Sankhya is not nirishvara

[sunil bhattacharjya]

Dear friends,

Sometime very recently I remember to have seen  a statement in this august forum by a writer, saying that Sankhya is nirishvara and I could not agree with the writer, but I thought this to be a topic that deserves separate treatment. To my knowledge neither Adi Shankaracharya nor any other subsequent Shankaracharya said Sankhys to be nirishvara. in any or f their works. I would like to call upon the writer as to what are his grounds to claim Sankhya to be nirishvara.

Jai Shri Krishna

Sunil KB

[Ram Chandran]

Dear Sunilji:

You have raised a valid question.  As a matter of fact, the entire Sankhya school do not believe in Niriśvara-sāṅkhya.  Within Sankhya followers, a subgroup of members are known to follow Niriśvara-sāṅkhya

Niriśvara-sāṅkhya literally means ‘the Sāṅkhya philosophy that does not accept īśvara or God’.

The philosophies of Sāṅkhya and Yoga are generally studied together. The former concentrates on the metaphysical side, the latter pays the maximum attention to the sādhanā or spiritual practice that ultimately leads to kaivalya or liberation. Whereas the Sāṅkhya propounds 25 cosmic principles behind the creation, the Yoga accepts all of them and then adds īśvara or God as the 26th principle. Since the former school does not accept īśvara or God, it is called ‘Nirīśvara-sāṅkhya’.^[1] The latter is termed as ‘Seśvara-sāṅkhya’.

Source:  The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Refer to: https://www.hindupedia.com/en/Niri%C5%9Bvara-s%C4%81%E1%B9%85khya

Warm regards,

Ram Chandran

[V Subrahmanian]

Dear Ram ji,

Some years ago in a Dvaita-Advaita debate, a renowned Dvaita scholar said in passing:  among Sankhyas there is a group that accepts Ishwara (not the Yoga school).  He did not elaborate.  I have not had the opportunity to ask him for details. 

regards

subbu

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[V Subrahmanian]

For that matter, even the Purva Mimamsakas do not accept Ishwara.  

regards

subbu

[sunil bhattacharjya]

Dear Shri Ram Chandranji,

Here I would suggest that you please read the Sankhya text  "Sankhya Karika of Ishvara Krishna", paticularly the second verse.

Further, you will get detailed clarification, if you read the Bhashya on the Sankhya Karika of Ishvara Krishna by Shri Gaudapadacharya (Adi Shankaracharya's paramaguru).

Best wishes,

Sunil KB

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[Ram Chandran]

Dear Sunilji:

You have made your point based on your belief and on the basis of what you know.  Those who post here do the same based on their knowledge and belief.  All of us do not agree with everything what others say or claim.  Whether we agree or disagree, we do need to learn to respect others' opinions.  We all do that all the time.  We can once again remind the Serenity prayer which can help us to be a better person: "God, grant me the serenity. To accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference."

Warm regards,

Ram Chandran

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Ramachandran prabhuji

Hare Krishna

 

• We, the group members missing your goodself and Sri Sada prabhuji, happy to note that you have again started taking part in group discussions. Welcome back prabhuji. 

 

You have made your point based on your belief and on the basis of what you know.  Those who post here do the same based on their knowledge and belief.  All of us do not agree with everything what others say or claim.  Whether we agree or disagree, we do need to learn to respect others' opinions.  We all do that all the time.  We can once again remind the Serenity prayer which can help us to be a better person: "God, grant me the serenity. To accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference."

 

Ø     IMO when the ‘disagreement’ is based on some valid scriptures and commentaries it would be better to have them on the platform to discuss it further.  Normally we say sAnkhya would not accept IshwarAstitva (like pUrvamImAmsaka) and yOga shAstra which is equal to sAnkhya with respect to doctrinal issues but unlike sAnkhya accepts IshwarAstitva.  But Sri Subbu prabhuji said in orthodox sAnkhya school itself (not yOga school) there is sub-sect which talks about Ishwara and Sri Sunil prabhuji too saying sAnkhya is nirishwara vAdins is debatable based on some sAnkhya-kArika and commentaries we should have them on the plate to ‘taste’ it, otherwise we may not get the chance at all to ‘learn’ there is some different perspective on these schools of thought.  IMHO, allowing them to express their thoughts with proper premise would not harm the serenity of this forum.  Anyway prabhuji it is left to the list moderators’ discretion whether to entertain this or not.  Just shared my thoughts. 

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

[sunil bhattacharjya]

Dear Bhaskarji,

My belief is in Sankhya, is based on the  Sankhya Karika, which does mention Purusha (the conscious entity), the Prakriti, and the evolutes from Prakriti, starting with the Mahat onwards.

I also thought that it would be of  great interest to the Advaitins to know that Shri Gaudapadacharya (the param-guru of Adi Shankaracharya) also wrote a bhshya on the Sankhya-Karika. In fact, there are also other commentaries from the past advaitin stalwarts like Vacaspati Mishra and  Vijnanabhikshu too.

Best

skb

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[sunil bhattacharjya]

Dear Ram Chandranji,

You quoted the following wrong statement given by Shri Deval Sancheti :

<https://hindupedia.com/en/Niriśvara-sāṅkhya>

Niriśvara-sāṅkhya

By Swami Harshananda

Niriśvara-sāṅkhya literally means ‘the Sāṅkhya philosophy that does not accept īśvara or God’.

The philosophies of Sāṅkhya and Yoga are generally studied together. The former concentrates on the metaphysical side, the latter pays the maximum attention to the sādhanā or spiritual practice that ultimately leads to Kaivalya or liberation. Whereas the Sāṅkhya propounds 25 cosmic principles behind the creation, the Yoga accepts all of them and then adds īśvara or God as the 26th principle. Since the former school does not accept īśvara or God, it is called ‘Nirīśvara-sāṅkhya’.[1] The latter is termed as ‘Seśvara-sāṅkhya’.

References

2. Nir means not.

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti

Sāṅkhya Karika gives the 25 cosmic principles behind the creation, and that does include "Ishvara"

Shri Ram Chandranji may please do a favour to Shri Deval Sancheti by advising to read the Sankhya

Karika  himself. As regards late Swami Harshanandaji, he wrote a book “The Six Systems Of Hindu

Philosophy”,  where he wrote about Sankhya, but he did not say Sankhya to be Nirishvara.

Best wishes

Sunil K. Bhattacharjya

On Tue, Sep 26, 2023 at 5:47 AM Ram Chandran <ramvch...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Sunilji:

You have raised a valid question. As a matter of fact, the entire Sankhya school do not believe in Niriśvara-sāṅkhya. Within Sankhya followers, a subgroup of members are known to follow Niriśvara-sāṅkhya

Niriśvara-sāṅkhya literally means ‘the Sāṅkhya philosophy that does not accept īśvara or God’.

The philosophies of Sāṅkhya and Yoga are generally studied together. The former concentrates on the metaphysical side, the latter pays the maximum attention to the sādhanā or spiritual practice that ultimately leads to kaivalya or liberation. Whereas the Sāṅkhya propounds 25 cosmic principles behind the creation, the Yoga accepts all of them and then adds īśvara or God as the 26th principle. Since the former school does not accept īśvara or God, it is called ‘Nirīśvara-sāṅkhya’.^[1] The latter is termed as ‘Seśvara-sāṅkhya’.

Source: The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Refer to: https://www.hindupedia.com/en/

Warm regards,

Ram Chandran

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