Both Vacaspati and Amalananda agree with
Govindananda in holding that nama signifies the semen and the ovum
while rupa means the visible physical body built out of them. Vijnana
entered the womb and on account of it namarupa were produced through
the association of previous karma. See _Vedantakalpataru_, pp 274,
275. On the doctrine of the entrance of vijnana into the womb compare
_D N_ II. 63.]
86
be vinnana. Here it occurred to him that in order that there
might be vinnana there must be the conformations (_sa@nkhara_) [Footnote
ref 1]. But what being there are there the sa@nkharas? Here it occurred
to him that the sa@nkharas can only be if there is ignorance
(_avijja_). If avijja could be stopped then the sa@nkharas will be
stopped, and if the sa@nkharas could be stopped vinnana could be
stopped and so on [Footnote ref 2].
It is indeed difficult to be definite as to what the Buddha
actually wished to mean by this cycle of dependence of existence
sometimes called Bhavacakra (wheel of existence). Decay and
death (_jaramarana_) could not have happened if there was no
birth [Footnote ref 3].
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