Sankhya School ( Indian Philosophy )

Indian Philosophy:Sankhya School

Sem. Ian Bravo Sem. Zeus Aduan

- Means “Number”

Oldest School of Hindu Philosophy

- Founded by Kapila (8-6th Century B.C.E)

- Attempts to harmonize Vedic Philosophy through reason.

- First systematic account of process of cosmic evolution.

-Not purely metaphysical but logical account based on principal of

conservation, transformation and dissipation of energy.

-Teaches discriminative knowledge which enables to distinguish

between sprit and matter.

Sankhya:

-Literal meaning of Sankhya is "discrimination" between purusha and prakriti so as to show the liberation of purusha. The focus is to discriminate between purusha and the higher mental states: manas and buddhi, which are part of prakriti. Prakriti is a fully real material substance, and not the creation of Brahman's uncanny power.

-Metaphysical "realism," i.e., the external world is real. Metaphysical pluralism, too--i.e., there are many individual souls that will remain individual and isolated even after their liberation from prakriti. Unlike Advaita Vedanta, pure purusha selves are indissolvably many.

- At the liberation of the last purusha from prakriti, prakriti will return to its primoridal state. Its manifold appearance depends on our ignorance that we basically belong to it. But with proper knowledge and discrimination one can use prakriti for one's liberation.

- Purusha has no attributes except that "it is" and that "it knows." "The spirit is what is sees, it is isolated, indifferent, a mere inactive spectator." (Quoted in Eliade, 27) It has no intelligence (this is located in buddhi.) and it is without desire. It is pure freedom. How then did it get enslaved? Originally, the three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) are in perfect equilibrium in prakriti. But under purusha's influence disequilibrium and evolution begin.

1. Metaphor of the lame woman (prakriti) being carried by the blind man (purusha).

2. Spectator (purusha) entranced by the dancer (prakriti).Prakriti is the source of the world of "becoming" (change and motion) and sensation. Purusha represents true being: inactive, unchanging, and pure.Sattvaguna is the "stuff" of consciousness and all higher mental states (associated with Hindu god Vishnu and the goddess Lakshmi); rajasguna is the source of activity, sensation, and emotion (associated with Brahma and the goddess Sarasvati); and tamasguna is the source of resistance, inertia, and dissolution (associated with Shiva and the goddess Kali).

Antecedent of Sankhya Philosophy:The Sankhya school of thought is based on the teaching of sage Kapila which is were preserved in the form of 22 aphorism by his disciples Asuri in the tattva Samsa. The actual period of Kapila is unknown. According to some he was the son of Brahman while some believe him to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Mahabhraata considers Sankhya as very ancient system, while some historians tend to place him in the century preceding that of the Buddha. The aphorisms of Kapila formed the basis for the work of Panchashika, who composed nearly 60000 verses explaining the concepts of Sankhya which is mentioned in the chinese buddhist canon (Tripitaka).

Panchashikas’s disciple was Uluka. He was the teacher of Isvara Krishna who summarized the philosophy of Sankhya in 70 aphorism in his Sankhya Karika, which is probably the only authoritative acient text on the subject. In the subsequent times several commentaries were written on the work of isvara Krishna by both Buddhist and Vedict scholars such as Vasubandhu and Guadapada. The Famous Tamil literary work Manimekhalai also contain information on the Sankhya from the Dravidian perspective.

Misery:Adhyatmika- intrinsic cause disorder of body

and mind.

Adhibhutika- Extrinsic cause, men, beast,

birds or inanimate objects.

Adhidevika- Supernatural cause,

atmosphere or planets.

Cause of Misery:- Soul is free from suffering.

- Body is the seat of suffering.

- Soul suffers due to intimate association of soul and

body.

- Bondage is illusion due to lack of true nature of soul

or Ignorance.

- Knowledge of true natural soul removes bondage

and suffering.

Epistemology of Sankhya:-Sāṅkhya recognizes only three valid sources of information: perception, inference and reliable tradition. The ordering is important: we use inference only when perception is impossible, and only if both are silent do we accept tradition. A valid source of information (pramāṇa) is veridical, yielding knowledge of its object.

-Perception is the direct cognition of sensible qualities (such as color and sound), which mediate cognition of the elements (such as earth and water). Perception, on the Sāṅkhya account, is a complex process: the senses (such as sight) cognize their respective objects (color and shape) through the physical organs (such as the eye). And these senses are themselves the objects of cognition of the psyche (which in turn is comprised of three faculties—the mind (manas), the intellect (buddhi), and the ego (ahaṁkāra).

The mind for its part internally constructs a representation of objects of the external world with the data supplied by the senses. The ego contributes personal perspective to knowledge claims. The intellect contributes understanding to knowledge. The puruṣa adds consciousness to the result: it is the mere witness of the intellectual processes. According to a simile, thepuruṣa is the lord of the house, the tripartite psyche is the door-keeper and the senses are the doors.

For Sāṅkhya , perception is reliable and supplies most of the practical information needed in everyday life, but for this very reason it cannot supply philosophically interesting data. Things that can be seen are not objects of philosophical inquiry. There are many possible reasons why an existent material object is not (or cannot be) perceived: it may be too far (or near), or it is too minute or subtle; there may be something that obstructs perception; it may be indistinguishable from other surrounding objects or the sensation produced by another object may be so strong as to overweigh it. A fault of the sense-organs or an inattentive mind can also cause a failure of perception.

Metaphysics of Sankhya:Sāṅkhya is very fond of numbers, and in its classical form it is the system of 25 realities (tattva-s). In standard categories it is a dualism of puruṣa (person) and Prakṛti (nature); but Prakṛti has two basic forms, vyakta, “manifest,” and avyakta, “unmanifest,” so there are three basic principles. Puruṣa and the avyakta are the first two tattva-s; the remaining twenty-three from intellect to the elements belong to the manifest nature.

The relation of the unmanifest and manifest nature is somewhat vague, perhaps because there were conflicting opinions on this question. Later authors understand it as a cosmogonical relation: the unmanifest was the initial state of Prakṛti, where the guṇa-s were in equilibrium. Due to the effect of the puruṣa-s this changed and evolved the manifold universe that we see, the manifest. This view nicely conforms to the standard Hindu image of cosmic cycles of creation and destruction; but it is problematic logically (without supposing God) and Īśvarakṛṣṇa – without directly opposing it – does not seem to accept it. He says that we do not grasp the unmanifest because it is subtle, not because it does not exist; and that implies that it exists also at present, as an imperceptible homogenous substrate of the world.

It is a notable feature of Sāṅkhya that its dualism is somewhat unbalanced: if we droppedpuruṣa from the picture, we would still have a fairly complete picture of the world, asPrakṛti is not inert, mechanical matter but is a living, creative principle that has all the resources to produce from itself the human mind and intellect. Sāṅkhya thus looks like a full materialist account of the world, with the passive, unchanging principle of consciousness added almost as an afterthought.

Nature of Duality:Purush: Supreme Self, Pure consciousness,

Inactive, Unchanging, A passive witness and

multiple.

Prakiti: Pure objectivity, phenomenal reality, Non-

conscious and one mulprakiti in equilibrium.

Both more transcendental

Theory of Existence:Satkaryavada- The effect pre-exists in

the cause. Nothing can really be

created from.

Prakiti Pariman Vada- Parinama-

denotes effect is a real transformation

of the cause. Prakiti- transformed and

differentiated into multiplicity of objects.

Concepts of Sankhya:

Five Sense Organs:- Hearing

- Sensation

- Vision

- Taste

- Smell

Five Action Organs:- Speaking

- Grasping

- Walking

- Excreting

- Procreating

Mhabutes – Cosmic Substance:

- Tanmara- Sound, touch, form, taste, and

smell

- Mahabhut- Space, air, fire, Water, Earth.

Five Elements:- Prithvi- earth- Akash- eter- Apas- water- Vayu- air- Tejas- fire

Concept of God:

- Atheistic- An unchanging Ishvara as the cause

cannot be source of a changing world as the

effect.

- Theistic- Late influence of Yoga and Puranic

Philosophy.

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