०४ जीवयात्रा

This (individual Soul), on entering into ‘Darkness,’ remains, for a long time, equipped with the sense-organs, but does not perform its functions; then it departs from the body.—(55)

इदानीं संसारिणः पुरुषस्य मरणं देहान्तरप्राप्तिश् चाभ्यां श्लोकाभ्यां कथ्यते । तमो ज्ञाननिवृत्तिस् तां समाश्रित्य चिरं तिष्ठत्य् आस्ते सेन्द्रियः । न च स्वं कुरुते कर्म श्वासप्रश्वासादिकं । तदा मूर्तितः शरीराद् उत्क्रामति गच्छति ।

• ननु च सर्वगत आत्माकाशवद् विभुस् तस्य कीदृश्य् उत्क्रान्तिः ।

• कर्मोपार्जितशरीरत्याग एवोत्क्रान्तिः । न पुनर् मूर्तस्यैवार्थस्य देशाद् देशान्तरगमनम् । अथ वा कैश्चिद् इष्यते- अस्त्य् अन्यद् अन्तराभवं शरीरं सूक्ष्मं यस्येयम् उत्क्रान्तिः । अन्यैस् त्व् अन्तराभवदेहो नेष्यते । यथाह भगवान् व्यासः-

• अस्मिन् देहे व्यतीते तु देहम् अन्यन् नराधिप ।

• इन्द्रियाणि वसन्त्य् एव तस्मान् नास्त्य् अन्त्राभवः ॥

सांख्या अपि केचिन् नान्तराभवम् इच्छन्ति विन्ध्यवासिप्रभृतयः । को ऽयम् अन्तराभवो नाम । अस्मिञ् छरीरे नष्टे मातृकुक्ष्यादिस्थानं द्वितीयशरीरग्रहणार्थं यावन् न प्राप्तं तावद् अन्तरा निरुपभोगं¹ शरीरम् उपजायते सूक्ष्मं यस्य न क्वचित् संयोगो नाग्न्यादिदाहो न महाभूतैः प्रतिबन्धः । अन्ये तु मूर्तिं परमात्मानम् आहुः । सर्वात्मरूपः परमात्मा समुद्रस्थानीयस् ततः प्रादुर् भवन्ति जीवा अविद्यावशाद् भेदम् उपयन्ति, महोदधेर् इवोर्मयः । तस्य च ततो निष्क्रामतः पुर्यष्टाकाख्यं लिङ्गम् अभ्युपगम्यते । धर्माधर्मपूर्वकृतवशात्² प्रत्येकस्य जीवस्य वासःस्थानीयं सूक्ष्मं शरीरम् । यथा पुराण उक्तम् ।

• पुर्यष्टकेन लिङ्गेन प्राणाख्येन स युज्यते ।

• तेन बद्धस्य वै बन्धो मोक्षो मुक्तस्य तेन तु ॥

ते च प्राणापानव्यानोदानसमानाः पञ्च बुद्धीन्द्रियवर्ग एवं कर्मेन्द्रियवर्गो ऽष्टमं मन इत्य् एतत् पुर्यष्टकम् । तच्छरीरं न नश्यति आमोक्षावस्थायाः । तद् उक्तम् “संसरति निरूपभोगभावैर्³ अधिवासितं लिङ्गम्” ॥ १.५५ ॥

Now by means of these two verses the author is going to describe the dying and the obtaining of another body by the Soul fallen in the cycle of births and deaths.

‘Darkness’—stands for cessation of consciousness (preceding death);—entering into, falling into, this unconsciousness it remains for a long time, equipped with the sense-organs; but does not perform its functions— of breathing in and out; then it departs—goes out—from the body, the corporeal frame.

Question:—“As a matter of fact, the Soul is omnipresent, and all-pervading like Ākāśa; so that what kind of ‘departure’ is it that occurs in its case?”

Answer,—‘Departure’ means only the renouncing of the body that had been obtained as the result of past acts; and it does not mean that, it goes from one place to another, like a material object.—Or, the answer may be, as held by some people, that the ‘departure’ spoken of is that of another and a more subtle body which comes into existence in between (the two bodies). But this intermediate body is not admitted by others; as for instance, it has been declared by the revered Vyāsa—‘This present body having disappeared, the sense-organs forthwith enter into another body; so that there is no intermediate body.’ Some followers of the Sāṅkhya such as Vindhyavāsin and the rest, also do not admit of an intermediate body.

“What is this ‘intermediate body’?”

When this (physical) body has been destroyed, so long as a place in the womb of the (future) mother is not secured, where the second (physical body) would be formed, there exists during the interval, a subtle body entirely devoid of all sensation, which cannot come into contact with any thing, which is not burnt by fire and which is not obstructed by elemental substances.

Others explain the ‘mūrti’ of the text as the Supreme Self. The Supreme Self, which is the Soul of all things, is like the Ocean; out of that emerge the Jīvas (Individual Souls) under the influence of nescience, just in the same manner as waves emerge from the Ocean; and when the Individual Soul thus emerges out of the Supreme Soul, it assumes, by virtue of its past Virtue and Vice, a form known by the name ‘Puryaṣṭaka’; and this is the ‘subtle body,’ which serves as the clothing of the Individual Soul. This has been thus declared in the Purāṇa—‘He becomes united with the Puryaṣṭaka- form, which is known as Prāṇa (Life); when bound up with this, he is in bondage, and when freed from it, he is released.’ The ‘puryaṣṭaka,’ ‘eight-fold’ frame consists of the five life-breaths,—Prāṇa, Apāna, Samāna, Udāna and Vyāna—the Group consisting of the five organs of sensation, the Group consisting of the five organs of action, and the Mind as the eighth. This body is not destroyed, until the condition of Final Release is attained. This is thus stated (in Sāṅkhyakārikā 40)—‘What migrates is the subtle body, which is devoid of feeling, but invested with tendencies.’—(55)

Under this verse Hopkins translates a passage from Medhātithi, which, as will be clear from the text, has been entirely misunderstood and hence wrongly rendered.

Verses 55 and 56 have been variously interpreted. (1) According to Medhātithi, Govindarāja and Kullūka, it describes the process of transmigration. When an individual is dying, his individual Soul enters darkness,—i.e. becomes unconscious; and even though It continues to be connected with the dying body, the physical functions gradually cease;—then It leaves the body,—and enveloped in a subtle body—formed of the eight constituents (variously enumerated), It enters the embryo determined for It by its own past acts, and there becomes clothed with a new physical body which accompanies It through Its next life on Earth. (2) Nārāyaṇa holds that verse 55 provides the description of the soul during a swoon, and the second alone refers to the method of transmigration. (3) The explanation given by Nandana is entirely different. He; takes the verses as referring to what is done by the Supreme Being, the Creator;—verse 55 describing His action during Dissolution and 56 referring to a fresh creation following it. The Supreme Lord ‘enters darkness—i.e. the Pradhāna,—and having remained therein during the entire period of the Dissolution, becomes endowed with organs and a visible shape,—i. e., the shape of the Created Universe.’

055 When this (soul) has entered darkness, it remains for a long time united with the organs (of sensation), but performs not its functions; it then leaves the corporeal frame.

When, invested with minute particles, the Individual enters the moveable or immoveable Seed;—then, becoming united with the aforesaid (Subtile body), it assumes the (new) body.—(56)

अण्व्यः सूक्ष्मा मात्रा अवयवा यस्य सो ऽणुमात्रिकः । पुर्यष्टकम् अन्तराभवदेहो वा, स्वभावत एव वात्मानः सूक्ष्माः । यथोक्तम् । “स एष आत्मान्तर्हृदये ऽणीयान्” इत्यादि (छु ३.१४.३) । बीजं शरीरोत्पत्तिकारणम् । स्थास्नु वृक्षादिजन्महेतुभूतम् । चरिष्णु जगमम् । समाविशत्य् अधितिष्ठति प्रतिनिबध्यते । यदा तेन संसृष्टः प्राणादिभिस् तदा मूर्तिं विमुञ्चत्य् आबध्नाति शरीरं गृह्णातीत्य् अर्थः ॥ १.५६ ॥

‘Invested with minute particles’—that which is constituted by minute, subtile, particles, parts. This may refer either to the ‘Puryaṣṭaka,’ or the ‘Intermediate Body’; or to the Soul itself;—all Souls being by their very nature, subtile; as stated in such texts as ‘This Self within the heart, is extremely minute.’

‘Seed’—The source of the physical body;—‘Immoveable,’ that which is the cause of the birth of trees, &c.—‘Moveable,’ animate.—‘Enters into,’ becomes enclosed in;—then ‘united with the aforesaid,’—i.e., with Prāṇa and other constituents of the subtile body)—then ‘it assumes,’ attaches to itself, the body; i.e., takes up the new corporeal frame.—(56)

056 When, being clothed with minute particles (only), it enters into vegetable or animal seed, it then assumes, united (with the fine body), a (new) corporeal frame.

Thus by waking and sleeping, the Imperishable One incessantly brings to like and destroys all this that is moveable and immoveable.—(57)

उपसंहारः पूर्वोक्तस्य । आत्मसंबन्धिभ्यां जाग्रत्स्वप्नाभ्यां चराचरं स्थावरं जंगमं जीवयति मारयति च जगत् । अव्ययो ऽविनाशी ॥ १.५७ ॥

This verse recapitulates what has been said before.

By means of his own ‘waking and sleeping,’ he produces and destroys the world consisting of moveable and immoveable beings, i.e., vegetables and animals. ‘Imperishable’—Indestructible.—(57).

057 Thus he, the imperishable one, by (alternately) waking and slumbering, incessantly revivifies and destroys this whole movable and immovable (creation).