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Samkhya thread

The Crimson Universe

The Crimson Universe

Active Member
The only thing i know about samkhya, is that its a dualistic philosophy having Purusha (soul/self) and Prakriti (material nature) and i think they believe in many purushas. I'm not sure. They don't speak of any God but some assume that they're not completely atheistic either.

I came across a guy's post on another forum where he said that prakriti consists of 3 qualities. When these 3 qualities remain in equilibrium and doesn't dominate each other, creation dissolves or becomes unmanifest and is absorbed into primordial nature called pradhana or mula-prakriti. Its the invisible womb where everything rests in dormant state. Again, when the 3 qualities starts to dominate each other, manifestation/creation begins.

Sorry i don't really know from which scriptures these information were taken from.

Perhaps you can educate me more on this philosophy. :=)
 
Martin

Martin

Spam, wonderful spam (bloody vikings!)
Greg Levenski said:
The only thing i know about samkhya, is that its a dualistic philosophy having Purusha (soul/self) and Prakriti (material nature) and i think they believe in many purushas. I'm not sure. They don't speak of any God but some assume that they're not completely atheistic either.

I came across a guy's post on another forum where he said that prakriti consists of 3 qualities. When these 3 qualities remain in equilibrium and doesn't dominate each other, creation dissolves or becomes unmanifest and is absorbed into primordial nature called pradhana or mula-prakriti. Its the invisible womb where everything rests in dormant state. Again, when the 3 qualities starts to dominate each other, manifestation/creation begins.

Sorry i don't really know from which scriptures these information were taken from.

Perhaps you can educate me more on this philosophy. :=)
Click to expand...

Seems like a good summary to me. I'm still trying to work out exactly what purusha is - similar to Atman?
Wiki says purusha is "witness consciousness".
Britannica says purusha is "pure consciousness" and "eternal soul".
 
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The Crimson Universe

The Crimson Universe

Active Member
Martin said:
Seems like a good summary to me. I'm still trying to work out exactly what purusha is - similar to Atman?
Wiki says purusha is "witness consciousness".
Britannica says purusha is "pure consciousness" and "eternal soul".
Click to expand...

As far as i know, words like Witness Consciousness or Pure Consciousness is usually used to refer to the Atman.
So, if wiki and britannica both says that purusha is WC or PC, then the samkhyaans while using the term 'Purusha' are probably referring to the Atman.

To the dualists Atman the WC, is many.
Each of us are a separate unique spark.
That's what the Hare Krishnas believe. Not sure about the samkhyaans.

To the non-dualists Atman/Brahman is one and limitless. It pervades all of its creation.
:=)
 
Martin

Martin

Spam, wonderful spam (bloody vikings!)
Greg Levenski said:
As far as i know, words like Witness Consciousness or Pure Consciousness is usually used to refer to the Atman.
So, if wiki and britannica both says that purusha is WC or PC, then the samkhyaans while using the term 'Purusha' are probably referring to the Atman.

To the dualists Atman the WC, is many.
Each of us are a separate unique spark.
That's what the Hare Krishnas believe. Not sure about the samkhyaans.

To the non-dualists Atman/Brahman is one and limitless. It pervades all of its creation.
:=)
Click to expand...

I assume that in Samkhya there are many identical purushas/Atman, associated with individual jivas?
 
S

shivsomashekhar

Well-Known Member
Martin said:
Seems like a good summary to me. I'm still trying to work out exactly what purusha is - similar to Atman?
Click to expand...

Yes. Karika 18 speaks of multiple Purushas and the Purusha of Sankhya is similar to the Jivatma in Vedanta (particularly dualistic Vedanta).
 
Martin

Martin

Spam, wonderful spam (bloody vikings!)
shivsomashekhar said:
Yes. Karika 18 speaks of multiple Purushas and the Purusha of Sankhya is similar to the Jivatma in Vedanta (particularly dualistic Vedanta).
Click to expand...

Yes, it seems there are innumerable purushas in the Samkhya system. But is my purusha the same as yours, or different? If purusha is pure consciousness, does that mean it's impersonal, with lots of identical purushas?
 
S

shivsomashekhar

Well-Known Member
Martin said:
Yes, it seems there are innumerable purushas in the Samkhya system. But is my purusha the same as yours, or different? If purusha is pure consciousness, does that mean it's impersonal, with lots of identical purushas?
Click to expand...

If you take the dualistic view - there are multiple units of consciousness - one per Purusha. Totally makes sense as the identity of the Purusha is eternal and persists beyond Kaivalya (the Sankhya equivalent of the Vedantic Moksha).

In the non-dual view (not Sankhya), there is only consciousness - yours. Other Purushas are part of your consciousness. Moksha takes a very different meaning here.
 
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