English
At the very first the outflow of this manas energy in the direction of a conceptual creation means an accumulation of energy in manas, called ghana, which is a sort of statical aspect of the dynamical energy (spanda). At the next stage there is a combination of this statical state of energy with the next outflow of energy, and the result is the stabilized accretion of energy of the second order; this is again followed by another outflow of energy, and that leads to the formation of the stabilized energy of the third order, and so on. The course of thought-creation is thus through the interaction of the actualized energy of thought with the active forms of the energy of thought, which join together, at each successive outflow from the supreme fund of potential energy. Thus it is said that the first creative movement of manas manifests itself as the Gkasa creation, and that, as a result of this creative outflow of energy, there is an accretion of energy in manas; at this moment there is another outflow (spanda) or movement on the part of manas, as modified by the accretion of energy of the previous state, and this outflow of manas thus modified is the creation of air. The outflow of this second order, again, modifies manas by its accretion, and there is a third outflow of energy of the manas as modified by the previous accretion, and so on. This process of the modification of energy by the outflow of the manas modified at each stage by the accretion of the outflow of energy at each of the preceding states is called z ddau sama-dama-prayair gunaih sisyam visodhayet pascat sarvam idam brahma suddhas tvam iti bodhayet. ; IV539" 23. natra kascit karta na bhokta na vindsam ett. IV. 39. 41. XII] The Stage of the Saint 245 ghana-spanda-krama‘. The creation of all the so-called tan-matras (subtle states) of akasa, vayu, tejas, ap and ksiti takes place in this order, and afterwards that of the ahamkara and buddhi, and thus of the subtle body (pury-astaka); thereafter the cosmic body of Brahman is formed and developed in accordance with the root desire (vasana) inherent in manas. Thus here we have first the akasa tan-matra, then the vayu tan-matra from the Gkasa tan-matra plus the outflow of energy, then, from the akasa tan-matra plus the vayu tan-matra plus the outflow of energy of the third order, tejas tan-matra, and so on. Then, after the tan-matra,the ahamkara and the buddh1, we have the subtle body of eight constituents (five tan-matras, ahamkara, buddhi and the root manas), called the pury-astaka of Brahma. From this develops the body of Brahma, and from the creative imagination of Brahma we have the grosser materials and all the rest of the world-appearance. But all this is pure mental creation, and hence unreal, and so also are all the scriptures, gods and goddesses and all else that passes as real. The Stage of the Saint (Jivan-mukta). Emancipation (mukti) in this system can be attained in the lifetime of a person or after his death; in the former case it is called sa-deha-muktata, or jivan-muktata. The jivan-mukta state is that in which the saint has ceased to have any desires (apagatai- sanah), as if he were in a state of deep sleep (susuptavat). He is self-contained and thinks as if nothing existed. He has always an inward eye, even though he may be perceiving all things with his external eye and using his limbs in all directions. He does not wait for the future, nor remain in the present, nor remember the past. Though sleeping, he is awake and, though awake, he is asleep. He may be doing all kinds of actions externally, though he remains altogether unaffected by them internally. He internally renounces all actions, and does not desire anything for himself. He is full of bliss and happiness, and therefore appears to ordinary eyes to be an ordinary happy man; but in reality, though he may be doing all kinds of things, he has not the delusion of being himself an active agent (tyakta-kartrtva-vibhramah). He has no antipathy, grief, _emotions, or outbursts of pleasure. He is quite neutral to all who 1 Iv. 44. 13-30. 246 The Philosophy of the Yoga-vdasistha [cH. do him ill or well; he shows sympathetic interest in each person in his own way; he plays with a child, is serious with an old man, an enjoyable companion to a young man, sympathetic with the sorrows of a suffering man. He is wise and pleasant and loving to all with whom he comes in contact. He is not interested in his own virtuous deeds, enjoyments, sins, in bondage or emancipation. He has a true philosophic knowledge of the essence and nature of all phenomena, and, being firm in his convictions, he remains neutral to all kinds of happenings, good, bad, or indifferent. But from the descriptions it appears that this indifference on the part of a saint does not make him an exclusive and unnatural man; for, though unaffected in every way within himself, he can take part in the enjoyment of others, he can play like a child and can sympathize with the sorrows of sufferers!. Fivan-mukti, or emancipation while living, is considered by Sankara also as a possible state, though he doesnot seem to have used the term in his works. Thus, on the basis of Chandogya, VI. 14. 2, he says that knowledge destroys only those actions which have not already begun to yield their fruits; those actions which have already begun to yield fruits cannot be destroyed by true knowledge, and so it is not possible for anyone to escape from their effects, good or bad; and it has to be admitted that even after the dawning of true knowledge the body remains until the effects of the actions which have already begun to yield fruits are exhausted by enjoyment or suffering. In explaining such a condition Sankara gives two analogies: (1) as a potter’s wheel goes on revolving when the vessel that it was forming is completed, so the body, which was necessary till the attainment of true know- ledge, may continue to exist for some time even after the rise of knowledge; (2) as, when a man through some eye-disease sees two moons instead of one, he continues to do so even when he is convinced that there are not two moons but one, so, even when the saint is firmly convinced of the unreality of the world-appearance, he may still continue to have the illusion of world-appearance, though internally he may remain unaffected by it?. Of the Upanisads only the later Muktika Upanisad, which seems to have drawn its inspiration from the Yoga-vasistha, mentions the word jivan- mukta, meaning those saints who live till their fruit-yielding Noli 2 Sankara’s Sariraka-bhdsya or the Brahma-siitra, 1V. i. 15, 19. XII] The Stage of the Saint 247 actions (prarabdha-karma) are exhausted!. But, though the word is not mentioned, the idea seems to be pretty old. The conception of sthita-prajfia in the Srimad-bhagavad-gita reminds us of the state of a jivan-mukta saint. A sthita-prajna (man of steady wisdom) has no desires, but is contented in himself, has no attachment, fear or anger, is not perturbed by sorrow nor longs for pleasure, and is absolutely devoid of all likes and dislikes. Like a tortoise within its shell, he draws himself away from the sense- objects. This conception of the Srimad-bhagavad-gita is referred to in the Yoga-vasistha, which gives a summary of it in its own way’. But it seems as if the conception of the saint in the Yoga-vasistha has this advantage over the other, that here the saint, though absolutely unaffected by all pleasures and sufferings, by virtue and vice, is yet not absolutely cut off from us; for, though he has no interest in his own good, he can show enjoyment in the enjoyment of others and sympathy with the sufferings of others; he can be as gay as a child when with children, and as serious as any philo- sopher when with philosophers or old men. The Srimad-bhaga- vad-gita, though it does not deny such qualities to a saint, yet does not mention them either, and seems to lay stress on the aspect of the passivity and neutral character of the saint; whereas the Yoga-vasistha, as we have already said, lays equal stress on both these special features of a saint. He is absolutely unattached to anything, but is not cut off from society and can seemingly take part in everything without losing his mental balance in any way. The Gita, of course, always recommends even the unattached saint to join in all kinds of good actions; but what one misses there is the taking of a full and proper interest in life along with all others, though the saint is internally absolutely unaffected by all that he may do. The saint in the Yoga-vasistha not only performs his own actions in an unattached manner, but to all appearance mixes with the sorrows and joys of others. The question whether a saint is above the tyranny of the effects of his own deeds was also raised in Buddhist quarters. Thus we find in the Katha-vatthu that a discussion is raised as to whether a saint can be killed before his proper time of death, and it is said that no one can attain mirvana without enjoying the 1 Muktika Upanisad, 1. 42, also 11. 33, 35, 76. 2 Srimad-bhagavad-gitd, 11. 55-58. 3 Yoga-vasistha, v1. 52-58. 248 The Philosophy of the Yoga-vasistha [cH. fruits of accumulated intentional deeds!. A story is told in the Dhamma-pada commentary (the date of which, according to E. W. Burlingame, is about a.D.