Hindu Philosophy

INTRODUCTION

Hindu philosophy is one of the main divisions of the Indian philosophy, and forms an integral part of Indian culture. Hindu philosophy is difficult to narrow down to a definite doctrine because Hinduism itself, as a religion, resists identification with any well worked out doctrine. However, it is traditionally seen through the prism of six different systems (called darshanas in Sanskrit) that are listed here and make up the main belief systems of Hinduism.

Hindu philosophy: the six main schools of thought

The philosophical and theological diversity of Hinduism is limitless, being nurtured by the fundamentally eclectic and liberal universalism that is its defining characteristic. It is impossible to summarize all the schools of thought and inquiry produced or harboured over the millennia by the peoples of India. Some of the more ancient and long-established philosophies are elaborated upon below, all of which accept the Vedas and God to various extents.

SAMKHYA

Samkhya, also Sankhya, (Sanskrit: सांख्य - Enumeration) is one of the schools of Indian philosophy. It is one of the six astika (that which recognizes vedic authority) systems of Hindu philosophy. It is regarded as the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in Hinduism, predating Buddhism of circa 500 BCE. Its philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two eternal realities: Purusha and Prakrti; it is therefore a strongly dualist and enumerationist philosophy. The Purusha is the center of consciousness, whereas the Prakriti is the source of all material existence.

The Sankhya school has deeply influenced the Hindu Yoga school of philosophy. They are sometimes referred togeather as Samkhya - yoga school. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered to be the founder of the Sankhya school, although no historical verification is possible. The definitive text of classical Sankhya is the extant Sankhya Karika, written by Ishvara Krishna, circa 200 CE.

Epistemology of Sankhya

According to the Sankhya school, knowledge is possible through three pramanas or proofs -

Pratyaksha - direct sense perception

Anumana - logical inference

Sabda - Verbal testimony

Metaphysics of Samkhya

Metaphysically, Samkhya maintains a radical duality between spirit/consciousness (Purusha) and matter (Prakrti). All physical events are considered to be manifestations of the evolution of Prakrti, or primal Nature (from which all physical bodies are derived). Each sentient being is a Purusha, and is limitless and unrestricted by its physical body. Samsaara or bondage arises when the Purusha does not have the discriminate knowledge and so is misled as to its own identity, confusing itself with the physical body - which is actually an evolute of Prakriti. The spirit is liberated when the discriminate knowledge of the difference between conscious Purusha and unconscious Prakriti is realized.

The most notable feature of Sankhya is its unique theory of Cosmic evolution (not connected with Darwin's evolution). Sankhya theorizes that Prakriti is the source of the world of becoming. It is pure potentiality that evolves itself successively into twenty four tattvas or principles. The evolution itself is possible because Prakriti is always in a state of tension among its constituent strands -

Satva - a template of balance or equilibrium;

Rajas - a template of expansion or activity;

Tamas - a template of inertia or resistance to action.

All macrocosmic and microcosmic creation uses these templates. The twenty four principles that evolves are -

Prakriti - The most subtle potentiality that is behind whatever that is created in the physical universe.

Mahat - first product of evolution from Prakriti, pure potentiality. Mahat is also considered to be the principle responsible for the rise of buddhi or intelligence in living beings.

Ahamkara or ego-sense - second product of evolution. It is responsible for the self-sense in living beings.

Manas or instinctive mind - evolves from the satva aspect of ahamkara.

Panch jnana indriya or five sense organs - also evolves from the satva aspect of Ahamkara.

Panch karma indriya or five organs of action - The organs of action are hands, legs, vocal apparatus, urino-genital organ and anus. They too evolve from the satva aspect of Ahamkara

Panch tanmatras or five subtle elements - evolves from the Tamas aspect of Ahamkara. The subtle elements are the root energies of sound, touch, sight, taste and sound.

Panch mahabhuta or five great substances - ether, air, fire, water and earth. This is the revealed aspect of the physical universe.

The evolution of primal Nature is also considered to be purposeful - Prakrti evolves for the spirit in bondage. The spirit who is always free is only a witness to the evolution, even though due to the absence of discriminate knowledge, he misidentifies himself with it.

The evolution obeys causality relationships, with primal Nature itself being the material cause of all physical creation. The cause and effect theory of Sankhya is called Satkaarya-vaada (theory of existent causes), and holds that nothing can really be created from or destroyed into nothingness - all evolution is simply the transformation of primal Nature from one form to another.

The evolution of matter occurs when the relative strengths of the attributes changes. The evolution ceases when the spirit realises that it is distinct from primal Nature and thus cannot evolve. This destroys the purpose of evolution, thus stopping Prakrti from evolving for Purusha.

This was a dualistic philosophy. But there are differences between the Samkhya and Western forms of dualism. In the West, the fundamental distinction is between mind and body. In Samkhya, however, it is between the self (purusha) and matter, and the latter incorporates what Westerners would normally refer to as "mind". This means that the Self as the Samkhya understands it is more transcendent than "mind". It is sometimes defined as 'that which observes' and the mind is the instrument through which