{"id":1171,"date":"2014-07-31T21:53:19","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T21:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2014-07-31T22:11:41","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T22:11:41","slug":"prehistoric-svabhavavada-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/prehistoric-svabhavavada-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Prehistoric Svabh\u0101vav\u0101da, part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The previous two parts of \u201cPrehistoric Svabh\u0101vav\u0101da,\u201d posted Feb. 26 and 27, 2012, discussed the little-known kind of svabh\u0101vav\u0101da seen in Gau\u1e0dap\u0101da\u2019s M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya-k\u0101rik\u0101<\/em>, in G\u0101rgy\u0101ya\u1e47a\u2019s Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em>, and in the Book of Dzyan. The Book of Dzyan and the Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em> are hitherto secret texts unknown to history, while the M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya-k\u0101rik\u0101<\/em> is a text known to history that refers to this kind of svabh\u0101vav\u0101da, and accepts it as its own. The M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya-k\u0101rik\u0101<\/em>, however, is not on cosmogony, so it does not give us a cosmogonic account that accords with this kind of svabh\u0101vav\u0101da. For this, we must look elsewhere. Fortunately, such a cosmogony account is found in the Mok\u1e63op\u0101ya<\/em>, and in its later version, the Yoga-v\u0101si\u1e63\u1e6dha<\/em> (see the post, \u201cThe Mok\u1e63op\u0101ya<\/em>, the unrevised Yoga-v\u0101si\u1e63\u1e6dha<\/em>,\u201d dated April 13, 2012). This account was translated and posted on July 1, 2012, as \u201cCreation Stories: The Cosmogony Account from the Mok\u1e63op\u0101ya<\/em>.\u201d Here we have an actual example from a historically known text of a cosmogonic account that accords with this kind of svabh\u0101vav\u0101da.<\/p>\n

As noted in that post, Mok\u1e63op\u0101ya<\/em>, book 3, chapter 12, verses 3 and 8 say that manifestation is due to the inherent nature (svabh\u0101va) of brahman, or pure consciousness (cit). This is like the teaching of the M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya-k\u0101rik\u0101<\/em> that manifestation is the inherent nature (svabh\u0101va) of the deva, i.e., the one brahman or \u0101tman. This is also like the teaching of the Book of Dzyan that manifestation is due to the inherent nature (svabh\u0101va) of the one element. By contrast, the svabh\u0101vav\u0101da that is historically known says that the world is the result of the inherent nature (svabh\u0101va) of the elements or things that make it up. The things that make up the world are caused by themselves, and nothing else. Ramkrishna Bhattacharya has distinguished from this another historically known svabh\u0101vav\u0101da that rejects causality. In his 2007 article, \u201cWhat is Meant by Svabh\u0101va\u1e43 Bh\u016btacintak\u0101\u1e25<\/a>?\u201d (attached), he writes that svabh\u0101va also came to be understood as \u201cchance\u201d or \u201caccident,\u201d the same as the Sanskrit term yad\u1e5bcch\u0101<\/em>. Especially in the moral sphere is svabh\u0101va used in two opposing ways, as causality and as chance. As chance, things occur without a cause; hence, effort is useless.<\/p>\n

For the past thousand years and more, svabh\u0101vav\u0101da has been associated with the C\u0101rv\u0101ka or Lok\u0101yata school of thought, the so-called materialists or atheists or skeptics of ancient India. Both this school, and svabh\u0101vav\u0101da, the doctrine of svabh\u0101va, have been looked down upon. V. M. Bedekar in his article, \u201cThe Doctrines of Svabh\u0101va and K\u0101la in the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata and Other Old Sanskrit Works,\u201d writes (pp. 5-6): \u201cThe thorough-going determinism of these doctrines is based on crass materialism, according to which everything in the world including human life is the product of the Material Elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space) which come together and go off at the behest of Svabh\u0101va, K\u0101la etc.\u201d (link given in part 1 of \u201cPrehistoric Svabh\u0101vav\u0101da\u201d). The idea that human effort is in vain, as what the doctrine of svabh\u0101va leads to, can be clearly seen in the verses from A\u015bvagho\u1e63a\u2019s Buddha-carita<\/em> on this (quoted in part 1 of \u201cPrehistoric Svabh\u0101vav\u0101da\u201d), e.g.: \u201cSome explain that good and evil and existence and non-existence originate by natural development [svabh\u0101v\u0101t, ablative]; and since all this world originates by natural development [sv\u0101bh\u0101vika], again therefore effort is vain.\u201d (chapter 9, verse 58). Ramkrishna Bhattacharya distinguished this type of svabh\u0101vav\u0101da, svabh\u0101va as chance or accident, from the other type of svabh\u0101vav\u0101da, svabh\u0101va as causality, saying that svabh\u0101va as causality should be associated with the C\u0101rv\u0101ka\/Lok\u0101yata, not svabh\u0101va as chance or accident.<\/p>\n

My speaking of \u201cprehistoric svabh\u0101vav\u0101da\u201d is to distinguish between two kinds of svabh\u0101va as causality. The historically known svabh\u0101vav\u0101da as causality holds that everything arises from its own inherent nature (svabh\u0101va). What I have called prehistoric svabh\u0101vav\u0101da holds that everything arises from the inherent nature (svabh\u0101va) of the one, whether this be called the one brahman or \u0101tman, the deva (the shining one), cit (pure consciousness), or the one element. This is the meaning of svabh\u0101va found in the stanzas from the Book of Dzyan given in The Secret Doctrine<\/em>, and in G\u0101rgy\u0101ya\u1e47a\u2019s Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da<\/em>. To distinguish it from the historically known svabh\u0101vav\u0101da as causality, as well as from svabh\u0101va as chance or accident, I have called it \u201cprehistoric svabhavavada,\u201d even though reference to it can still be found in Gau\u1e0dap\u0101da\u2019s M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya-k\u0101rik\u0101<\/em>, and it can still be seen in the cosmogony of the Mok\u1e63op\u0101ya<\/em> and its later form, the Yoga-v\u0101si\u1e63\u1e6dha<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The previous two parts of \u201cPrehistoric Svabh\u0101vav\u0101da,\u201d posted Feb. 26 and 27, 2012, discussed the little-known kind of svabh\u0101vav\u0101da seen in Gau\u1e0dap\u0101da\u2019s M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya-k\u0101rik\u0101, in G\u0101rgy\u0101ya\u1e47a\u2019s Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da, and in the Book of Dzyan. The Book of Dzyan and the Pra\u1e47ava-v\u0101da are hitherto secret texts unknown to history, while the M\u0101\u1e47\u1e0d\u016bkya-k\u0101rik\u0101 is a text known to history […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-svabhavat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1173,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions\/1173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}