Gita Rahasya -Tilak 157

Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak

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CHAPTER VII
THE KAPILA SAMKHYA PHILOSOPHY OR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE MUTABLE AND THE IMMUTABLE

(KAPILA SAMKHYA-SASTRA OR KSARAKSARA-VICARA)

prakrtim purusam caiva viddhyanadi ubhav api*

[1] I have stated in the last chapter, that simultaneously with the consideration of the Body and the Lord or Superin- tendent of the Body — the ksetra and the ksetrajna-one must also -consider the visible world and the fundamental principle in it — the 'ksara' (mutable) and the 'aksara' (immutable)— and then go on to the determination of the nature of the Atman. There are three systems of thought which scientifically consider the mutable and the immutable world. The first of these is the Nyaya school and the second one is the Kapila Samkhya school. But the Vedanta philosophy- has expounded the form of the Brahman in a third way altogether, after proving that the propositions laid down by both of those systems of thought are incomplete. Therefore,. before considering the arguments advanced in the Vedanta phi- losophy, it is necessary for us to see what the ideas of the Nyaya school and of the Samkhya school are. In the Vedanta- Sutras of Badarayanacarya, the same method has been adopted, and the opinions of the Nyaya school and of the Samkhya. school have been refuted in the second chapter. Although the whole of this subject-matter cannot be given here, yet, I have in this and the next chapter given as much information about it as is necessary for understanding the mystic import of the Bhagavadgita. The propositions laid down by the Samkhya school are of greater importance than those laid down by the Nyaya school. Because, as Badarayanacarya has said [2] though no respectable and [3] leading Vedanta philosopher has accepted as correct the Nyaya doctrines laid down by the followers of Kanada, yet, as many of the propositions of the Kapila Samkhya-sastra are to be- found in the Smrti writings of Manu and others and also in. the Gita, my readers must first become acquainted with them. Nevertheless, it must be stated right in the beginning that though many ideas of the Samkhya philosophy are to be found in the Vedanta philosophy, yet the readers must not forget that the ultimate doctrines laid down by the Samkhya school and the Vedanta school are extremely different from each other. There has also been raised an important question, namely, whether the Vedantists or the Samkhya philosophers are the originators of those ideas which are common to the Vedanta and the Samkhya philosophy. But it is not possible to go so deep into that subject-matter in this book.


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References And Context

  1. Gita. 13. 19.
  2. (Ve. Su. 2. 1. 12 and 2. 2. 17),
  3. Know that both the prakrti (Matter) and the purusa (Spirit) are eternal".