Sankhya approach of Indian Philosophy : A brief

Sankhya Approach to Philosophy

Dualistic System: Sankhya is a dualistic tradition that seeks to explain the world and the self through two fundamental entities: Prakriti and Purusha.

Material Cause: Understood as the material cause of the world.
Source of Creation: It is the source and origin of all matter in the world.
Changing Nature: Although eternal, Prakriti is subject to change and evolves over time.
- The various forms that we see are due to evolution of Prakriti.

Conscious Principle: It is the final cause of the world or the pure conscious principle that is behind all phenomena.
Pure Consciousness: It is pure consciousness with no physical attributes or limbs.
Sentient & Changeless: It is sentient and unchangeable
Eternal & Passive: It is eternal and does not engage in any action
It is considered to be the ‘final’ cause (teleological) of Prakriti, similar to the way the potter commissions a pot.
The world (Prakriti) exists for the Purusha

Fundamental Qualities: Sankhya posits three fundamental qualities or gunas: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.
Known via Inference: Their existence is known via inference through their effects, they are not directly perceived.
Not Parts of Prakriti: They are not components of Prakriti; rather they are Prakriti.

Though conflicting, these three gunas work together to create the world and its phenomena (similar to oil and wick in a lamp).
When the gunas are in equilibrium, no evolution occurs.

Prakriti and Purusha: Evolution begins when Prakriti and Purusha come into contact.
First Evolute: Mahat (Buddhi): This is the principle of discrimination and enables cognition.
Ahankara: Arises from Mahat, this is the sense of I or Ego or the self.
- It is responsible for creating a sense of owning cognitions and objects.
- Gives rise to further categories of entities.

Tanmatras (Subtle Elements): Responsible for the five senses.
Five Elements (Pancha Bhutas): The five elements: Fire (sight), Earth (smell), Water (taste), Air (touch), and Akasha (sound) are derived from the Tanmatras.
- Akasha, the source of sound, is often mistranslated as space, ether or sky.

Manas: Often translated as mind, responsible for cognition.
- It synthesizes input from the sense organs.
Five Sense Organs: Developed from Sattvic side of Ahankara and are not physical organs like the eyes, ears, or tongue but the sense associated with them.
Five Organs of Action: Also come from the Sattvic side of Ahankara, responsible for actions such as speech, grasping, motion, reproduction and excretion.

Cause of Mundane Existence: The identification of Purusha with Prakriti and it’s evolutes leads to mundane existence and the samsara chakra.
Liberation: Happens when the Purusha is freed from its identification with Prakriti and all of its evolutes.
Discriminative Knowledge: This liberation is achieved by gaining discriminative knowledge about the distinction between Purusha and Prakriti.
Kaivalya: The state of liberation is called Kaivalya, which refers to the complete freedom of the Purusha from the conditioning of Prakriti.
- The term Kaivalya Jnana is used to denote that liberation has been attained.

The Sankhya system proposes an analytical framework for understanding the world through dualism of Purusha and Prakriti.
Understanding the three gunas and the theory of evolution of matter provides a unique insight.
Liberation is attained through right knowledge of Purusha and Prakriti and separating Purusha from Prakriti.