CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR The Philosophy of Sāṅkhya

In the previous chapter the Lord explained that one can give up material duality by controlling the mind and fixing it in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This chapter describes the Sāṅkhya system, in which the difference between matter and spirit is elaborately explained. By hearing this knowledge one can easily separate the mind from material contamination and fix it on the spiritual platform in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Sāṅkhya philosophy system mentioned here is that presented by Lord Kapila in the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and not the atheistic Sāṅkhya presented later by materialists and Māyāvādīs. The material elements, which emanate from the potency of the Lord, evolve in a progressive sequence. One should not foolishly think that such evolution begins from an original material element without the assistance of the Lord. This speculative theory is generated from the false ego of conditioned life and constitutes gross ignorance, unacceptable to the Personality of Godhead and His followers.

Kṛta-yuga is the first age, also known as Satya-yuga, in which knowledge, being perfect, is not different from its object. In modern society, knowledge is highly speculative and constantly changing. There is often a vast difference between people’s theoretical ideas and actual reality. In Satya-yuga, however, people are viveka-nipuṇāḥ, or expert in intelligent discrimination, and thus there is no difference between their vision and reality. In Satya-yuga, the population in general is self-realized. Seeing everything as the potency of the Supreme Lord, they do not artificially create duality between themselves and other living entities. This is a further aspect of the oneness of Satya-yuga. At the time of annihilation, everything merges to rest within the Lord, and at that time also there is no difference between the Lord, who becomes the only seer, and the objects of knowledge, which are contained within the Lord. The liberated living entities in the eternal spiritual world are never subject to such merging but remain forever undisturbed in their spiritual forms. Because they are voluntarily one with the Lord in love, their abode is never annihilated.

Both material nature and the living entity are potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, prakṛti here refers to the subtle pradhāna, which later becomes manifest as mahat-tattva.

The Lord casts His glance over material nature to remind her that the conditioned souls have not worked out their chain of fruitive activity and mental speculation and that creation is therefore again necessary. The Lord desires that the conditioned souls get the opportunity to become Kṛṣṇa conscious in love of Godhead by understanding the futility of life without the Lord. The modes of nature arise after the glance of the Lord and become inimical to one another, each mode attempting to conquer the other two. There is constant competition between birth, maintenance and annihilation. Although a child desires to take birth, the cruel mother may desire to kill the child through abortion. Although we may desire to kill the weeds in a field, they stubbornly take birth again and again. Similarly, we often desire to maintain our physical status quo, but still deterioration sets in. Thus there is constant competition among the modes of nature, and by their combinations and permutations the living entities try to enjoy innumerable material situations without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The word puruṣānumatena indicates that the Lord sets the stage for such material futility so that the conditioned souls will eventually come back home, back to Godhead.

According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, sūtra is the first transformation of material nature that manifests the potency of activity, and it is accompanied by the mahat-tattva, which is endowed with the potency of knowledge. In the material world, one’s real knowledge is covered by fruitive activity and mental speculation. As one’s devotional service to the Lord slackens, these two tendencies grow automatically, just as the diminishing of light automatically brings an increase in darkness.

The word cid-acin-maya, “encompassing both spirit and matter,” is significant in this regard. The false ego is the illusory combination of the eternal conscious soul and the temporary unconscious body. Because the spirit soul desires to exploit illicitly the creation of God, he is bewildered by the three modes of nature and assumes an illusory identity within the material world. Struggling to enjoy, he becomes more and more entangled in the complexities of illusion and only increases his anxiety. This hopeless situation can be overcome by taking to pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in which the pleasure of the Supreme Lord becomes the only goal of one’s life.

From false ego in the mode of ignorance, sound is generated along with the sense of hearing to receive it and the sky as its medium. Next, the sensation of touch, air and the sense of touch are generated, and thus from subtle to gross all of the elements and their perceptions are generated. The senses, because they are busily engaged in activity, are created from false ego in the mode of passion. From false ego in goodness come eleven demigods: the deities of the directions, the wind and the sun, Varuṇa, the Aśvinī deities, Agni, Indra, Upendra, Mitra, Brahmā and Candra.

The Supreme Lord here describes His appearance in His transcendental pastime form of Śrī Nārāyaṇa. Lord Nārāyaṇa enters within the universe but does not give up His purely transcendental body of knowledge and bliss. Lord Brahmā, however, born from the Lord’s navel lotus, has a material body. Although Lord Brahmā is the most powerful mystic, his body, which pervades all material existence, is material, whereas the body of the Supreme Lord Hari, Nārāyaṇa, is always transcendental.

Planets such as Indraloka and Candraloka are meant for the heavenly enjoyment of the most pious fruitive workers. The highest four planets, however, Satyaloka, Maharloka, Janoloka and Tapoloka, are meant for those who are most perfectly endeavoring for liberation. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so inconceivably merciful that He is promoting the most fallen victims of Kali-yuga beyond these four planets and even beyond Vaikuṇṭha, to the supreme planet of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual sky, called Goloka Vṛndāvana. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura explains that heaven is the residence of the demigods, the earth is the residence of the human beings, and in between is a temporary residence for both classes of beings.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains that the word tapasaḥ in this verse refers to austerities performed by brahmacārīs and vānaprasthas. A brahmacārī who practices celibacy perfectly in some particular stage of his life achieves Maharloka, and one who perfectly practices lifelong celibacy achieves Janoloka. By perfect execution of vānaprastha one may achieve Tapoloka, and one in the renounced order of life goes to Satyaloka. These different destinations certainly depend on one’s seriousness in the yoga system. In the Third Canto of the Bhāgavatam, Lord Brahmā explains to the demigods, “The inhabitants of Vaikuṇṭha travel in their airplanes made of lapis lazuli, emeralds and gold. Although crowded by their consorts, who have large hips and beautiful smiling faces, they cannot be stimulated to passion by their mirth and beautiful charms.” (Bhāg. 3.15.20) Thus in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God, the inhabitants have absolutely no desire for personal satisfaction, since they are completely satisfied in love of Godhead. Because they only think of the Lord’s pleasure, there is no possibility of cheating, anxiety, lust, disappointment, and so on. As described in Bhagavad-gītā (18.62):

“O scion of Bharata, surrender unto Him utterly. By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode.”

Unmajjati refers to one’s promotion to the higher planetary systems, as mentioned in previous verses, and nimajjati refers to being submerged in a miserable condition of life by impious activities. In both cases one is drowning within the mighty river of material existence, which carries one far away from one’s real home in the kingdom of God.

The Lord here explains that the original cause is certainly present in its effect, citing the example of gold and clay functioning as the causal ingredients of many different products in which gold and clay continue to be present. For our convenience, we assign different names to temporary products, although their essential nature continues to be that of the ingredient, and not of the temporary product.

One may understand the purport of this verse through the simple analogy of a clay pot. A clay pot is formed from a lump of clay, which is itself prepared from the earth. In this case earth is the original ingredient forming the clay lump, and the clay lump is in a sense the original cause of the pot. When the pot is destroyed, it will again assume the designation clay and ultimately merge back into the earth, its original cause. In relation to the clay pot, clay is the beginning and final state; thus the pot is called real, for it possesses the essential characteristics of clay, which exists before and after the existence of the functioning instrument known as the pot. Similarly, earth exists before and after the clay, and thus clay may be considered real because it possesses the essential characteristics of earth, which exists before and after the existence of the clay. Similarly, earth and other elements are created from the mahat-tattva, which exists before and after the existence of the elements, which may be considered real because they possess the essential characteristics of the mahat-tattva. The mahat-tattva is ultimately the creation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, who exists after all is annihilated. The Absolute Truth is the Supreme Lord Himself, who step by step gives meaning and character to all that exists.

Material nature is the energy of the Lord, Mahā-Viṣṇu is His plenary portion, and time represents the Lord’s activity. In this way, time and nature are always subservient to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who creates, maintains and annihilates all that exists through the agency of His potencies and plenary portions. In other words, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth because He contains all existence within Himself.

Although the mahat-tattva, impelled by the force of time, is the ingredient cause of this world, it is clearly explained here that the Supreme Lord is personally the only ultimate cause of all that exists. Time and nature are powerless to act without the glance of the Personality of Godhead. He creates unlimited material variety for the sense gratification of the conditioned souls, who try to enjoy life as the children of particular parents and as the parents of particular children, throughout the 8,400,000 species of life.

According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, the word mayā refers to the Lord in His form as eternal time.

The annihilation of the material world is the reversal of the process of creation, and ultimately everything is merged to rest within the Supreme Lord, who remains full in His absolute position.

Just as the brilliant sun removes all darkness from the sky, a clear understanding of the knowledge spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava removes all ignorance concocted by the material mind. One will then no longer accept the material body as the self. Even if such illusion temporarily manifests within one’s consciousness, it will be driven away by the resurgence of one’s spiritual knowledge.

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa has explained that the material mind accepts and rejects many different concepts of life, generating innumerable false arguments about the actual process of perfection. But a person who takes shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can see everything with clear intelligence. One who understands how the Supreme Lord creates and annihilates can be liberated from material bondage and devote himself to the eternal service of the Supreme Lord.