yathā ca takṣobhayathā ..2.3.38..

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SUTRA II. 3. 38.

यथा च तक्षोभयथा॥२.३.३८॥

yathā ca takṣobhayathā ..2.3.38..

… Yatha, as. … Cha, also, and. .. Taksha, the carpenter. Ubhayatha, in both ways.

38. The soul is active in both ways like unto the carpenter. — 256.

COMMENTARY

As a carpenter is agent in the act of carpentry through the medium of his instruments, such as axe, plane, saw, borer, etc., and is agent also directly in the act of holding those instruments and grasping them in his hands, so also the Jiva is an agent in a two-fold sense. It works on the external world indirectly through the instrumentality of the sense organs, and it is also directly agent in the act of controlling the Pranas. In other words, the soul has double agency, one through the Prana, the other by seizing hold of the Prana itself and directing it into different channels. This explains why in certain scriptural texts agency is attributed to Matter and not to the Soul. It is because importance is» given to the instrument, therefore, it is said that the Gunas act and not the Jiva. Thus, as in ordinary language, one may say that the axe cuts, etc., such phrases are figurative only, and as there is preponderance of Gunas in such acts, so the action is attributed to the Gunas. In fact, the Gita declares it clearly that «re-incarnation of the soul in good or bad family is regulated by the use it has made of its implements, namely, the Gunas». (Gita, XIII, 21):

Soul, ruling matter, used the implements (Gunas) made of matter. The cause of its birth in good and evil wombs is the right or wrong employment of these implements (Gunas).

This explains those passages which declare Gunas to be the agent, such as the Gita, III., 27:

All actions are wrought by the Gunas of nature only. The self, deluded by egoism, thinketh: «I am the doer».

If the soul is the real agent, why does the above «verse say that the man who thinks himself to be the agent is a fool? And why is this repeated again in verse, XVIII., 16:

That being so, he verily who — owing to untrained Reason — looketh on his Self, which is isolated, as the actor, he, of perverted intelligence, seeth not.

The reply to this is that every act has five factors. The man who ignores the four and thinks himself to be the sole agent, is called in these verses a fool, one of perverted intelligence. The five factors are mentioned in the same (XVIII., 14.)

The body, the soul, the various organs, the diverse kinds of energies, and the Supreme Lord also, the fifth, are the five factors in all acts.

We cannot take these verses in the superficial sense as teaching that the soul is isolated and never an agent, for in that very book we find that the soul does perform act, for the sake of getting Mukti. If the soul could perform no action, no direction could be issued to it to exert for salvation. Such as we find in the Gita, XVIII., 65:

Merge thy mind in Me, be My devotee, sacrifice to Mo, prostrate thyself before Me, thou shalt come even to Me. I pledge thee My truth; thou art dear to Me.

So also IX, 34:

On Me, fix thy mind; be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me; prostrate thyself before Me; harmonised thus in the Self, thou shalt come unto Me, having Me as thy supreme goal.

So also XVIII, 55:

By devotion he knoweth. Me in essence, who and what I am; having thus known Me in essence he forthwith entered into the Supreme.

These verses show that Mukti is for that soul only which performs the act of meditation on the Lord. No doubt, there are passages declaring that the soul neither kills nor is killed, such as II., 19, etc. They mean that the effect of slaying, as cutting asunder into two pieces, never accrues to the soul. The soul, being eternal, can never be cut asunder or slain. But those passages do not mean that a person, who unrighteously kills another, will not suffer the moral consequences of that act, for the Gita has already established that the agency belongs to the soul, and the soul must enjoy or suffer the good or bad effects of its deeds, This also explains how the saints or devotees are said to perform no action, though they are ordered to worship the Lord. The great Saints, the Bhagavatas, not only worship the Lord in this world, but in heaven also after they have attained Mukti; but their worship is considered to be no action in the ordinary sense of the word; for they worship without any taint of Gunas, and their devotion is of pure spiritual energy, and the Gunas are completely submerged in their case, and play a very subordinate part.

Referring to this we find in the Bhagavata Purana the following:

The Sattvic agent is he who performs all acts without attachment to the Gunas, the Rajasa agent performs all acts blinded by his attachment to the Gunas, the Tamasic agent has no memory, and performs all actions ignorantly, while the Nirguna agent is he who does every act with perfect resignation to My will.

The experiencing of pleasure and pain is always the function of the soul, pure and simple, and never of matter or gunas, as says the Gita very clearly (XIII., 20):

Matter is called the cause of the generation of causes and effects; Spirit is called the cause of the enjoyment of pleasure and pain.

Though pleasure and pain always co-exist with Gunas, yet they, being of the nature of consciousness or feeling, have the soul element predominating in them, for the power of consciousness belongs to the soul alone and the Gunas do not predominate in the sentiency of pleasure and pain, for matter is opposed to consciousness. It is a well-known fact, that the essence of soul is consciousness, the feeling of pleasure and pain. The soul is self-luminous, and hence intelligence as well as agency must be understood to be the essential qualities of the soul. In fact, the Shruti also declares the same (Prashna Upanishad, IV., 9.):

For he it is who sees, hears, smells, tastes, perceives, conceives, acts, he whose essence is knowledge, the person, and he dwells in the highest, indestructible Self.

The illustration of the carpenter also shows that, the agency of the soul is not perpetual but depends upon its volition. It may or may not be active as it pleases. It is not subject to the law of inertia of Matter. A material particle once in motion, is always in motion without any power of stoppage unless some external force comes in.

Adhikarana XVI — Sold in its activity u dependent on the Lord

Now another doubt is raised as regards this activity of the soul.

Doubt: Is this activity of the soul self-dependent or dependent on another?

Purvapaksha: It is self-dependent, because injunctions and prohibitions of the scriptures have a meaning only if the soul were self-dependent in its activity and not otherwise. When the scripture says, «let a person desirous of heaven perform sacrifice», «let a Brahmana not drink wine, and let him forsake all sins», etc., it means that the soul is independent in its activity, for orders are addressed only to those who of their own froe volition and thought have the power of entering on an action or refraining from an action.

Siddhanta: The soul is not independent in its activity, hut depends on the Highest Self, as is shown in the following Sutra:

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