Purusha, Prakrti, Guna and
Modifications
Lord Krishna now began
to discourse on the Sankhya
principles of Purusha and Prakrti. He said that both Purusha or the individual soul and the
Prakrti or the Material Universe
including its Nature, are without beginning or end. However all modifications
and all qualities (gunas) are of the
Prakrti.
Prakrti is
the cause of all actions, their sources and their agents or performers. The Purusha is the cause of enjoyement of
all consequences of such actions, viz. pleasures and pains, by an individual. Purusha, when united with the Prakrti, comes under the sway of the Gunas or the qualities and this
affiliation with the qualities is the reason for its transmigration or the
participation in the cycle of life and death as the individual
body-mind.
As long as the body mind is identified with the individual,
it is under the influence of its nature. It is the nature that compels an
individual to act. A sattvik person
will perform actions bringing happiness in its wake. A rajasik person will perform actions that
will lead to pain and sorrow in the end. A tamasik person only brings about
destruction of the self. The Purusha
(one who resides in the Puri or the
body) is however not attached to any of these actions or their consequences. It
is a witness, although it is behind all actions, since it is the master of all
sense organs, intelligence, mind and body. However as long as the atman or Self is not realized as
separate from the body mind, it is under the influence of nature which presides
over the body mind. When the atman is
realized as being different from the body mind, it is free from the clutches of
nature and hence the actions cannot bind it. Therefore this ignorance (i.e.
understanding the atman to be same as
the individual body and mind) is the cause of the cycle of rebirth.
This Atman or Purusha is the witness, is the
sanctifier (of all actions), is the ruler (on all senses which perform actions),
is the enjoyer (of the fruits) indirectly through the body, mind and senses, is
the Supreme Lord or the Iswara. It is
also called the Paramatman or the
great soul, as it is beyond (the reach of the senses and the material or causal
world, the nature).
One who knows this distinction between Purusha and the Prakriti along with its qualities, even
though he is present in this world in every respect, he transcends the world as
he is not born again (i.e. he becomes a jeevanmukta, liberated soul).
Some see the Atman (Self), in the self, by self (i.e.
they see the atman or the indwelling
spirit as separate from their bodies and minds and that is possible only through
self effort or by the grace of that atman) with the aid of the meditation.
Others see it through the principles of Sankhya (jnana), Yoga (Raja Yoga or the
control of the inner forces) or Karma
Yoga (practice of actions without desire of fruits, selfless actions which
lead to purification of mind).
The Atman can be
perceived through intense meditation when one arrives at a state called Samadhi (according to the eightfold path
of Yoga by sage Patanjali). In samadhi or the deepest
meditation the distinction among knowledge, object of knowledge and the knower
dissolves and the world vanishes into a sublime reality called Brahman or the all pervading Supreme
Being. In the intense state the ego disappears and the Self or Atman
then shines. Neither the sun shines nor the moon or the stars, the lightning is
not there, what to say of fire. The realizations are all around “that” and “its”
light shines everything (all knowledge), dispelling the darkness in the form of
ignorance – that’s how Upanishads explain the realization of Atman. Atman is Brahman, the all pervading spirit is
also the indwelling one. Sri Ramakrishna, the greatest of the mystics
of the present age, used to say - Brahman is to jnanis is what
Atman is to Yogis and Bhagavan or Iswara or
God is to the devotees. The three entities are same.
Through the jnana generated by the principles of
negating the material world also the Atman can be perceived. The Yoga whose end state is Samadhi is also possible through the
control of inner forces, body and mind using the eight steps of assuming the
tranquil state, controlling of senses, assuming a proper posture, controlling of
the vital forces or prana, withdrawal
(of mind and senses) from material world, fixing mind on one subject (object of
knowledge), constant meditation on that (like uninterrupted flow of oil), and
finally Samadhi or merging into the
Supreme bliss through the dissolution of ego. At this state one perceives the Atman or the Self as the same as the Brahman or the Supreme
Being.Through desireless action, mind gets
purified. As the mind becomes purer and purer, the Atman begins to
reflect on it just as a bright sun reflects in a clear pool of water when the
silt in it is removed.
The knowledge of Atman
leads one to perceive that the indwelling spirit or Purusha, the Self, is different and
distinct from the body mind which is conditioned by the nature and its
attributes and qualities (Prakrti and
Guna).
Others, without knowing this, reflect on this upon hearing from
others (Guru or the realized soul)
and worship it. They, the hearers, are also able to conquer death.
The realization can be obtained through a Guru or a realized soul, who can impart
the knowledge to the disciples who are eager to learn. By listening and through
constant worship or devotion one is able to achieve the same state. This proves
that jnana, yoga, karma and bhakti all lead to the same end state,
that of realization. Through Bhakti
one is able to realize the divine Lord, with or without form, as inseparable
from the all pervading cosmic spirit Brahman and the indwelling Atman.
All the objects in the material world, mobile like human beings and
animals, birds, insects etc. and immobile like trees, flowers, fountains,
rivers, oceans, mountains etc. have all been born through the union of the Prakrti with the cosmic soul or the Purusha. Prakrti cannot exist
independently and without Prakrti,
Purusha is inactive. Therefore the union of Shiva and Sakti or Prakrti and Purusha is responsible for all
creation.
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