ईक्षतेर्न, अशब्दम् ॥ ५ ॥
īkṣaterna aśabdam || 5 ||
īkṣateḥ—On account of thinking (seeing); na—is not; aśabdam—not based on the scriptures.
5. On account of thinking (being attributed to the First Cause by the scriptures, the Pradhana) is not (the First Cause referred to by them); it (Pradhana) is not based on the scriptures.
The First Cause is said, in the scriptures, to have willed or thought before creation.
“This universe, my dear, was but the Real (Sat) in the beginning—One only without a second. It thought, ‘may I be many, may I grow !’ and It projected fire” (Chh. 6. 2. 2-3).
“It (the Atman) willed, ‘Let me project worlds !’ So It projected these worlds” (Ait. 1. 3. 1-2).
Such thinking or willing is not possible to the insentient Pradhana. It is possible only if the First Cause is an intelligent principle like Brahman.
The all-knowingness attributed to the Pradhana because of its Sattva component is inadmissible, as Sattva is not predominant in the Pradhana, since all the three Gunas are in a state of equilibrium. If in spite of this it is said to be capable of producing knowledge, then the other two Gunas must be equally capable of retarding knowledge. So while Sattva will make it all-knowing, Rajas and Tamas will make it partly knowing, which is a contradiction.
That all-knowingness and creation are not possible to Brahman, which is pure intelligence itself and unchangeable, is also not true. For Brahman can be all-knowing and creative through Maya. So Brahman, the Sat of the text quoted, which thought, is the First Cause.
The Sankhyas again try to avoid the difficulty created by thinking being attributed to the First Cause thus : In the same text quoted above it is said further on,
“That fire thought, ‘may I be many, may I grow !’ and it projected water …. Water thought, . . it projected earth” (Chh. 6. 2. 3-4).
Here fire and water arc material things, and yet thinking is attributed to them. Similarly the thinking by the Sat (Real), in the text originally quoted, can also be taken figuratively, in which case the Pradhana, though insentient, can yet be the First Cause.
This argument the following Sutra refutes.