Bṛhad-upākhyāna

The Bṛhad-upākhyāna (“the great account”) runs through eight chapters (45 to 52) of the Poorvardha of the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa. Sānandana Maharshi tells it to Nārada Maharshi. It is about the meeting of Janaka Mahārāja, the wise king of Mithilā, with Pañcaśikha Maharshi, who is also called Kāpileya. Pañcaśikha was a disciple of Āsuri and a master of Sāṃkhya. Janaka learns from him the dharma of moksha (liberation). The teaching answers the arguments of those who say there is only matter, and it declares that the ātman is real and that Sāṃkhya is a path to freedom.

How the account begins

Sānandana has taught Nārada the teachings on moksha. Nārada asks for more. He says he can never have enough of teaching on liberation. Sānandana answers that there is an old itihāsa (historical account) about Janaka Mahārāja of Mithilā and how he reached moksha, and that those who know dharma quote it. Then he tells the Bṛhad-upākhyāna. (Chapter 45)

Janaka’s court: the assembly of learned men

Janaka Mahārāja of Mithilā always meditated on the dharmas of the world beyond this one: the afterlife, the fruit of karma and liberation. His court was full of many teachers (ācāryas) and debaters of different schools. Some of them argued for different views about karma, dharma and the nature of the self.

Janaka himself was a jñānin, a knower. He enjoyed hearing their arguments, yet he stayed calm and firm in his own belief in the reality of the jīva, the fruits of karma and the path to liberation. (Chapter 45)

Pañcaśikha: who he is

Pañcaśikha is also called Kāpileya or Kāpila. He is a Maharshi of great lineage. He is described in these ways.

• He is a disciple of Āsuri Maharshi. Āsuri was the foremost disciple in the Sāṃkhya line of Kapila Maharshi.
• He is called Kāpileya because he was nursed at birth by a woman named Kāpilī. He was born through a brāhmaṇī woman named Kavali and was fed the milk of Kāpilī, and this is how he came to bear that name.
• He is described as having come among human beings by his own will (saṅkalpa), as one who had already reached long life without death (ciranjīvitva).
• He performed a sattra (a long yajña) of a thousand years in the Pañcanadī region, the land of the five rivers.
• He is counted among the ciranjīvins and as the foremost of the ṛshis.

Āsuri Maharshi came to the Pañcanadī region, to the āśrama of Pañcaśikha, and taught him the nature of the avyakta (the unmanifest) and of Purusha. This is the main Sāṃkhya teaching about Prakṛti (the unmanifest first nature) and Purusha (the conscious self). Through yajña, mantra and tapas, Āsuri had come to know the nature of the kshetra (the field) and the kshetrajña (its knower). In Āsuri’s āśrama this knowledge of brahman was directly realised, in its ekākshara (one-syllable unity) and in its nānārūpa (many forms). In this way Pañcaśikha (Kāpileya) became the heir to this Sāṃkhya wisdom. (Chapter 45)

Pañcaśikha comes to Mithilā

Pañcaśikha wandered over the earth looking for those fit to receive teaching on moksha. He came to Mithilā. When Janaka heard that he had come, he understood at once that this was no ordinary guest. He left all the hundred other teachers of his court and came out to receive Pañcaśikha with full honour. He did the proper atithi-pūjā (the honouring of a guest). Janaka followed Pañcaśikha, ready to receive the teaching of the dharma of moksha. (Chapter 45)

The Sāṃkhya teaching

Pañcaśikha taught Janaka the Sāṃkhya wisdom, which he called Kāpila-jñāna. By it the reality of the ātman is shown, the nature of Prakṛti and its changes (vikāras) is understood, and freedom from the cycle of saṃsāra is reached. The main teaching is about the body, the self, karma and liberation.

On the body. The body does not last. It wears out and is unsteady. It is built of elements and is always eaten away by age, disease and death. The body alone cannot be the self, because the self continues unbroken through all the changes of the body.

On karma and its fruits. Actions done in the body give fruits that must be enjoyed. This chain of karma, the enjoying of its fruit, and karma again has no end of its own. Only the jñāna of the ātman breaks the cycle.

The answer to the nāstika arguments. Through Sānandana’s telling, Pañcaśikha states and answers the arguments of those who say that the jīva is only a product of the elements of the body, that there is no fruit of karma, and that death is the end. The answer rests on inference (anumāna). It shows that consciousness cannot arise from dead matter.

The Sāṃkhya view of liberation. The jīva in saṃsāra is bound by avidyā (ignorance). Through jñāna, which is clear discrimination between Purusha (the conscious self) and Prakṛti (matter), the jīva knows its own nature as pure cit (consciousness), apart from all changes of Prakṛti. This knowing is liberation. (Chapters 45–52)

Suffering in saṃsāra

In the course of the teaching Pañcaśikha gives a deep account of suffering in saṃsāra.

All beings, drawn by desire as an elephant is driven by its mahout’s hook, use up their purushārthas (aims of life) in chasing false pleasures. Eaten up by the hopeless wishes of saṃsāra, human beings bear great suffering, give up food, and accept death. What is the use of relatives and friends in a life whose end is parting? In a moment all is left behind, and there is no return. This body is always attacked by earth, sky, water, fire and wind. Knowing this, how can one rejoice? How can one find happiness in this body that will perish?

The teaching ends by saying this. The one who cleans the ātman of the tendencies of rajas and tamas, who stays in sattva, who sees the ātman in all beings and all beings in the ātman, and who is free of moha and attachment, moves through the world like a fish in water (untouched) or a bird in the sky (not bound). Such a person reaches infinite freedom (anantya) even in this life. (Chapters 47–52)

Sources

• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 45–52