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Saamkhya is one of the six branches of ancient Indian philosophy collectively known as the shad-darsanas. The other five are Yoga, Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Poorva Meemamsa and Uthara Meemamsa. Saamkhya gives no reference to any God or supernatural power and is therefore called an atheist or materialist school of thought. It gives an account of the birth of universe which closely resembles the Big Bang theory. Saamkhya did not become as famous as Poorva Meemamsa, Uthara Meemamsa or Yoga because of its nature, which gave no practical ways to achieve Moksha.
Interesting article. However, this sentence in the third to last paragraph doesn't scan.
It is the influence of Samkhya that evolution has been discussed in ancient Hindu scriptures, including the Mahabharata and the Yoga Vasishtha.
I'm not sure what the intended meaning is so I haven't tried to fix it up.
Oska 11:28, Aug 18, 2004 (UTC)
pd 18:42, Jan 9, 2006 CET
Hindu philosophical schools are not called astika. Astika means 'orthodox' or vedic hinduism as opposed to nastika - 'heretical' one (like buddhism, jainism). Philosophical schools are called darsana - i will correct it as soon as I make sure about the spelling etc
I think this article needs a major overhaul to its contents. I have put up an underconstruction notice. Will complete the overhaul in a few days
SV 22:22, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
In the Gita, sankhya means knowledge and yoga means method. These should NOT be confused with sankhya and yoga school of philosophy. -- SV 22:51, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
Shouldn't this be at Sankhya? "Sāṃkhya" is correct, but that doesn't mean "Samkhya" is.— Nat Krause( Talk!· What have I done?) 02:02, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
"Only the ignorant speak of devotional service [karma-yoga] as being different from the analytical study of the material world [Sankhya]. Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both." (Gita 5.4) [1]
You are not a Hindu and so you would not know this. Do you have any proof at all that This Sankhya is different? Why would Sri Krishna say this if it were different. He would have said so!
Sri Krishna in the Gita (10.26) [2] "Of all trees I am the banyan tree, and of the sages among the demigods I am Narada. Of the Gandharvas I am Citraratha, and among perfected beings I am the sage Kapila."
I am also going to post these quotes into the main article to clear up any confusion. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by HinduDefender ( talk • contribs) 17:18, 7 February 2007 (UTC).
As soon as you refer to "Hindu" you are conjuring up a multiplicity of followers and belief systems, from a Delhi taxi driver with a plethora of demigods in his cab to the so-called highly qualified professor of sanskrit with a PhD. The verse you quote from the Gita (5.4) does indeed support that Lord Krishna states "Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both." When discussing the science of the Vedic knowledge it is much better to refer to it as Vedanta - the end of knowledge. After all, the absolute truth is not simply for "Hindus". It is universal and for all living entities, otherwise how would it be the absolute truth? Stokakrishna
-- 59.101.25.4 19:20, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
Your quote says karma yoga is the same as samkhya, not that the samkhya of the Gita is the same as the samkhya of Kapila and Isvarakrsna. But it is worth noting that the samkhya of vaishnavism has more tattvas (qualities) than that of classical samkhya (36 vs 25). And that this vaishnav ontology was developed after the gita was written. But most important is to remember samkhya means metaphysical understanding of the nature of the universe and very often is not referring to the classical system of Kapila, the actual astika being discussed on this page (since the gita is at least 500 years older than the Samkhyakarika. This classical samkhya is largely atheistic or some might say agnostic (though later developed into theistic models by Patanjali and others in what eventually became classical yoga which is supported by samkhya philosophy). So yeah, very much two different samkhyas. Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 01:53, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
I have added a quote from Gupta that begins to raise the developmental history of Samkhya, which spanned hundreds of years. The description of what Samkhya is in the present article is basically a description of classical Samkhya as it finally was codified. This addresses some of the questions raised regarding Samkhya in the Gita, which was a pre-classical form. Buddhipriya 03:49, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
Found no sources on the prescence of Aparabrahman in the Samkhya school of hilosophy from any sources, and I altered the definitions on Purusha and Prakriti because I could find little evidence that the Samkhya school views the Purusha as akin to the Brahman, rather I found that it is viewed as pure conciousness and our true self, more like the atman (soul), and the section on Prakriti seemed to be missing any mention of the gunas so I added that as well
I'm somewhat of a neophyte on the use and editing of Wikipedia articles, however I don't regard myself as such on the matter of Vedic knowledge. I took diksha initiation (Hare Krishna mantra) and Brahman initiation (gayatri mantra)in 1979 and consider Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as my instructing guru. Vedic scripture makes clear the distinction between Purusha and Prakrti, as it makes clear the nature of the living entity and his entanglement in material nature. The three modes of material nature are extensively described in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
I found the various references to Purusha in the article puzzling, ambivalent and downright confusing. I've added some material from the Srimad Bhagavatam regarding the absolute divinity of Kapiladeva and the science of Sankhya yoga as a theistic path. Here is a definition of Purusha given in the Srimad Bhagavatam (Canto 3 Chapter 26 verse 3)as translated by Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada anadir atma purusha nirgunah prakrteh parah pratyag-dhama svayam-jyotir visvam yena samanvitam "The Supreme Personality of Godhead (purusha directly translates as "Supreme Personality of Godhead") is the Supreme Soul, and He has no beginning. He is transcendental to the material modes of nature and beyond this material world. He is perceivable everywhere because He is self-effulgent, and by His self-effulgent luster the entire creation is maintained."
According to the Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Samhita and numerous other Vedic scriptures, the Brahman which you refer to is the bodily effulgence of Krishna. Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 2 verse 11 states vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdhyate "Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan."
Prabhupada explains that the Absolute Truth is both subject and object, and there is no qualitative difference there. In other words Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan are different aspects of the same Supreme Being - Bhagavan is the personal feature of the Lord with whom the liberated souls are engaged in eternal lila or pastimes. The Paramatma feature is the Supersoul of all living entities and can be realized by the perfection of the astanga yoga process of meditation. Brahman is the transcendental effulgence of the Lord, described in the Bhagavad Gita (14.27) as follows brahmano hi pratisthaham amrtasyavyayasya ca sasvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikantikasya ca "And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness and which is immortal, imperishable and eternal."
Krishna further elaborates in the Gita that the focus of the spiritual aspirant on the impersonal feature of the Brahman manifestation is ultimately a source of difficulty, and that concentration of the mind on the transcendental form of the Lord is a superior means of achieving the platform of self realization. (12.5) kleso dhikataras tesam avyaktasakta cetasam avyakta hi gatir dukham dehavadbhir avapyate "For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied."
Finally, if Kapiladeva is simply a figure of renown, or a sage or some other great personality of the mundane sphere, how can the authoritative statement of the acaryas and the sastras be understood. For example, here is a direct quotation of Lord Kapiladeva from the Srimad Bhagavatam (Canto 3 Chapter 32 text 29) yatha mahan aham-rupas tri-vrt pancha-vidha svaraj etc "From the total energy, the maha-tattva, I have manifested the false ego, the three modes of material nature, the five material elements, the individual consciousness, the eleven senses and the material body. Similarly, the entire universe has come from the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
-- stokakrishna 09:20, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
I find this whole section about "Sankhya in the Srimad Bhagavatam" full of need for citations. Also it is based on one particular interpretation (that of Swami Prabhupada). Also it disparages other interpretations of Samkhya philosophy because those interpretations don't confirm to Swami Prabhupada's interpretations. I request an impartiality tag be added to this section or else it be cleaned up.
Examples:
"The real sankhya philosophy is originally explained by Sri Kapiladeva, who is Lord Sri Krishna appearing Himself to distribute transcendental knowledge for the enlightenment of the conditioned souls. Lord Kapiladeva appeared as the son of Devahuti and Kadarma Muni, who were both elevated devotees."
This belief of sage Kapila being an incarnation of Krishna is a special belief held by followers of Prabhupada and it should be mentioned as thus.
Furthermore comments such as follows:
"Commentators who describe Kapiladeva as merely a sage or an unusually qualified person are disingenuous. Kapiladeva is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Elsewhere on Wikipedia are unbonafide comments such as “The original school of Samkhya as founded by Sage Kapila."
OR
"Complex word jugglery by mental speculators advertising themselves as great authorities on the sankhya philosophy are useless. Descriptions of purusha which do not refer to the Supreme Purusha, Lord Krishna, are also useless. Descriptions of prakrti which do not refer to the fact that prakrti is the external energy of the Lord are also useless."
don't belong in the main body of the article. This is a discussion point and should be in this section. Not in the main body of the article.
Sameer 19:42, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
Sameer: Throughout the Vedic literatures, the recommended process for self realization is the chanting of the Holy Name of the Lord, the maha mantra.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
The sages and Vedic authorities in the Parampara descending from the Lord also advocate this process.
"One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion he can enter into the kingdom of God."
Bhagavad Gita 18.55
I would appeal to your sense of fairness not to delete this section, which is after all, a point of discussion.
Whoever said that the views of Prabhupada are his own and not in line with Vedic thought must have some negative bias to ISKCON, Hare Krsnas etc. Or, they are just plain ignorant of how the Vedanta deals with this topic and how the Sankhya of atheist Kapila is rejected starting at VS 2.1.1 you can look at Govinda Bhasya aka Vedanta Sutra of Badarayana commentary by Baladeva Vidya Bhushana. The same argumentation will be found in the Sri Bhasya of Ramanuja tr M. Rangacharya and M.B.Vardaraja Aiyangar, Madhvacarya "The Brahmasutras and Their Principal Commentaries" trans by B N K Sharma, and "Vedanta Parijata Saurabha of Nimbarka and Vedanta kaustabha of Srinivasa" trans by Roma Bose. But I am not going to argue with the wiki thought police. I feel dirty by reading the contents of your mind and need to take a bath. 106.51.19.129 ( talk) 08:56, 4 July 2017 (UTC)
Vendanta has been interpreted by Sri Shankara in advaitic manner. Sri Madhva has interpreted it in a Dvaitic way.
To say vedanta is advitic is wrong. Infact Dvaitic philosophy uses the tenets of Samkhya to interpret vedanta.
So saying "Sankhya serves as the main opponent of Vedanta Philosophy which elucidates the non-dualistic (a-dvaita) theory of creation" makes no sense.
Rather "Sankhya serves as the main opponent of Advatic Vedanta Philosophy which elucidates the non-dualistic (a-dvaita) theory of creation" makes more sense.
The main disagreement between samkhya and advaita is regarding the plurality of souls. The argument is that if there is but one entity (brahman) then the attainment of enlightenment by one jiva would mean universal enlightenment and the end of maya/prakriti. The other disagreement is whether what we perceive as the world is maya (illusion which disappears with right knowledge) or prakriti (unconscious matter, born of purusha and able to reabsorb into it through metaphysical knowledge or, according to some, yoga). See Mircea Eliade for more on that idea. In this sense advaita argues the oneness of atman (or Brahman) because nothing else is real, and samkhya argues that matter is real and separate from atman (or purusha in samkhya). Rereading this though, I can imagine it is pretty confusing to the neophyte. One thing advaita vedanta and classical samkhya have in common is the belief in liberation through jñāna, while most dualist schools insist on a praxis of yoga (be that japa, samadhi, karmayoga, etc...) Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 05:36, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
As it stands, the bulk of the article is not encyclopaedic, but reads instead as if it were written by a Hare Krishna devotee. How could that be? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eucalyptus grandis ( talk • contribs) 17:25, 2 November 2007 (UTC)
Let me remind you that this is the discussion page. The bulk of the actual article on samkhya is written by people with what is an apparently dogmatic impersonalism. The article is based around the monist conception and decries the very idea of a Supreme Being.
For example
"Sankhya is an enumerationist philosophy that is strongly dualist.[4][5][6] Sankhya philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two realities: Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (phenomenal realm of matter). They are the experiencer and the experienced, not unlike the res cogens and res extensa of René Descartes. Prakriti further bifurcates into animate and inanimate realms. On the other hand, Purusha separates out into countless Jivas or individual units of consciousness as souls which fuse into the mind and body of the animate branch of Prakriti."
The actual Vedic reference to Purusha is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Purusha means "enjoyer". The Lord is the Supreme enjoyer. The living entity can be referred as a purusha in a relative sense in that he enjoys or suffers sense gratification as a consequence of being conditioned by the material nature. The Supreme Lord is also the Supreme consciousness. The living entity is only conscious of the extent of his material body, whereas the Lord is supremely conscious of all living entities as well as the expansion of His material nature.
Chapter 5. Karma-yoga--Action in Krishna Consciousness
TEXT 29
bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati
SYNONYMS
bhoktaram--beneficiary; yajna--sacrifices; tapasam--of penances and austerities; sarva-loka--all planets and the demigods thereof; maha-isvaram--the Supreme Lord; su-hrdam--benefactor; sarva--all; bhutanam--of the living entities; jnatva--thus knowing; mam--Me (Lord Krsna); santim--relief from material pangs; rcchati--achieves.
TRANSLATION
The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.
PURPORT
The conditioned souls within the clutches of illusory energy are all anxious to attain peace in the material world. But they do not know the formula for peace, which is explained in this part of the Bhagavad-gita. The greatest peace formula is simply this: Lord Krsna is the beneficiary in all human activities. Men should offer everything to the transcendental service of the Lord because He is the proprietor of all planets and the demigods thereon. No one is greater than He. He is greater than the greatest of the demigods, Lord Siva and Lord Brahma. In the Vedas the Supreme Lord is described as tam isvaranam paramam mahesvaram. Under the spell of illusion, living entities are trying to be lords of all they survey, but actually they are dominated by the material energy of the Lord. The Lord is the master of material nature, and the conditioned souls are under the stringent rules of material nature. Unless one understands these bare facts, it is not possible to achieve peace in the world either individually or collectively. This is the sense of Krsna consciousness: Lord Krsna is the supreme predominator, and all living entities, including the great demigods, are His subordinates. One can attain perfect peace only in complete Krsna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada
Firstly, the dualism referenced here should be the dualism of the inferior and superior energies of the Lord, and that both energies are expansions of the original source of all energies, the Supreme Lord.
ishvara parama krisha sat cid ananda vigraha anadir adir govinda sarva karana karanam
Brahma Samhita
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krishna. He has a blissful, transcendental spiritual body, He is the origin of all, He has no other origin and He is the cause of all causes.
The idea that the jiva soul separates out of the purusha and fuses into the prakrti is the old province of the mayavada philosophy which is simply not supported in the
Bhagavad Gita and other texts. Rather, the purusha (Krishna) expands His separated parts (the jivas) into the material nature and they are conditioned by that material nature. The Lord is never covered in that way and always remains independent and transcendental to
maya.
Chapter 15. The Yoga of the Supreme Person
TEXT 7
mamaivamso jiva-loke
jiva-bhutah sanatanah
''manah-sasthanindriyani
prakrti-sthani karsati
SYNONYMS
mama--My; eva--certainly; amsah--fragmental particles; jiva-loke--world of conditional life; jiva-bhutah--the conditioned living entity; sanatanah--eternal; manah--mind; sasthani--six; indriyani--senses; prakrti--material nature; sthani--situated; karsati--struggling hard.
TRANSLATION
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
Frankly, I stongly object to the almost darwinian perspective in the article, which is why I've written material which is much more closely allied to the Vedic tradition. The Supreme Lord predates and is paramount to all other considerations sarva karana karanam (
Brahma Samhita). The idea that the Sankhya tradition originally stated that there could be no room for Ishvara or a supreme creator is simply misleading. Those who present themselves as Vedic authorities without reference to the Supreme Lord are really advocating the antithesis of the Vedic conclusion, which is given by the Lord Himself in
Bhagavad Gita. It is also notable how thin the Vedic scriptural references are of those who are posing themselves as experts on Vedic philosophy. At least in my case everything is referenced to the translation of the Bhagavad Gita which is recognized as the most authoritative by a majority of Vedic scholars.
Chapter 15. The Yoga of the Supreme Person
TEXT 15
sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham
SYNONYMS
sarvasya--of all living beings; ca--and; aham--I; hrdi--in the heart; sannivistah--being situated; mattah--from Me; smrtih--remembrance; jnanam--knowledge; apohanam ca--and forgetfulness; vedaih--by the Vedas; ca--also; sarvaih--all; aham--I am; eva--certainly; vedyah--knowable; vedanta-krt--the compiler of the Vedanta; veda-vit--the knower of the Vedas; eva--certainly; ca--and; aham--I.
TRANSLATION
I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas I am to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
As described by Lord Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad Gita and elaborately explained by Srila Prabhupada.
Chapter 2. Contents of the Gita Summarized
TEXT 12
na tv evaham jatu nasam na tvam neme janadhipah na caiva na bhavisyamah sarve vayam atah param
SYNONYMS na--never; tu--but; eva--certainly; aham--I; jatu--become; na--never; asam--existed; na--it is not so; tvam--yourself; na--not; ime--all these; jana-adhipah--kings; na--never; ca--also; eva--certainly; na--not like that; bhavisyamah--shall exist; sarve--all of us; vayam--we; atah param--hereafter.
TRANSLATION
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
PURPORTIn the Vedas, in the Katha Upanisad as well as in the Svetasvatara Upanisad, it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the maintainer of innumerable living entities, in terms of their different situations according to individual work and reaction of work. That Supreme Personality of Godhead is also, by His plenary portions, alive in the heart of every living entity. Only saintly persons who can see, within and without, the same Supreme Lord, can actually attain to perfect and eternal peace.
nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman tam atma-stham ye 'nupasyanti dhiras tesam santih sasvati netaresam (Katha 2.2.13)The same Vedic truth given to Arjuna is given to all persons in the world who pose themselves as very learned but factually have but a poor fund of knowledge. The Lord says clearly that He Himself, Arjuna, and all the kings who are assembled on the battlefield, are eternally individual beings and that the Lord is eternally the maintainer of the individual living entities both in their conditioned as well as in their liberated situations. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme individual person, and Arjuna, the Lord's eternal associate, and all the kings assembled there are individual, eternal persons. It is not that they did not exist as individuals in the past, and it is not that they will not remain eternal persons. Their individuality existed in the past, and their individuality will continue in the future without interruption. Therefore, there is no cause for lamentation for anyone. The Mayavadi theory that after liberation the individual soul, separated by the covering of maya or illusion, will merge into the impersonal Brahman and lose its individual existence is not supported herein by Lord Krsna, the supreme authority. Nor is the theory that we only think of individuality in the conditioned state supported herein. Krsna clearly says herein that in the future also the individuality of the Lord and others, as it is confirmed in the Upanisads, will continue eternally. This statement of Krsna is authoritative because Krsna cannot be subject to illusion. If individuality is not a fact, then Krsna would not have stressed it so much--even for the future. The Mayavadi may argue that the individuality spoken of by Krsna is not spiritual, but material. Even accepting the argument that the individuality is material, then how can one distinguish Krsna's individuality? Krsna affirms His individuality in the past and confirms His individuality in the future also. He has confirmed His individuality in many ways, and impersonal Brahman has been declared to be subordinate to Him. Krsna has maintained spiritual individuality all along; if He is accepted as an ordinary conditioned soul in individual consciousness, then His Bhagavad-gita has no value as authoritative scripture. A common man with all the four defects of human frailty is unable to teach that which is worth hearing. The Gita is above such literature. No mundane book compares with the Bhagavad-gita. When one accepts Krsna as an ordinary man, the Gita loses all importance. The Mayavadi argues that the plurality mentioned in this verse is conventional and that it refers to the body. But previous to this verse such a bodily conception is already condemned. After condemning the bodily conception of the living entities, how was it possible for Krsna to place a conventional proposition on the body again? Therefore, individuality is maintained on spiritual grounds and is thus confirmed by great acaryas like Sri Ramanuja and others. It is clearly mentioned in many places in the Gita that this spiritual individuality is understood by those who are devotees of the Lord. Those who are envious of Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead have no bona fide access to the great literature. The nondevotee's approach to the teachings of the Gita is something like bees licking on a bottle of honey. One cannot have a taste of honey unless one opens the bottle. Similarly, the mysticism of the Bhagavad-gita can be understood only by devotees, and no one else can taste it, as it is stated in the Fourth Chapter of the book. Nor can the Gita be touched by persons who envy the very existence of the Lord. Therefore, the Mayavadi explanation of the Gita is a most misleading presentation of the whole truth. Lord Caitanya has forbidden us to read commentations made by the Mayavadis and warns that one who takes to such an understanding of the Mayavadi philosophy loses all power to understand the real mystery of the Gita. If individuality refers to the empirical universe, then there is no need of teaching by the Lord. The plurality of the individual soul and of the Lord is an eternal fact, and it is confirmed by the Vedas as above mentioned.
No one outside of Gaudiya Math even considers The Gita As It Is to be accurate. As a sanskrit student I can pick up that book and found countless misleading translations. This is a big part of why Gaudiya Math rarely teaches it's students to study sanskrit. Srila Prabhupada was not a sanskrit scholar, he was a vaishnavism scholar. His expertise was on the Bhagavatam, the Gita and Caitanya. And saying that 'god himself says in the gita' is terrible standards for a secular encyclopedia. You can't possibly think wikipedia would work at all if opinions could be validated by 'god's authority'. Your religion (which by its own description frequently calls itself non-hindu, and is largely recognized as non-vedic) reframes older samkhya into its ontology and alters it considerably. Just like having yajñas and simultaneously claiming they serve no point, vestiges of an older religion are weaved into your religion. This isn't even debated academically: this is how all modern denomination of almost all religions are. The whole pañcaratra movement was a more brahmanically acceptable version of the older Goddess worship traditions of tantric Bengali groups. There are plenty in Gaudiya Vaishnavism who have no problem admitting to this as it doesn't ruin the beautiful traditions and practices of the Gaudiya faith...mostly it's overzealous neophytes and bhramacharins who tout such absolutisms around while arguing over which bhava their guru's bhakti was in and banning offshoot groups from their temples. Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 05:51, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
Regarding the Moksha section, I think this is a misunderstanding - Isvarakrsna explicitly states that Purusa is never bound, but eternally unbound (Karika 62). It is not Purusa which realises the independence of Purusa from Prakrti, but the internal organ, ie the evolutes of Prakrti. Understanding is in fact not a quality of Purusa, but of Prakrti. Purusa has neither the ability to seek nor to realise liberation, as it is eternally transcendent.
This has been extensively discussed in B David Burke's article "Transcendence in Classical Samkhya" (Philosophy East and West 1988, p19-29).
If no one minds, I will change the section to reflect this (let me know if you disagree). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yintov ( talk • contribs) 15:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
This whole article is biased toward the ISKCON philosophy. All references to dualistic or non-dualistic philosophies need to be deleted. Basically it needs to be rewritten with just a general overview. THEN maybe a section giving the different schools take on it should be added. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.205.65.187 ( talk) 08:07, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
As I've already pointed out with extensive references, my perspective is based on the
Bhagavad Gita.
ISKCON was started as an institution by
Prabhupada to distribute knowledge of the
Bhagavad Gita and other traditional Vedic texts in an authoritative way. Of course, hundreds of scholarly interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita have been translated into English, however generally they have some speculated or manufactured meaning. Krishna Himself in the Gita makes it clear that such persons are not qualified to understand the
Bhagavad Gita, to say nothing of making elaborate and speculative commentaries about it.
Chapter 18. Conclusion--The Perfection of Renunciation
TEXT 67
idam te natapaskaya
nabhaktaya kadacana
na casusrusave vacyam
na ca mam yo 'bhyasuyati
SYNONYMS
idam--this; te--you; na--never; atapaskaya--one who is not austere; na--never; abhaktaya--one who is not a devotee; kadacana--at any time; na--never; ca--also; asusrusave--one who is not engaged in devotional service; vacyam--to be spoken; na--never; ca--also; mam--unto Me; yah--anyone; abhyasuyati--envious.
TRANSLATION
This confidential knowledge may not be explained to those who are not austere, or devoted, or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me.
PURPORT
"Persons who have not undergone the austerities of the religious process, who have never attempted devotional service in Krsna consciousness, who have not tended a pure devotee, and especially those who are conscious of Krsna as a historical personality or who are envious of the greatness of Krsna, should not be told this most confidential part of knowledge. It is, however, sometimes found that even demoniac persons who are envious of Krsna, worshiping Krsna in a different way, take to the profession of explaining Bhagavad-gita in a different way to make business, but anyone who desires actually to understand Krsna must avoid such commentaries on Bhagavad-gita. Actually the purpose of Bhagavad-gita is not understandable to those who are sensuous--even if one is not sensuous but is strictly following the disciplines enjoined in the Vedic scripture, if he is not a devotee, he also cannot understand Krsna. Even when one poses himself as a devotee of Krsna, but is not engaged in Krsna conscious activities, he also cannot understand Krsna. There are many persons who envy Krsna because He has explained in Bhagavad-gita that He is the Supreme and that nothing is above Him or equal to Him. There are many persons who are envious of Krsna. Such persons should not be told of Bhagavad-gita, for they cannot understand. There is no possibility of faithless persons' understanding Bhagavad-gita and Krsna. Without understanding Krsna from the authority of a pure devotee, one should not try to comment upon Bhagavad-gita."
In other words those who consider themselves Brahminical should understand the basic qualification of a Brahmana: To be able to properly differentiate between matter and spirit.
Not only are those who are addicted to meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex not qualified to be authorities on Vedic knowledge.
Even those who follow strict discipline are considered unfit to disseminate Vedic knowledge if they are bereft of any shred of love for the Supreme Lord.
hi mistsube. Samkhya is correctly written in Sanskrit as साङ्ख्य and not सांख्य. Instead of using the anusvAra ( अनुस्वार ), it is a tradition in Sanskrit, to use the last letter of the same varga ( वर्ग ) as the succeeding letter. In this case, the letter ख belongs to the क varga, and hence the last letter of this varga, namely ङ has to be used while writing the word. Please see other examples such as - तन्तु, बन्धन, सम्बन्ध, किञ्चन, कण्ठ and so on. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.173.40 ( talk) 16:33, 18 June 2009 (UTC)
I don't understand this intro statement at all:
The trouble is that the concept "mind" isn't distinguishable from the concept "self" or the "ego", that might be used interchangeably, and "body" is just kind of a "matter", so the differences between Sankhya and the Western mind-body dichotomy, sometimes called "Dialectical dualism" ― as opposed to "Dialectical materialism" and to "Dialectical idealism" ― seems to be very fuzzy. The problem might be the word " dualism", which might mean any kind of dichotomy with a clear cut borderline, such as good-evil, mind-body, subject-object or so. I think the differences between Sankhya and any certain form of mind-body dichotomy exist, certainly, but are much more subtile and precise than the difference between "mind" and "self", if such a difference exist. ... said: Rursus ( mbork³) 20:14, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
Sankhya philosophy does cover mind body dualism but not in the way you are speculating here. The differentiation between the self and matter are clearly described in the
Bhagavad Gita,Chapter 7 verses 4 and 5.
TEXT 4
bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakrtir astadha
SYNONYMS bhumih--earth; apah--water; analah--fire; vayuh--air; kham--ether; manah--mind; buddhih--intelligence; eva--certainly; ca--and; ahankarah--false ego; iti--thus; iyam--all these; me--My; bhinna--separated; prakrtih--energies; astadha--total eight .
TRANSLATION Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego--all together these eight comprise My separated material energies.
TEXT 5apareyam itas tv anyam prakrtim viddhi me param jiva-bhutam maha-baho yayedam dharyate jagat
SYNONYMS apara--inferior; iyam--this; itah--besides this; tu--but; anyam--another; prakrtim--energy; viddhi--just try to understand; me--My; param--superior; jiva-bhutam--the living entities; maha-baho--O mighty-armed one; yaya--by whom; idam--this; dharyate--being utilized or exploited; jagat--the material world.
TRANSLATION Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.
Explanation:
Verse 4 describes the range of the Lord's inferior material energies, which include the mind, intelligence and false ego. Material nature illusions the living entity into misidentification with the gross body and subtle mind. These however, have nothing to do with the transcendental nature of the soul. Verse 5 describes the living entity as apara prakrti, the superior energy of the Lord, eternal, non material and full of transcendental bliss and knowledge.
stokakrishna —Preceding undated comment added 19:59, 30 October 2009 (UTC).
Can someone with more knowledgeof thisarea please look at the redirects. At the moment Samkhya and Sankhya redirect to each other. Waacstats ( talk) 10:40, 25 December 2009 (UTC)
I think we need a fresh look at the Samkya Philosophy and its semantics; The argument of disbelieving in God by Samkhya School is untenable. The said reference in the main article could be just authors interpretation of text in isolated context. The best story which I remember comes from Rudra Samhita of Shiv Purana where Goddess Parvati had a long discussion with Lord Shiv on his or her existence in this creation and their intermigling roles; this details the very existence of samkhya school and its beliefs. Avid Reader may verify. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.95.101.171 ( talk) 10:29, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
At the very least, it is misleading to make the blanket statement that the article currently has that Samkhya is atheistic. See Gerald Larson's Classical Samkhya for extensive discussion of various historical viewpoints on theism, non-theism, and atheism in Samkhya. It is not even clear that Samkhya has had a fixed viewpoint regarding the existence (or soteriological importance) of an ultimate deity during its various periods. It seems below the Wikipedia standards to ignore the ambiguity that exists within Samkhya and among its interpreters as to the existence and nature of a God or gods. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.248.144.215 ( talk) 08:19, 25 July 2012 (UTC)
TwoHorned has repeatedly removed the statement ( [3], [4], [5]) The Samkhya school is dualistic and atheistic from the lead. Since the purpose of the lead section is to introduce and summarize the article and dualism, atheism both have a section each (referenced by reliable sources) in the article it makes sense to include them in the lead. Besides, TwoHorned's argument that the writers (of the references) are non-Indian is not even worth considering here. Since when did Indianness become a criteria for reliability of sources? Here are a few more references for Atheism in Samkhya — [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12]. Dualism has many references in the article itself. Please consider them before reverting again. Regards. Correct Knowledge «৳alk» 00:37, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
References
No doubt the article (judging by the discussion here) needs fine points of tuning, but as a visitor with only a passing knowledge of Samkhya, I found that one aspect of the text confusing.
The general understanding--one restated here--is that Samkhya is one of the oldest Indian "systems of ideas", with roots in the Vedas (pre 800 BCE?) , connections to Yoga (pre 300BCE?) and the Gita. And yet the article then states that Samkhya (Philosophy and school) emerged around 200 CE. Obviously this framing uses "philosophy" in a more formal sense, which may not be understood by the visitor.
I think this confusion can be avoided by stating, perhaps in the first paragraph, that "Samkya is one of India's oldest philosophies, one whose formative concepts appeared as early as xxx BCE, strongly influenced Patanjali's system of Yoga, made a significant contribution to the Bhagvad Gita, and finally was brought together as a formal philosophy and school of thought around 200CE".
Quickly scanning this sentence, I can see the need for improvement in it already. However, most of the texts that I am familiar with apply the word "philosophy" to the whole line of development of ideas rather than just to the formalized definitions favoured by academics. As I've stated elsewhere, please write in an encyclopaedia for general readers, not for academics.
-- 184.70.23.98 ( talk) 20:27, 23 October 2013 (UTC)
"...Samkhya in any of its forms is not present in these early speculations [relating to priestly rituals]. Yet it is possible to point to certain trends of thought which might have later been assimilated into Samkhya. To point to such trends is not to make the claim that these trends can be precisely traced into later Samkhya. The claim is only that certain trends provide a context from which later Samkhya may have arisen. Important to remember the fact that Samkhya probably owes its origin to a variety of traditions and cannot convincingly be attributed to any one. One of the more obvious sources for later Samkhya is to be found in the ancient cosmological speculations of the Vedas, Brahmanas and the olest Upanishads....
Might I suggest that
"Both the agrarian theology of Śiva-Śakti/Sky-Earth and the tradition of yoga (meditation) do not appear to be rooted in the Vedas."
could be more rapidly grasped if expressed as:
"Neither the agrarian theology of Śiva-Śakti/Sky-Earth nor the tradition of yoga (meditation) appear to be rooted in the Vedas."
The double negative of the first expression makes the sentence more difficult to grasp. -- 67.49.245.122 ( talk) 23:09, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Two points. First, Dandekar is not early 20th century. His article that is being cited was published in 1968. He died in 2001. Second, what Ruzsa is saying is nothing original or new. There has been an ongoing debate about whether the Sankhya in its original form was non-Vedic/anti-Vedic or not. This debate has never been settled and unless any new original source material of Sankhya is found (which seems unlikely) it will never be settled. Soham321 ( talk) 04:03, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
The one citation supporting the description of 'rationalism' is qualified with "this ancient school's reliance on reason is neither exclusive nor strong". With so little to support this unusual description, why would it belong in the LEDE. Positing on the existence of Purusha is in no way rationalism, nor could any philosophy positing abstract and intangible explanations for the mundane be considered 'rationalist'. Nyaya is the school that is rationalist as it is a form of empiricism. Nyaya's sister school of Vaisheshika (atomism) is also rationalist, but more based on inference than empiricism. Samkhya is a metaphysical school and not a rationalist school. My edits have been conservative but I would rather remove all mention of rationalism from the article as it does not add anything useful. Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 07:18, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
I think there are two errors in the graphic for pramana (though I welcome second opinions). One is a spelling error: pratyaksha is miswritten as 'pratyakshaya' in the devanagari. The other is that these are the three means of correct perception (pramana) but they point in the graph to knowledge (jnana). Jnana can be obtained by means other than the three pramanas, including prajna (at least in yoga) and siddhis. I believe that in order to be accurate to samkhya epistemology the word jnana should be replaced with pramana. Pramana is a vritti composed of pratyaksha anumana and shabda, while jnana is a bhava that can exist in the vritti of memory as well. Is it possible for the chart to be edited and readded? I posted this on the graphic's talk page as well [14] Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 00:31, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
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Saamkhya is one of the six branches of ancient Indian philosophy collectively known as the shad-darsanas. The other five are Yoga, Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Poorva Meemamsa and Uthara Meemamsa. Saamkhya gives no reference to any God or supernatural power and is therefore called an atheist or materialist school of thought. It gives an account of the birth of universe which closely resembles the Big Bang theory. Saamkhya did not become as famous as Poorva Meemamsa, Uthara Meemamsa or Yoga because of its nature, which gave no practical ways to achieve Moksha.
Interesting article. However, this sentence in the third to last paragraph doesn't scan.
It is the influence of Samkhya that evolution has been discussed in ancient Hindu scriptures, including the Mahabharata and the Yoga Vasishtha.
I'm not sure what the intended meaning is so I haven't tried to fix it up.
Oska 11:28, Aug 18, 2004 (UTC)
pd 18:42, Jan 9, 2006 CET
Hindu philosophical schools are not called astika. Astika means 'orthodox' or vedic hinduism as opposed to nastika - 'heretical' one (like buddhism, jainism). Philosophical schools are called darsana - i will correct it as soon as I make sure about the spelling etc
I think this article needs a major overhaul to its contents. I have put up an underconstruction notice. Will complete the overhaul in a few days
SV 22:22, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
In the Gita, sankhya means knowledge and yoga means method. These should NOT be confused with sankhya and yoga school of philosophy. -- SV 22:51, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
Shouldn't this be at Sankhya? "Sāṃkhya" is correct, but that doesn't mean "Samkhya" is.— Nat Krause( Talk!· What have I done?) 02:02, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
"Only the ignorant speak of devotional service [karma-yoga] as being different from the analytical study of the material world [Sankhya]. Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both." (Gita 5.4) [1]
You are not a Hindu and so you would not know this. Do you have any proof at all that This Sankhya is different? Why would Sri Krishna say this if it were different. He would have said so!
Sri Krishna in the Gita (10.26) [2] "Of all trees I am the banyan tree, and of the sages among the demigods I am Narada. Of the Gandharvas I am Citraratha, and among perfected beings I am the sage Kapila."
I am also going to post these quotes into the main article to clear up any confusion. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by HinduDefender ( talk • contribs) 17:18, 7 February 2007 (UTC).
As soon as you refer to "Hindu" you are conjuring up a multiplicity of followers and belief systems, from a Delhi taxi driver with a plethora of demigods in his cab to the so-called highly qualified professor of sanskrit with a PhD. The verse you quote from the Gita (5.4) does indeed support that Lord Krishna states "Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both." When discussing the science of the Vedic knowledge it is much better to refer to it as Vedanta - the end of knowledge. After all, the absolute truth is not simply for "Hindus". It is universal and for all living entities, otherwise how would it be the absolute truth? Stokakrishna
-- 59.101.25.4 19:20, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
Your quote says karma yoga is the same as samkhya, not that the samkhya of the Gita is the same as the samkhya of Kapila and Isvarakrsna. But it is worth noting that the samkhya of vaishnavism has more tattvas (qualities) than that of classical samkhya (36 vs 25). And that this vaishnav ontology was developed after the gita was written. But most important is to remember samkhya means metaphysical understanding of the nature of the universe and very often is not referring to the classical system of Kapila, the actual astika being discussed on this page (since the gita is at least 500 years older than the Samkhyakarika. This classical samkhya is largely atheistic or some might say agnostic (though later developed into theistic models by Patanjali and others in what eventually became classical yoga which is supported by samkhya philosophy). So yeah, very much two different samkhyas. Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 01:53, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
I have added a quote from Gupta that begins to raise the developmental history of Samkhya, which spanned hundreds of years. The description of what Samkhya is in the present article is basically a description of classical Samkhya as it finally was codified. This addresses some of the questions raised regarding Samkhya in the Gita, which was a pre-classical form. Buddhipriya 03:49, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
Found no sources on the prescence of Aparabrahman in the Samkhya school of hilosophy from any sources, and I altered the definitions on Purusha and Prakriti because I could find little evidence that the Samkhya school views the Purusha as akin to the Brahman, rather I found that it is viewed as pure conciousness and our true self, more like the atman (soul), and the section on Prakriti seemed to be missing any mention of the gunas so I added that as well
I'm somewhat of a neophyte on the use and editing of Wikipedia articles, however I don't regard myself as such on the matter of Vedic knowledge. I took diksha initiation (Hare Krishna mantra) and Brahman initiation (gayatri mantra)in 1979 and consider Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as my instructing guru. Vedic scripture makes clear the distinction between Purusha and Prakrti, as it makes clear the nature of the living entity and his entanglement in material nature. The three modes of material nature are extensively described in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
I found the various references to Purusha in the article puzzling, ambivalent and downright confusing. I've added some material from the Srimad Bhagavatam regarding the absolute divinity of Kapiladeva and the science of Sankhya yoga as a theistic path. Here is a definition of Purusha given in the Srimad Bhagavatam (Canto 3 Chapter 26 verse 3)as translated by Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada anadir atma purusha nirgunah prakrteh parah pratyag-dhama svayam-jyotir visvam yena samanvitam "The Supreme Personality of Godhead (purusha directly translates as "Supreme Personality of Godhead") is the Supreme Soul, and He has no beginning. He is transcendental to the material modes of nature and beyond this material world. He is perceivable everywhere because He is self-effulgent, and by His self-effulgent luster the entire creation is maintained."
According to the Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Samhita and numerous other Vedic scriptures, the Brahman which you refer to is the bodily effulgence of Krishna. Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 2 verse 11 states vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdhyate "Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan."
Prabhupada explains that the Absolute Truth is both subject and object, and there is no qualitative difference there. In other words Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan are different aspects of the same Supreme Being - Bhagavan is the personal feature of the Lord with whom the liberated souls are engaged in eternal lila or pastimes. The Paramatma feature is the Supersoul of all living entities and can be realized by the perfection of the astanga yoga process of meditation. Brahman is the transcendental effulgence of the Lord, described in the Bhagavad Gita (14.27) as follows brahmano hi pratisthaham amrtasyavyayasya ca sasvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikantikasya ca "And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness and which is immortal, imperishable and eternal."
Krishna further elaborates in the Gita that the focus of the spiritual aspirant on the impersonal feature of the Brahman manifestation is ultimately a source of difficulty, and that concentration of the mind on the transcendental form of the Lord is a superior means of achieving the platform of self realization. (12.5) kleso dhikataras tesam avyaktasakta cetasam avyakta hi gatir dukham dehavadbhir avapyate "For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied."
Finally, if Kapiladeva is simply a figure of renown, or a sage or some other great personality of the mundane sphere, how can the authoritative statement of the acaryas and the sastras be understood. For example, here is a direct quotation of Lord Kapiladeva from the Srimad Bhagavatam (Canto 3 Chapter 32 text 29) yatha mahan aham-rupas tri-vrt pancha-vidha svaraj etc "From the total energy, the maha-tattva, I have manifested the false ego, the three modes of material nature, the five material elements, the individual consciousness, the eleven senses and the material body. Similarly, the entire universe has come from the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
-- stokakrishna 09:20, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
I find this whole section about "Sankhya in the Srimad Bhagavatam" full of need for citations. Also it is based on one particular interpretation (that of Swami Prabhupada). Also it disparages other interpretations of Samkhya philosophy because those interpretations don't confirm to Swami Prabhupada's interpretations. I request an impartiality tag be added to this section or else it be cleaned up.
Examples:
"The real sankhya philosophy is originally explained by Sri Kapiladeva, who is Lord Sri Krishna appearing Himself to distribute transcendental knowledge for the enlightenment of the conditioned souls. Lord Kapiladeva appeared as the son of Devahuti and Kadarma Muni, who were both elevated devotees."
This belief of sage Kapila being an incarnation of Krishna is a special belief held by followers of Prabhupada and it should be mentioned as thus.
Furthermore comments such as follows:
"Commentators who describe Kapiladeva as merely a sage or an unusually qualified person are disingenuous. Kapiladeva is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Elsewhere on Wikipedia are unbonafide comments such as “The original school of Samkhya as founded by Sage Kapila."
OR
"Complex word jugglery by mental speculators advertising themselves as great authorities on the sankhya philosophy are useless. Descriptions of purusha which do not refer to the Supreme Purusha, Lord Krishna, are also useless. Descriptions of prakrti which do not refer to the fact that prakrti is the external energy of the Lord are also useless."
don't belong in the main body of the article. This is a discussion point and should be in this section. Not in the main body of the article.
Sameer 19:42, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
Sameer: Throughout the Vedic literatures, the recommended process for self realization is the chanting of the Holy Name of the Lord, the maha mantra.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
The sages and Vedic authorities in the Parampara descending from the Lord also advocate this process.
"One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion he can enter into the kingdom of God."
Bhagavad Gita 18.55
I would appeal to your sense of fairness not to delete this section, which is after all, a point of discussion.
Whoever said that the views of Prabhupada are his own and not in line with Vedic thought must have some negative bias to ISKCON, Hare Krsnas etc. Or, they are just plain ignorant of how the Vedanta deals with this topic and how the Sankhya of atheist Kapila is rejected starting at VS 2.1.1 you can look at Govinda Bhasya aka Vedanta Sutra of Badarayana commentary by Baladeva Vidya Bhushana. The same argumentation will be found in the Sri Bhasya of Ramanuja tr M. Rangacharya and M.B.Vardaraja Aiyangar, Madhvacarya "The Brahmasutras and Their Principal Commentaries" trans by B N K Sharma, and "Vedanta Parijata Saurabha of Nimbarka and Vedanta kaustabha of Srinivasa" trans by Roma Bose. But I am not going to argue with the wiki thought police. I feel dirty by reading the contents of your mind and need to take a bath. 106.51.19.129 ( talk) 08:56, 4 July 2017 (UTC)
Vendanta has been interpreted by Sri Shankara in advaitic manner. Sri Madhva has interpreted it in a Dvaitic way.
To say vedanta is advitic is wrong. Infact Dvaitic philosophy uses the tenets of Samkhya to interpret vedanta.
So saying "Sankhya serves as the main opponent of Vedanta Philosophy which elucidates the non-dualistic (a-dvaita) theory of creation" makes no sense.
Rather "Sankhya serves as the main opponent of Advatic Vedanta Philosophy which elucidates the non-dualistic (a-dvaita) theory of creation" makes more sense.
The main disagreement between samkhya and advaita is regarding the plurality of souls. The argument is that if there is but one entity (brahman) then the attainment of enlightenment by one jiva would mean universal enlightenment and the end of maya/prakriti. The other disagreement is whether what we perceive as the world is maya (illusion which disappears with right knowledge) or prakriti (unconscious matter, born of purusha and able to reabsorb into it through metaphysical knowledge or, according to some, yoga). See Mircea Eliade for more on that idea. In this sense advaita argues the oneness of atman (or Brahman) because nothing else is real, and samkhya argues that matter is real and separate from atman (or purusha in samkhya). Rereading this though, I can imagine it is pretty confusing to the neophyte. One thing advaita vedanta and classical samkhya have in common is the belief in liberation through jñāna, while most dualist schools insist on a praxis of yoga (be that japa, samadhi, karmayoga, etc...) Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 05:36, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
As it stands, the bulk of the article is not encyclopaedic, but reads instead as if it were written by a Hare Krishna devotee. How could that be? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eucalyptus grandis ( talk • contribs) 17:25, 2 November 2007 (UTC)
Let me remind you that this is the discussion page. The bulk of the actual article on samkhya is written by people with what is an apparently dogmatic impersonalism. The article is based around the monist conception and decries the very idea of a Supreme Being.
For example
"Sankhya is an enumerationist philosophy that is strongly dualist.[4][5][6] Sankhya philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two realities: Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (phenomenal realm of matter). They are the experiencer and the experienced, not unlike the res cogens and res extensa of René Descartes. Prakriti further bifurcates into animate and inanimate realms. On the other hand, Purusha separates out into countless Jivas or individual units of consciousness as souls which fuse into the mind and body of the animate branch of Prakriti."
The actual Vedic reference to Purusha is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Purusha means "enjoyer". The Lord is the Supreme enjoyer. The living entity can be referred as a purusha in a relative sense in that he enjoys or suffers sense gratification as a consequence of being conditioned by the material nature. The Supreme Lord is also the Supreme consciousness. The living entity is only conscious of the extent of his material body, whereas the Lord is supremely conscious of all living entities as well as the expansion of His material nature.
Chapter 5. Karma-yoga--Action in Krishna Consciousness
TEXT 29
bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati
SYNONYMS
bhoktaram--beneficiary; yajna--sacrifices; tapasam--of penances and austerities; sarva-loka--all planets and the demigods thereof; maha-isvaram--the Supreme Lord; su-hrdam--benefactor; sarva--all; bhutanam--of the living entities; jnatva--thus knowing; mam--Me (Lord Krsna); santim--relief from material pangs; rcchati--achieves.
TRANSLATION
The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.
PURPORT
The conditioned souls within the clutches of illusory energy are all anxious to attain peace in the material world. But they do not know the formula for peace, which is explained in this part of the Bhagavad-gita. The greatest peace formula is simply this: Lord Krsna is the beneficiary in all human activities. Men should offer everything to the transcendental service of the Lord because He is the proprietor of all planets and the demigods thereon. No one is greater than He. He is greater than the greatest of the demigods, Lord Siva and Lord Brahma. In the Vedas the Supreme Lord is described as tam isvaranam paramam mahesvaram. Under the spell of illusion, living entities are trying to be lords of all they survey, but actually they are dominated by the material energy of the Lord. The Lord is the master of material nature, and the conditioned souls are under the stringent rules of material nature. Unless one understands these bare facts, it is not possible to achieve peace in the world either individually or collectively. This is the sense of Krsna consciousness: Lord Krsna is the supreme predominator, and all living entities, including the great demigods, are His subordinates. One can attain perfect peace only in complete Krsna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada
Firstly, the dualism referenced here should be the dualism of the inferior and superior energies of the Lord, and that both energies are expansions of the original source of all energies, the Supreme Lord.
ishvara parama krisha sat cid ananda vigraha anadir adir govinda sarva karana karanam
Brahma Samhita
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krishna. He has a blissful, transcendental spiritual body, He is the origin of all, He has no other origin and He is the cause of all causes.
The idea that the jiva soul separates out of the purusha and fuses into the prakrti is the old province of the mayavada philosophy which is simply not supported in the
Bhagavad Gita and other texts. Rather, the purusha (Krishna) expands His separated parts (the jivas) into the material nature and they are conditioned by that material nature. The Lord is never covered in that way and always remains independent and transcendental to
maya.
Chapter 15. The Yoga of the Supreme Person
TEXT 7
mamaivamso jiva-loke
jiva-bhutah sanatanah
''manah-sasthanindriyani
prakrti-sthani karsati
SYNONYMS
mama--My; eva--certainly; amsah--fragmental particles; jiva-loke--world of conditional life; jiva-bhutah--the conditioned living entity; sanatanah--eternal; manah--mind; sasthani--six; indriyani--senses; prakrti--material nature; sthani--situated; karsati--struggling hard.
TRANSLATION
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
Frankly, I stongly object to the almost darwinian perspective in the article, which is why I've written material which is much more closely allied to the Vedic tradition. The Supreme Lord predates and is paramount to all other considerations sarva karana karanam (
Brahma Samhita). The idea that the Sankhya tradition originally stated that there could be no room for Ishvara or a supreme creator is simply misleading. Those who present themselves as Vedic authorities without reference to the Supreme Lord are really advocating the antithesis of the Vedic conclusion, which is given by the Lord Himself in
Bhagavad Gita. It is also notable how thin the Vedic scriptural references are of those who are posing themselves as experts on Vedic philosophy. At least in my case everything is referenced to the translation of the Bhagavad Gita which is recognized as the most authoritative by a majority of Vedic scholars.
Chapter 15. The Yoga of the Supreme Person
TEXT 15
sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham
SYNONYMS
sarvasya--of all living beings; ca--and; aham--I; hrdi--in the heart; sannivistah--being situated; mattah--from Me; smrtih--remembrance; jnanam--knowledge; apohanam ca--and forgetfulness; vedaih--by the Vedas; ca--also; sarvaih--all; aham--I am; eva--certainly; vedyah--knowable; vedanta-krt--the compiler of the Vedanta; veda-vit--the knower of the Vedas; eva--certainly; ca--and; aham--I.
TRANSLATION
I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas I am to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
As described by Lord Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad Gita and elaborately explained by Srila Prabhupada.
Chapter 2. Contents of the Gita Summarized
TEXT 12
na tv evaham jatu nasam na tvam neme janadhipah na caiva na bhavisyamah sarve vayam atah param
SYNONYMS na--never; tu--but; eva--certainly; aham--I; jatu--become; na--never; asam--existed; na--it is not so; tvam--yourself; na--not; ime--all these; jana-adhipah--kings; na--never; ca--also; eva--certainly; na--not like that; bhavisyamah--shall exist; sarve--all of us; vayam--we; atah param--hereafter.
TRANSLATION
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
PURPORTIn the Vedas, in the Katha Upanisad as well as in the Svetasvatara Upanisad, it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the maintainer of innumerable living entities, in terms of their different situations according to individual work and reaction of work. That Supreme Personality of Godhead is also, by His plenary portions, alive in the heart of every living entity. Only saintly persons who can see, within and without, the same Supreme Lord, can actually attain to perfect and eternal peace.
nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman tam atma-stham ye 'nupasyanti dhiras tesam santih sasvati netaresam (Katha 2.2.13)The same Vedic truth given to Arjuna is given to all persons in the world who pose themselves as very learned but factually have but a poor fund of knowledge. The Lord says clearly that He Himself, Arjuna, and all the kings who are assembled on the battlefield, are eternally individual beings and that the Lord is eternally the maintainer of the individual living entities both in their conditioned as well as in their liberated situations. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme individual person, and Arjuna, the Lord's eternal associate, and all the kings assembled there are individual, eternal persons. It is not that they did not exist as individuals in the past, and it is not that they will not remain eternal persons. Their individuality existed in the past, and their individuality will continue in the future without interruption. Therefore, there is no cause for lamentation for anyone. The Mayavadi theory that after liberation the individual soul, separated by the covering of maya or illusion, will merge into the impersonal Brahman and lose its individual existence is not supported herein by Lord Krsna, the supreme authority. Nor is the theory that we only think of individuality in the conditioned state supported herein. Krsna clearly says herein that in the future also the individuality of the Lord and others, as it is confirmed in the Upanisads, will continue eternally. This statement of Krsna is authoritative because Krsna cannot be subject to illusion. If individuality is not a fact, then Krsna would not have stressed it so much--even for the future. The Mayavadi may argue that the individuality spoken of by Krsna is not spiritual, but material. Even accepting the argument that the individuality is material, then how can one distinguish Krsna's individuality? Krsna affirms His individuality in the past and confirms His individuality in the future also. He has confirmed His individuality in many ways, and impersonal Brahman has been declared to be subordinate to Him. Krsna has maintained spiritual individuality all along; if He is accepted as an ordinary conditioned soul in individual consciousness, then His Bhagavad-gita has no value as authoritative scripture. A common man with all the four defects of human frailty is unable to teach that which is worth hearing. The Gita is above such literature. No mundane book compares with the Bhagavad-gita. When one accepts Krsna as an ordinary man, the Gita loses all importance. The Mayavadi argues that the plurality mentioned in this verse is conventional and that it refers to the body. But previous to this verse such a bodily conception is already condemned. After condemning the bodily conception of the living entities, how was it possible for Krsna to place a conventional proposition on the body again? Therefore, individuality is maintained on spiritual grounds and is thus confirmed by great acaryas like Sri Ramanuja and others. It is clearly mentioned in many places in the Gita that this spiritual individuality is understood by those who are devotees of the Lord. Those who are envious of Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead have no bona fide access to the great literature. The nondevotee's approach to the teachings of the Gita is something like bees licking on a bottle of honey. One cannot have a taste of honey unless one opens the bottle. Similarly, the mysticism of the Bhagavad-gita can be understood only by devotees, and no one else can taste it, as it is stated in the Fourth Chapter of the book. Nor can the Gita be touched by persons who envy the very existence of the Lord. Therefore, the Mayavadi explanation of the Gita is a most misleading presentation of the whole truth. Lord Caitanya has forbidden us to read commentations made by the Mayavadis and warns that one who takes to such an understanding of the Mayavadi philosophy loses all power to understand the real mystery of the Gita. If individuality refers to the empirical universe, then there is no need of teaching by the Lord. The plurality of the individual soul and of the Lord is an eternal fact, and it is confirmed by the Vedas as above mentioned.
No one outside of Gaudiya Math even considers The Gita As It Is to be accurate. As a sanskrit student I can pick up that book and found countless misleading translations. This is a big part of why Gaudiya Math rarely teaches it's students to study sanskrit. Srila Prabhupada was not a sanskrit scholar, he was a vaishnavism scholar. His expertise was on the Bhagavatam, the Gita and Caitanya. And saying that 'god himself says in the gita' is terrible standards for a secular encyclopedia. You can't possibly think wikipedia would work at all if opinions could be validated by 'god's authority'. Your religion (which by its own description frequently calls itself non-hindu, and is largely recognized as non-vedic) reframes older samkhya into its ontology and alters it considerably. Just like having yajñas and simultaneously claiming they serve no point, vestiges of an older religion are weaved into your religion. This isn't even debated academically: this is how all modern denomination of almost all religions are. The whole pañcaratra movement was a more brahmanically acceptable version of the older Goddess worship traditions of tantric Bengali groups. There are plenty in Gaudiya Vaishnavism who have no problem admitting to this as it doesn't ruin the beautiful traditions and practices of the Gaudiya faith...mostly it's overzealous neophytes and bhramacharins who tout such absolutisms around while arguing over which bhava their guru's bhakti was in and banning offshoot groups from their temples. Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 05:51, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
Regarding the Moksha section, I think this is a misunderstanding - Isvarakrsna explicitly states that Purusa is never bound, but eternally unbound (Karika 62). It is not Purusa which realises the independence of Purusa from Prakrti, but the internal organ, ie the evolutes of Prakrti. Understanding is in fact not a quality of Purusa, but of Prakrti. Purusa has neither the ability to seek nor to realise liberation, as it is eternally transcendent.
This has been extensively discussed in B David Burke's article "Transcendence in Classical Samkhya" (Philosophy East and West 1988, p19-29).
If no one minds, I will change the section to reflect this (let me know if you disagree). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yintov ( talk • contribs) 15:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
This whole article is biased toward the ISKCON philosophy. All references to dualistic or non-dualistic philosophies need to be deleted. Basically it needs to be rewritten with just a general overview. THEN maybe a section giving the different schools take on it should be added. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.205.65.187 ( talk) 08:07, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
As I've already pointed out with extensive references, my perspective is based on the
Bhagavad Gita.
ISKCON was started as an institution by
Prabhupada to distribute knowledge of the
Bhagavad Gita and other traditional Vedic texts in an authoritative way. Of course, hundreds of scholarly interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita have been translated into English, however generally they have some speculated or manufactured meaning. Krishna Himself in the Gita makes it clear that such persons are not qualified to understand the
Bhagavad Gita, to say nothing of making elaborate and speculative commentaries about it.
Chapter 18. Conclusion--The Perfection of Renunciation
TEXT 67
idam te natapaskaya
nabhaktaya kadacana
na casusrusave vacyam
na ca mam yo 'bhyasuyati
SYNONYMS
idam--this; te--you; na--never; atapaskaya--one who is not austere; na--never; abhaktaya--one who is not a devotee; kadacana--at any time; na--never; ca--also; asusrusave--one who is not engaged in devotional service; vacyam--to be spoken; na--never; ca--also; mam--unto Me; yah--anyone; abhyasuyati--envious.
TRANSLATION
This confidential knowledge may not be explained to those who are not austere, or devoted, or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me.
PURPORT
"Persons who have not undergone the austerities of the religious process, who have never attempted devotional service in Krsna consciousness, who have not tended a pure devotee, and especially those who are conscious of Krsna as a historical personality or who are envious of the greatness of Krsna, should not be told this most confidential part of knowledge. It is, however, sometimes found that even demoniac persons who are envious of Krsna, worshiping Krsna in a different way, take to the profession of explaining Bhagavad-gita in a different way to make business, but anyone who desires actually to understand Krsna must avoid such commentaries on Bhagavad-gita. Actually the purpose of Bhagavad-gita is not understandable to those who are sensuous--even if one is not sensuous but is strictly following the disciplines enjoined in the Vedic scripture, if he is not a devotee, he also cannot understand Krsna. Even when one poses himself as a devotee of Krsna, but is not engaged in Krsna conscious activities, he also cannot understand Krsna. There are many persons who envy Krsna because He has explained in Bhagavad-gita that He is the Supreme and that nothing is above Him or equal to Him. There are many persons who are envious of Krsna. Such persons should not be told of Bhagavad-gita, for they cannot understand. There is no possibility of faithless persons' understanding Bhagavad-gita and Krsna. Without understanding Krsna from the authority of a pure devotee, one should not try to comment upon Bhagavad-gita."
In other words those who consider themselves Brahminical should understand the basic qualification of a Brahmana: To be able to properly differentiate between matter and spirit.
Not only are those who are addicted to meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex not qualified to be authorities on Vedic knowledge.
Even those who follow strict discipline are considered unfit to disseminate Vedic knowledge if they are bereft of any shred of love for the Supreme Lord.
hi mistsube. Samkhya is correctly written in Sanskrit as साङ्ख्य and not सांख्य. Instead of using the anusvAra ( अनुस्वार ), it is a tradition in Sanskrit, to use the last letter of the same varga ( वर्ग ) as the succeeding letter. In this case, the letter ख belongs to the क varga, and hence the last letter of this varga, namely ङ has to be used while writing the word. Please see other examples such as - तन्तु, बन्धन, सम्बन्ध, किञ्चन, कण्ठ and so on. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.173.40 ( talk) 16:33, 18 June 2009 (UTC)
I don't understand this intro statement at all:
The trouble is that the concept "mind" isn't distinguishable from the concept "self" or the "ego", that might be used interchangeably, and "body" is just kind of a "matter", so the differences between Sankhya and the Western mind-body dichotomy, sometimes called "Dialectical dualism" ― as opposed to "Dialectical materialism" and to "Dialectical idealism" ― seems to be very fuzzy. The problem might be the word " dualism", which might mean any kind of dichotomy with a clear cut borderline, such as good-evil, mind-body, subject-object or so. I think the differences between Sankhya and any certain form of mind-body dichotomy exist, certainly, but are much more subtile and precise than the difference between "mind" and "self", if such a difference exist. ... said: Rursus ( mbork³) 20:14, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
Sankhya philosophy does cover mind body dualism but not in the way you are speculating here. The differentiation between the self and matter are clearly described in the
Bhagavad Gita,Chapter 7 verses 4 and 5.
TEXT 4
bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakrtir astadha
SYNONYMS bhumih--earth; apah--water; analah--fire; vayuh--air; kham--ether; manah--mind; buddhih--intelligence; eva--certainly; ca--and; ahankarah--false ego; iti--thus; iyam--all these; me--My; bhinna--separated; prakrtih--energies; astadha--total eight .
TRANSLATION Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego--all together these eight comprise My separated material energies.
TEXT 5apareyam itas tv anyam prakrtim viddhi me param jiva-bhutam maha-baho yayedam dharyate jagat
SYNONYMS apara--inferior; iyam--this; itah--besides this; tu--but; anyam--another; prakrtim--energy; viddhi--just try to understand; me--My; param--superior; jiva-bhutam--the living entities; maha-baho--O mighty-armed one; yaya--by whom; idam--this; dharyate--being utilized or exploited; jagat--the material world.
TRANSLATION Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.
Explanation:
Verse 4 describes the range of the Lord's inferior material energies, which include the mind, intelligence and false ego. Material nature illusions the living entity into misidentification with the gross body and subtle mind. These however, have nothing to do with the transcendental nature of the soul. Verse 5 describes the living entity as apara prakrti, the superior energy of the Lord, eternal, non material and full of transcendental bliss and knowledge.
stokakrishna —Preceding undated comment added 19:59, 30 October 2009 (UTC).
Can someone with more knowledgeof thisarea please look at the redirects. At the moment Samkhya and Sankhya redirect to each other. Waacstats ( talk) 10:40, 25 December 2009 (UTC)
I think we need a fresh look at the Samkya Philosophy and its semantics; The argument of disbelieving in God by Samkhya School is untenable. The said reference in the main article could be just authors interpretation of text in isolated context. The best story which I remember comes from Rudra Samhita of Shiv Purana where Goddess Parvati had a long discussion with Lord Shiv on his or her existence in this creation and their intermigling roles; this details the very existence of samkhya school and its beliefs. Avid Reader may verify. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.95.101.171 ( talk) 10:29, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
At the very least, it is misleading to make the blanket statement that the article currently has that Samkhya is atheistic. See Gerald Larson's Classical Samkhya for extensive discussion of various historical viewpoints on theism, non-theism, and atheism in Samkhya. It is not even clear that Samkhya has had a fixed viewpoint regarding the existence (or soteriological importance) of an ultimate deity during its various periods. It seems below the Wikipedia standards to ignore the ambiguity that exists within Samkhya and among its interpreters as to the existence and nature of a God or gods. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.248.144.215 ( talk) 08:19, 25 July 2012 (UTC)
TwoHorned has repeatedly removed the statement ( [3], [4], [5]) The Samkhya school is dualistic and atheistic from the lead. Since the purpose of the lead section is to introduce and summarize the article and dualism, atheism both have a section each (referenced by reliable sources) in the article it makes sense to include them in the lead. Besides, TwoHorned's argument that the writers (of the references) are non-Indian is not even worth considering here. Since when did Indianness become a criteria for reliability of sources? Here are a few more references for Atheism in Samkhya — [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12]. Dualism has many references in the article itself. Please consider them before reverting again. Regards. Correct Knowledge «৳alk» 00:37, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
References
No doubt the article (judging by the discussion here) needs fine points of tuning, but as a visitor with only a passing knowledge of Samkhya, I found that one aspect of the text confusing.
The general understanding--one restated here--is that Samkhya is one of the oldest Indian "systems of ideas", with roots in the Vedas (pre 800 BCE?) , connections to Yoga (pre 300BCE?) and the Gita. And yet the article then states that Samkhya (Philosophy and school) emerged around 200 CE. Obviously this framing uses "philosophy" in a more formal sense, which may not be understood by the visitor.
I think this confusion can be avoided by stating, perhaps in the first paragraph, that "Samkya is one of India's oldest philosophies, one whose formative concepts appeared as early as xxx BCE, strongly influenced Patanjali's system of Yoga, made a significant contribution to the Bhagvad Gita, and finally was brought together as a formal philosophy and school of thought around 200CE".
Quickly scanning this sentence, I can see the need for improvement in it already. However, most of the texts that I am familiar with apply the word "philosophy" to the whole line of development of ideas rather than just to the formalized definitions favoured by academics. As I've stated elsewhere, please write in an encyclopaedia for general readers, not for academics.
-- 184.70.23.98 ( talk) 20:27, 23 October 2013 (UTC)
"...Samkhya in any of its forms is not present in these early speculations [relating to priestly rituals]. Yet it is possible to point to certain trends of thought which might have later been assimilated into Samkhya. To point to such trends is not to make the claim that these trends can be precisely traced into later Samkhya. The claim is only that certain trends provide a context from which later Samkhya may have arisen. Important to remember the fact that Samkhya probably owes its origin to a variety of traditions and cannot convincingly be attributed to any one. One of the more obvious sources for later Samkhya is to be found in the ancient cosmological speculations of the Vedas, Brahmanas and the olest Upanishads....
Might I suggest that
"Both the agrarian theology of Śiva-Śakti/Sky-Earth and the tradition of yoga (meditation) do not appear to be rooted in the Vedas."
could be more rapidly grasped if expressed as:
"Neither the agrarian theology of Śiva-Śakti/Sky-Earth nor the tradition of yoga (meditation) appear to be rooted in the Vedas."
The double negative of the first expression makes the sentence more difficult to grasp. -- 67.49.245.122 ( talk) 23:09, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
Two points. First, Dandekar is not early 20th century. His article that is being cited was published in 1968. He died in 2001. Second, what Ruzsa is saying is nothing original or new. There has been an ongoing debate about whether the Sankhya in its original form was non-Vedic/anti-Vedic or not. This debate has never been settled and unless any new original source material of Sankhya is found (which seems unlikely) it will never be settled. Soham321 ( talk) 04:03, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
The one citation supporting the description of 'rationalism' is qualified with "this ancient school's reliance on reason is neither exclusive nor strong". With so little to support this unusual description, why would it belong in the LEDE. Positing on the existence of Purusha is in no way rationalism, nor could any philosophy positing abstract and intangible explanations for the mundane be considered 'rationalist'. Nyaya is the school that is rationalist as it is a form of empiricism. Nyaya's sister school of Vaisheshika (atomism) is also rationalist, but more based on inference than empiricism. Samkhya is a metaphysical school and not a rationalist school. My edits have been conservative but I would rather remove all mention of rationalism from the article as it does not add anything useful. Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 07:18, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
I think there are two errors in the graphic for pramana (though I welcome second opinions). One is a spelling error: pratyaksha is miswritten as 'pratyakshaya' in the devanagari. The other is that these are the three means of correct perception (pramana) but they point in the graph to knowledge (jnana). Jnana can be obtained by means other than the three pramanas, including prajna (at least in yoga) and siddhis. I believe that in order to be accurate to samkhya epistemology the word jnana should be replaced with pramana. Pramana is a vritti composed of pratyaksha anumana and shabda, while jnana is a bhava that can exist in the vritti of memory as well. Is it possible for the chart to be edited and readded? I posted this on the graphic's talk page as well [14] Iṣṭa Devatā ( talk) 00:31, 27 October 2017 (UTC)
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