Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta (Collected Works of Rene Guenon)

97 Pages·2004·5.78 MB·English

by  Rene Guenon

RENE GUEXON
MAN AND HIS
BECOMING
ACCORDING TO
THE VEDANTA
Translator
RichardC . Nicholson
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Originallyp ublishedin Frenchi n as
L'Hommee t sond evenirs elonl e VedAnta CONTENa5,"'*--
o LesE ditionsT iaditionnellesr9 z5
Third, revisede dition,z oor \f
SecondI mpressionz oo4
Seconde dition, t945,Luzac& Company,L ondon Editorial Note xI tt
Firste dition 1928R, ider& Co.,L ondon
Preface 1
Englisht ranslation@ S ophiaP erennisz oor
All rights reserved r GeneralR emarkso n the Vedanta 7 ,.. __.
Seriese ditor: IamesR . Wetmore 2 FundamentalD istinction betweent he.self and the.Ego, 2\
3 The vital center of the Human Being:s eat of Brahma
31
No part of this book may be reproducedo r transmitted, 4 Purusha and prakriti
39
in any form or by any means,w ithout permission
5 Purushau naffectedb y Individual Modifications
46
For information, address:
6 The Degreeso f Individual Manifestation
Sophia Perennis,P .O.B ox 6rr 5t
Hillsdale NY rz5z9 7 Buddhi or the Higher Intellect 57
sophiaperennis.com
8 Manas or the Inward Sense:
The Ten External Facultieso f sensationa nd Action 6r
9 The Envelopeso f the.Self,:
Library of CongressC ataloging-in-PublicationD ata
The Five Vdyus or Vital Function s 67
ILhomme et son dGevuednnior sne. Rloennl e€ Vedanta.E nglish] ro The EssentialU nity and Identity of .self in all the
Man and his becoming accordingt o the Vedanta/ RendG udnon ; Stateso f the Being 72
translatedb y Richard C. Nicholson.-3rd rev.e d. rr The Different Conditions of Atma
p. (Collectedw orks of Ren€ Gu6non) in the Human Being 79
Includesi ndexes. 12 The waking state:o r the condition of vaishvdnara gz
rsBN o 9oo5886 16 (pbk alk. paper)
rsBNo 9oo5886 z + (cloth:a lk.p aper) 13 The Dream state:o r the condition of Thijasa gg
l. Vedanta.2 . Man (Hinduism) I. Nicholson, Richard C. IL Title. 14 The state of Deep sleep:o r the conditio n of prdjna
Br32.V3G 78132 oo1 95
rz8'.o954-dczr 20OrOOO974 15 The Unconditioned Stateo f Atma ro2
16 SymbolicalR epresentationso f Atmaand its Conditions by
the SacredM onosyllable Om rog
17 The Posthumous Evolution of the Human Being tr2
EDITORIAL NOTE
r8 The Reabsorptiono f the Individual Faculites 119
19 Differencesi n the PosthumousC onditions THr p.lsr cENTURyH ASW TTNESSEaDn e rosiono f earlierc ultural
accordingt o the Degreeso f Knowledge D5 valuesa s well as a blurring of the distinctive characteristicso f the
world'st raditional civilizations,g iving riset o philosophica nd moral
20 The Coronal Artery and the'Solar R"y' r32 relativism, multiculturalism, and dangerousf undamentalistr eac-
'Divine
2l The Journey'o f the Being on tions.A s earlya st he l92os,t he Frenchm etaphysicianR en6G udnon
the Path of Liberation Bg (1886-195rh)a d diagnosedth eset endenciesa nd presentedw hat he
believedt o be the only possibler econciliationo f the legitimate,a l-
22 Final Deliverance ry3
though apparentlyc onflicting,d emandso f outward religiousf orms,
23 1)i deha-lulukti and ttv an -f ivfukta 16o 'exoterismsw', ith their essentiacl ore,'esoterismH'. is works arec har-
24 The Spiritual Stateo f the Yogi: acterizedb y a foundational critique of the modern world coupled
with a call for intellectualr eform; a renewede xaminationo f meta-
The SupremeI dentity 168
physics,t he traditional sciencesa, nd symbolism,w ith specialr efer-
GeneralI ndex v5 encet o the ultimate unanimity of all spiritual traditions;a nd finally,
SanskritI ndex v7 a call to the work of spiritual realization.D espitet heir wide influ-
ence,t ranslation of Gu6non'sw orks into English has so far been
piecemealT. he SophiaP erennise dition is intendedt o fill the urgent
needt o presentt hem in a more authoritativea nd systematicfo rm. A
completel ist of Gudnon'sw orks,g iven in the order of their original
publicationi n French,f ollowst his note.
Gu6nonp ublishedh is fundamentald octrinal work, Man and His
Becominga ccordingto the VedAntai,n 1925.A fter assertingt hat the
Vedentar epresentsth e purest metaphysicsin Hindu doctrine, he
acknowledgetsh e impossibility of ever expoundingi t exhaustively
and statest hat the specifico bject of his studyw ill be the nature and
constitution of the human being. Nonethelesst,a king the human
being asp oint of departure,h e goeso n to outline the fundamental
principleso f all traditional metaphysicsH. e leadst he readerg radu-
ally to the doctrine of the SupremeI dentity and its logical corol-
lary-the possibility that the being in the human state might in
this very life attain liberation, the unconditioned state where all
separatenesasn d risk of reversiont o manifestede xistencec eases.
XII MAN AND HIS BECOMING ACCORDING TO THE VEDANTA THE WORKS
OF REN6 GUfNON
Although Gu€non choset he doctrine of the Advaita school( and in
particular that of Shankara)a s his basis,M an and His Becoming
should not be considerede xclusivelya n exposition of this school
and of this master.I t is, rather,a synthetica ccountd rawing not only Introductiont o the Study Perspectiveosn lnitiation 0g+6)
upon other orthodox brancheso f Hinduism, but not infrequently of theH indu Doctrines( rqzr)
also upon the teachingso f other traditional forms. Neither is it a The GreatT riad 0g+6)
TheosophyH: istory of
work of erudition in the senseo f the orientalistsa nd historianso f a Pseudo-Religio(nr9 zr) TheM etapLrysicaPl rincipleso f
'outside"
religion who study doctrines from the but represents theI nfinitesimalC alculusQ 946)
knowledgeo f the traditionally transmitteda nd effective's acreds ci- The SpiritistF allacy !gzt) Initiation and Spiritual
ence'.G u6non treatso ther aspectso f Hinduism in his Introduction Easta nd WestQ 9z4) RealizationG gSz)
to theS tudyo f theH indu Doctrinesa ndS tudiesin Hinduism.
'scare Man and HisB ecoming Insightsi nto Christian
Gu6non often usesw ords or expressionss et off in quotes'. accordingt o the VedantaO gzS) EsoterismG gs+)
To avoidc lutter,s ingleq uotation marksh aveb eenu sedt hroughout.
As for transliterationsG, u€non was more concernedw ith phonetic TheE soterismo f Dante (:1925) Symbolso f SacredS cience0 g6z)
fidelity than academicu sage.T he systema doptedh ere reflectst he The Crisb of theM odern World Studiesin Freemasonry
views of scholarsf amiliar both with the languagesa nd Gu6non's 0gzt) and the Compagnonnag0eg 6+)
writings.B racketsin dicatee ditoriali nsertionso, r, within citations, TheK ing of the World 0gzz) Studiesin Hinduism j966)
Gu€non's additions.W herever possible,r eferencesh ave been up-
SpirituaAl uthoritya nd TraditionalF ormsa nd Cosmic
dated,a nd Englishe ditions substituted.
TemporaPl ower 0gzg) CyclesG gzo)
The presentt ranslation is basedo n the original work of Richard
C. Nicholson.T he text was checkedfo r accuracya nd further revised TheS ymbolismof the Cross(rgtr) Insightsi nto IslamicE soterism
by famesW etmore,w ith further reviewsb y |ohn Ahmed Herlihy TheM ultiple Stateso f theB eing and Thoism0 gZl)
and Iohn Champoux.A speciald ebt of thanksg oest o Cecil Bethell, (rgtz) Reviews(t gZl)
who reviseda nd proofread the text at severals tagesa nd provided
TheR eigno f Quantity and MiscellaneaQ 976)
both the generali ndex and the index of Sanskritt erms.
the Signso f the Times( rq+S)
PREFACE
ON severalo ccasionsw e have expressedin previous writings the
intention of undertakinga serieso f studiest hat would aim, accord-
ing to the needso f the casee, ither at presentinga direct exposition
of variousa spectso f the Easternm etaphysicadl octrines,o r at mak-
ing such adaptationso f them as might seemm ost intelligible and
advantageousw, hile however alwaysr emaining strictly faithful to
their spirit. The presentw ork constitutest he first of theses tudies.
For reasonsw hich havea lreadyb een explainede lsewherew, e have
takent he Hindu doctrinesa so ur centrala uthority,a nd more espe-
cially the teachingo f the Vedanfaw hich is the most purely meta-
physicalb ranch of thesed octrines.I t should be clearlyu nderstood,
however,t hat there is nothing in this proceduret o prevent us, as
occasiona rises,f rom pointing out analogiesa nd making compari-
sonsw ith other theories,r egardlesso f their origin; in particular,w e
shallr efert o the teachingso f other orthodox brancheso f the Hindu
doctrine insofar as they clarifr or complete the teachingso f the
VedAntao n variousp oints.T o anyonei nclinedt o raiseo bjectionst o
the adoption of sucha method we would reply that suchc riticism is
all the lessj ustifiablei n that our intentions arei n no wiset hoseo f a
historian; we wish to re-asserte mphaticallya t this point that our
purposei s not erudition but understanding,a nd that it is the truth
of ideasw hich interestsu s exclusivelyI.f therefore it has seemed
desirablei n the presenti nstancet o supply preciser eferencesw, e
haved one so for reasonsq uite unconnectedw ith the specialp reoc-
cupationso f orientalists;w e simply wished to show that we have
inventedn othing and that the idease xpoundedd erivef rom a genu-
ine traditional source;a t the samet ime, for the sakeo f those who
are ablet o profit thereby,w e havef urnishedt he meanso f referring
to textsc ontainingc omplementaryin formation, for it goesw ithout
sayingt hat we maken o claim to put forward an absolutelyc omplete
expositiono f the doctrine,e venr egardinga singlep oint.
2 MAN ANI) HIS I}ECOMING ACCORDING TO THE VEDANTA PREFACE 3
As for an expositiono f the entired octrine,s ucha thing would be question,n o matter what, is relatedt o principlest hat it can be said
a sheeri mpossibility;e ither it would involvea n interminablel abor, to be treatedm etaphysicallyi;t is this truth which must never be
or it would require to be put in so synthetica form as to be quite lost sighto f, so long asi t is intendedt o treat of genuinem etaphysics
incomprehensibleto Westernr eaders.M oreover,i n a work of that and not of the pseudo-metaphysicosf Europeanp hilosophers.
sort, it would be extremelyd ifficult to avoid an appearanceo f sys- If we havee mbarkedf irst upon the expositiono f questionsr ela-
tematization which is incompatible with the most essentialc har- tive to the human being,i t is not becauseth eseq uestionse njoy any
acteristicso f the metaphysicald octrines; doubtless,t his would exceptionailm portancei n themselvesfr om the purely metaphysical
amount to no more than an appearanceb, ut nonethelessit would point of view: that point of view being essentiallyd etachedf rom
inevitablyb e productiveo f extremelys eriouse rrors,a ll the more so everyc ontingencyt,h e caseo f man can nevera ppeart o it asa privi-
sinceW esternp eople,b y reasono f their mental habits,a re only too leged one. we have begun with the discussiono f theseq uestions
pronet o discover'systems'evewnh eren onee xist.O ne must forever simply becauseth ey havea lreadyb een raisedd uring the courseo f
be on one'sg uard againsta ffordingt he slightestp retextf or unjusti- our previousw ritings and thus a complementaryw ork such ast he
fiable assimilationso f this kind; better abstain altogether from presento ne now seemsc alledf or. The order in which any subse-
expounding a doctrine than contribute toward denaturing it, even quent studiesm ay appearw ill depend similarly on circumstances
if merely through clumsinessF. ortunately,h owever,t here is a way and will largelyb e determinedb y considerationso f expediencyw; e
out of the difficnlty; this consistsi n treating a particular point or think it advisableto mention this at the outsetl esta nyones houldb e
one more or lessd efinite aspecto f the doctrine at a time, leaving temptedt o sees omes ort of hierarchicalo rder in our works, either
oneself free to take up other points afterward,i n order to make as regardst he importance of the questionst reated or as regards
them in their turn the subjecto f other separates tudies.M oreover, their interdependenceo ne upon another:t hat would be to attribute
there will neverb e any dangero f theses tudiesb ecomingw hat the to us an intention which we haven ever entertained,b ut we know
erudite and the specialistsc all'monographs',b ecauseth e funda- only too well how easilys uch misunderstandingsa rise,a nd that is
mental principles will never be lost sight of, and the secondary why we take steps to forestall them whenever it lies within our
points themselvesc an therefore only appear as direct or indirect power to do so.
applicationso f those principles,f rom which all elsed erives;i n the There is a further point which is of too greati mportancet o be
metaphysicaol rder,t hat is to sayi n the realm of the Universalt,h ere passedo ver without comment in thesep reliminary observations,
can be no placea t all for'specialization'. althoughw e thought we had explainedo urselvesc learlye nougho n
From the foregoing remarks it should be clear why we have other occasionsb; ut we haven oticed that somep eopleh avef ailed
restrictedt he scopeo f the presents tudy to the nature and constitu- to grasp our meaning and it is thereforea dvisablet o emphasizeit
tion of the human being: to make our comments intelligible we still further. Genuinek nowledgew, hich alonec oncernsu s, hasl ittle
shalln aturallyb e obligedt o touch upon other subjectsw hich at first if anythinga t all to do with'profane'knowledget;h e studiesw hich
sight may appeart o be besidet he point, but it will alwaysb e in rela- go to make up the latter cannot be looked upon evena sa n indirect
'sacred
tion to this one subjectt hat we shalli ntroducet hem. The principles path of approacht o science';o n the contrary,a t times they
themselvesa re possesseodf a rangev astlye xceedingth e entire field even constitute an obstacle,b y reason of the often irremediable
of their possiblea pplications;b ut it is nonethelessle gitimate to mental deformationw hich is the commonestc onsequencoef a cer-
expound them, wherevers ucha thing is possible,in relation to this tain kind of education.F or understandingd octriness uch as those
or that particular application,a nd this is a procedurew hich in fact we are expoundingh ere,a study undertakenm erely'from the out-
offers considerablea dvantagesM. oreover,i t is only insofar as any side'i s of no avail;a s we havea lreadyr emarked,i t is not a question
4 MAN AND HIS BECOMING ACCORDING TO THE VEDANTA PREFACE 5
of history or philotogy or literature;a nd we will add, at the risk of after a long interval,t hat we believei t necessartyo expoundc ertain
repeatingo urselvesto a degreew hich somem ay considerf astidious, ideasf or the benefit of thosew ho are capableo f assimilatingth em,
it ls not a question of philosophy either.A ll theset hings, indeed, without howeverm odifring or simplifring them aftert he fashiono f
'profane' 'popularizers',
belong to that order of knowledgew hich we classa s or the which would be in flat contradiction with our
'external'n, ot from contempt,b ut becauseit is in fact nothing else; avowedi ntentions. Indeed,i t is not for the doctrine to abasea nd
one is not calledu Pon to considerw hom one may happent o please reducei tselft o the levelo f the limited understandingo f the many;i t
or displeaseo; ne simply hast o describet hings ast hey are,g iving to is for thosew ho are capableo f it to raiset hemselvetso the under-
eacht iring the name and rank which normally belongt o it. The fact standingo f the doctrine in its integral purity, and it is only in this
that in the modern West'sacreds cience'hasb eeno diouslyc arica- way that a genuinei ntellectuale lite can be formed.A mong several
tured by more or lessc onsciousim postersi s not a reasonf or keep- personsw ho receivea n identical teaching,e ach one understands
ing silent about it, or for ignoring, if not actuallyr epudiatingi t; on and assimilateist more or lessc ompletelya nd profoundly according
the contrary,w e declareu nhesitatinglyn ot only that it exists,b ut to the range of his own intellectual possibilities,a nd in this way
alsot hat it is our sole preoccupationA. nyonew ho carest o refer to selection,w ithout which there could be no genuine hierarchy,
what we havea lreadys aid elsewherea bout the extravaganceosf the comes about quite naturally. These questionsh ave alreadyb een
occultistsa nd Theosophistslw ill not fail to understandt hat we are dealt with previously,b ut it was necessaryto recall them before
alluding here to somethingo f quite a different order and that the embarkingu pon a strictly doctrinal exposition;a nd the more unfa-
attitude of peopleo f that kind also can neverb e regardedb y us as miliar they aret o Westernm inds today,t he more imperativei t is to
anything but'profane'; moreover't hey only make their casew orse emphasizteh em.
by pretendingt o a knowledgew hich is not theirs,a nd this is one of
the principal reasonsw hy we find it necessartyo exPoseth e absur-
dity of their pretendedd octrines whenevert he occasionp resents
itself.
From the precedingr emarksi t should alsob e cleart hat the doc-
trines we propose to discussr efuset o lend themselveso, wing to
their very nature,t o any attemPta t'popularization';i t would be
foolish to try'to bring within everybody'sre ach'-to usea common
phraseo f our time-conceptions which can only comew ithin the
grurp of an elite,a nd to attempt to do so would be the surestw ay of
distorting them.W e havee xplainede lsewherew hat we mean by the
intellectuale lite,a nd what part it will be calledu Pon to play if it ever
comest o be formed in the WesUw hile at the samet ime we have
shown how a genuinea nd profound study of the Easternd octrines
is indispensablein preparingf or its formation.2I t is in view of this
work, the resultso f which no doubt will only make themselvesfe lt
l. SeeT heosophyH: istory of a Pseudo-Religioann dThe SpiritistF allacy' Eo'
2. SeeE asat ndWst andI ntroductiont o the Studyo f theH indu Doctrines-E o.
1
GENERAL REMARKS
ON THE VEDANTA
Tun Veddnta,c ontraryt o an opinion widely held among oriental-
ists,i s neithera philosophyn or a religion,n or doesi t partaket o a
greatero r lessere xtent of the charactero f either. To deliberately
considert his doctrine under thesea spectsis one of the gravesto f
errors,c alculatedto resulti n failuret o understanda nythinga bout it
from the outset; in fact one revealso neselft hereby as a complete
strangert o the true charactero f Easternt hought, the modes of
which are quite different from those of the West and cannot be
includedw ithin the samec ategoriesW. e havea lreadye xplainedi n a
previousw ork that religion,i f one is not to extendt he scopeo f this
word beyondi ts just limits, is somethingw holly Western;t he same
term cannot be appliedt o Easternd octrinesw ithout stretchingi ts
meaningt o sucha degreet hat it becomesq uite impossiblet o givei t
any definition, even of the vaguestk ind. As for philosophy,i t also
representsa n exclusivelyW estern point of view, one, moreover,
much more externalt han the religiousp oint of view and therefore
still further removedf rom that of the subjectw e area bout to study.
As we said above,i t is an essentially'profane'lk ind of knowledge
even when it is not purely illusory, and we cannot help thinking,
particularly when we consider what philosophy has become in
modern times,t hat its absencefr om a civilizationi s hardly a matter
1. A singlee xceptionc anb e madef or the very speciasl ensein which the word is
usedi n referenceto the'Hermetic philosophy';b ut it goesw ithout sayingt hat it is
not this unusuals enset hat we at presenth avei n mind, a sensew hich is moreover
almostu nknown to the moderns.
8 MAN AND HIS BECOMING ACCORDING TO THE VEDANTA GENERAI REMARKS ON THE VEDANTA 9
'mental
for regret. In a recent book a certain orientalist has assertedth at horizon' of its author. But all systematizationis absolutely
'philoJophyi s philosophye verywhere,'as tatementw hich openst he impossiblei n pure metaphysicsw, heree verythingb elongingt o the
Joo, to undesirablea ssimilationso f every kind, including those individual order is truly non-existent,m etaphysicsb eing entirely
againstw hich he himself quite justly protestedo n other occasions. detachedf rom all relativitiesa nd contingenciesp, hilosophicalo r
fhat philosophy is to be found everywhereis just what we are at otherwise.T his is necessarilys o,b ecausem etaphysicsis essentially
pr.r..tt contesting;a nd we declinet o accepta s'universalt hought' knowledgeo f the Universala, nd suchk nowledged oesn ot permit of
ito udopt a phrase of the same author) what is in reality but an being enclosedw ithin anyf ormula, howeverc omprehensive.
extremelys pecialm ode of thought. Another historian of the East- The diversem etaphysicaal nd cosmologicacl onceptionso f India
ern doctrines, while in principle admitting the inadequacya nd are not, strictly speaking,d ifferent doctrines, but only develop-
inexactitudeo f those western terms which have been persistently mentso f a singled octrine accordingt o different points of view and
imposedu pon them, neverthelesdse claredt hat he could seen o way in various,b ut by no meansi ncompatible,d irections.B esidest,h e
of iispensing with sucht erms,a nd he madea sf reea useo f them as Sanskritw ord darshanaw, hich is attachedt o eacho f thesec oncep-
'point
oi his piedecessorsT.h is appearsa ll the more surprising inas- tions,p roperlys ignifies'viewo' r of view',f or the verbalr oot
'see-
"mryu ch as for our part we haven evere xperiencedth e slightestn eed drish,w hencei t is derived,h as as its primary meaningt hat of
to resort to this philosophicalt erminology,w hich would still suffer ing': it cannoti n anyw ay denote'systema',n d if orientalistst ranslate
from the disadvantageo f being somewhatr epellenta nd needlessly it thus, that is merely the result of Westernh abits of thought which
complicated,e ven if it were not wrongly applied,a s is alwayst he lead them into falsea ssimilationsa t everys tep.S eeingn othing but
caseu nder such circumstancesB. ut we do not wish to embark at philosophye verywherei,t is only natural that they should also see
present upon the kind of discussionst o which these questions systemsw herevert hey go.
might give rise; we were merely concernedw ith showing,b y these The singled octrine to which we havej ust alludedi s represented
.ru-pLr, how diffrcult it is for some people to step outside the essentiallyb y the Veda,t hat is to say,t he sacreda nd traditional Sci-
'classical'f ramework within which their Western education has encei n its integrality,f or this preciselyis the proper meaningo f that
confinedt heir thought from the outset' term.2I t furnishest he principle and the common basiso f all the
To return to the VedAntai,t must be regardedi n reality as a more or lesss econdarya nd derivativeb ranchesw hich go to make
purely metaphysicadl octrine,o peningu p truly unlimited possibili- up those diversec onceptionsi n which certain peopleh ave seens o
iies of conception,a nd, as such, it can in no wise be contained many rival and opposeds ystemsI.n reality,t hesec onceptionsi,n so-
within the more or lessn arrow framework of any systemw hatso- far ast hey arei n accordw ith their principle,o bviouslyc annot con-
ever. In this respect and without looking any further, one can tradict one another; on the contrary,t hey are bound mutually to
observea profound and irreducibled ifference,a differenceo f prin- completea nd elucidatee acho ther. Moreover,t here is no need to
ciple,d istinguishingi t from anythingt hat Europeansin clude under read into this statementt he suggestiono f a more or lessa rtificial
ttre name of philosophy.I ndeed,t he avoweda im of all philosophical and belated'syncretismf'o, r the entire doctrine must be considered
conceptionse, speciallya mong the moderns,w ho carry to extremes
the individualist tendencya nd the resultantq uestf or originality at 2. The ro'soete vinidg,' from which Veda a'nkdn ovwidiyndg 'a re derived, bears the twofold
meaningo f (viderei n Latin) and (as in the Greeko t6a): sight is
any price,i s preciselyto establishs ystemsth at arec ompletea nd def- takena sa symbolo f knowledgeb ecauseit is its chief instrumentw ithin the sensible
inite, or in other words essentiallyr elativea nd limited on all sides' order; and this symbolismi s carriede veni nto the purely intellectualr ealm,w here
Fundamentally,a systemi s nothing but a closed conception,t he knowledgei s likened to 'inward vision',a s is implied by the use of such words as
'intuition'
more or lessn arrow limits of which aren aturally determinedb y the for example.
10 MAN AND HIS BECOMING ACCORDING TO THE VEDANTA GENERAL REMARKS oN THE vnnATTTe, 1I
asb eings yntheticallyc omprisedw ithin theVeda,a nd that from its the Atomist schooli n the caseo f the vaisheshikan,o slur is casto n
origin. Tradition,i n its integralitSf orms a perfectlyc oherentw hole, the legitimary of that darshanain itself;f or it to remain within the
which howeverd oesn ot mean to saya systematicw hole; and since bounds of orthodory it is only necessaryto reducei t again to its
all the points of view which it comprisesc an as well be considered truly essentialc ontent. On this point we cannot do better than
simultaneouslya s in successiont,h ere cannot be any real object in quote by way of generali ndication this passagefr om the sdnkhya-
enquiring into the historicalo rder in which they may actuallyh ave PravachanaB-h ashay of Vijf ia na -B hikshu:
beend evelopeda nd renderede xplicit,e vena Partf rom the fact that
the existenceo f oral transmission,p robablyl astingo ver a period of In the doctrine of Kalada [the vaisheshika]a nd in the sarlkhya
indefinite duration, would rendera ny proposeds olution quite mis- Iof Kapila],t he portion which is contraryt o the Vedam ust be
rejectedb y those who adheres trictly to the orthodox tradition;
leading.T hough the expositionm ay be modified to a certaind egree
externallyi n order to adapti tselft o the circumstanceos f this or that in the doctrine of faimini and that of vyisa [the two Mtmdnsds],
there is nothing which is not in accordancwe ith the Scriptures
period, it is nonethelesst rue that the basis of tradition always
Iconsidereda st he basiso f that tradition].
remainse xactlyt he same,a nd that thesee xternalm odifications in
no wiser eacho r affectt he essenceo f the doctrine. The nameM lmdnsd,d erivedf rom the verbalr oot mun,'to think',i n
The concordanceo f a conceptionw ith the fundamentalp rinciple its iterativef orm, denotest he reflectives tudyo f the'sacredS cience':
of the tradition is the necessaray nd sufficientc ondition of its ortho- it is the intellectual fruit of meditation on the veda. The first
doxy, which term must however on no account be taken in this Mlmdnsd (Pilrva-Mlmdnsd)is attributed to laimini; but we must
instancem erely accordingt o its religious mode; it is necessaryto recall in this connectiont hat the namesw hich are thus attachedt o
stresst his point in order to avoid any error in interpretation, the formulation of the different darshanasc annot be relatedi n any
becausei n the West there is generallyn o question of orthodory way to particular individuals:t hey are useds ymbolicallyt o describe
excepta sv iewedf rom the purely religiouss tandpoint.I n everything what are really'intellectualg roupings',c omposedo f all those who
that concernsm etaphysicso r that proceedsm ore or lessd irectly haved evotedt hemselvesto one and the sames tudy over the course
from it, the heterodoxyo f a conceptioni s fundamentallyn ot differ- of a period the duration of which is no lessi ndeterminablet han the
ent from its falsity,r esultingf rom its disagreemenwt ith the essential date of its beginning. The first Mtmdnsd is also called Karma-
principles.S incet hesea re containedi n the Veda,it follows that it is Mrmdnsdo r practicaMl lmansab ecauseit is concernedw ith actions,
agreemenwt ith theVedathatc onstitutesth e criterion of orthodory' and, more particularly,w ith the accomplishmenot f rites.T he word
Heterodoxyi s found, therefore,a t that point where contradiction karma indeed possesseas double meaning: in a generals ense,i t
with theVedaarisesw; hetherv oluntary or involuntary,i t indicatesa means action in all its forms; in a speciala nd technical sense,it
more or lessf ar-reachingd eviation or alteration of the doctrine, meansr itud action,s ucha si s prescribedb y the veda.Thisp ractical
which moreoverg enerallyo ccurs only within somewhatr estricted Mlmansa has for its aim, as the commentators omandthas ays,'t o
schoolsa nd can only affect specialp oints, sometimeso f very sec- determine in an exact and precisem anner the senseo f the Scrip-
ondary importance,t he more so sincet he poweri nherenti n the tra- tures,'but chieflyi nsofara st hey include preceptsa, nd not in respect
dition hast he effecto f limiting the scopea nd bearingo f individual of pure knowledgeo r jfidna,w hich is oftenp lacedi n oppositiont o
errors, of eliminating those which exceedc ertain bounds, and, in karma, an opposition correspondingp reciselyt o the distinction
any case, of preventing them from becoming widespread and betweent he two Mlmdnsas.
acquiring real authority. Even where a partially heterodoxs chool The secondM tmansd (uxara-Mtmansd) is attributed to vydsa,
'collective
hasb ecomet o a certain extentr epresentativeo f a darshana,s ucha s that is to say to the entity'which arrangeda nd finally