Brief notes on Prakrti and the Gunas

The Sahkhya theory that causation means a real transformation of the material cause into effect logically leads to the concept of prakrti as the ultimate cause of the world of objects. All objects of the world, including our body and mind.

The senses and the intellect are limited and dependent things produced by the combination of certain elements. So we see that the world is a series of effects and that it must have a cause.

What, then, is the cause of the world? It cannot be the purusa or the self, since the self is neither a cause nor an effect of anything.

So the cause of the world must be the not-self, i.e. some principle which is other ‘Man and different from spirit, self or consciousness. Can this not- self be the physical elements or the material atoms?

According to the Carvakas or the materialists, the Bauddhas, the Jainas and the Nyaya-Vaisesikas, the atoms of earth, water, light and air are the material causes of the objects of the world.

The Sarikhya objects to this on the ground that material atoms cannot explaj, the origin of the subtle products of nature, such as the mind the intellect and the ego.

So we must seek for something which can explain the gross objects of nature like earth and water, trees and seas, as well as its subtle products.

Now it is found that in the evolution of things, the cause is subtler than the effect and that it pervades the effect, as when a seed develops into a tree or a wish into a dream-object.

Hence the ultimate cause of the world must be some unintelligent or unconscious principle which is uncaused, eternal and all-pervading, very fine and always ready to produce the world of objects.

This is the prakrti of the Sarikhya system. It is the first cause of all things and, therefore, has itself no cause. As the uncaused root-cause of all objects it is eternal and ubiquitous, because nothing that is limited and non-eternal can be the first cause of the world.

Being the ground of such subtle products of nature as mind and the intellect, prakrti is a very subtle, mysterious and tremendous power which evolves and dissolves the world in a cyclic order.

The existence of prakrti as the ultimate subtle cause of the world is known by inference from the following grounds:

(a) All particular objects of the world, from the intellect to the earth are limited and dependent on one another. So there must be an unlimited and independent cause for their existence.

(b) Things of the world possess certain common characters owing to which every one of them is capable of producing pleasure, pain and indifference. Therefore, they must have a common cause having these three characters,

(c) All effects proceed from the activity of some cause which contains their potentiality within the world of objects which are effects must, therefore, be implict contained in some world-cause.

(d) An effect arises from its cause and is again resolved into it at the moment of its destruction.

That is, an existent, effect is manifested by a cause, and eventually absorbed into the latter.

So the particular objects of it is erience must arise from their particular causes, and these gain from other general causes, and so on, dll we come to the first cause of the world.

Contrariwise, at the time of destruction, the physical elements must be resolved into atoms, the atoms into energies and so on, till all products are resolved into the unmanifested, eternal prakrti.

Thus we get one unlimited and unconditioned, all-pervading and ultimate cause of the whole world including everything but the self.

This is the eternal and undifferentiated causal matrix of the world of not-self, to which the Sahkhya gives the different names of prakrti, pradhana, avyakta, etc.

We should not imagine a cause of this ultimate cause, for that will land us in the fallacy of infinite regress. If there be a cause of prakrti, then there must be a cause of that cause, and so on, ad infinitum.

Or, if we stop anywhere and say that here is the first cause, then that first cause will be the prakrti which is specifically described as the supreme root cause of the world (para or miila prakrti).

Prakrti is constituted by the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas. It is said to be the unity of the gunas held in a state of equilibrium (samyavastha).

Now the question is: what are these gunas? Guna here means a constituent element or component and not an essential identity (tadatmya) between the effect and its cause we know the nature of the gunas from the nature of their products.

All objects of the world, from the intellect down to the ordinary objects of perception (e.g. tables, pots, etc.), are found to possess three characters capable of producing pleasure, pain and indifference, respectively.

The same things are pleasurable to some person, painful to another, and neutral to a third. The cuckoo’s cry is a pleasure to the artist, a pain to his sick friend and neither to the plain rustic.

A rose delights the youth, dejects the dying man and leaves the gardener cold and indifferent. Victory in war elates the victor, depresses the vanquished and leaves the third party rather apathetic.

Now, as the cause must contain what is in the effect, we can infer that the ultimate cause of things must have been constituted also by the three elements of pleasure, pain and indifference.

The Sankhya calls these three sattva, rajas and tamas respectively. These are constitutive of prakrti, the ultimate substance, and the ordinary objects of the world.

Sattva is that element of prakrti which is of the nature of pleasure, and is buoyant or light (laghu), and bright or illuminating (prakasaka).

The manifestation of objects in consciousness (jnana), the tendency towards conscious manifestation in the senses, the mind and the intellect.

The luminosity of light and the power of reflection in a mirror or the crystal are all due to the operation of the element of sattva in the constitution of things.

Similarly, all sorts of lightness in the sense of upward motion, like the blazing up of fire, the upward course of vapour and the winding motion of air are induced in things by the element of sattva.

So also pleasure in its various forms, such as satisfaction, joy, happiness, bliss, contentment, etc. is produced by things in our minds through the operation of the power of sattva inhering in them both-

Rajas are the principle of activity in things. It always moves and makes other things move. That is, it is both mobile (cala) and timulating (upastambhaka).

It is on account of rajas that fire spreads, the wind blows, the senses follow their objects and the mind becomes restless.

Oh the affective side of our life, rajas is the cause of all painful experiences and is itself of the nature of pain (duhkha). It helps the elements of sattva and tamas, which are inactive and motionless in them, to perform their functions.

Tamas is the principle of passivity and negativity in things. It is opposed to sattva in being heavy (guru) and in obstructing the manifestation of objects (varanaka). It also resists the principle of rajas or activity in so far as it restrains (niyam) the motion of things.

It counteracts the power of manifestation in the mind, the Intellect and other things, and thereby produces ignorance and darkness, and leads to confusion and bewilderment (moha).

By obstructing the principle of activity in us it induces sleep, drowsiness, and laziness. It also produces the state of apathy or indifference (visada). Hence it is that sattva, rajas and tamas have been compared respectively to whiteness, rednes, and darkness.

With regard to the relation among the three gunas constituting the world, we observe that it is one of constant conflict as well as co-operation. They always go together and can never be separated from one another.

Nor can any one of them produce anything without the help and support of the other two. Just as the oil, the wick and the flame, which are relatively opposed to one another, co-operate to produce the light of a lamp.

So the gunas co-operate to produce the objects of the world, although they possess different and opposed qualities so all the three gunas are present in everything of the world, great or small, fine or gross.

But each of them tries to suppress and dominate the others. The nature of things is determined by the predominant guna, while the others are there in a subordinate position.

We cannot point to anything of the world which does not contain within it all the three elements, of course, in different proportions.

The classification of objects into good, bad and indifferent, or into pure, impure and neutral, or into intelligent, active and indolent, has reference to the preponderance of sattva, rajas and tamas respectively.

Another characteristic of the gunas is that they are constantly changing. ‘Change or transformation belongs to the very essence of the gunas, and they cannot help changing even for a moment.’

There are two kinds of transformation which the gunas undergo. During pralaya or dissolution of the world, the gunas change, each within itself, without disturbing the others.

That is, sattva changes into sattva, rajas into rajas and tamas into tamas. Such transformation of the gunas is called svarupaparinama or change into the homogeneous.

At this stage, the gunas cannot create or produce anything, because they do not oppose and co-operate with one another. No object of the world can arise unless the gunas combine, and one of them predominates over the others.

So before creation, the gunas exist as a homogeneous mass in which there is no motion (although there is transformation), no­thing, and none of the qualities of sound, touch, colour, taste and smell.

This is the state of equilibrium (samyavastha) for the gunas to which the Sahkhya gives the name of prakrti. The other kind of transformation takes place when one of the gunas dominates over the others which become subordinate to it.

When this happens, we have the production of particular objects. Such transformation is called virupa-parinama or change into the heterogeneous, and it is the starting-point of the world’s evolution.