment of dharma is the essential condition to achieve moksha, release of the dualism and cycle of rebirths. Then I prefer to define the dharma as the spiritual activity of the human being, on the basis of the principle that dharma does not represent a duty imposed from outside but what should naturally comes to our consciousness with divine nature. The priorities in dharma are the subject of long discussions in Mahaabhaarat between Dritharashtra or Yudishtira (Yudishtira, the elder brother among Pandava, is the son of Dharma God and Kunti) and their respective spiritual advisers. In turn they propose that the dharma is before all the Truth (satya), non violence (ahimsa), but also devotion, altruism, respect of rituals and varna (social role or caste).

 

simplified outline

Invested during a certain time of a material envelope to enjoy the creation of God, our soul must learn to get freed of this subjection by detachment and meditation for recovering its true nature. "Two are the objects of the soul, to make one with the Supreme Brahman and to be for ever for the good of all the world; whether here or elsewhere does not essentially matter" (Sri Aurobindo).