Samhkya: what exactly is it?

Heart&Mind

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I've been reading up on non-Vedanta philosophy and came across Samhkya. No matter much I look into it, I just can't figure out exactly what is proposes.

Is it actually "atheistic"? Many say that it is a non-theistic form of Hinduism that proposes mind-matter duality. Yet, while it rejects an Absolute/Supreme God, many say that Samhkya doesn't inherently deny the existence of the Devas themselves.

Also, if it is atheistic, yet is an orthodox Hindu philosophy (meaning it accepts the authority of the Vedas), and the Vedas are overwhelmingly theistic, then how is Samhkya an "orthodox" philosophy?
 
As I understand it, Sanhkya was a philosophy of nature, no more atheistic than Aristotle or Kant — it just addressed other questions. Later exponents of the school referred to Brahman as a third element, creating the universe out of pre-existent matter. As far as I can see, it just died out: Vaisheshika dealt with the same topics more effectively. The thing that puzzled me about Sanhkya was its reversal of the usual dualist approach, making matter active and mind passive.
 
"Kapila argued if the lord is an absolute unconditioned mukta (without any binding), he cannot enter the condition of a creator for he would have no desire to create; and if he were an active baddha (bound) on entering the work of creation he no longer remains absolute and unchangeable." Samkhya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If I were to put Samkhya philosophy in moder sense, I would say Sāmkhya philosophy is that "the universe consists of two realities; Puruṣa (energy) and prakriti (phenomenal realm of matter). - I have changed the sentence as it appears in Wikipedia.

Satkaryavada - The effect is inherent in the cause. So, if there are energy and matter, then it naturally follows that changes will give rise to variety. No God/Gods/Goddesses necessary.

One can easily escape being dubbed anti-Vedic by picking up a verse or a part of a verse as proof and accept Vedas as a 'pramana' (proof) as I generally refer to Nasadiya Sukta to show that Vedas do not necessarily ask one to the a theist.

"Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation?
The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?"
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10129.htm

Read Samkhya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for their arguments against existence of God.

Advaita combined the two in one single entity.
 
Very interesting article.

I don't subscribe to all its axioms, I tend to see God differently, and thus follow a different line of reasoning with regard to creation.

But what did strike me is how easy it is to regard the God of the Abrahamic Traditions is a moral agent, acting out of egoism or altruism, with needs, wants and desires, etc.

As the text says: "Such a worldly God would be no better than Samkhya's notion of higher self", or as one might say, such a God is nothing more than the projection of a human exemplar.

It's an inversion of Scripture, declaring God in mans' image.
 
In Hinduism we have made social rules (dharma) as supreme. Even Gods cannot go against that. Avataras come to re-establish weak 'dharma' ('Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati, Bharata') and Buddha turned the dhama-chakka.
 
In Hinduism we have made social rules (dharma) as supreme. Even Gods cannot go against that.
In the West we've made the subjective narrative supreme, and the Gods are obliged to fall in with that. ;)
 
A principle of all the Religious Traditions is that we are expected to conform ourselves to 'it', and even though the traditions vary in their content, their psychology of the human are, I think, very similar.

In the developed West however, the inverse is the case. At a guess I'd say it's the natural product of 'the American Dream' that powerhouses consumerism.

What no-one bothered to check was whether the 'Four Dreams of Consumerism': Abundance, Democracy of Goods, Freedom of Choice and Novelty, were ever compatible with authentic spiritual realisation.

It would seem not.

They are compatible with the realisation of the individual psyche, "you too can have (put your desire here) ... " and that is what matters most to consumers.
 
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All very laudable, and I mean that, sincerely, virtues everyone should embrace. But it is essentially a humanist ethos. There's no religious (in the proper sense) dimension to the list.

I mean a dyed-in-the-wool atheist would find nothing contrary there.
 
This is a list made for 'everyone' a shot at utopia...
A material utopia. For 'everyone' in the First World, of course.

Sadly, as GK noted elsewhere, the First World is exporting is consumerist ideals everywhere, and the world's lapping it up ...
 
Exactly. No spiritual dimension to it, as far as I can see.

I do see the human spirit, but I'm talking about pneuma, not psyche.
 
Spirituality is a personal choice...and if you've ever been in the temple at a burn....there is lots of spirituality....simply not in organizational body.... radical inclusion... (includes freedom to believe)

Check out the temples...built for those who desire a quiet space to reflect and commune...and then burnt...impermanence... https://www.google.com/search?q=bur...VKAFgrHIBJaEgtAM&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=914&bih=443
 
Spirituality is a personal choice...and if you've ever been in the temple at a burn....there is lots of spirituality....simply not in organizational body.... radical inclusion... (includes freedom to believe) ... Check out the temples...built for those who desire a quiet space to reflect and commune...and then burnt...impermanence...
Yep. Personal choice is the psyche.
 
psyche?

When I speak personal choice that would be of the hundreds of religions/philosophies and their various sects/denominations, or thousands of Christian denominations...

psyche!
 
psyche?

I speak personal choice that would be of the hundreds of religions/philosophies and their various sects/denominations, or thousands of Christian denominations...

psyche!
Precisely. Take ego out of the picture, and you're back to the founded few.
 
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