Practical Vedanta

Practical Vedantasentient." This is the Purusha of the Sankhya. As such, it necessarily follows thatthe Purusha must be omnipresent. That which is not omnipresent must be limited.All limitations are caused; that which is caused must have a beginning and end. Ifthe Purusha is limited, it will die, will not be free, will not be final, but must havesome cause. Therefore it is omnipresent. According to Kapila, there are manyPurushas; not one, but an infinite number of them. You and I have each of us one,and so has everyone else; an infinite number of circles, each one infinite, runningthrough this universe. The Purusha is neither mind nor matter, the reflex from it isall that we know. We are sure if it is omnipresent it has neither death nor birth.Nature is casting her shadow upon it, the shadow of birth and death, but it is by itsnature pure. So far we have found the philosophy of the Sankhya wonderful.Next we shall take up the proofs against it. So far the analysis is perfect, thepsychology incontrovertible. We find by the division of the senses into organs andinstruments that they are not simple, but compound; by dividing egoism into senseand matter, we find that this is also material and that Mahat is also a state ofmatter, and finally we find the Purusha. So far there is no objection. But if we askthe Sankhya the question, "Who created nature?" — the Sankhya says that thePurusha and the Prakriti are uncreate and omnipresent, and that of this Purushathere is an infinite number. We shall have to controvert these propositions, andfind a better solution, and by so doing we shall come to Advaitism. Our firstobjection is, how can there be these two infinites? Then our argument will be thatthe Sankhya is not a perfect generalization, and that we have not found in it aperfect solution. And then we shall see how the Vedantists grope out of all thesedifficulties and reach a perfect solution, and yet all the glory really belongs to theSankhya. It is very easy to give a finishing touch to a building when it isconstructed.Practical Vedanta13. Sankhya and Vedantafile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Chitra%20Selva...oksBySwami/PracticalVedanta/PracticalVedantaPDF.html (95 of 113)2/26/2007 12:24:34 AM