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Prakriti and Its Evolutes - Sankhya-Yoga Practice of Rediscovering Purusha
Prakriti and Its Evolutes - Sankhya-Yoga Practice of Rediscovering Purusha
Sankhya Yoga,
Prakriti and its Evolutes:
Returning to Self-realization
by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati
SwamiJ.com
Evolutes of
Unmanifest Matter
You don't have to know much: As you read through the descriptions below,
please keep in mind that it really does not take a tremendous amount of
understanding of these subjects to begin doing the self-awareness and meditation
practices.
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Real and Unreal: Sankhya philosophy views anything that is subject to change,
death, decay or decomposition as being "unreal" rather than "real." This does not
mean that the objects are not there in front of you. Rather, they are not ultimately
"real" in that their form keeps morphing from this to that to the other. What is
considered "real" is that final substratum which never changes, cannot die, and
cannot possibly decay or decompose. It is the direct experience of that "absolute
reality" which is being sought.
Humans are also multi-leveled: So too, is the construction of the human being.
We are multi-leveled beings, with the next level emerging out of the previous,
while those levels still coexist and interact with one another (see the charts). While
the human is made of physical material, we are also constructed of subtler levels of
reality, which are products of the unmanifest, primordial essence called Prakriti in
Sanskrit.
Familiar human evolutes: We are all familiar with the process by which our quiet
mind has a memory arise, which triggers emotions, causing chains of thoughts to
emerge from that, and to then further emerge into actions and speech. Each of
these is a process of one level of functioning emerging or evolving out of the
previous, while each of those levels still exists on its own. (See also the article on
Karma and the Source of Actions, Speech, and Thoughts)
In this way, the actions and speech (which emerged from mind) still coexist with
the whole of the conscious mind, as well as with the whole domain of the
unconscious mind, and also with the still, silent center of pure consciousness
(whatever we might call this consciousness, or however we might individually
perceive it). All of these coexist, while one leads to the next, with the grosser
emerging from the subtler. So it is with all the levels of Prakriti.
Retracing our way back: The reason this is important is that the
process of enlightenment (or awakening) is one of reversing the
process, of tracing our way back through the stages of evolutes. The
chart above shows the evolutes, and the chart below shows the
journey of tracing our way back to consciousness alone, which is the
meditation process of systematically withdrawing consciousness from
the evolutes.
Sankhya-Yoga: What we now call "Yoga" or "Raja Yoga" has also been called
"Sankhya-Yoga," since the practical Yoga methods rest on the philosophical
foundation of Sankhya, which is represented in the chart above. This is a widely
held view of the relationship between Sankhya and Yoga (See also the article
entitled Six Schools of Indian Philosophy). Some may not agree with this
perspective, but that is a matter for the scholars to debate. Sankhya is thus the
foundation for the Yoga described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.
This is very practical: Here, in this article, the evolutes of Prakriti are
being presented as practical information for the modern seeker who is
not a scholar or philosopher, but is a seeker trying to gain a basic
understanding that will facilitate personal meditation practices. By
having a working knowledge of the evolutes of Prakriti, the journey of
moving attention in the reverse direction (involution) makes much
more sense.
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Mind: Mind (manas) is the instrument, which is the driving force
behind actions, speech, and the thinking process. It is also the
recipient of the sensory input. It is useful to know that, here, mind is
being used in this more limited way, rather than the whole of the inner
process called antahkarana, which includes manas, ahamkara, buddhi,
chitta, along with the senses and the five elements.
This same process of arising and receding happens not only with the
senses, but all of the evolutes of Prakriti.
Also, if the senses arise from and recede into the field of mind, then it
is also easy to see that during times when the senses are operating,
they are also infused with mind, the next subtler level of Prakriti. In
other words, senses without mind operating through them simply do
not work. The idea of senses operating without mind infusing them
seems rather silly, in fact. It is that simplicity that is in the whole
concept of Prakriti manifesting outward, and the process of meditation
retracing that process inward.
Senses experiencing the Elements: Notice that the Senses and Instruments of
action (Indriyas) emerge out of unmanifest matter, or Prakriti. Notice that the five
Elements also emerge out of Prakriti. Thus, one set of evolutes (Senses and
Instruments of action) are relating to another set of evolutes (the five Elements in
the form of many objects). This is one way of explaining the mechanics of how it
can be that all is one can appear to be multiplicity.
Following Evolutes
Back to Consciousness
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If this looks difficult: If this information is new to you, and looks difficult or
confusing, please keep in mind that there are only a small number of principles on
the charts above (about 25-30, depending on how you count them). While they
might seem overwhelming, this really is a manageable number of principles to
gradually learn.
By comparison, think of how you have learned to use the browser software with
which you look at this web page. When I count the number of pull-down options on
the menu of Internet Explorer, there are about 75 different commands that I have
gradually come to use, and I'm no computer expert. To type a paper in Word, there
are over 100 commands in the pull-down menus that I now know how to use.
One of the beautiful parts of this process is that there really are only a handful of
these principles through which consciousness gradually moves so as to then
experience its true nature. Cultivating such a perspective makes the process simple
to see, though not necessarily easy to do. However, understanding the simplicity
sure is a nice place to start!
Shortcuts: It is important to note and remember that, while the retracing method
of Sankhya-Yoga leads one systematically inward to direct experience, there is also
the shortcut from bestowing of direct experience, grace, or shaktipat, whether you
hold that as coming from God, Guru, or some other explanation of such gift. The
sage Vyasa, the most noted commentator on the Yoga Sutras, mentions this in his
comments on Sutra 3.6.
The descriptions below are intended to give you a feel for this inner process, not to
be literal, step by step instructions. While the systematic process below is accurate,
the specific practices are the subject of the Yoga Sutras. Hopefully, by better
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understanding the general process below, the meditation processes and practices
of the Yoga Sutras will be clearer.
In each of these and other cases, we are dealing with the gross world
of objects, which are each related to the world of earth, water, fire, air,
and space. One might use a single object of meditation, or a variety of
objects. The objects might be constructed of the physical five elements
(bhutas) or their subtle counterparts (tanmatras). They might be
experienced as solid or heavy, like in the waking state, or as thin or
vaporous, like in the dreaming state.
One might focus on many such constructed gross and subtle objects
for many years. However, we might move to subtler meditation, where
the object of meditation becomes the five elements themselves, and
the sensing instruments themselves.
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objects, and begin to explore the nature of the senses themselves, or
the other internal evolutes of Prakriti, which do not seem to be objects
in the conventional sense of physical objects.
Meditation on mind itself: Notice in the charts above that the senses
and means of cognition (Indriyas) as well as the five elements
(Tanmatras and Bhutas) emerge from the field of mind (Manas) at the
very subtle level of mind. Gradually, one has the ability to use mind
itself as the object of meditation. This is extremely subtle, beyond our
normal idea of what it means to witness the flow of thoughts in the
mind. Here, again, we are literally aware of the instrument of mind
itself.
In the eight rungs of Yoga (Yoga Sutra 2.29), rung five is Pratyahara,
the withdrawal of the senses. This is often mistaken to mean that we
sit still and close our eyes. While that is very important, it is not the
real meaning of sense withdrawal, or Pratyahara. Here, when we truly
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turn attention inward from not only the typical objects of attention, but
also inward from the senses themselves, we encounter the deeper
ability to concentrate on mind itself. Mind itself is formless, in the
conventional sense of an object having shape and dimensions, just as
the senses and elements were also described as formless in the
conventional sense.
Notice, once again, that the process is similar to dealing with gross
objects of meditation, as well as the elements and senses. Something
emerged from something, and now we are simply becoming aware of
that substratum, letting go of the more surface manifestations. (Take a
look at the third level of concentration in Yoga Sutra 1.17, which is on
I-ness. Also see the article on the Four Functions of Mind).
Keep it simple: As already said above, these descriptions are intended to give you
a feel for this inner process, not to be literal, step by step instructions. The specific
practices are the subject of the Yoga Sutras. The journey is systematic, and flows
much more smoothly by having a general understanding of the process. This
understanding, along with oral counsel, and the most important part of all, which is
practice, gradually brings one to direct experience, which is the goal.
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