Gita Rahasya -Tilak 158

Karma Yoga Sastra -Tilak

CHAPTER VII THE KAPILA SAMKHYA PHILOSOPHY OR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE MUTABLE AND THE IMMUTABLE (KAPILA SAMKHYA-SASTRA OR KSARAKSARA-VICARA) Possibly, the Upanisads (Vedanta) and the Samkhya philosophy grew up side by side like two children, and the doctrines found in. the Upanisads, which are similar to the Samkhya doctrines, may have been independently arrived at by the writers of the Upanisads ; or on the other hand, the writers of the Upanisads may have borrowed some of these doctrines from the Samkhya philosophy ; or thirdly, Kapilacarya may have improved upon the doctrines laid down by the ancient Upanisads according to his own opinions, and formulated the Samkhya philosophy. All these three positions are possible. But taking into account the fact that though the Upanisads. and the Samkhya philosophy are both ancient, the Upanisads are the more ancient (Srauta) of the two, the last supposition seems to be the most credible of the three. Whatever may be the truth, when one has once become acquainted with the doctrines laid down by the Nyaya and the Samkhya schools of philosophy, it becomes easier to grasp the principles of Vedanta, especially of the Vedanta in the Gita. Therefore, let us first consider what the opinions of these two Smarta sastras about the formation of the universe are Some persons have a wrong idea that the only object of Nyaya (i. e,, Logic) is to decide what conclusions can subsequently be- drawn by inference from some desired or given data and which of these inferences are correct, and which wrong, and why. Proving by means of inference etc. is a part of Logic. But that is not the most important part ; classifying or enumerat- ing the various things in the world, that is to say, the subject- matter of proof (apart from the question of proving them), finding out what are the fundamental classes or things under which all the substances in the world can be classified, as a result of the gradual evolution of things in the lower orders into things in the higher orders, finding out what their nature and qualities are, and how other things came into existence out of these things, and how all these things can be proved, and all such other questions are included in Logic. Nay, one may go further and say that this science has come into exist- ence only for this purpose, and not merely for considering the question of inference. It is in this way that the Nyaya-sutras of Kanada are begun and worked out.