The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c7.39

c7.39

doctrine never mentioned by name, but in a number of points there are clear coincidences with the classical Sāṃkhya. Thus the number of forms of proof allowed is three (xii, 105), the three Guṇas are described elaborately (xii, 24-52) and in the first book there is a creation myth which has a tinge of Sāṃkhya views. In it, from a dark incomprehensible world, arose the absolute being Svayambhū, who created the waters, from which sprang a golden egg, in which, as the god Brahman, the creator came into being. Dwelling in the egg for a year, he came out and from its shell he fashioned the heaven and earth, the place between, and the ocean. Then he produced from himself mind, described as being and not being, then individuation, then the great self, all that is made up of the three Guṇas, and the five senses to grasp objects. From fine parts of the five senses and mind, mixed with portions of his own body, he created all other things. The account is clearly by no means definitely Sāṃkhya, nor can it be regarded as of special importance in the history of the system. The text contains many other much more Vedāntic traits, and its importance lies in the fact that it illustrates by no means badly the confused philosophical speculations of these popular texts. The same phenomenon is not rare in the Dharma Sūtras and Smṛtis: that of Viṣṇu, however, contains in chapter 97 a clear distinction between the spirit and the twenty-four other principles, it enumerates the three Guṇas, and some of its verses (xx, 25) show a marked similarity to Gauḍapāda’s commentary on the second verse of the Kārikā.