विशेषाविशेषलिङ्गमात्रालिङ्गानि गुणपर्वाणि॥१९॥
visheSha=particular, specific; avisheSha=non-specific, archetypical; li~ggamatra=a mere mark; ali~ggaani=without mark or differentiating characteristic; guNaparvaaNi=states or stages of gunas
All three commentators have provided a fairly long commentary on this sutra. Below, I have tried to bring out the salient points.
Taimni
" The stages of the Gunas are the particular, the universal, the differentiated and the undifferentiated."
The four stages of the gunas mentioned in this sutra correspond to the four stages of samadhi mentioned in sutra 1.17. Thus:
- Vishesha – Vitarka (Manomaya kosha)
- Avishesha – Vichara (Vijnananamaya Kosha)
- Linga – Ananda (Anandamaya Kosha)
- Alinga – Asmita (Atma/soul)
How to establish correspondence between Vishesha and Vitarka? Take, for example, a specific dog, Bonzo who can be completely identified and isolated from all other dogs due to specific characteristics that he possesses. Our lower mind can process these characteristics which are specific (vishesha) to Bonzo. This level of consciousness is termed Vitarka, as given in sutra 1.17. The level of gunas operating at this level of consciousness is termed Vishesha.
At the next level of consciousness called Vichara, the mind process the information at a general, more universal level. At this level, the mind looks at Bonzo simply as a dog without any specifics. Dog becomes an abstract idea representing an archetype or a universal principle. The level of guna at this Vichara state is called Avishesha.
The next level of consciousness represents the state of Ananda as given in sutra 1.17. At this level, consciousness transcends the mind and the intellect and operates at the level of intuition. All objects and principles become part of a universal consciousness. The state of guna corresponding to the Ananda level of consciousness is called linga-matra (symbol alone).
The next stage of the guna is called ‘alinga’ or without a mark/symbol. In this stage the objects lose their separate identity. An awareness of divine consciousness alone remains. This corresponds to the state of Asmita of sutra 1.17 which represents pure existence.
Here is an example which might help us understand the different stages of the gunas. Suppose we have several objects made of gold – a ring, bracelet and a necklace, placed on a table. A child would see them merely as separate objects (vishesha stage). A woman would see them as ornaments serving the common function of decorating the human body (avishesha stage). A goldsmith would see them all as being made of gold, the common substratum for all the ornaments, along with the ornaments (linga stage). A thief, on the other hand, might see them all purely as gold without any separate identity (Alinga stage). Even though all these stages exist for a given object, the yogi has developed a level of consciousness that he is aware of these different states and sees everything in the right perspective.
Aranya
"Diversified (vishesha), undiversified (avishesha), indicator-only (linga-matra), and that which is without any indication (alinga) are the states of the gunas".
The visheshas (diversified) are the sixteen mutations –
- five bhutas (earth, water, fire, air and space)
- five organs of action (arms, legs, tongue, organs of excretion, organs of reproduction)
- five organs of sense perception (eyes, ears, skin, tongue, nose)
- mind
Attributes like blue, red, sweet, sour etc are vishesha (diversified). The vishesha can be pleasant, unpleasant and stuporous.
The avishesha (undiversified) are six in number:
- the five tanmatras (sense of smell, taste, touch, sight, hearing)
- asmita (ego) which is the cause of the organs and tanmatras.
Mahat (buddhi or intellect) is called ‘linga-matra’ (indicator only) which means that it is an indicator for Purusha and Prakriti.
Prakriti, in the unmanifest state, is ‘alinga’, which is not the indicator of anything.
Ordinary water, earth etc do not constitute the bhutas (elements). That whose feature is sound is Akasha (space). Similarly touch goes with Vayu (air), sight with Tejas (fire), taste with Apa (water), and smell with Kshiti (earth). Akasha is the cause of Vayu, Vayu is the cause of Tejas, Tejas is the cause of Apa, and water is the cause of Kshiti. Because of this cause and effect, an object of the sense of smell is the receptacle of all five properties. An object of the sense of taste that of four (except smell), sight that of three, touch that of two and hearing that of one property only.
Perception of smell comes from contact with particles of matter (earth/kshiti). Taste arises from chemical action caused by a liquid substance (water/aap). From heat (fire/agni) comes perception of color (sight/vision). Feeling of touch results from contact with gaseous matter (air/vayu). With the sense of sound arises a sense of emptiness or void (space/akasha).
The five bhutas (gross elements) like earth, fire etc are the Visheshas of the five tanmatras. Visheshas represent three characteristics:
- To indicate the diversities of the notes of the scales of sound; heat, cold, hardness etc (touch), blue, yellow etc (fire/light), sweet, sour etc (taste), pleasant, pungent etc (smell).
- These diversities result in states of happiness, misery or indifference.
- These bhutas are the lowest form of mutation and are not the cause of any further modifications.
The word ‘tanmatra’ means ‘that alone’ – sound alone, touch alone etc. That is, subtle sound, without any variation or diversity is the sound tanmatra. Same is the case with other tanmatras. When meditated upon, the subtle perception of each tanmatra appears only as a flow of time. All the tanmatras have emanated from Asmita (ego).
Asmita (ego) is the pretentious feeling relating to self. Asmita also refers to the pure I-sense, buddhi, which is the subtlest form of egoism. Combination of one’s ego with the organs of perception creates I-sense which is called Abhimana.Organs represent different modifications of asmita. Knowledge of light, for example, implies the sense of identification of the Knower with the sensation of light. This feeling "I am the knower of light" is the ego called Asmita.
Mahat or buddhi is the awareness that "I exist" or pure "I-sense". Modifications like "I am the hearer" etc is the modification of "I" and is termed ego or Ahamkara. Mahat tattwa (element) is the cause for Ahamkara. The Mahat principle gives rise to the six Avisheshas – Asmita (ahamkara) followed by the five tanmatras.
At the time of dissolution, all elements disappear in the reverse order of creation. Finally, Mahat disappears into the unmanifest (Avyakta) prakriti.
All manifested objects like Mahat etc are created to serve the two-fold purpose of Purusha (sutra 2.18). Unmanifest Prakriti, however, is eternally present, and is not created because it has no purpose to serve for the Purusha. Objects like Mahat are beginning-less; however, they are not without an end – they end when the purpose of Purusha (attaining the state of Kailvalya) has been served.
All objects are the product of the three Gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas). Gunas are always present in Prakriti. The unmanifest state is one of equilibrium of the three gunas. At the time of dissolution, when the objects merge back into Prakriti, there is no dissolution for the gunas; they just merge back into Prakriti.
Bryant
"The different stages of the guna qualities consist of the particularized, unparticularized, the distinctive and the undistinctive"
This sutra talks about the categories of evolutes from the primordial interaction of the gunas in prakriti.
The category ‘vishesha’ refers to the final evolutes that do not produce further products or evolutes.
The category ‘avishesha’ refers to those evolutes that produce the final ‘vishesha’ evolutes. So, the five elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether are the vishesha evolutes of the avishesha – sound, touch, taste, sight and smell. Avishesha also includes ‘ahankara’ (ego) which is responsible for these evolutes – five organs of action (speech, hands, feet, anus, and genitals), five organs of perception (ears, eyes, skin, tongue, and nose) and the mind.
The ‘linga-matra’, literally mark or a sign only, category refers to ‘mahat’ or ‘buddhi’ (the cosmic intellect) which is a mark or a sign for prakriti. Buddhi is like the root of a tree. It is the closest to the seed that produced it and is also the cause of trunk, leaves, branches etc.
Buddhi is also a transformation of the gunas. It represents pure ‘beingness’. Vyasa says that it is neither existence nor non-existence, neither real nor unreal.
The final category, the subtlest of all, is prakriti itself which has been called ‘alinga’ (not a mark or symbol for anything). There is no sign to discern prakriti until there is disturbance in the balance of the gunas which results in the first evolute ‘mahat’. Prakriti is eternal whereas all its evolutes are temporary manifestations of prakriti.
Everything that one experiences in manifest reality, including the subtlest level of viveka (discrimination) is taking place in the buddhi. In the alinga state, the gunas are balanced and cannot fulfill the objectives of Purusha – namely, experience and liberation (sutra 2.18). In that sense they may seem "non-existent". However, the gunas are capable of producing effects (evolutes) and hence can be termed "existent".
Comparing these Samkhya concepts with those of the Vedanta school, we notice that in Vedanta, prakriti, the gunas and the entire manifest world are all mental constructs and mere superimpositions on the only real existent, Brahman. On the other hand, as per Samkhya and Yoga, prakriti is existent, real and eternal.
tanks for the teachment