Continuing Prof M Hiriyanna's Art Experience
:: Saankhya Philosophy::
The essential features of this system are
(A) its Dualism
(B) It’s Realism.
(A) The Dualism in Saankhya proposes 2 ABSOLUTES, totally DISPARATE… PRAKRTI & PURUSHA. ...PRAKRTI is split further into
(1) the entire Psychic Apparatus of Manas, Buddhi & Ahamkaara, with BUDDHI as its main factor, and
(2) The physical world, made of the 5 elements (The Pancha Bhootaaha) ... PURUSHA (Self) is PURE,
SIMPLE AWARENESS.At one extreme is the OBJECTIVE WORLD, at the other is PURUSHA..
The entire mental setup is designed to bring MEDIATION between PRAKRTI (The Objective World) & PURUSHA .Here, BUDDHI can serve as a connecting LINK... It serves the purpose of the conception of ART, to understand that BUDDHI ENABLES THE PURUSHA TO REALISE EITHER OF THE 2 IDEALS OF LIFE,
BHOGA( experiencing PLEASURE& PAIN) or APAVARGA( SPIRITUAL EQUANIMITY THRO' RIGHT KNOWLEDGE) .
Some knowledge of the 3 GUNAS of SATTVA, RAJAS & TAMAS...which cause Sukha, Dukha & Moha is important (of the 16 effects of these 3 GUNAS):- Two Applications of the Doctrine of GUNAS are relevant
here:
(1) Everything, whether of the outer physical world or inner Psychic apparatus is made up of these 3 GUNAS ....the BUDDHI is essentially SAATTVIC, while others maybe Raajasika or Taamasika… However, the BUDDHI has acquired impulses (VAASANAS) which may modify the intrinsically SAATTVIK character into a Raajasika or Taamasika entity.
(2) The feeling of Pain or Pleasure that we experience arises from the interaction of the two SPHERES of PRAAKR.TIK development....BUDDHI on the one hand & the OBJECTIVE WORLD on the other, ..with PURUSHA as an ONLOOKER, standing by ....Though the BUDDHI, due to its intrinsic Saatvik character, should give rise only to PLEASURE, the play of the VAASANAS , along with the nature of the particular
physical object acting on it, may reverse this result.According to SAANKHYA philosophy, the basic cause of this confusion is traced to a MISTAKEN IDENTIFICATION OF THE BUDDHI W THE PURUSHA… this cannot be avoided until the PURUSHA dissociates from the BUDDHI altogether....this, is when the Question of NEITHER PLEASURE NOR PAIN ARISES … in the ordinary empirical state , selfish desire is ineradicable, and life is a condition of Pleasure mixed with Pain...
HE, ON THE OTHER HAND,WHO ACQUIRES TRUE KNOWLEDGE, REALISING THE INTRINSIC DISPARATENESS OF PRAKR.TI & PURUSHA,TRANSCENDS THE SPHERE OF PLEASURE-PAIN....HE IS THE JEEVANAMUKTA...
Such absolute detachment( seeing things as unrelated to himself, but related to each other, in their absoluteness… unexcited , equanimous frame of mind, serene like a mountain tarn) is beyond the reach of the ordinary man, for he cannot transcend his BUDDHI...he cannot, therefore grow impersonal for a while even!! ...but, we should not consider that the average man cannot escape from pain at all....FOR,
(Here's where Art & Aesthetics play such a pivotal role in our lives) although the ordinary man cannot transcend his BUDDHI, he CAN, by resorting to ART, find a TEMPORARY RELEASE from the natural world ... Pleasure untainted by sorrow doesn't exist in the real world, and has, therefore, to be sought OUTSIDE IT!
THE WORLD OF ART, THOUGH LIKE NATURE, DOES NOT EVOKE OUR EGOISTIC IMPULSES, HAVING A DISTINCT CLASS OF THINGS,NOT COMPOSED OF THE 3 GUNAS...THEREFORE , THEY CANNOT GIVE RISE TO PLEASURE OR PAIN.....THE MIND IS THUS ENABLED TO ASSUME A WELL POISED ATTITUDE, OF WHICH THEAUTOMATIC RESULT IS A FEELING OF PLEASURE...THE ARTIST’s function is to thus RESTORE EQUANIMITY OF THE MIND BY LEADING US AWAY from the COMMONWORLD, OFFERING US ANOTHER IN EXCHANGE.
SHUBHAMASTU - PART -3 will focus on “THE
THEORY OF RASA IN SAMSKR.TA POETICS, MAMMATA's KAAVYA PRAKAASHA AND COMPARING IT
TO THE SAANKHYA THEORY”
- PART -4 will be on “Kaavyasyaatma Rasaha and the UPANISHADIC/ VEDANTIC THEORY OF RASA”
- PART-5 will be “A SUMMATION WITH COMPARISON OF THE THREE STREAMS”
- from the desk of Anuradha
Udayshankar
- Painting by – RajaRavi Verma
Copied from Veda Vijana Rishikulam FB