The Self / spirit (puruṣa)

Tats_3

[Base sūtra:] The {{puruṣa|Self}} [is the third great category].

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[Verse:] [Called puruṣa] from his lying within the city [of the body] (puri-śayana), from being the measure, from filling (pūraṇa), from abundant operation—he is beginningless, all-pervading, conscious, {{guṇa|constituent}}-less, supreme.

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[Verse:] [He is] the seer, the enjoyer, the {{kṣetrajña|knower of the field}}, stainless, of a non-productive nature, subtle, eternal, and indeed beginningless, without middle or end.

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[Verse:] "All is pervaded by him"—therefore he is all-pervading; and because he possesses the experience of pleasure he is conscious, and likewise constituent-less.

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[Verse:] Through the absence of the constituents sattva and the rest, he is "supreme," remembered by [the word] "supremacy." Through connection with visible prakṛti he is the seer; through experiencing he is the enjoyer.

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[Verse:] In the field he knows what pertains to the constituents; hence he is proclaimed "{{kṣetrajña|knower of the field}}." Through the absence of contact with the auspicious, inauspicious, and so on, he is held to be stainless.

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[Verse:] Because he is seedless and does not bring forth [offspring], he is of a non-productive nature. Through being part-less and supra-sensible he is subtle; eternal, because he is everlasting.

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[Verse:] Thus the Sāṃkhya {{puruṣa|Self}} has been expounded by the ancient sages. Living being (jīva), creature, person, self, puruṣa, worshipper, man,

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[Verse:] field-knower, imperishable, life-breath, "who-is-this?", the knower, the unborn—these are the names, in the Sāṃkhya, of what is termed the puruṣa.

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So [it is said]: "He who knows the twenty-five principles, in whatever stage of life he abides—shaven, with matted locks, or wearing a topknot—is liberated; herein is no doubt."

Tats_3.c10

[Verse:] Is this {{puruṣa|Self}}, who is beyond prakṛti, an agent or a non-agent? If he were the agent of auspicious and inauspicious [deeds], he would do them without the three functions [of the guṇas]. [And] if agency belongs to the constituents seen in the world, how can [the puruṣa] be the attribute-bearer [of agency]?

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[Verse:] Conformity [to discipline] arising from restraint, observance, [self-]sprinkling, and right reckoning; in the manifesting of the transformation [that is] knowledge and lordliness—this is the sāttvika function.

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[Verse:] Passion, anger, greed, slandering others, censure, [self-]satisfaction, harshness whether provoked or unprovoked—this is well known as the rajas-intellect.

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[Verse:] Madness, intoxication, dejection, godlessness, addiction to women, sleep, sloth, cruelty, and impurity—this is the tāmasa function.

Tats_3.c14

[Verse:] Having seen this triad of functions, [we conclude that] agency belongs to the constituents; and [hence] the puruṣa is established as a non-agent—this is held to be the [Sāṃkhya] settled doctrine ({{vivekajñāna|established conclusion}}).

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[Verse:] Through the distorted perception [born] of rajas and tamas, the unwise one—veiling his own self—holds these constituents of operative prakṛti [to be his own], [thinking] "I do this for myself," and so despises [the truth].

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[Verse:] Incapable of [so much as] containing the tip of a hair within his belly, yet he thought, "all this was done by me"; he is to be regarded like a madman—such is [his] ignorance. O Fate! who [is more deluded] than one who fancies himself learned?

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This is stated in the Gītā [3.27]: "Actions are in every way performed by the constituents of prakṛti; [yet] one whose self is deluded by the I-maker thinks, 'I am the agent.'"

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[Gītā 13.31:] "Because he is beginningless and constituent-less, this imperishable supreme Self, though dwelling in the body, O son of Kuntī, neither acts nor is tainted."

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[Gītā 13.29:] "And he who always sees that actions are in every way performed by prakṛti alone, [and sees] the Self as a non-agent—he [truly] sees"—and so forth.

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[Verse:] Now consider whether the {{puruṣa|Self}} is one or many. From the diversity of [people's] mixed pleasure, pain, and delusion, of [their] pure births and deaths, the plurality of puruṣas is established; and [also] from the distinction of worlds, stages of life, and social orders.

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[Verse:] If the puruṣa were one, a collapse of intelligence would follow: when one was happy, all in turn would have to be happy; when one was in pain, all would have to be in pain.

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[Verse:] Therefore plurality is well established; many puruṣas are remembered. From the diversity of configuration, womb, disposition, association, and bodily division—[i.e.] from the plurality of subtle bodies ({{liṅgaśarīra|transmigrating body}})—the Sāṃkhya teachers, beginning with Kapila, Āsuri, Pañcaśikha, and Patañjali, describe the plurality of puruṣas.

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The teachers who uphold the Veda—Hari, Hara, Hiraṇyagarbha, Vyāsa, and the rest—[hold] the Self to be one; and so the śruti [says]: "The {{puruṣa|Cosmic Person}} alone is all this, what has been and what is to be; he is also the lord of immortality, [the one] who grows beyond [all] through [other] nourishment. That alone is fire, that the sun, that the wind, and that the moon."

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[Śruti:] "That alone is the bright [seed], that is brahman, those are the waters, he is Prajāpati; that alone is the truth and the immortal, he is liberation, that is the supreme goal."

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[Śruti:] "That is the imperishable, that is the adorable [splendour] of Savitṛ, than which there is nothing higher nor other; than which there is nothing subtler nor greater."

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[Śruti:] "Like a tree, [or] like a pillar, the One stands fixed in heaven; by that {{puruṣa|Person}} this [all] is filled. On every side [it has] hands and feet, on every side eyes, heads, and faces."

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[Śruti:] "On every side having ears in the world, it abides enveloping all; appearing through the qualities of all the senses, [yet] devoid of all the senses."

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[Śruti:] "The lord of every creature, the great refuge of all; on every side [are] all beings—[it is] the Self of all, the source of all."

Tats_3.c29

[Śruti:] "That in which all dissolves, the sages know as brahman; for the one Self of beings alone is established in each and every being,

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[Śruti:] "and is seen as one and as manifold, like the moon [reflected] in water; for that one great Self dwells in all beings, moving and unmoving, by which all this is pervaded"—and so forth.