Samkhya and Yoga: Prakriti, Purusha, Gunas and the Eight Limbs
Prakṛti, puruṣa and guṇas
Sāṃkhya is dualist: puruṣa is pure consciousness, plural and inactive; prakṛti is primordial nature, active and unconscious. Prakṛti consists of three guṇas: sattva (lucidity), rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia). When disturbed, prakṛti evolves buddhi, ahaṃkāra, manas, senses, tanmātras and mahābhūtas. Bondage is misidentification of puruṣa with prakṛti; kaivalya is discriminative knowledge (viveka) that isolates puruṣa.
Yoga's eight limbs
Patañjali's Yoga is practical Sāṃkhya: yama (restraints), niyama (observances), āsana (posture), prāṇāyāma (breath regulation), pratyāhāra (sense withdrawal), dhāraṇā (concentration), dhyāna (meditation), samādhi (absorption). Ethical restraint precedes deeper practice.
Worked example
A person says 'I am anxious'. Sāṃkhya reasoning: anxiety belongs to changing mental states (buddhi/manas), not to puruṣa, which is unchanging witness. By distinguishing the seer from the seen, attachment to mental states weakens; kaivalya is not becoming a different self but realizing puruṣa's independence. Yoga's samādhi trains this discrimination.
Traps
Sāṃkhya is not monism; puruṣa and prakṛti are distinct. Prakṛti is not 'matter' in the modern sense, and guṇas are constituents, not moral labels. Yoga is not only postures; yama and niyama are foundational. Do not say Sāṃkhya has no liberation-kaivalya is its goal.