FREE online courses on Concepts of Ayurveda - The Guna and Predicament
Predicament is the supreme and ultimate
genera or class of predicates (it does not in the technical sense mean anything
like a perplexing or an embarrassing situation). The significance and
implications of this term can be illustrated by the examples of "Man is a
rational animal." In this instance, "rational animal" is the predicate of the
subject man, and it represents an idea or judgement of the examining mind,
relating to a fact associated inseparably with the ‘thing' man, differentiating
him from other animals. In the same manner, the term transparency in respect of
air is the predicate which describes an unchanging fact connected with the
subject air. The ‘mode' again, represents the same ideas (i.e.) a mode of air is
transparency. The term represents an inseparable Predicament of a thing. so
then, the nearest equivalent to Guna is predicament, which will be used in this
context.
Of the Bhava Padarthas, the Paramanus of
Prithvi the following four have each one the undermentioned. Gunas as well as an
organ of sense.
Akasa (Vibhu) Sabda or Sounds Ear
Vayu (Anu) Sparsa and Sabda Skin
Thejas (Anu) Ruba, Sparsa and Sabda Eyes
Apa (Anu) Rasa, Rupa, Sparsa and Sabda
Tongue
Prithvi(Anu) Gandha, Rasa, Rupa, Sparsa
and Sabda Nose
The following are the 24 Gunas described by
the Vaiseshikas:
- Rupa .. Light, Form, Colour (Visual perception)
- Rasa .. Savour, Gustation (Taste perception)
- Gandha .. Odour or smell (olfaction.)
- Sparsa .. Sensation of tough, (General sensibility)
- Sankhya .. Number or enumeration
- Parimana .. Dimension
- Prithakthwa .. Severality differentiation, bheda
- Samyoga .. Conjunction or combination (which can be separated)
or disintegration
- Vibhaga .. Disjunction or separation
- Parathwa .. A relative creative criterion of comparison with
reference to time and space, e. g., remoteness or priority or anteriority
- Aparathwa .. Do, but the opposite of parathwa, proximity or
posteriority
- Guruthwa .. Heaviness (gravitation)
- Dravathwa .. Fluidity
- Sneha .. Viscosity (oiliness)
- Sabda .. Sound (audition)
- Buddhi .. Gnana, understanding or knowledge
- Sukha .. Pleasure
- Dukha .. Pain or misery
- Ichcha .. Desire (attraction)
- Dwesha .. Aversion, dislike or repulsion
- Prayatna .. Action, effort, volition
- Dharma .. Merit, virtue, support, duty are law
- Adharms .. The opposite of No. 22
- Samskara .. Restitution including motion, elasticity, memory and
self-reproduction (retention; endurance; reiteration)
It may be noted here that according to
Vaiseshikas, light and heat are different forms of the same substance, In this
description may perhaps be included electricity and magnetism. Akasa in this
view, is an uncompounded substance, infinite and eternal in nature. It is
posited only as the substrate of sound, the vibrations of which is stated to
travel wave-like Parispanda. In the manifesting medium - the Vayu. In fact, it
is the substrate of not only Sabda, but also aparsa, rupa, rasa and gandha.
