The Serpent Power. Arthur Avalon

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СКАЧАТЬ from that in which they are regarded after creation, when the experience of concrete sense objects has been had. According to the former aspect, Buddhi or Mahat Tattva is the state of mere presentation; consciousness of being only, without thought of “I” (Ahangkāra), and unaffected by sensations of particular objects (Manas and Indriyas). It is thus the impersonal Jīva Consciousness, a state of impersonal experience which, at least in some of its aspects, may be that which is spoken of as the subliminal consciousness.{206} Ahangkāra, of which Buddhi is the basis, is the personal consciousness which realizes itself as a particular “I,” the experiencer. The Jīva, in the order of creation, first experiences in a vague general way without consciousness of the self, like the experience which is had immediately on waking after sleep. It then refers this experience to the limited self, and has the consciousness “lam So-and-so.”

      Manas is the desire which follows on such experience, and the senses and their objects are the means whereby that enjoyment is had which is the end of all will to life. Whilst, however, in the order of evolution Buddhi is the first principle, in the actual working of the Antahkarana after creation has taken place it comes last.

      It is more convenient, therefore, to commence with the sense-objects and the sensations they evoke. Matter as the objective cause of perception is not in its character as such under the cognizance of the senses. All that can be predicated of it is its effect upon these senses, which is realized by the instrumentality of mind in its capacity as Manas. The experiencer is affected in five different ways, giving rise in him to the sensations of hearing, touch and feel,{207} color and form{208} and sight, taste, and smell.{209} But sensible perception exists only in respect of particular objects. Thus, sound as the gross object of the sense (Indriya) of hearing is either high, low, harsh, sweet, and so forth. Sound is thus perceived in its variations only. But there exist also general elements of the particulars of sense perception. That general ideas may be formed of particular sense objects indicates, it is said,{210} their existence in some parts of the Jīva’s nature as facts of experience; otherwise the generals could not be formed from the particulars given by the senses as the physical facts of experience. There is therefore an abstract quality by which sensible matter (Mahābhūta) is perceived. This abstract quality is called a Tanmātra, which means the “mere thatness,” or abstract quality, of an object. Thus, the Tanmātra of sound (Shabdatanmātra) is not any particular sensible form of it, but the “thatness” of sound—that is, sound as such apart from any of its particular variations stated. The Tanmātras have, therefore, aptly been called the “generals of the sense particulars”{211}—that is, the general elements of sense perception. These necessarily come into existence when the senses (Indriya) are produced; for a sense necessitates something which can be the object of sensation. These Sūkshma (subtle) Bhūta, as they are also called, are not ordinarily themselves perceived, for they are supersensible (Atīndriya). Their existence is only mediately perceived through the gross particular objects of which they are the generals, and which proceed from them. They can be the objects of immediate (Pratyaksha) perception only to Yogīs.{212} They are, like the gross sense objects derived from them, five in number—namely, sound as such (Shabdatanmātra), touch and feel as such{213} (Sparshatanmātra), color and form as such (Rūpatanmātra), flavor as such (Rasatanmātra), and odor as such (Gandhatanmātra). Each of these evolves from that which precedes it.{214}

      Sensations aroused by sense objects are experienced by means of the outer instruments (Bāhyakarana) of the Lord of the body, or senses (Indriya), which are the gateways through which the Jīva receives worldly experience. These are ten in number, and are of two classes: viz., the five organs of sensation or perception (Jnanendriya), or ear (hearing), skin (feeling by touch), eye (sight), tongue (taste), and nose (smell); and the five organs of action (Karmendriya), which are the reactive response which the self makes to sensation—namely, mouth, hands, legs, anus, and genitals, whereby sneaking, grasping, walking, excretion, and procreation, are performed, and through which effect is given to the Jīva’s desires. These are afferent and efferent impulses respectively.

      The Indriya, or sense, is not the physical organ, but the faculty of mind operating through that organ as its instrument. The outward sense organs are the usual means whereby on the physical plane the functions of hearing and so forth are accomplished. But, as they are mere instruments and their power is derived from the mind, a Yogī may accomplish by the mind only all that may be done by means of these physical organs without the use of the latter.

      With reference to their physical manifestations, but not as they are in themselves, the classes into which the Indriyas are divided may be described as the sensory and motor nervous systems. As the Indriyas are not the physical organs, such as ear, eye, and so forth, but faculties of the Jīva desiring to know and act by their aid, the Yogī claims to accomplish without the use of the latter all that is ordinarily done by their means. So a hypnotized subject can perceive things, even when no use of the special physical organs ordinarily necessary for the purpose is made.{215} The fact of there being a variety of actions does not necessarily involve the same number of Indriyas. An act of “going” done by means of the hand (as by a cripple) is to be regarded really as an operation of the Indriya of feet (Padendriya), even though the hand is the seat of the Indriya for handling.{216} By the instrumentality of these Indriyas things are perceived and action is taken with reference to them. The Indriyas are not, however, sufficient in themselves for this purpose. In the first place, unless attention co-operates there is no sensation (Ālochana) at all. To be “absent-minded” is not to know what is happening.{217} Attention must therefore co-operate with the senses before the latter can “give” the experiencer anything at all.{218} Nextly, at one and the same moment the experiencer is subject to receive a countless number of sensations which come to and press upon him from all sides. If any of these is to be brought into the field of consciousness, it must be selected to the exclusion of others. The process of experience is the selection of a special section from out of a general whole, and then being engaged on it, so as to make it one’s own, either as a particular object of thought or a particular field of operation.{219} Lastly, as Western psychology holds, the senses give not a completed whole, but a manifold—the manifold of sense. These “points of sensation” must be gathered together and made into a whole. These three functions of attention, selection, and synthesizing the discrete manifold of the senses, are those belonging to that aspect of the mental body, the internal agent (Antahkarana), called Manas.{220} Just as Manas is necessary to the senses (Indriya), the latter are necessary for Manas. For the latter is the seat of desire, and cannot exist by itself. It is the desire to perceive or act, and therefore exists in association with the Indriyas.

      Manas is thus the leading Indriya, of which the senses are powers. For without the aid and attention of Manas the other Indriyas are incapable of performing their respective offices; and as these Indriyas are those of perception and action, Manas, which co-operates with both, is said to partake of the character of both cognition and action.

      Manas, through association with the eye or other sense, becomes manifold, being particularized or differentiated by its co-operation with that particular instrument, which cannot fulfill its functions except in conjunction with Manas.

      Its function is said to be Sangkalpa-Vikalpa. That is, selection and rejection from the material provided by the Jnānendriya. When, after having been brought into contact with the sense objects, it selects the sensation which is to be presented to the other faculties of the mind, there is Sangkalpa. The activity of Manas, however, is itself neither intelligent result nor moving feelings of pleasure or pain. It has not an independent power to reveal itself to the experiencer. Before things can be so revealed and realized as objects of perception, they must be made subject to the operation of Ahangkāra and Buddhi, without whose intelligent light they would be dark forms unseen and unknown by the experiencer, and the efforts of Manas but blind gropings in the dark. Nor can the images built up by Manas affect of themselves the experiencer so as to move him in any way until and unless the experiencer identifies himself with them by Ahangkāra—that is, by making them his own in feeling and experience. Manas, being thus an experience of activity in the dark, unseen and unrevealed by the light of Buddhi, and not moving the experiencer until he identifies himself with it in feeling, СКАЧАТЬ