Vasishṭha Karāla Janaka Saṃvāda (Mahābhārata)

The Vasishṭha Karāla Janaka Saṃvāda is a talk in seven chapters (Chapters 302–308) of the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva. In it Vasishṭha Maharshi teaches King Karāla Janaka of the Videha line the whole Sāṃkhya-Yoga teaching on the kshara (the perishable) and the akshara (the imperishable). He explains the twenty-four tattvas (principles) of prakṛti (nature), the twenty-fifth principle, the purusha, and the difference between the jīvātman (the living self) as the twenty-fifth and the Paramātmā (the Supreme Self) as the twenty-sixth. He also shows the way to moksha. The Brahma Mahā Purāṇa gives the same dialogue.

Context

Bhīshma had taught the Sāṃkhya path to Yudhishṭhira (Chapter 301, the Sāṃkhya-Kathanam). Yudhishṭhira asks for more: “What exactly is kshara? What is akshara? How does one go from kshara to akshara?” Bhīshma answers by telling this ancient itihāsa (history) of Vasishṭha and Karāla Janaka (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 302).

Karāla Janaka’s question

King Karāla Janaka was jitakalmasha (free of inner impurity) and amatsara (free of envy). He came to Vasishṭha in his royal hall (sabhā) and bowed low in full praṇati (respect). He asked: “What is kshara, that which brings one back again into saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death)? What is akshara, that which allows no return once it is reached? Please teach me both clearly.” (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 302).

The twenty-four tattvas are kshara

Vasishṭha first says that the whole creation of prakṛti is kshara. It is made of twenty-four tattvas, which together are the field of experience.

  • 1: Avyakta, the unmanifest root of matter
  • 2: Mahat, cosmic intelligence
  • 3: Ahaṃkāra, the sense of “I”
  • 4 to 8: the five tanmātras: śabda (sound), sparśa (touch), rūpa (form), rasa (taste), gandha (smell)
  • 9 to 13: the five mahābhūtas (great elements): ākāśa (space), vāyu (wind), agni (fire), āpas (water), pṛthvī (earth)
  • 14 to 18: the five jñānendriyas (organs of knowledge): hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, smelling
  • 19 to 23: the five karmendriyas (organs of action): speaking, grasping, moving, procreating, eliminating
  • 24: Manas, the mind

All twenty-four tattvas are kshara. They arise, they change and they dissolve. They belong to the field of time and cause (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 303–304).

The twenty-fifth: purusha the witness

The twenty-fifth principle is the purusha, the ātmā (Self). It is the witness that is present all through the field of the twenty-four tattvas but is not itself part of that field. The purusha does not arise, does not change and does not dissolve. It is the nitya-sākshī (the eternal witness).

Vasishṭha teaches that the practice of yoga (dhyāna or meditation, samādhi or deep absorption, and viveka or discernment) aims to show the purusha as apart from the twenty-four. It does this by drawing back one’s sense of “this is I” from each tattva, one after another, until only pure witnessing awareness is left. This is the twenty-fifth. But it is not yet the akshara in the deepest sense (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 305).

The twenty-sixth: Paramātmā, the highest akshara

The twenty-sixth principle is the highest akshara, the Paramātmā. It is the highest reality. It does not even stand in the relation of “witness to field” that the purusha has. The Paramātmā is beyond the twenty-four (the field) and beyond the twenty-fifth (the witness). It is the ādhāra (ground) of both.

Vasishṭha names three states of the seeker in relation to this.

  1. Kshara-stha. One who is lost in the twenty-four tattvas and takes himself to be body, mind and ego. He is wholly in saṃsāra.
  2. Akshara-stha. One who has known the twenty-fifth, the purusha, and rests in witness-awareness. He is free from saṃsāra, but still has a subtle tie to it.
  3. Uttama. One who has known the twenty-sixth, the Paramātmā beyond all differences. He is fully free (moksha) even while alive.

The passage through these three states is the whole course of moksha (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 305–306).

Buddhi and dharma

Vasishṭha gives special weight to buddhi (intelligence) as the tool of freedom. Buddhi is part of the kshara world, since it is the second of the twenty-four tattvas. It is also the power by which the kshara world is crossed.

Through sāttvika (pure) buddhi, made clean by satya (truth), dama (self-control), tapas (austerity), ahiṃsā (non-harm) and śāstra-sevā (service of the śāstras), the seeker gains viveka-jñāna (knowledge of discernment), and that knowledge shows the purusha. Dharma is the needed condition that makes buddhi pure. Without a life of dharma, buddhi stays ruled by rajas and tamas and cannot make the discernment that frees (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 306–307).

Schools of thought

In Chapters 306–307 Vasishṭha speaks of different schools of thought: Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Vedānta and others. He holds that all true darśanas (schools of vision) point to the same truth by different roads of thought. The Sāṃkhya way is to tell apart the twenty-five or twenty-six tattvas. The Yoga way is to still the mind by prāṇāyāma (control of breath) and dhyāna. Both lead to the same moksha by different methods (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 306–307).

The end of the teaching

At the end of the seven chapters, Vasishṭha tells Karāla Janaka: “You have now heard the nature of the parabrahma-tattva, ancient, pure, without beginning, without middle, eternal. You have no more saṃsāra-bhaya (fear of saṃsāra).” With these words the guru declares the student free. This is the formal close of the Vasishṭha Karāla Janaka Saṃvāda (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 308).

The Brahma Mahā Purāṇa account

The Brahma Mahā Purāṇa (Chapters 241–245) also gives the dialogue of Vasishṭha and Karāla Janaka. The Mahābhārata gives it in seven chapters (302–308) and the Brahma Mahā Purāṇa in five (241–245). The Mahābhārata gives the three states of the seeker and the role of the different darśanas. The teaching in both texts is this: the twenty-four tattvas are kshara, the twenty-fifth is the purusha, and the twenty-sixth is the Paramātmā (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 302–308).

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 301 (Sāṃkhya-Kathanam)
  • Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 302–308
  • Brahma Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 241–245