Philosophical Imaginatrix: The Beauty of Samkhya Philosophy

Samkhya is one of the six school of classical Sanatan philosophy. Sage Kapila is credited as the founder of Samkhya school. It seems to be a philosophy of dual, but once we dive into it we can see that its foundation is non-dual. Samkhya is a realistic philosophy of the existence. Its practical and scientific. Samkhya comes from the Sanskrit word 'Samyag Akhyate' which means, that which explains the whole. Samkhya is a scientific observation of everything in everything. From universe to the human life. In each minute and macro-cosmic levels. Samkhya is an axiomatic theory of cosmic manifestation. 

Samkhya talks about Prakrity (the phenomenal realm of matter) and Purusha (Consciousness). Which is almost similar to what Rene Descartes explains as 'res cogitans' and 'res extensa'. Prakrity further divides into two forms: the animate and the in-animate. And Purusha is divided into infinite Jivas and one singular consciousness. And the singular consciousness fuses into the animate Prakrity. Samkhya cannot be compared with the western school of duality. 

Samkhya explains that our understanding of the reality (knowledge) comes from three pramanas (valid knowledge), which are:

1. Pratakshya: Direct Sense of Perception
2. Anumana: Logical Inferences
3. Aptavacana: Verbal Testimony 

Samkhya also divides perception into two criterions: the indeterminate perceptions (nirvikalpa) and determinate perceptions (savikalpa). The indeterminate perception is just the cognition of the object with no recognition to it. While, the determinate perception is identification and recognition of the object.  

We look at the world and judge it, by the perception of our senses. The culture dictates how we look at the world. For most of us, we can surely say that we are distorted of our reality because we fall into the trap of various belief system. We try our best to use the world in our favour, harness it in terms of our ego. And every other country/person is trying to do so, which is why conflict exists in the world. 

Science and technology today is looking at the world as a human utility. It's perceived as an life producing machine, and we must make the use of it. We claim that the use must be sustainable. But in our sustainability, we have made Earth, an object of purpose fulfillment. Hence our consciousness is pulled out from the planet and from us. We have been reduced just to a level of sensory input and output. Our knowledge of the world is therefore conditioned. 

The Purusha is the transcendental pure self. It's beyond words and above experiences. Nothing can be said of it. But everything is with it. It cannot be produced and it does not produce. The Prakrity is the archaic (first) cause of the universe. Of everything there is, was and will be. Except for Purusha. Prakirty is the cause and the momentum of both energy and matter. Because Prakrity is the first cause, it is called 'PRADHANA'. Prakrity is the 'jada' form of existence, which means it is un-consciousness. 

Prakrity comprises of trigunas (three characteristics), which are:

1. Sattva: It is pure-most (without any impurities), illuminating and beyond sickness.
2. Rajas: Its passionate and is born out of desires (trishna) and attachments (sanga).
3. Tamas: It is darkness and crudeness, which causes delusion.

Sattva Guna, binds the soul through wisdom and happiness. The Rajas Guna, binds the soul through the attachment with the action. And the Tamas Guna, binds the soul through recklessness, sleep and indolence. There is a constant friction between the three Gunas. We must not look at them in terms of supremacy or non-supremacy. They are the part of Prakrity. And whatever they may be, they are ultimately the causes of suffering. Bhagavata Geeta explain the Gunas in detail and proclaims that we must go beyond the three gunas and become Nir-Guna, to attain the ultimate liberation. 

In Samkhya Philosophy, the process of creation (Srishti) begins when Prakrity and Purusha merge with each other. Out of this merger 24 tattvas are born. Tattva is a Sanskrit word which means that'ness. The 24 tattvas are:

1. Mahat Tattva: The Great Principle
2. Buddhi Tattva: The Causative Intelligence
3. Ahamkara Tattva: The Ego
4. Manas Tattva: The Mind
Panch Indriya: The Five Sense Organs
5. Eyes
6. Ears
7. Nose
8. Mouth
9. Skin
Karmendriyas: The Five Organ of Action
10. Hands
11. Legs
12. Vocal Apparatus
13. Urino-Genital Organ
14. Anus
Tanmatras: The Five Subtle Elements
15. Vision
16. Hearing
17. Smell
18. Taste
19. Tactile Perception
Mahabhutas: The Five Gross Elements
20. Earth
21. Water
22. Air
23. Fire
24. Ether 

The first product from Prakrity is Mahat. Mahat is the tattva which is responsible for the rise of buddhi tattva (intelligence in living beings). The buddhi gives the rise to Ahamkara tattva. The self-sense in the being. A combination of the Ahamkara and Mahat tattva gives rise to the Tanmatras. Each Tanmatras are made of the three gunas. The Manas Tattva is a total sum of the Sattvic guna of Tanmatras. The Pancha Indriya is also a accumulation of the sattva tattva of Ahamkara. The Karmendriyas rises from the rajas guna of Ahamkara. And finally the Mahabhutas rise from the 'Tamas' aspect of the Ahamkara. 

Samkhya can be understood in an atheistic order because Samkhya puts forth the understanding that evolution of life is not a miracle of the divine force (god), but it is a continuous creative process of change and transformations. Purusha and Prakrity are not god substances. In the microcosmic level the Purusha and Prakrity are always merging and forming Hiranyagarbha (the golden embryo). 

The worship of Prakrity as the material basis of the Universe led to the worship of Goddess (Mother). And that led finally to the birth of Tantric Practices. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, sometimes is understood as an exposition and extension of the Samkhya philosophy, where the union of Prakrity and Purusha is a very important aspect. 

In Samkhya Philosophy, the understanding of change, death, decay, or decomposition is understood as unreal. They are not what is real. Which means that though they are there, they are not ultimately real.  They keep morphing from one state to another. Real is that ultimate substratum (never changing). The real is the absolute. Anything except that is un-real. 

Samkhya looks into existence like an evolution of this from that, and that from this. For example: the ghee evolves from milk. Or the ornaments evolve from metals. The statue evolves from stone. Objects evolves from compounds. Compounds from molecules. Molecules from atoms. Atoms from subatomic particle. Those particle from strings of vibratory information. And those vibration from some subtler form. And all these layers of existence correlates and co-exists with each other. Similarly, the humans are also made of various layers. We are made of evolution of impulses and triggers. A memory is a process of collective evolution of feelings, emotions and thoughts. Which gives birth to action and reaction. And the cycle of evolution continues. 

Samkhya was the founding philosophy for mathematics. And without mathematics, the study of science would be impossible. Samkhya is the basis of yoga. Yoga is the mathematical calculation and regeneration of the divine in the decaying. In Samkhya, the ultimate truth is that which is never changing and always ONE in all three timelines: the past, the present and the future. Even if the world exists no more, the TRUTH remains. 

Swami Vivekananda famously said:

"There is no philosophy in the world that is not indebted to Kapila. Pythagoras came to India and studied this philosophy, and that was the beginning of the philosophy of the Greeks. Later, it formed the Alexandrian school, and still later, the Gnostic. It became divided into two; one part went to Europe and Alexandria, and the other remained in India; and out of this, the system of Vyasa was developed. The Sankhya philosophy of Kapila was the first rational system that the world ever saw. Every metaphysician in the world must pay homage to him. I want to impress on your mind that we are bound to listen to him as the great father of philosophy. This wonderful man, the most ancient of philosophers, is mentioned even in the Shruti: "O Lord, Thou who produced the sage Kapila in the Beginning." How wonderful his perceptions were, and if there is ant proof required of the extraordinary power of the perception of Yogis, such men are the proof. They had no microscopes or telescopes. Yet how fine their perception was, how perfect and wonderful their analysis of things!"

Samkhya is a beautiful exploration of the process of exploration itself. The exploration of exploring the exploding evolution of evolving moment of existence consciousness.