Samkhya and Yoga
Scope
Sāṃkhya is a dualist metaphysics of puruṣa and prakṛti; Yoga is its practical discipline as codified by Patañjali. Questions target the 25 tattvas, guṇas, kaivalya, citta-vṛtti-nirodha, and the eight limbs.
Core concepts
- Sāṃkhya dualism: puruṣa is pure consciousness, inactive and plural; prakṛti is primordial materiality, active and one. Liberation is kaivalya, the isolation of puruṣa from prakṛti.
- Guṇas: sattva (clarity), rajas (activity), tamas (inertia) constitute prakṛti and explain world evolution.
- Evolution: mahat/buddhi, ahaṃkāra, manas, indriyas, tanmātras, mahābhūtas; together with puruṣa they make 25 tattvas.
- Yoga: citta-vṛtti-nirodha; eight limbs-yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi. Īśvara is a special puruṣa, not a creator in the Nyāya sense.
Worked example
Question: “Why is suffering not intrinsic to puruṣa?” Reasoning: Sāṃkhya locates suffering in the false identification of puruṣa with buddhi and the body. Puruṣa is witness-consciousness; prakṛti and its modifications are non-conscious. Discriminative knowledge (viveka) separates the two. Conclusion: bondage is epistemic misidentification, and kaivalya is not a new substance but the cessation of misidentification.
Traps
Sāṃkhya is not monism; prakṛti is not a collection of atoms; Yoga is not merely physical posture; Īśvara is not the material cause of the world. Do not collapse puruṣa into the ego.