saaMkhya dars'ana:

The saaMkhya system was founded by the sage kapila (vide bhaagavata 3.25-33) through his saaMkhya-suutra-s consisting of 526 suutra-s (aphorisms, formulae) in six chapters. vijnyaanabhikSu (16th century AD) has written a commentary known as saaMkhya-pravacana-bhaaSya.

The saaMkhya tradition was nourished and propagated by kapila's disciple aasuri and his disciple paMcas'ikha. Some suutra-s of paMcas'ikha are found quoted in vyaasabhaaSya on the yooga-suutra-s of pataMjali (200 BC) but the complete work has not yet been found.

By far the earliest available and reliable work on the saaMkhya system is the saaMkhya-kaarikaa-s of iis'varakRSNa (5th century AD). This saaMkhya-kaarika, comprising of 70 stanzas (hence also called saaMkhya-saptati) in the aryaa chaMdas is a brief but a brilliant and lucid exposition of the saaMkhya doctrine. It has two well known commentaries: saaMkhya-kaarikaa-bhaaSya of gauDapaada (700 AD) and saaMkhya-tatva-kaumudii of vaacaspati (840 AD). saaMkhya-saara of vijnyaanabhikSu and saaMkhya-pravacana-suutra-vRtti of aniruddha (16the century AD) are the other works of importance.

The origin of the word saaMkhya has been an enigma. Some derive it from saMkhya (number) and opine that the name follows from the fact that the system explicitly enumerates the 25 ultimate principles involved in creation. saMkhya also means jnyaana or knowledge (samyak khyaayate) and the saaMkhya system stresses knowledge as the only means of liberation.

The saaMkhya system appears to be a relatively late work. It has however been a very influential system and a main contender for the other systems including the veedaaMta system. baadaraayaNa has chosen saaMkhya as the first school to argue against in his brahma-suutra-s (2.2.1). s'aMkara, while commenting on the brahma-suutra-s, says, this was done by pradhaana-malla-nibarhaNa-nyaayeena (by the maxim of overcoming the chief wrestler first). This shows the importance of the saaMkhya dars'ana.

pramaaNa (Means of Knowledge):

The saaMkhya system accepts only three pramaaNa-s: pratyakSa (direct perception), anumaana (Inference) and s'abda (verbal testimony). pratyakSa is direct perception through our sense organs. When we see an object, we may initially see only some lines, shapes, colour, texture etc. Upon closer examination, we come to see that the object is a chair or a table or whatever. These two levels of perception are termed nirvikapaka and savikalpaka (Are you reminded of low level vision and high level vision as we talk in the field of image processing and computer vision?). anumaana or inference is based on an invariable concomitance between an observed object and another unseen object. If you invariably find fire wherever there is smoke, you can infer the presence of fire from the observation of smoke. Inference lets you relate an abstract reality with a visible sign. s'abda or verbal testimony is of two kinds. The testimony of a reliable person, called aapta-vaakya or laukika-s'abda (like TV news or newspaper report) is in turn based on pratyakSa and/or anumaana of the source and hence not considered an independent pramaaNa in saaMkhya. saaMkhya accepts only s'ruti, the veeda-s as s'abda-pramaaNa. veeda-s are apauruSeeya (not man made), hence free from all limitations of human beings, they are defect-free, they are perfect and hence infallible. Human beings are always stake-holders and their vision and understanding is always limited accordingly. It is possible to get a complete and true picture only if you are a complete outsider, having absolutely nothing to gain or lose. Only then can you be truely unbiased. veeda-s were not composed by any human beings for any particular gains, not for money, not for name and fame, not even for the satisfaction of having done some good for the world. There is no motive whatever and hence there is no reason to suspect any lie. veeda-s are totally dependable. They are as good as any other means of knowledge. The word of the veeda is accepted as a valid step in a proof.

prameeya (Objects to be Known):

saaMkhya philosophers attempted to understand the unseen in terms of the seen, the unknown in terms of the known. saaMkhya has ultimately reduced all realities of our experiences into just two fundamental and eternal substances: the prakRti (also called pradhaana and avyakta, the insentient nature, the matrix of all lifeless and non-conscious objects, matter) and puruSa (the being, the conscious self or soul).

Something cannot be created out of nothing. Even the effect must already pre-exist in the cause, albeit in an unmanifest form. The pot must exist in the clay, in a potential form, even before the pot is created. This is called sat-kaarya-vaada, the principle that the kaarya (effect) pre-existed (sat) in the kaaraNa (cause).

Our experience with every object in this world involves either pleasure or pain or indifference to either. These three characteristics must therefore be arising from corresponding three subtle substances that form the basis of all objects. These three guNa-s (qualities, characteristics) are called satva (producing pleasure and happiness), rajas (producing pain and suffering) and tamas (producing neither). satva stands for whatever is pure and fine and leads to knowledge and happiness. rajas stands for action and is responsible for ambitions, to fulfill which one has to actively work. tamas is stolid and offers resistance. It tends to sleep and inactivity.

The three guNa-s are always together and cannot be separated. They are always active and in perpetual motion within themselves. Also, they are often in a state of turmoil, interfering with one another. When the three guNa-s are in a state of perfect balance, not interfering with one another, they constitute prakRti or pradhaana. prakRti is nothing but the three guNa-s in perfect equilibrium. prakRti is the primal matter from which the universe evolves. It is jaDa, it has no consciousness.

The puruSa (soul), on the other hand is a conscious entity. Rather consciousness is its very essence. puruSa is eternal, ever pure, ever detached and all-pervading. There are innumerable puruSa-s, as many as living beings.

Evolution of the World:

saMyooga or effective contact between prakRti and puruSa is the starting point of creation. The karma-s of the puruSa-s disturbs the balance of the three guNa-s in prakRti and sets in motion the process of evolution. prakRti is jaDa (lifeless and devoid of consciousness) and puruSa is asaMga (absolutely unattached). Yet they cooperate to create the world, just like a lame person guiding the blind man carrying him so that they both can escape from a thick forest. Milk flows naturally and spontaneously from the udder of the mother cow when the calf is nearby. This is how prakRti and puruSa come together to create the world.

From the intermixing of guNa-s in prakRti, first comes out mahat or buddhi, the cosmic intellect. From that emerges ahaMkaara, the cosmic I-ness, the ego (not pride or arrogance but just simple feeling of I), the principle of individualization. From the saatvic part of ahaMkaara evolves manas (the cosmic mind), the five jnyaaneeMdriya-s (cosmic organs of knowledge such as the eyes and the ears), and the karmeeMdriya-s (cosmic organs of action like the hands and the legs). From the taamasik part of ahaMkaara come the five tanmaatra-s (subtle elements corresponding to earth, water etc.) and from them come the five mahaabhuuta-s or gross elements namely earth, water, fire, air, and ether. In all, there are now 24 cosmic principles including the prakRti. The rest of the process of creation and evolution takes place by their permutation and combination, each puruSa getting involved in a psycho-physical complex, the body, as per his own karma.

Bondage and Liberation:

It is the prakRti which binds the puruSa and it is the same prakRti which evolves into this world only to give yet another chance for the puruSa to liberate himself from this bondage. The main cause of bondage is aviveeka, ignorance and non-discrimination between himself as pure consciousness and prakRti which is jaDa, non-conscious. It is this aviveeka which is the cause of this trans-migratory existence, going through endless cycles of birth and death. We cannot say how and when this ignorance came into being. avivveka is anaadi, beginning-less. If it had a beginning, that means there was viveeka or knowledge and how can knowledge give rise to ignorance? But it is fortunately saaMta, it can be ended. kaivalya or liberation can be attained through viveeka-khyaati or right knowledge. khyaati means knowledge coming from direct experience. Once the viveeka of discriminating and separating of puruSa, the pure consciousness, from the insentient matter called prakRti is achieved, ignorance is gone and gone is the bondage. viveeka-khyaati can be realized through the eight-fold path of yooga, meditating upon the puruSa.

saaMkhya philosophy accepts two kinds of liberation. One can become a jiivanmukta, liberated while continuing to live in his physical body in this world, until all his praarabda-karma (karma-s which have already started giving fruits, non-stoppable like an arrow which has been let go) are exhausted. He has attained perfection now and here although he appears to live a normal life like others. After death, he castes his used-up body and becomes a videeha-mukta, free without a body to drag along. He is now totally free of all pain and suffering and he never comes back to this cycle of birth and death. Knowledge cannot lead back to ignorance and hence once knowledge comes, there is a permanent, irreversible end to ignorance. Consciousness will be his very essence and he will exist eternally in this state. saaMkhya does not say the liberated experiences bliss.