EARLY TRANSLATIONS OF SOME VEDANTIC TEXTS

The Karikas of Gaudapada

                    THE Karikas of Gaudapada are a body of authoritative verse maxims and reasonings setting forth in a brief and closely-argued manual the position of the extreme Monistic School of Vedanta philosophy. The monumental apho­risms of the Vedanta Sutra are meant rather for the master than the learner. Gaudapada's clear, brief and businesslike verses are of a wider utility; they presuppose only an elementary knowledge of philosophic terminology and the general trend of Monistic and Dualistic discussion — this preliminary knowledge granted, they provide the student with an admirably lucid preg­nant nucleus of reasoning which enables him at once to follow the Monistic train of thought and to keep in memory its most notable positions. It has also had the advantage, due no doubt to its pre-eminent merit and the long possession of authority and general use, of a full and powerful commentary by the great Master himself and a further exposition by the Master's disciple, the clear-minded and often suggestive Anandagiri. To modern students there can be no better introduction to Vedanta philo­sophy — after some brooding over the sense of the Upanishads — than a study of Gaudapada's Karikas and Shankara's com­mentary with Deussen's System of the Vedanta in one hand and any brief and popular exposition of the six Darshanas in the other. It is only after the Monistic School has been thoroughly understood that the Modified-Monistic and Dualistic-Monistic with their intermediary shades can be profitably studied. When the Vedantic theory has been mastered, the Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya and Vaisheshika can in its light be easily mastered in succession with Vijnanabhikshu's work and the great synthesis of the Bhagvadgita to crown the whole structure. The philosophical basis will then be properly laid and the Upanishads can be studied with new interest, verifying or modifying as one goes one's original interpretation of the Sacred Books. This will bring to a close the theoretical side of the Jnanakanda; its practical and 

Page – 427

more valuable side can only be mastered in the path of Yoga and under the guidance of a Sadguru.

Gaudapada begins his work by a short exposition in clear philosophical terms of the poetical and rhythmic phraseology of the Upanishads. He first defines precisely the essential character of the Triune nature of the Self as manifested in the macrocosm and the microcosm, the Waker, the Dreamer and the Sleeper, who all meet and disappear in the Absolute.

1. The Vishwa being the Lord who pervades and is conscious of the external, Taijasa he who is conscious of the internal, Prajna he in whom consciousness is (densified and) drawn into itself, the Self presents himself to the memory as One under three conditions.

Shankara: The position taken is that, as the entity which cognizes enters into three conditions one after another and not simultaneously, and is moreover in all three connected by the memory which persists in feeling "This is I" "This is I" "This is I", it is obvious that it is something beyond and above the three conditions. and therefore one, absolute and without attachment to its conditions. And this is supported by the illustrations like that of the large fish given in the Scripture.

2.  Vishwa in the gate of the right eye, Taijasa within the mind, Prajna in the ether, the heart, this is its threefold station in the body.

Page – 428

Shankara: 1. The object of this verse is to show that these three, Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna, are experienced even in the waking state. The right eye is the door the means, through which especially Vishwa, the seer of gross objects, becomes subject to experience. The Sruti saith, "Verily and of a truth Indha is he, even his Being as he standeth here in the right eye." Vaishwanara is

Page – 429

Indha because his essential principle is light and is at once the macrocosmic Self within the Sun and the seer in the eye.

2. "But," it will be objected, "Hiranyagarbha is one and the cognizer of the material field, the guide and seer in the right eye is quite another, the master of the body." Not so; for in itself — if we look into the real nature of our perceptions — we do not realise any difference between them. And the Scripture saith, "One God hidden in all creatures" and the Smriti also:

"Know me, O son of Bharat, for the Knower of the body in all bodies. I stand undivided in all creatures and only seem to be divided."

3. Be it noted that though Vishwa works indeed in all the organs of sense without distinction yet because the perceptions of the right eye are noticed to be superior in acuteness and clearness it is for that reason only specifically mentioned as his abiding place. After this Vishwa then dwelling in the right eye has seen a shape or appearance, if he remembers it when he has closed his eyes, he still sees within in the mind, as if in a dream, the same shape or appearance as manifested in the form of the idea or impression it has left. And it is just the same in a dream, the impression or idea preserved by memory reproduces in sleep the same shape or appearance that was seen in waking. It follows that this Taijasa who is within in the mind is no other than Vishwa himself.

4. Then by cessation of the process called memory Prajna in the ether or heart becomes unified or as it is said densified consciousness drawn into itself. And this happens because the processes of the mind are absent; for sight and memory are vib­rations of the mind and in their absence the Self in the form of Prana takes its abode in the ether or heart without possibility of separation or distinction. For the Scripture saith, "It is Prana that swalloweth up all these into itself." Taijasa is the same as Hiranyagarbha because it has its abode in the mind, and the mind is the subtle part of the body, as is clear from the verse, "This puruṣa is all mind," and from other like sayings of the Scripture.

5. It may be objected that Prana in the state of Sleep is 

Page – 430

really differenced and manifest and the senses become one with Prana, so how do you predicate of it absence of manifestation and differentia by saying it becomes One ? But there is no real fault in the reasoning; since in the undifferenced the particula­rising conditions of space and time are absent and the same is the case with Prana in the state of Sleep. Although indeed the Prana is in a sense differenced because the idea of separate existence as Prana remains, yet the more special sense of separate existence as circumscribed by the body is brought to a stop in Prana and Prana is therefore undifferenced and unmanifest in the Sleep in relation at least to the possessors of this circumscribed egoism. And just as the Prana of those who have the circumscribed bodily egoism becomes undifferenced when it is absorbed at the end of the world, so it is with him who has the sense of existence as Prana only in the condition of sleep which is in reality precisely the same as that of the temporary disappearance of phenomena at the end of a world; both states alike are void of differentia and manifestation and both alike are pregnant with seeds of future birth. The Self governing either state is one and the same, it is Self in an undifferenced and unmanifest condition. It follows that the governing Self in each case and the experiences of the circumscribed bodily egoism are one and the same; therefore the descriptions previously given of Prajna become One or become densified and self-concentrated consciousness etc. are quite applicable; and the arguments already advanced support the same conclusion.

6. "But," you will say, "why is the name Prana given to the undifferenced?" On the ground of the Scripture, "For, O fair son, the cord and fastening of the mind is Prana." "O but," you answer, "there the words '0 fair son. Existence itself is prāṇa' show that it is Brahma Existent which being the subject of the verses must be intended by the word Prana." However, my reasoning is not thereby vitiated, because we all understand the Existent to be pregnant with the seed of future birth. Although, then, it is Brahma Existent which is meant by Prana, all the same the name Prana is given to the Existent because the idea of pregnancy with the seed from which the Jiva or life-conditioned spirit is to be born, has not been eliminated from it and indeed 

Page – 431

it is only when this idea is not eliminated from the idea of Brahma that he can be called Brahma Existent. For if [it] were the absolute seedless Brahma of which the Scripture had meant to speak, it would have used such expressions as "He is not this, not that nor anything which we can call him"; "From whom words return baffled"; "He is other than the known and different from the Unknown". The Smriti also says, "He (the Absolute) is called neither Existent nor non-Existent." Besides if the Existent be seedless, then there would be no ground for supposing that those who have coalesced with and become absorbed into the Existent or the state of Sleep or the destruction of a world can again awake out of either of these conditions. Or, if they can, then we should immediately have the contingency of liberated souls again coming into phenomenal existence; for on this hypothesis, the condition of souls liberated into the absolute and those absorbed into the existent would be alike, neither having seed or cause of future phenomenal existence. And if to remove this objection you say that it is the seed of ignorance which has to be burnt away in the fire of knowledge that is absent in the case of liberated souls and Some other seed of things in the other case, you are in danger of proving that Knowledge (of the Eternal) is without use or unnecessary as a means of salvation.

7. It is clear then that it is on the understanding that the Existent is pregnant with the seed of phenomenal life that in all the Scripture it is represented as Prana and the cause of things. Consequently it is by elimination of this idea of the seed that it is designated by such phrases as "He is the unborn in whom the objective and subjective are One", "From whom words return baffled", "He is not this nor that nor anything we can call him", and the rest. Our author will speak separately of this seedless condition of the Same Self which has been designated by the term Prajna, this condition being the fourth or Absolute is devoid of all relations such as body, prāṇa etc. and is alone finally and transcendentally true. Now the condition of undifferenced seedfulness also like the two others is experienced in this body, in the form of the idea of the awakened man which tells him, "For so long I felt and knew nothing." Thus then the Self is said to have a threefold station in the body. 

Page – 432

3.  Vishwa is the enjoyer of gross objects, Taijasa of subtle, and Prajna of pure (unrelated) pleasures; thus shall ye understand the threefold enjoyment of the Self in the body.

4.  The gross utterly satisfieth Vishwa, but the subtle Taijasa and pure pleasure satisfieth Prajna, thus shall ye understand the threefold satisfaction of the Self in the body.

Shankara: The meaning of these two verses has been explained.

5. That which is enjoyed in the three conditions and that which is the enjoyer, he who knows both these as one enjoyeth and receiveth no stain.

Shankara: That which is enjoyed under the name of gross objects, subtle objects and pure pleasure in the three conditions, waking, dream and sleep is one and the same thing although it has taken a threefold aspect. And that which enjoys under the names of Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna has been declared to be one because they are connected by the sense of oneness expressed in the continual feeling "This is I, This is I" and because the nature of cognition is one and without difference throughout. Whoever knows both these to be one though split up into multiplicity by the 

Page – 433

sense of being enjoyer or enjoyed does not receive any stain from enjoyment, because the subject of enjoyment is the One universal and the enjoyer too is not different from the enjoyed. For note that whoever be the enjoyer or whatever his object of enjoyment, he does not increase with it or diminish with it, just as in the case of fire when it has burnt up its object in the shape of wood or other fuel; it remains no less or greater than it was before.

6.  It is a certain conclusion that all existences which take birth are already in being; Prana brings the All into phenomenal being, it is this prāṇa or puruṣa which sends forth its separate rays of consciousness abroad.

Shankara: All existences (divided as Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna) are already in being, that is, they existed before and it is only by their own species and nature and illusion of name and form created by Ignorance that they take birth or in other words put forth into phenomenal existences. As indeed the writer says later on, "A son from a barren woman is not born either in reality or by illusion." For if birth of the in-existent — that is something coming out of nothing — were possible, then there would be no means of grasping this world of usage and experience and the Eternal itself would become an unreality. Moreover we have 

Page – 434

seen that the snake in the rope and other appearances born of the seed of illusion created by Ignorance do really exist as the self of the rope — or other substratum in the case. For the snake in the rope, the mirage and other hallucinations of the sort are never experienced by anybody unless there is some substratum. Just as before the coming into being of the snake it existed already in the rope as the rope's self, so before the coming to birth of all phenomenal existences, they already existed as the self of the seed of things called Prana. And the Scripture also saith, "This universe is the Eternal", "In the beginning all this was the Spirit". The Prana gives birth to the All as separate rays of consciousness; — just as the rays of the Sun, so are these consciousness-rays of the Purusha who is Chit or conscious existence and they are clearly distinguished in different bodies of gods, animals, etc. under three different lights as Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna, in the same way as reflections of the sun are clearly seen in different pieces of water; they are thrown from the Purusha and though they differ according to the separate existences which are their field of action and enjoyment, yet they are all alike like sparks from a fire being all Jiva or conditioned Self. Thus the Prajna or causal Self gives phenomenal birth to all other existences as the spider to his web. Compare the Scripture, "As a fire sendeth forth sparks."

7. Some who concern themselves with the cause of creation think that Almighty Power is the origin of things and by others creation is imagined as like to illusion or a dream.

Page – 435

Shankara: Those who concern themselves with creation think that creation is the pervading Power, the extension, so to speak, of God; but it is implied, those who concern themselves with final and transcendental truth do not care about speculations on creation. For when men see a conjurer throw a rope into the air and ascend it armed and accoutred and then after he has climbed out of sight fall hewn to pieces in battle and rise again whole, they do not care about inquiring into the illusion he has created with all its properties and origins. Just so this evolution of the Sleep, Dream and Waking conditions is just like the self-lengthening of the juggler's rope and the Prajna, Taijasa and Vishwa self abiding in the three conditions is like the conjurer climbing up the rope, but the real conjurer is other than the rope or its climber. Just as he stands on the ground invisible and hidden in illusion, so is it with the real and transcendental fact called the Fourth. Therefore it is for Him that the Aryan-minded care, those who follow after salvation and they do not care for speculations about creation which are of no importance to them. Accordingly the writer implies that all these theories are only imaginations of those who concern themselves with the origin of creation and then goes on to say that by others creation is imagined as like to an illusion or again as like to a dream.

8. Those who have made up their minds on the subject of creation say it is merely the Will of the Lord; those who concern themselves about Time think that from Time is the birth of creatures.

Shankara: Creation is the Will of the Lord because the divine ideas must be true facts — pots etc. are ideas only and nothing more than ideas. Some say that creation is the result of Time. 

Page – 436

9.  Others say that creation is for the sake of enjoyment, yet others say it is for play. Really, this is the very nature of the Lord; as for other theories, well, He has all He can desire and why should He crave for anything?

Shankara: Others think creation was made for enjoyment or for play. These two theories are criticised by the line "This is the very nature of the Lord." Or, it may be, that the theory of Divine Nature is resorted to in order to criticise all other theories by the argument He has all He can desire and why should He crave for anything ? For no cause can be alleged for the ap­pearance of the snake etc- in the rope and other substrata except the very nature of Ignorance.

10. He who is called the Fourth is the Master of the cessation of all ills, the Strong Lord and undecaying, the One without a Second of all existences, the Shining One who pervadeth.

Shankara: The Self, Fourth or transcendental is the master of the cessation of all ills, which belong to the conditions of Prajna, Taijasa and Vishwa. The expression Strong Lord is an explanation of the word Master; it is implied that His strength and lordship are in relation to the cessation of ills, because the 

Page – 437

cessation of ills results from the knowledge of Him. Undecaying, because He does not pass away, swerve or depart, i.e., from his essential nature. How is this ? Because he is the One without a second owing to the vanity¹ of all phenomenal existences. He is also called God, the Shining One because of effulgence, the Fourth and He who pervades, exists everywhere.

11. Vishwa and Taijasa are acknowledged to be bound by cause and effect. Prajna is bound by cause only; both of these are held not to exist in the Fourth.

Shankara: The common and particular characteristics of Vishwa and the two others are now determined in order that the real self of the Fourth may become clear. Effect, that which is made or done, is existence as result. Cause, that which makes or does, is existence as seed. By inapprehension and misapprehension of the Truth the aforesaid Vishwa and Taijsa are, it is agreed, bound or imprisoned by existence as result and seed. But Prajna is bound by existence as seed only. For the seed state which lies in unawakening to the Truth alone (and not in misreading of Him), is the reason of the state of Prajna. Therefore both of these, existence as cause and existence as effect, inapprehension and misapprehension of the Truth are held not to apply to the Fourth, i.e., do not exist and cannot happen in Him.

12.  Prajna cogniseth nought, neither self nor others, neither

¹falseness                      

Page – 438

truth nor falsehood; the fourth seeth all things for ever.

Shankara: But how then is Prajna bound by Cause, while in the Fourth the two kinds of bondage conditioned by inapprehension and misapprehension of the Truth is said to be impossible. Because Prajna does not cognise at all this duality of an outside universe even from Ignorance and conditioned as distinct from Self, so that like Vishwa and Taijasa he also is bound by inapprehension of the Truth, by that darkness which becomes the seed of misapprehension; and because the Fourth blindeth all things for ever. That is to say, since, nothing really exists except the Fourth, He is necessarily in seeing of all that is. Omniscient and all-cognisant at all times and for ever; in him therefore the seed state of which the conditioning feature is inapprehension of the Truth, cannot possibly exist. Absence of the misapprehension which arises out of inapprehension naturally follows. The Sun is for ever illuminative by its nature and non-illumination or misillumination as contrary to its nature cannot happen to it; and the same train of reasoning applies to the Omniscience of the [seer]. The Scripture also says, "For of the Sight of the Seer there is no annihilation." Or indeed, since it is that in the Waking and Dream State dwelling in all creatures is the light or reflection in them to which all objects present themselves as visible, cognisable objects, it is in this way too the seer of all things for ever. The Scripture says, "There is nought else than This that seeth."

NOTE : Words underlined in the manuscript are printed here in italics. 

Page – 439