English
This subtle body is composed of the five cognitive senses, the five conative senses, the five vayus or biomotor activities, buddhi (intellect) and manas, together with the five subtle elements in tanmatric forms. The five cognitive senses, the auditory, tactile, visual, gustatory and olfactory senses, are derived from the sattva parts of the five elements, akasa, vayu, agnt, ap and prthivi respectively. Buddhi, or intellect, means the mental state of determination or affirmation (niscayatmika antahkarana-vrtti). Manas means the two mental functions of vikalpa and sankalpa or of sankalpa alone resulting in doubt!. The function of mind (cttta) and the function of egoism (ahamkara) are included in buddhi and manas*. They are all produced from the sattva parts of the five elements and are therefore elemental. Though they are elemental, yet, since they are produced from the compounded sattva parts of all the elements, they have the re- vealing function displayed in their cognitive operations. Buddhi with the cognitive senses is called the sheath of knowledge (vijfianamaya-kosa). Manas with the cognitive senses is called the sheath of manas (manomaya-kosa). It is the self as associated with the vijnanamaya-kosa that feels itself as the agent, enjoyer, happy or unhappy, the individual self (jiva) that passes through worldly experience and rebirth. The conative senses are produced from the rajas parts of the five elements. The five va@yus or biomotor activities are called Prana or the breathing activity, Udana or the upward activity and Samana or the digestive activity. There are some who add another five va@yus such as the Naga, the vomiting Apdana troyanes activity, Kirma, the reflex activity of opening the eyelids, Krkala, the activity of coughing, Devadatta, the activity of yawning, and Dhanajfijaya, the nourishing activity. These pranas 1 The Vedanta-sara speaks of sankalpa and vikalpa, and this is explained by the Subodhint as meaning doubt. See Veddanta-sara and Subodhini, p. 17. The Vedanta-paribhasa and its commentators speak of sankalpa as being the only unction of manas, but it means “‘doubt.” See pp. 88-89 and 358. 2 smaranakara-urttimad antahkaranam cittam (Vedanta-paribhasa-Mani- prabha, p. 89). anayor eva cittahamkarayor antarbhavah (Vedanta-sdara, p. 17). But the Vedanta-paribhasd says that manas, buddhi, ahamkara and citta, all four, constitute the inner organ (antahkarana). See Veddnta-paribhasda, p. 88. The Vedanta-sara however does not count four functions buddhi, manas, citta, ahamkara; citta and ahamkara are regarded as the same as buddhi and manas. Thus according to the Veddnta-sara-there are only two categories. But since the Vedanta-paribhasa only mentions buddhi and manas as constituents of the -subtle body, one need not think that there is ultimately any difference between it and the Veddanta-sara. 76 The Sankara School of Vedanta [cH. together with the cognitive senses form the active sheath of prana (pranamaya-kosa). Of these three sheaths, the vyfianamaya, mano- maya and pranamaya, the vijianamaya sheath plays the part of the active agent (kartr-riipah) ; the manomaya is the source of all desires and volition, and is therefore regarded as having an instrumental function; the pranamaya sheath represents the motor functions. These three sheaths make up together the subtle body or the siiksma-Sarira. Hiranyagarbha (also called Satratma or prana) is the god who presides over the combined subtle bodies of all living beings. Individually each subtle body is supposed to belong to every being. These three sheaths, involving as they do all the sub- conscious impressions from which our conscious experience is de- rived, are therefore called a dream (jagrad-vasanamayatvat svapna). The process of the formation of the gross elements from the subtle parts of the elements is technically called patcikarana. It consists in a compounding of the elements in which one half of each rudimentary element is mixed with the eighth part of each other rudimentary element. It is through such a process of com- pounding that each element possesses some of the properties of the other elements. The entire universe consists of seven upper worlds (Bhuh, Bhuvah, Svar, Mahar, fanah, Tapah and Satyam), seven lower worlds (Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Rasatala, Talatala, Mahatala and Patala) and all the gross bodies of all living beings. There is a cosmic deity who presides over the combined physical bodies of all beings, and this deity is called Virat. There is also the person, the individual who presides over each one of the bodies, and, in this aspect, the individual is called Vigva. The ajfiana as constituting antahkarana or mind, involving the operative functions of buddhi and manas, is always associated with the self; it is by the difference of these antahkaranas that one self appears as many individual selves, and it is through the states of these antahkaranas that the veil over the self and the objects are removed, and as a result of this there is the cognition of objects. The antahkarana is situated within the body, which it thoroughly’ pervades. It is made up of the sattva parts of the five rudimentary elements, and, being extremely transparent, comes into touch with the sense objects through the specific senses and assumes their forms. It being a material stuff, there is one part inside the body, another part in touch with the sense-objects, and a third part between the two and connected with them both as one whole. xi] Sankara and his School 77 The interior part of the antahkarana is the ego or the agent. The intervening part has the action of knowledge, called also urtti-jaana. The third part, which at the time of cognition is transformed into the form of the sense-objects, has the function of making them manifested in knowledge as its objects. The antahkarana of three parts being transparent, pure consciousness can well be manifested in it. Though pure consciousness is one, yet it manifests the three different parts of the antahkarana in three different ways, as the cognizer (pramdatr), cognitive operation (pramana) and the cogni- tion, or the percept (pramiti). In each of the three cases the reality is the part of the pure consciousness, as it expresses itself through the three different modifications of the antakkarana. The sense-objects in themselves are but the veiled pure consciousness, brahman, as forming their substance. The difference between the individual consciousness (jiva-caitanya) and the brahman-con- sciousness (brahma-caitanya) is that the former represents pure consciousness, as conditioned by or as reflected through the antah- karana, while the latter is the unentangled infinite consciousness, on the basis of which all the cosmic creations of maya are made. The covering of avidyd, for the breaking of which the operation of the antahkarana is deemed necessary, is of two kinds, viz. subjective ignorance and objective ignorance. When I say that I do not know a book, that implies subjective ignorance as signified by ‘“‘I do not know,” and objective ignorance as referring to the book. The removal of the first is a precondition of all kinds of knowledge, perceptual or inferential, while the second is removed only in perceptual knowledge. It is diverse in kind according to the form and content of the sense-objects; and each perceptual cognition removes only one specific ignorance, through which the particular cognition arises}. Sankara and his School. It is difficult to say exactly how many books were written by Sankara himself. There is little doubt that quite a number of books attributed to Sankara were not written by him. I give here a list of those books that seem to me to be his genuine works, though it is extremely difficult to be absolutely certain. 1 See Madhusiidana Sarasvati’s Siddhanta-bindu, pp. 132-150; and Brah- méananda Sarasvati’s Nydya-ratndavali, pp. 132-150, Srividya Press, Kumba- konam, 1893. 78 The Sankara School of Vedanta [cH. I have chosen only those works which have been commented on by other writers, since this shows that these have the strength of tradition behind them to support their authenticity. The most important works of Sankara are his commentaries on the ten Upanisads, Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandikya, Aitareya, Taittiriya, Chandogya and Brhad-adranyaka and the Sariraka-mimamsa-bhasya. The main reasons why a number of works which probably were not written by him were attributed to him seem to be twofold; first, because there was another writer of the same name, i.e. Sankaracarya, and second, the tendency of Indian writers to increase the dignity of later works by attributing them to great writers of the past. The attribution of all the Puranas to Vyasa illustrates this very clearly. Sankara’s [sopanisad- bhasya has one commentary by Anandajfiana and another, Dipika, by the other Sankara Acarya. His Kenopanisad-bhasya has two commentaries, Kenopanisad-bhasya-vivarana and a commentary by Anandajiiana. The Kathakopanisad-bhasya has two commentaries, by Anandajfiana and by Balagopala Yogindra. The Prasnopanisad- bhasya has two commentaries, by Anandajfiana and Narayanendra Sarasvati. The Mundakopanisad-bhasya has two commentaries, by Anandajfiana and Abhinavanarayanendra Sarasvati. The Mandikyopanisad-bhasya has two commentaries, by Anandajfiana and Mathuranatha Sukla, and asummary, called Mandakyopanisad- bhasyartha-samgraha, by Raghavananda. The Aitareyopanisad- bhasya has six commentaries, by Anandajfiana, Abhinavanarayana, Nrsimha Acarya, Balakrsnadasa, Jianamrta Yati, and Vigvesvara Tirtha. The Tazttiriyopanisad-bhasya seems to have only one commentary on it, by Anandajfiana. The Chandogyopanisad has two commentaries, called Bhasya-tippana, and acommentary by Anan- dajfiana.