The
ancient Sänkhya philosophers adopted a purely dialectical approach to
everything. They even went to the extent of rejecting the idea of God since,(according
to them) the concept of God is not essential to explain the world as it exists.
But they were very firm on the existence of soul.
The
Sänkhya considered the body as a ‘tool’ whose purpose is to perceive and enjoy
the material world – the ‘object’.
This is how Sankhya explains rebirth "But if there is nobody who perceives or enjoys, then what is the purpose of all these paraphernalia? Does it not look ridiculous to have all these complex mechanisms without someone who is really benefited by them?Whether it is pleasure or pain, there has to be someone sentient who undergoes them. Moreover, matter is insentient and cannot act on its own without being coaxed by someone who is sentient. The user of a tool cannot be material since that would lead to endless regression. And that user is the soul – the ‘subject’."
That
is the way Sänkhya argues its case (read my book Important missing dimensions in our current understanding of the Mind for details)
Early
Vedic seers went even a step further. Let us see what they said in the next
post.
I had not come across the Sankhya argument before. Very interesting. Do any of the theories say when the transfer (or whatever the correct term is) happens. Is it at conception or at birth ?
ReplyDeleteHello Gopal Krishna
DeleteA very pertinent question in deed. To reply from memory - according to Buddhists the last mind of the dying person person or the accumulated Kamma creates a body in the womb of the prospective mother. A new mind is also created and the info from the last mind of the dying person is transferred to it. Now on, there is no activity in the dying person and it continues in the new body/mind.
According to Upanishads (Sankhya don't talk much about it)the migration of the soul takes place from the dying person to the new body 'like a worm moves from a grass blade to another grass blade'. What it means is that while the soul is partly attached to the previous body it develops new connection to the new body like the worm that moves from blade to blade.It does not hop but just glides through. At no time, the soul can be without body (unlike popularly believed)unless it is completely liberated.
You can read these details in my book "Important missing dimensions in our current understand of the mind" as well as "Ancient wisdom - Modern view points".
Dr. King