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Bhīṣma said.
Right here, they recount this ancient story: the conversation between Nārada, Devala, and Āsita.
Nārada, the best among the wise, having recognized the aged Devala who was seated, asked him about the origin and dissolution of beings.
O Brahman, from where was this universe of immobile and mobile beings created, and where does it go at dissolution? Please tell me that.
Asita said.
The thinkers on beings say that Time, impelled by conditions, creates beings from these, and that these are the five great elements.
Time, impelled by its own nature, creates beings from them. Whoever claims something beyond this to these, certainly speaks untruth, without doubt.
O Nārada, know these five as eternal, immovable, and fixed—masses of the great energy, by their nature the sixth divisions of time.
Waters, sky, earth, air, and fire; imperfection is supreme, being free from doubt regarding these elements.
Certainly, you should not declare the unreal by reasoning or logic. You know well those six groups which are fully manifested in whom.
There are five (principles), and also time, existence and non-existence, and only two (states); the eight elements of beings are eternal, as are creation and dissolution.
From non-existence, beings arise in those that have come into existence, and from those, they also emerge; even when destroyed, the being again becomes those very fivefold forms.
His body is made of earth; his ear arises from space; the sun is his eye; breath is air; and indeed, his blood is derived from water.
The wise know that the two eyes, nose, two ears, skin, and tongue are the five senses, and that these senses provide knowledge of their respective objects.
Seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting — these five senses; by reasoning, know that the qualities exist in five ways in the five (senses).
Form, smell, taste, touch, and sound—these qualities are perceived by the five senses, each in fivefold ways.
Form, smell, taste, touch, and sound—these are their qualities. The senses do not perceive them, but the knower of the field perceives them through the senses.
The mind-stuff is superior to the senses; the mind is higher than that; the intellect is higher than the mind; but the knower of the field, the soul, is higher than the intellect.
First, a creature perceives objects separately through the senses; then, after considering them with the mind, he determines them with the intellect. But the one who ascertains all objects apprehended by the senses—
Those who contemplate on the self say that mind-stuff, the aggregate of senses, mind, intellect, and likewise the eighth (sense), these eight are the sense-organs of knowledge.
Hear also about the organs of action: hand, foot, anus, organ of urination, and the fifth, mouth—these are so named.
The mouth is considered the sense organ for speaking and eating; similarly, the feet are the organs of movement, and the hands are the instruments for performing actions.
The anus and genitals are sense organs with similar functions, being involved in the excretion of feces and in sexual activity.
The sixth, strength—these six have been properly described by me in speech, according to tradition: knowledge, activity, sense qualities—all have been expressed by me.
When a man's senses cease from their own activities due to exhaustion, and he renounces sensory actions, then he truly sleeps.
If, when the senses are at rest, the mind is not withdrawn and continues to engage with objects, one should recognize that as a dream experience.
The states of sattva, as well as those of rajas and tamas, praise those who are engaged in action; similarly, the sattvic praise others as well.
The memory of a sāttvika (pure-minded) person embraces bliss, accomplishment in actions, attainment, and the supreme goal—these are the causes and states it holds.
Among beings, whichever state has adopted the prescribed method, between the two states, the desired result is always directly attained by both.
The senses, states, and qualities are said to be seventeen in number. Among them, the eighteenth is the embodied soul, who is eternal in the body.
Alternatively, all those qualities of embodied beings exist only with the body; when separated from the body, indeed, those embodied qualities do not exist.
Now, alternatively, this combination—the body—is composed of the five elements. There are one, ten, and eight qualities together with those possessing bodies. With heat included, the twentieth or the aggregate is composed of the five elements.
The great one (Self) supports this body together with the wind (prāṇa). For him, for this one endowed with feeling, the cause for the separation of the body arises.
Just as something is born and passes away, so too, when merit and demerit are exhausted, the body, impelled by merit and demerit, is entered (by the self) in due time; thus, this body arises from action.
The soul, having left one body after another, indeed moves from one body to another, taking up a new abode each time; driven by time, the embodied soul moves from a destroyed body or from one dwelling to another.
There, the wise of firm resolve do not grieve; but pitiable people, those who consider themselves related, do grieve.
Truly, this self does not belong to anyone, nor does anyone belong to it; this one alone always experiences pleasure and pain in the body.
The creature is neither truly born nor ever perishes; after experiencing the embodied state, it sometimes attains the supreme state.
When the embodied soul, having destroyed the body made of merit and sin that arises from accumulated actions, and with the body diminished, is reborn, it attains the state of Brahman.
Sāṅkhya knowledge is prescribed for the destruction of merit and demerit; when that is destroyed, one indeed perceives the supreme state of Brahman.
