Author: Randeep Singh / go to all Samkhya Karikas
Samkhya Karika 44 text:
Dharmena gamanam-urdhva gamanamadhastad bhavatya adharmena I
Jnanena ca apavargoh viparyayat isyate bandhah II
Dharmena – through dharma
Gamanam – going
Urdhva – upwards
Gamanamadhastad – going downwards
Bhavatya – happens
Adharmena – via adharma
Jnanena – Through jnana
Ca – and
Apavargoh – emancipation, progress in transcendence
Viparyayat – from the opposite
Isyate – considered
Bandhah – bondage
Samkhya karika 44 further throws some light on the two bhavas – Dharma and Jnana – as discussed in previous karikas. Here, it discusses the consequences, for the individual, of cultivating the Positive bhavas of Dharma and Jnana within in Buddhi. It also explains the repercussions of adhering to the two negative counterparts – Adharma and Ajnana – of the same two bhavas.
Normally, the two negative counterparts are not separate category of bhavas, these are present by default in the absence of the corresponding positive versions of the same. The person who doesn’t cultivate Dharma slips into Adharma on its own, same goes true for Jnana bhava as well.
This karika clearly explains how bhavas can be a vehicle for progressing on the path of enlightenment or an obstacle to the same.
Samkhya Karika 44 – Effects of Dharma / Adharma Bhavas
Each action when backed by Dharma bhava is bound to bestow one with self growth in the realms of the material as well the spiritual world. Dharma bhava infuses discriminative efficiency accompanied by self direction. The action here is done with the clear consciousness of duty.
Such an action will be fueled with the righteous conduct and equipoise. These two qualities when settle within Buddhi as Dharma bhava, chances of failure related to whatever one is set to achieve diminish completely.
One who id endowed wit Dharma will not falter on one’s course due to emotional upheavals associated with desire. Material gains come to the one who has deleted the desire to posses them. With clear vision and understanding one treads the path of spirituality, Dharma bhava helps by maintaining the clarity and purpose of one’s journey.
On the contrary if one adheres to Adharma, due to lack of right direction, one progresses towards degradation of every kind. One easily slips into Adharma bhava when one moves away from one’s duty towards personal well being at all levels: physical, psychological, and spiritual.
Adharma bhava shackles one with the vices of anger, jealousy, and hatred, restricting one’s progress on the path of spirituality. Such a person lacks persistence and commitment to the right cause and path. There is no understanding of what is right in a given situation. Their is no focus and mental strength to distinguish between what must be done and what should one refrain from.
Such a mindset, or Buddhi degrades the very character of the individual. Dharma is the path of virtue and Adharma is of vice.
Effects of Jnana and Ajnana Bhavas
Jnana is knowledge and cultivating Jnana bhava within one’s Buddhi endows one with the capacity to discriminate between wrong and right. The ability to access, or filter right knowledge is the adhering to Jnana bhava. Right knowledge is the guiding light towards one’s spiritual goal. emancipation from the bondages of the material world.
On the other hand wrong knowledge or Ajnana bhava pushes one into the darkness of pain and confusion whipped up by the complexity of unfathomable desires related to matter. Jnana bhava helps one reach the heights of fulfillment and liberation from the pain associated with the material world.
Jnana, is the knowledge of what is real and what is unreal; what should one pursue and what should one neglect. Lacking the ability to distinguish between the two is the major impediment to one’s release from all pain which results from remaining bound with matter.
Right knowledge pushes one to experience the evolutes of Prakriti, which is nothing but components of the material world. Ones you experience, or gain knowledge about the futility of remaining stuck to them , one can bein one’s progress towards one’s liberation from the same.
This realization is the essence of right knowledge or Jnana bhava.
This Sankhya karika 44 revisits the concept of Bhavas in Samkhya Philosophy. This karika is very crucial to understanding what can facilitate or impede one’s progress on the path of emancipation out of all the concepts associated with Prakriti, the material universe.