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06 | Puruṣa

The second type of ultimate reality admitted by Sāṅkhya is the self.

The existence of the self is admitted by all. Everybody feels and asserts that he or she exists. The feeling of one’s own existence is the most natural and indubitable experience that we all have. No one can deny the existence of his self.

For Sāṅkhya, the self exists because it is self-manifest and its non-existence cannot be proved in any way.

There is a wide divergence of opinion about its nature:

  • Cārvāka identifies the self with the senses.
  • The Buddhists regard the self as identical with the stream of consciousness.
  • The Nyāya-Vaiśeṣikas and Prabhākara Mīmāṃsakas view the self as an unconscious substance which may acquire the attribute of consciousness under certain conditions.
  • Advaita Vedānta holds that the self is pure eternal consciousness which is also a blissful existence.

The Sāṅkhya View of Puruṣa

According to Sāṅkhya:

  • The self is different from the body, the senses, the manas (mind), and the intellect.
  • It is not anything of the world of objects.
  • The self is not the brain, nor the nervous system, nor the aggregate of conscious states.
  • The self is a conscious spirit which is always the subject of knowledge and can never become the object of knowledge.
  • It is not a substance with the attribute of consciousness. It is pure consciousness itself.
  • Consciousness is its very essence, not a mere quality.
  • It is an unchanged, eternal, and all-pervading reality which is free from all attachments and is unaffected.

Puruṣa, the principle of pure Consciousness.

  • Puruṣa is the soul, the self, the spirit, the subject, the knower.
  • It is neither body nor senses nor brain nor mind nor ego nor intellect.
  • It is itself pure and transcendental Consciousness.
  • It is the ultimate knower which is the foundation of all knowledge.
  • It is the pure subject and as such can never become an object of knowledge.
  • It is the silent witness, the emancipated alone, the neutral seer, the peaceful eternal.
  • It is beyond time and space, beyond change and activity.
  • It is self-luminous and self-proved.
  • It is uncaused, eternal, and all-pervading.
  • It is the indubitable real, the postulate of knowledge, and all doubts and denials presuppose its existence.
  • It is called nistraiguṇya (beyond the three guṇas), udāsīna (indifferent), kevala (alone), sākṣī (witness), draṣṭā (seer), and jñātā (knower).

Proofs for the existence of the Puruṣa

  1. Teleological Proof:

    • All compound objects exist for the sake of the Puruṣa.
    • The body, the senses, the mind, and the intellect are all means to realize the end of the Puruṣa.
    • The three guṇas, Prakṛti, and the subtle body are all said to serve the purpose of the self.
    • Evolution is teleological or purposive. Prakṛti evolves itself in order to serve the Puruṣa's end.

  2. Logical Proof:

    • All objects are composed of the three guṇas and therefore logically presuppose the existence of the puruṣa who is the witness of these guṇas and is himself beyond them.
    • The three guṇas imply the conception of a nistraiguṇya—that which is beyond them.

  3. Ontological Proof:

    • There must be a transcendental synthetic unity of pure Consciousness to coordinate all experiences.
    • All knowledge necessarily presupposes the existence of the self.
    • The self is the foundation (adhiṣṭhāna), the fundamental postulate of all empirical knowledge.
    • All affirmations and all negations equally presuppose it. Without it, experience would not become experience.

  4. Ethical Proof:

    • Non-intelligent Prakṛti cannot experience its products. So there must be an intelligent principle to experience the worldly products of Prakṛti.
    • Prakṛti is the enjoyed (bhogya), and so there must be an enjoyer (bhoktā).
    • All objects of the world have the characteristics of producing pleasure, pain, and bewilderment, which have meaning only when there is a conscious principle to experience them. Hence, Puruṣa must exist.

  5. Mystical or Religious Proof:

    • There are persons who try to attain release from the sufferings of the world.
    • The desire for liberation and emancipation implies the existence of a person who can try for and obtain liberation.
    • Aspiration presupposes the aspirant.

Plurality of Puruṣas

Sāṅkhya believes in the plurality of the puruṣas.

  • Like the Jīvas of the Jainas, the souls of Rāmānuja, and the monads of Leibniz, the Sāṅkhya Puruṣas are subject to qualitative monism and quantitative pluralism.
  • The selves are all essentially alike; only numerically are they different. Their essence is consciousness.
  • Bliss is regarded as different from consciousness and is the product of the sattva guṇa.

Arguments for proving the plurality of the Puruṣas:

A: The souls have different sensory and motor organs and undergo separate births and deaths.

  • Had there been only one Puruṣa, the birth or death of one should have meant the birth or death of all.
  • Any particular experience of pleasure, pain, or indifference by one should have been equally shared by all.
  • Hence, the souls must be many.

B: If the self were one, the bondage of one should have meant the bondage of all, and the liberation of one should have meant the liberation of all.

  • The activity of one should have made all persons active, and the sleep of one should have lulled all other persons to sleep.

C: Though the emancipated souls are all alike and differ only in number (as they are all beyond the three guṇas), the bound souls relatively differ in qualities also.

  • In some, sattva predominates, while in others rajas, and in still others tamas. Hence their difference.