| 19. Know the
that Prakyiti as well as Purusha are both beginningless ; and know the also
that all forms and qualities are born of Prakviti.Prakriti and Purusha,
Matter and Spirit, are the two Prakritis of the Isvara, the Lord. These
two, Prakriti and Purushayou should knowhave no beginning. As the Isvara
is the eternal Lord, it is but right that His Prakritis also should be eternal.
The Lordship of the Isvara consists indeed in His possession of the two
Prakritis by which He causes the origin, preservation and dissolution of
the universe. The two Prakritis are beginningless, and they are therefore
the cause of samara. Some construe the passage so as to mean that the two
Prakritis are not primeval. It is by such an interpretation, they hold,
that the causality of the Isvara can be established, lf, on the other hand,
Prakriti and Purusha were eternal, it would follow that they are the cause
of the universe, and that the Isvara is not the creator of the universe.
It is wrong to say so ; for the Isvara would then be no Isvara, inasmuch
as there would be nothing for Him to rule over prior to the birth of Prakriti
and Purusha. Moreover,. if samara had no cause (other than Isvara), there
could be no cessation thereof ; and thus the sastra (the scripture) would
have not purpose to serve. Likewise, there could be neither bondage nor
salvation. Prakriti and Purusha as the Cause of samara. If, on the other
hand, the Prakritis of the Isvara be eternal, all this can be explained
How ?Know thou that all forms, all emanations (vikaras) from buddhi down
to the physical body, and all qualities (gunas) such as those which manifest
themselves as pleasure, pain, delusion and other mental states to be described
hereafter, spring from Prakriti, Maya, composed of the three gunas, that
Energy of the Isvara which constitutes the cause of (all) emanations. Know
thou that they are all modifications of Prakriti. |
