The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c7.20

c7.20

Not only has the epic the terms Sāṃkhya and Yoga both in their more general sense, and also as denoting the systems with twenty-five and twenty-six principles, respectively, but the names of three teachers, who are given in the last verse of the Sāṃkhya Kārikā as the handers down of the system, duly appear in xii, 319, 59 as teachers of the doctrine with a twenty-fifth spiritual principle along with Jaigīṣavya, Asita Devala, Parāśara, Vārṣagaṇya, Bhṛgu, Śuka, Gautama, Ārṣiṣeṇa, Garga, Nārada, Pulastya, Sanatkumāra, Śukra and Kaśyapa. Of the three mentioned here and in the Kārikā, Kapila plays a great figure in the philosophy of the epic: he is authoritative in all philosophic matters, and his tenets are of the most diverse kinds. In the strict sense of the word he is, indeed, the only founder of a system recognized in the epic, the other persons being either gods or his disciples, He himself is identified with Agni, with Śiva and Viṣṇu: he also appears, as in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (v, 2), as identical with Hiraṇyagarbha (xii, 339, 68; 342, 95). Moreover, Āsuri and Pañcaśikha appear also in xii, 218, 14, as teachers of the doctrine of the Brahman. The system of Pañcaśikha* is developed in great detail in xii, 219: not only has it in detail no special connection with the Sāṃkhya, but in its fundamental principles it is not Sāṃkhya at all; on the contrary, while the separate existence for the time being of the individual soul is asserted, it is expressly made clear that it flows as a stream to the ocean, and that at the end it is merged in the great ocean of being and embraced on all sides, losing then consciousness. As the deer leaves its old horn, or the snake its worn-out skin, or the bird the falling tree, so the freed soul abandons its woe, and goes on the perfect way, leaving behind pleasure and pain without even a subtle body. In addition to this exposition of the doctrine of Brahman without illusion, Pañcaśikha differs in his psychology from the orthodox Sāṃkhya: he holds the belief in the existence of power as the sixth organ with the organs of action, corresponding to mind as the sixth of the organs of perception. He also holds that activity is produced by the combined result of knowledge, heat and wind: the first element produces the senses and their objects, separate existence, perception and mind; heat produces gall and other bases; wind produces the two vital breaths. Further, he discusses the question of the nature of deep sleep and the fact that the senses are not then really active. In both these respects, the importance attached to the vital airs and other physical bases, and in the stress laid on the question of the nature of deep sleep, Pañcaśikha is truly Vedāntic and not an upholder of the Sāmkhya.