The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c5.20

c5.20

The other Upaniṣads of this period give us little for the Sāṃkhya doctrine. In the Muṇḍaka, however, we find (i, 1, 8, 9; ii, 1, 2, 3) a development of principles from the all-knower to food, thence to breath, thence to the mind, thence to truth, the worlds, and actions, or from the spirit to the imperishable, thence to breath, thence to mind and the organs of sense, and thence to the elements. This exposition clearly accepts the absolute, and follows the normal triad of absolute, nature and souls, but it differs from the Katha, which it otherwise somewhat closely resembles, by the addition of one principle, breath, in place of the great self and the intellect of that Upaniṣad. It is clear that Prāṇa, breath, plays a cosmic function.