saṃkhyā
Devanāgarī: सांख्य Translation: enumeration Related concepts:tattva, kārikāAppears in
Yoga Sūtra:Chapter 2: 50
Sāṃkhya Kārikā: Bhagavad Gītā:Click here for complete Saṃskṛta Index
Commentaries around
“Sāṃkhya proposes a permanent solution to suffering.
If we look and see.
And see what produces what we see.”
– TKV Desikachar Madras November 24th 1979 on Sāṃkhya and Yoga
“Sāṃkhya postulates what appears and what causes it to appear.”
– TKV Desikachar Madras November 24th 1979 on Sāṃkhya and Yoga
“Sāṃkhya will not make sense to those people who have not tried anything.
i.e. Prayer, Mantra, Medicine.”
– TKV Desikachar Madras November 24th 1979 on Sāṃkhya and Yoga
“Sāṃkhya and its aspects, what are the characteristics?
1. What is seen – The effect
2. What is not seen – The cause
3. What sees – Something other than cause and effect
The relationship between these three is discussed in Sāṃkhya philosophy.”
– TKV Desikachar India 1979 on Sāṃkhya and Yoga
“In Sāṃkhya it is said that every problem comes from the Guṇa and their interplay.”
– TKV Desikachar Madras December 8th 1979 on Sāṃkhya and Yoga
“The aim of Yoga and Sāṃkhya is to be yoked to the more discerning aspects of the psyche, rather than just to the more grasping aspects of the psyche.
In the former the tendency of the Buddhi to discern discriminately dominates the tendency of Ahaṃkāra to grasp indiscriminately. In the latter the tendency of the Ahaṃkāra to grasp dominates the tendency of the Buddhi to discern.
The former is a state known as Buddhi Sattva where the clarity of discernment dominates the indiscriminate grasping nature of the Ahaṃkāra. The latter is a state of Buddhi Tamas, where the discerning qualities of the Buddhi are obscured by the grasping nature of the Ahaṃkāra.
Thus our Yoga Sādhana has but one aim, that of the reduction of the obscuration of Tamas (apart from deep sleep) in the Buddhi. This reduction of Tamas facilitates the ascent of the clarity of Sattva, as in the metaphor of the reduction of the cloud facilitates the ascent of the sun discussed within yesterdays post.”
“Sāṃkhya is about living more within that which doesn’t change,
rather than living more within that which does change.”
“Sāṃkhya arguments against the existence of God……
According to Nandala Sinha (Sāṃkhya Philosophy 1915), the following arguments were given by the Sāṃkhya philosophers against the idea of an eternal, self-caused, creator God:
• If the existence of karma is assumed, the proposition of God as a moral governor of the universe is unnecessary.
For, if God enforces the consequences of actions then he can do so without karma. If however, he is assumed to be within the law of karma, then karma itself would be the giver of consequences and there would be no need of a God.
• Even if karma is denied, God still cannot be the enforcer of consequences. Because the motives of an enforcer God would be either egoistic or altruistic.
Now, God’s motives cannot be assumed to be altruistic because an altruistic God would not create a world so full of suffering.
If his motives are assumed to be egoistic, then God must be thought to have desire, as agency or authority cannot be established in the absence of desire.
However, assuming that God has desire would contradict God’s eternal freedom which necessitates no compulsion in actions. Moreover, desire, according to Sāṃkhya, is an attribute of Prakṛti and cannot be thought to grow in God. The testimony of the Veda, according to Sāṃkhya, also confirms this notion.
• Despite arguments to the contrary, if God is still assumed to contain unfulfilled desires, this would cause him to suffer pain and other similar human experiences. Such a worldly God would be no better than the Sāṃkhya notion of higher self.
• Furthermore, there is no proof of the existence of God. He is not the object of perception, there exists no general proposition that can prove him by inference and the testimony of the Veda speak of Prakṛti as the origin of the world, not God.
Extracted from Wikipedia article on Sāṃkhya”
The aim of Yoga and Sāṃkhya is to be yoked to the more discerning……
Share this:
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
- Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
- Click to print (Opens in new window)