This Sankhya

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

Namaste,


My studies take me to reading Sankhya - that of the sage Kapila.
I have some very subtle questions I am pondering.
Can any one direct me to a muni, pandit, swami, that may perhaps entertain some of my questions? that is , one skilled/knowledgable in this philosophy and perhaps the 6 classical Indian philosophies.


your help is appreciated.

pranams,

[sm78]

Among those who are not amongst us in this world anymore - Shri Gopinath Kabiraj ?? His works on the 6 classical philosophies is what I want to read, but haven't found the right opportunity yet. According to him (and my dearest teacher) Samkhya is THE key to Sanatana Dharma.

I tried Samkhya directly ~ it whoossed passed over my head after a few passages.

[Agnideva]

Namaste Singhi,

Shri Gopinath Kabiraj ... According to him (and my dearest teacher) Samkhya is THE key to Sanatana Dharma.

I am definitely willing to believe that. Sankhya predates all the other schools per most historians. It has not only influenced the philosophies of Sanatana Dharma, but also Buddhism and Jainism. Siddhartha Gautama had studied Sankhya from a teacher called Arada Kalama. There is some reason to believe that multiple schools of Sankhya were in existence early on stemming from the great teacher Kapila (700 BCE?). The Sankhya Karika of Ishvara Krishna, some believe, took a nir-ishvara position because it came to be codified during the reign of the nastika religions. Some say that the sa-ishvara Sankhya of the Pasupata (Saiva) and Pancharatra (Vaishnava) schools predates the nir-ishvara Sankhya. It is the sa-ishvara Sankhya that we also find in the BG.

I tried Samkhya directly ~ it whoossed passed over my head after a few passages.

Sankhya is very complex and hard to understand. The ontology of the Saiva and Shakta Agamas is completely Sankhya based, but is far more complex than the basic Sankhya. It has passed over my head many a times. There is a nice summary of the six philosophies by Swami Sivananda. I can't find the original site, but it is found here as well. He summarizes basic Sankhya very well.

Regards,
A.

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~

Among those who are not amongst us in this world anymore - Shri Gopinath Kabiraj ?? His works on the 6 classical philosophies is what I want to read, but haven't found the right opportunity yet. According to him (and my dearest teacher) Samkhya is THE key to Sanatana Dharma.

I tried Samkhya directly ~ it whoossed passed over my head after a few passages.

Namaste sm78 and AD,
Thank you for your posts on this... sm78 I am reading the 6 Systems of Indian Philosophy - this is by Subodh Kapoor, Cosmo Publications. He does a fine job and goes into depth where needed. There are many finer points that requires one well versed in Samkaya to address, I hope I will find this person.

As you folks know there is the orthodox or astika school - they are orthodox, because they recognize the Veda as infallible - the origin of the 6 systems reside here. Yet there is too the unorthodox (na-astika) schools, and typically 3 in number: Buddhist, Jaina and Carvaka. My attention is on the classical six and these can even be coupled or closely associated: Sankhya+Yoga, Mimamsa+Vedanta, Vaisesika+Nyaya.
Sankhya (some write Samkhya)+ Yoga: A view of creation from Purusa and Prakriti
Mimamsa+Vedanta: a point of view from turiya - all this is THAT
Vaisesika+Nyaya: cosmology and logic from the waking state

It is important to note that the 6 all together offer total knowledge of reality, yet because of the fullness and robustness of each philosophy on its own, some have considered them to be in competition with each other...the wise know differently. The 6 shcools allows one to look at this creation, Reality though 6 different perspectives.

Hence if one wishes to know Yoga, it needs to be complimented with Samkaya. Same with Nyaya or logic, to be complimented with Vaisesika, like that, we learn and move forward.

One is blessed to know the pandit/muni/guru/brahmavit who knows all 6 and can teach from their own level of experience.

pranams,