सांसिद्धिकाश्च भावाः प्राकृतिका वैकृतिकाश्च धर्माद्याः ।
दृष्टाः करणाश्रयिणः कार्याश्रयिणश्च कललाद्याः ॥ ४३ ॥
sāṁsiddhikāśca bhāvāḥ prākṛtikā vaikṛtikāśca dharmādyāḥ ।
dṛṣṭāḥ karaṇāśrayiṇaḥ kāryāśrayiṇaśca kalalādyāḥ ॥ 43 ॥
sāṁsiddhikāḥ=innate; ca=and; bhāvāḥ=dispositions; prākṛtikā=natural; vaikṛtikāḥ=acquired; ca=and; dharmādyāḥ=dharma (virtue) and the rest; dṛṣṭāḥ=observed; karaṇāśrayiṇaḥ=residing in the inner instrument (buddhi); kāryāśrayiṇaḥ=residing in the effect (body etc.); ca=and; kalalādyāḥ=embryo and the rest
The dispositions – virtues etc., are innate, natural and acquired. These subsist in the main instrument, the intellect. The embryo and the rest subsist in the effect (physical body).
In karika 40, it was mentioned that the subtle body transmigrates while endowed with the dispositions (bhāvas) – dharma etc. In the present karika, the nature and categories of these bhāvas are described.
The bhāvas are of three types:
Innate (sāṁsiddhikā): Innate represents the situation wherein one is born with these bhavas with no influence of the previous karmas. These are the four bhavas dominated by the sattva guan – dharma (virtue), jnana (knowledge), vairāgya (dispassion), and aishwarya (power). Both Gaudapada and Mishra give the example of a single person, Kapila, the author of the original Samkhya Sutras, who was born with these four sattvic bhavas.
Natural (prākṛtikā): This is somewhat similar to the previous category, wherein one is born with the same four sattvic bhavas. However, in this case, these bhavas are a result of previous good karma. Here again, Gaudapada and a few others give the example of the four sons of Brahmā – Sanata, Sanandana, Sanātana, and Sanatkumāra, who were naturally born with the four sattvic bhavas.
Derived or acquired (vaikṛtikā): This category belongs to the rest of us wherein one acquires knowledge from a teacher or from scriptures. These include all the eight bhavas, the four dominated by sattva guna and their opposites dominated by the tamas guna.
Gaudapada enumerates the above three as separate categories of bhavas. Mishra, on the other hand, equates Innate (sāṁsiddhikā) with Natural (prākṛtikā), thus listing them as two categories.
The second part of the karika tells us that these bhavas subsist in the ‘instrument’ (karaṇa). In karika 23 we were told that the function of the intellect (buddhi) is ‘determination’ and that it is endowed with the eight bhavas. Of these the four dominated by sattva guna are: dharma (virtue), jnana (knowledge), vairāgya (dispassion), and aishwarya (power); those dominated by tamas guna are their opposites – adharma (non-virtue) etc. Thus, the intellect represents the instrument wherein these bhavas abide.
The karika also mentions that embryo etc. are supported by the ‘effect’ (kārya) which is the physical body. As we have seen earlier, the subtle body, as a result of transmigration, finds a new physical body which is the product of the union of the sperm and the ovum. The embryo, flesh, muscle etc. are supported by the physical body. This body also is the support for the stages of growth – infancy, youth, old age etc.
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