In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali, he talks about separation Purusha from Prakriti.
[U]Samkhya[/U] (Sanskrit: सांख्य) is one of the six classical schools of Indian Hindu philosophy. The name sāṃkhya translates as ‘enumeration’, meaning ‘to count over’ or ‘to name over’.
This school is strongly dualistic philosophically, essentially viewing the universe as composed of two basic realities. These are the Realm of Pure Spirit Consciousness represented by the Cosmic Person or [U]Purusha[/U], and the Realm of Material Phenomenon represented by the Primal Force of Nature or [U]Prakriti[/U], which expresses itself as a motive intelligence through which such phenomenon come into existence and functionally operate thereafter via the three gunas: sattva (creation), rajas (preservation), and tamas, (destruction) respectively.
Thus, Purusha and Prakriti are dualistically the seeker and that which is sought, the seer and that which is seen, the knower and that which is known, or essentially the experiencer and that which is experienced, encompassing both the animate and the inanimate realms of existence. In this relationship, Prakriti provides the experience needed by Purusa for Liberation.
As the bondage of attachments ruling Prakriti are gradually broken through progress in yogic Concentration (Dharana) and Meditation (Dhyana), the unbound pure spirit of Purusha is finally separated and liberated from Prakriti as total absorption in God (Samadhi) is experienced.
Hari Om!
Adityananda
raj Yog is said to be based mainly on samkhaya philosophy.
patanjali refers to god as Ishawara.
now you may understand separation of purusha(the self in this case) from prakrati, this way:-
prakrati or nature of a person is directly related to the gunas, the sattavic, rajsic and tamsic.
These gunas operate singly or combined.
sattavic guna places a person in a state of bliss. rajsic guna leads to a life of feverish enjoyment and restless effort. tamas resists activity and produces a state of apathy or indifference.
Your previous(life) and present experiences are recorded in your chitta.
these would have been performed or experienced while you were in the state of either of these gunas, singly or combined . one has to get rid of all experiences gradually and come to a state of being perpetually in sattivic state, this is the yogic state.
On has to even transcendent sattivic state ultimately to liberate from the process of reincarnation.
I will give a crude example of you being in specific state.
suppose you are sitting in the garden and happen to sight a rose.
If you are in sattavic state you will admire its beauty, its creator, its fragrance .
if you are in rajsic state, you might get reminded of your lady love whom you gave such a flower.
and while being in tamsic state, you might notice insects on the leaves and think of firing the gardener.
hope the above makes some sense to you.
Just curious, where in the Yoga Sutras did you read about separation of Purusa and Prakriti?
[QUOTE=CityMonk;28655]In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali, he talks about separation Purusha from Prakriti.
Separation is not a term that is ordinarily used with reference to Purusa and Prakriti. It could mean a couple of things depending on the context in which it is used.
In one sense it could refer to the eternal distinction between spirit and matter, or the self and the phenomenal world. This is a position that is opposed to the Vedanta view that the only true reality is Brahman or spirit, that the phenomenal world is illusory, and that the material world is a manifestation of Brahman. Samkhya teaches that both Purusa and Prakriti are equally real, and that the phenomenal world originates in Prakriti, not Purusa.
In another sense, separation could refer to liberation of Prakriti from Purusa. The world we all experience is the result of the union of Purusa and Prakriti, which is known as bondage. In other words, the soul or self is bound to material existence. Separation could refer to the breaking of the bonds that tie Prakriti and Purusa together. According to Samkhya, once the Purusa realizes its true nature, the purpose of its existence in material nature has been fulfilled and dance of Prakriti comes to an end for that individual. This is known as moksa, kaivalya, or liberation.
Although there are some similarities between Christianity and Samkhya-Yoga, the theory of Purusa and Prakriti is not one of them. I have my own theories about how Christianity and Samkhya-Yoga are related, but I’ve never seen them expressed anywhere else and they are likely to be controversial.
Thank you, People! That spills some light…
[QUOTE=CityMonk;28655]In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali, he talks about separation Purusha from Prakriti.
[QUOTE=Seeker33;29134 ]
God in Christianity is Purusha but The Father and Son are manifestations of Prakriti. [/QUOTE]
Wrong. In Christianity, both the Father and the Son are [I]persons[/I], or individual purusas.
[QUOTE=Asuri;29193]Wrong. In Christianity, both the Father and the Son are [I]persons[/I], or individual purusas.[/QUOTE]We, human beings always like to describe Divine forces as ?persons?.
[QUOTE=Seeker33;29134]In our life is important to have discrimination between manifestations of Purusha and Prakriti.
[B]God in Christianity is Purusha but The Father and Son are manifestations of Prakriti. [/B][/QUOTE]
Actually, the original Orthodox Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches that God is one God, existing in three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One in substance and essence, with a single Divine Nature and a single Divine Will. All three Persons of the Trinity are Co-Eternal, none having been created by another.
Therefore, according to the Trinitarian concept of the New Testament scriptures, any formula or article of faith which does profess that God is One, that divides worship between God and any other, or that imagines God coming into existence by a separate creative cause, rather than being eternally existent as God, will misdirect people regarding the correct knowledge of God.
In Vedas, the Sacred Scriptures of Hinduism, the trinitarian nature of God is similarly viewed as One Godhead in Three Persons, but One which manifests as Creator (Brahma), Preserver/Redeemer (Vishnu), and Destroyer/Transformer (Shiva). As such, there is some indirect correlation between the Hindu Brahma and the Christian Father, the Hindu Vishnu and the Christian Son, and the Hindu Shiva and the Christian Holy Spirit. In both religions, these manifestations of God are of a Divine Nature, and are thus not easily comprehensive to human understanding. They always retain an element of Divine Mystery until full Union with God is attained, and so defy complete spoken or written definition of them even then.
In the Hindu Sutras, Purusha is described as the Cosmic Spirit, the Ancient, Omniscient, Divine Consciousness, who resides in the body as the Indwelling Witness of the Supreme Self, and thus the Cosmic Man by extension.
Prakriti operates in the realm of earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind function and ego in its lower nature, and as the universal life force of all things in its higher nature. All living entities, therefore, originate from and dissolve back into the Universal Prakriti according to this view.
Hari OM!
Adityananda
[QUOTE=adityananda;29212]
Therefore, according to the Trinitarian concept of the New Testament scriptures, any formula or article of faith which does profess that God is One, that divides worship between God and any other, or that imagines God coming into existence by a separate creative cause, rather than being eternally existent as God, will misdirect people regarding the correct knowledge of God.
[/QUOTE]
The above statement should read:
Therefore, according to the Trinitarian concept of the New Testament scriptures, any formula or article of faith which does [B][U]doesn’t[/U][/B] profess that God is One, that divides worship between God and any other, or that imagines God coming into existence by a separate creative cause, rather than being eternally existent as God, will misdirect people regarding the correct knowledge of God.
Due to the regrettable inability to edit posts once they are submitted, I have duplicated this paragraph here in order to correct the error of omission in my previous post.
Hari OM!
Adityananda
Yoga philosophy speaks only of Isvara (the Lord). This can be interpreted as a belief in a single God, as in Christianity. According to the Samkhya philosophy, an Isvara is a [I]prakritilaya[/I], one who was, in a previous creation, absorbed into Prakriti. He becomes in a new creation, the original Purusa, the all-knower and all-doer.
In my view, this Isvara is the same as the Father of Christianity, although the details of explanation do not exactly correspond. In Christianity, God is the Creator. In Samkhya-Yoga, Isvara is not the Creator of the universe, but comes into contact with the pre-exisiting Prakriti, and begins the process of evolution.
Hi all,
In my opinion, the easiest way to understand Samkhya is from a naturalist and atheistic perspective. Most of us modern people know this perspective quite well, and have been exposed to it in school and in media. The other way is to understand it through the tinted glasses of Christianity or Abrahamic faiths, which is much harder.
This is because Samkhya itself is an atheistic and naturalistic system. There is no place for God (Ishwara) inside it, but many theistic systems were inspired by Samkhya. Most importantly, the Yoga system converted Samkhya philosophy into a practical way of life, by adding God to the ideas. In India, sages used to say that somebody who “understands” the excellent Samkhya system is a good bet for following the royal path of Yoga. But not the other way round.
I have written a blog post explaining the Samkhya system in modern terms. Samkhya literally means “enumeration” and it is intimately tied with the Indian system of counting with zeros. Many non-intuitive aspects of Samkhya become clear when viewed in this perspective. I suspect strongly that Samkhya inspired the later development of Indian mathematics and medicine, particularly arithmetic and trigonometry. The ancient symbol for zero is a very curious one - a circle (representing Prakriti or nature) enclosing a dot (representing Purusha or self).
The duality in Samkhya between Prakriti and Purusha is totally different from Cartesian duality of body and mind. Both body, mind (and even ego) belong to Prakriti. Purusha is merely a spectator feeling the sensations that Prakriti offers. The nature of Prakriti is understood better when decomposed into the 5 layers of complexity and when zero is used for counting.
You can look up my blog by searching in Google for "“samkhya the arithmetic of nature’s evolution”
[QUOTE=Asuri;29250]Yoga philosophy speaks only of Isvara (the Lord). This can be interpreted as a belief in a single God, as in Christianity. According to the Samkhya philosophy, an Isvara is a [I]prakritilaya[/I], one who was, in a previous creation, absorbed into Prakriti. He becomes in a new creation, the original Purusa, the all-knower and all-doer.
In my view, this Isvara is the same as the Father of Christianity, although the details of explanation do not exactly correspond. In Christianity, God is the Creator. In Samkhya-Yoga, Isvara is not the Creator of the universe, but comes into contact with the pre-exisiting Prakriti, and begins the process of evolution.[/QUOTE]
Isvara of Yoga is Purusha as reflected in Prakriti. Imagine Prakriti being a mirror and Purusha trying to see his reflection in it. That reflection is Isvara.
Purusha is beyond all space and time, he is constant and suffers no change. He is beyond all forms of verbal and symbolic description. Everything else is Prakriti. Any finite object in Prakriti can be enumerated, and in order. The 3 gunas of Samkhya dictate how one object evolves into another.
However, every such finite object can be looked upon as being part of Infinity. This Infinity is Isvara, and can be looked upon as having any of the 3 gunas. These are called the guna avatars. The 3 gunas produce the Hindu trinity of trimurti (Brahma - Infinity as sattva, Vishnu - Infinity as rajas, Shiva - Infinity as tamas).
Sattva guna means reduction to zero, and thus Brahma as zero has no meaning unless He is connected to Vishnu by the navel. This makes either Vishnu or Shiva to be worthy of worship as Isvara. Their spouses stand for exactly the same concept. The male gods denote actors and the female goddesses denote corresponding actions. Thus the female version of trimurti is also worthy of worship as Isvara. But it should be remembered that all of this is Prakriti, not Purusha. Purusha cannot be expressed, and thus cannot be worshipped. Both Prakriti (female gender) and Purusha (male gender) put together become Brahman : the Absolute. Brahman (neuter gender) is also beyond all expression, all worship and all comprehensibility. “It” is zero and infinity at the same time. The root word “Brh” means “to grow”. That which grows eternally from zero to infinity is Brahman.
Very nice diagram. May I ask Where you got it from?
This is because Samkhya itself is an atheistic and naturalistic system. There is no place for God (Ishwara) inside it,
This is a common misconception, and indicates a superficial knowledge of the subject. Without a doubt, Samkhya challenged traditional beliefs about God. One of the hallmarks of the Samkhya system is reliance on evidence and reason, as opposed to knowledge derived from scriptures. But a deeper study reveals that Samkhya does contain a concept of Isvara.
According to the Samkhya philosophy, an Isvara is a prakritilaya, one who was, in a previous creation, absorbed into Prakriti. He becomes in a new creation, the original Purusa, the all-knower and all-doer. The authority for this is found in the Samkhya-Pravachana-Sutram, Book III, sutras 54 - 57, and the accompanying commentary of Anirudddha and Vijnana Bhiksu. The information is available for anyone who wants to verify the accuracy of the statement.
