Pradhana

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In Samkhya, pradhāna (Sanskrit: प्रधान) is an alternate term for prakriti, the "primal matter" which is "the first principle from which all material things have evolved. [1] It is a state of equilibrium of the three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas, the three modes of prakrti ('material nature' and material desires). Badarayana’s Brahma sutras state that pradhana is asabadam, 'not mentioned in the Upanishads', and therefor to be rejected as the first cause. [2]

Contents

Etymology

Pradhāna (Sanskrit: प्रधान) is an adjective meaning "most important, prime, chief or major". [3] The Shatapatha Brahmana (शतपथ ब्राह्मण) gives its meaning as "the chief cause of the material nature" (S.B.7.15.27) or "the creative principle of nature" (S.B.10.85.3). [4]

Samkhya

In Samkhya, pradhāna (Sanskrit: प्रधान) is an alternate term for prakriti, the "primal matter" which is "the first principle from which all material things have evolved." [1] It is a state of equilibrium of the three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas, the three modes of prakrti ('material nature' and material desires).

The term 'samkhya' is derived from the word sankhya (numbers), referring to the listing or numbering of the basic principles, purusha, the twenty-four principles of prakrti, and the 'right discrimination' between these principles. Purusha is unproduced, free from all action and modification, without attributes, all-pervading consciousness, individual and separate for each body. When Pradhana manifests it becomes the efficient and the material cause of creation. [5] Prakrti is eternal and all-pervading, unlimited and the material cause, eternally producing everything but insentient. [5]

Vedanta

The Brahma Sutras of Badarayana represents the first comprehensive treatment in a systematic manner of the vast corpus of Vedic Thought. In B.S.I.i.5, Badarayana states that pradhana is asabadam, 'not mentioned in the Upanishads', and therefor to be rejected.

Advaita Vedanta

Brahma Sutra I.i.5 states:

The Pradhana of the Samkhyas is not the cause of the universe, because it is not mentioned in the Upanishads, which fact is clear from the fact of seeing (or thinking). [6]

Ramanuja and Sankara interpret the word asabadam (meaning 'not mentioned in the Upanishads') in ईक्षतेर्नाशब्दम् to mean the pradhana of the Samkhyas, and na (meaning not) as the denial of pradhana being the cause of the universe, because it is not mentioned in the Upanishads. For Badarayana, the word 'ikshate' (meaning seeing or thinking) refers to Brahman, who visualized and created the Vital force (Prana) (Prasna Upanishad VI.3-4), and created the worlds (Aitareya Upanishad I.i.1-2).

Sankara in his commentary on this and the following sutras explains: [7]

The Sutra I.i.12 – आनन्दमयोऽभ्यासात्, is textually wrong, it should have been worded anandobhyasat because ananda is absolute freedom and if ananda is embodied it becomes non-limited i.e. subjected to limitation. [8]

According to Sivananda, the inert Pradhana cannot create, because activity is necessary for creation; it is not a directive intelligent entity for initiating activity, and because there is no external agency to urge it to act or restrain it from action. A spontaneous action of Pradhana is not possible; it cannot modify in the absence of purpose and it cannot have a desire to evolve. Purusa is intelligent and indifferent but there is no third agency to bring Purusa near Pradhana to effect a connection between the two for starting the activity of creation. Pradhana cannot be active because there can be no relation of principal or subordinate guna when the gunas are in equilibrium to constitute Pradhana. Creation cannot proceed from inert or dead matter. [9]

Madhvacharya

Madhva, the founder of Tattvavada (Realism), interprets the word asabadam to refer to Brahman who is inexpressible because he is an object of knowledge. [10] Madhva contends that an object presented in illusory perception is an absolute unreality, and no illusion can be explained without the acceptance of two necessary reals – adhisthana ('substratum') and pradhana ('prototype') of the superimposed object ( aropya ). The Dvaita school of Hindu philosophy, Ishvara, the cause of the universe is the svatantra tattva ('independent reality') and the created universe is the asvatantra tattva ('dependent reality') which is a transformation of Pradhana ('matter'). [11]

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    Purusha is a complex concept whose meaning evolved in Vedic and Upanishadic times. Depending on source and historical timeline, it means the cosmic being or self, awareness, and universal principle.

    Hindu philosophy or Vedic philosophy is the set of Indian philosophical systems that developed in tandem with the religion of Hinduism during the iron and classical ages of India. In Indian tradition, the word used for philosophy is Darshana, from the Sanskrit root 'दृश' meaning 'to see, to experience'.

    Samkhya or Sankhya is a dualistic orthodox school of Hindu philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, Puruṣa and Prakṛti.

    Guṇa is a concept in Hinduism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property".

    Prakriti is "the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance". It is a key concept in Hinduism, formulated by its Sāṅkhya school, where it does not refer to matter or nature, but "includes all the cognitive, moral, psychological, emotional, sensorial and physical aspects of reality", stressing "Prakṛti's cognitive, mental, psychological and sensorial activities". Prakriti has three different innate qualities (guṇas), whose equilibrium is the basis of all observed empirical reality as the five panchamahabhootas namely Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Jala, Pruthvi. Prakriti, in this school, contrasts with Puruṣa, which is pure awareness and metaphysical consciousness. The term is also found in the texts of other Indian religions such as Jainism and Buddhism.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Vishishtadvaita</span> One of the most popular schools of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy

    Vishishtadvaita is a school of Hindu philosophy belonging to the Vedanta tradition. Vedanta refers to the profound interpretation of the Vedas based on Prasthanatrayi. Vishishta Advaita, meaning "non-duality with distinctions", is a non-dualistic philosophy that recognizes Brahman as the supreme reality while also acknowledging its multiplicity. This philosophy can be characterized as a form of qualified monism, attributive monism, or qualified non-dualism. It upholds the belief that all diversity ultimately stems from a fundamental underlying unity.

    The Brahma Sūtras, also known as the Vedanta Sūtra, Shariraka Sūtra, and Bhikshu-sūtra, are a Sanskrit text which synthesizes and harmonizes Upanishadic ideas and practices. It is attributed to the sages Bādarāyaṇa, who is also called Vyāsa (arranger), but probably an accumulation of incremental additions and changes by various authors to an earlier work, completed in its surviving form in approx. 400–450 CE. The oldest version may be composed between 500 BCE and 200 BCE, with 200 BCE being the most likely date.

    Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time, physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts. Hindu cosmology is also intertwined with the idea of a creator who allows the world to exist and take shape.

    <i>Shvetashvatara Upanishad</i> One of the ancient Sanskrit scriptures of Hinduism

    The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad contains 113 mantras or verses in six chapters.

    Rachanā is derived from the root verb – रच् - meaning – to arrange. Rachanā means – arrangement, preparation, disposition, formation, creation, production, performance, completion, array of troops, literary work, a creation of the mind, contrivance, invention e.g. chitra-rachana (drawing/painting), kāvya-rachana , anvaya-rachana.

    Non-difference is the nearest English translation of the Sanskrit word abheda, meaning non-existence of difference. In Vedanta philosophy this word plays a vital role in explaining the indicatory mark in respect of the unity of the individual self with the Infinite or Brahman.

    Avyakta, meaning "not manifest", "devoid of form" etc., is the word ordinarily used to denote Prakrti on account of subtleness of its nature and is also used to denote Brahman, which is the subtlest of all and who by virtue of that subtlety is the ultimate support (asraya) of Prakrti. Avyakta as a category along with Mahat and Purusa plays an important role in the later Samkhya philosophy even though the Bhagavad Gita III.42 retaining the psychological categories altogether drops out the Mahat and the Avyakta (Unmanifest), the two objective categories.

    Adarsana refers to the real non-seeing of objects which already exist; it refers to the ignorance of factual existence of things. This term figures prominently in the Yoga school of thought, and in Jain philosophy.

    Ishvaratva in Sanskrit language is an abstract noun meaning 'godhood', it also means divinity.

    Pariṇāmavāda, known in English as Transformation theory, is a Hindu philosophical theory which pre-supposes the cause to be continually transforming itself into its effects, and it has three variations – the Satkarya-vada of the Samkhyas, the Prakrti Parinama-vada of the Saiva Siddhanta and the Brahma-Parinama-vada of the Vishishtadvaita Vedanta School of Thought.

    Bhuman (Sanskrit:भूमन) means fullness or abundance; It is a synonym of Brahman. The word, Bhuman, is derived from the word, Bahu, meaning much or many, with the suffix – imam, added after it by dropping – i, to impart the sense of the abstract noun. This word refers directly to the Supreme Self who is superior to Prana though Prana is Bhuman because of proximity where the vow of Prana, consisting in transcending all other thing is alluded to.

    The Samkhya school of philosophy, which follows Prakṛti Parinama-vada, describes the origination and evolution of universe through its theory of Satkāryavāda which is the theory of causation. According to this theory, the manifested effect is pre-existent in the cause; and the original material cause of everything that is perceived is Prakriti. When Prakriti is not in proximity with immutable Purusha, the conscious ability (chiti-shakti), the three modes of prakriti are in equipoise and prakriti is an unmanifest potential. When the conscious ability and the objective ability interact the three modes of the objective nature become disturbed and enter a state of flux giving rise to diverse manifest appearance.

    In Hindu philosophy, Mauna (Silence), which has a voice of its own, refers to peace of mind, inner quietude, Samadhi and the Absolute Reality. The Hindu texts insist upon proper understanding of silence by experiencing it through control of speech and practice.

    Kalpanā is derived from the root - kalpanama (कल्पनम्) + ना, and means – 'fixing', 'settlement', 'making', 'performing', 'doing', 'forming', 'arranging', 'decorating', 'ornamenting', 'forgery', 'a contrivance', 'device'. and also means – 'assuming anything to be real', 'fictional'.

    Yoga philosophy is one of the six major important schools of Hindu philosophy, though it is only at the end of the first millennium CE that Yoga is mentioned as a separate school of thought in Indian texts, distinct from Samkhya. Ancient, medieval and most modern literature often refers to Yoga-philosophy simply as Yoga. A systematic collection of ideas of Yoga is found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a key text of Yoga which has influenced all other schools of Indian philosophy.

    References

    1. 1 2 Lochtefeld 2002, p. 518.
    2. ↑ Patton, p. 146.
    3. ↑ "Sanskrit Dictionary". Spokensanskrit.de.
    4. ↑ "Pradhana". Vedabase.
    5. 1 2 Hughes, p. 76.
    6. ↑ Gambhirananda 2012, p. 47.
    7. ↑ Gambhirananda 2021, p. 45–61.
    8. ↑ Shyama Kumar Chattopadhyaya (2000). The Philosophy of sankar's Advaita Vedanta. Sarup & Sons. p. 297. ISBN   9788176252225.
    9. ↑ Swami Sivananda - commentator (1999). Brahma Sutras. Islamic Books. pp. 190–196.
    10. ↑ George C. Adams (1993). The Structure and Meaning of Badarayana's Brahma Sutras. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 12–16. ISBN   9788120809314.
    11. ↑ B.N.Krishnamurti Sharma (1986). Philosophy of Madhvacharya. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 18, 246. ISBN   9788120800687.

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