Sāṃkhya Kārikā verse 1

दुःखत्रयाभिघाताज्जिज्ञासा तदभिघातके हेतौ । दृष्टे साऽपार्था चेन्नैकान्तात्यन्ततोऽभावात् ॥१ ॥

duḥkha-trayā-abhighātāt-jijñāsā tat-abhighātake hetau | dṛṣṭe sā-apārthā cet na-ekānta-atyantataḥ abhāvāt ||

“Within and around us is an absence
of certainty and permanence.”

duḥkha - suffering, pain, sorrowfultraya - the threeabhighāta - infliction of injury, damagejijñāsā - desire of knowing; investigation; examinationtat - that, thisabhighātaka - counteracting, removinghetu - cause, cause of; motive; reason fordṛṣṭa - seen, looked at, beheld, perceived, viewed, observed, noticed; visible, apparent, observable; considered, regarded; treated of; appearing, manifested; occurring, found; experienced, suffered, endured; seen in the mind, devised, imagined, learned,apārthā - without any object, useless, unprofitable, worthlesscit - awareness, consciousness; to be aware of; to cause to comprehend, to observe; perceivena - no; not; nor, neitherekānta - solely, only, exclusively; absoluteness, certaintyatyanta - absolutely, completely, to the end; endless, unbroken, perpetual; permanencyabhāva - non-appearance, non-existence, absence
<<< >>>

Commentaries and Reflections

Commentary by TKV Desikachar:

“Sāṃkhya will not make sense to those
people who have not tried anything.
i.e. Prayer, Mantra, Medicine.”

Commentary by Paul Harvey:

“Within and around us is an absence
of certainty and permanence.”