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9), since no freely acting intelligence is involved; iv. the categories of the Samkhyan analysis are arbitrary, variable and never quite clear. (UMS II.2.10) |
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Though the distinguishing feature of this series of arguments against Samkhya is supposed to be that the refutation proceeds independently of texts, in fact the declaration of reliance on reason alone marks no real divergence from the general pattern of Advaita's narrative, in which the virtues of Advaita and its "others" are considered only as they are inscribed within a scripturally constituted horizon. |
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There are five main points at which the argument "based on reason alone" is thoroughly informed by the upanisads. |
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First, when the purvapaksin argues that Advaita's Self, supposed to be pure and unchanging consciousness, cannot be expected to cause action, the siddhantin responds as follows: |
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On the analogy of the magnet and form, etc., something bereft of any tendency to act can still impart this to others. For instance, a magnet, though possessing no tendency to act by itself, still induces that tendency in iron. Objects of perception like form, etc., which by themselves have no tendency to act, still impart this tendency to the eye, etc. Similarly, it is but logical that the Lord, who is all-pervasive, the Self of all, omniscient, and omnipotent, should be the impeller of all even though He is Himself free from any tendency to act. (UMS II.2.2)
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The Lord mentioned here is of course the Lord who can be known adequately only from the upanisads. |
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Second, the upanisads show that all action has God for its source; this position is more logical than the attempt to attribute the stimulation of action to the nonconscious. For instance, the illustration of milk flowing spontaneously from the mother, without conscious direction, was cited previously73 only "from an everyday point of view, to show that action can take place in a thing itself without the aid of any external means. But from the upanisadic point of view, it is known that all acts take place under God's bidding." (UMS II.2.3) In other words, the actual state of thingsas opposed to what merely seems to make sense |
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