Sankhya Karika

Sāṅkhyakārikā

The earliest surviving systematic text of Sankhya: about seventy verses on purusha, prakriti, the three gunas and the 25 principles.

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Tradition: Sankhya
Difficulty: intermediate
Attribution: IshvarakrishnaIshvarakrishna
Period · language: Commonly placed around the 4th–5th century CE; dates are approximate · Sanskrit
Themes: Consciousness · Matter · Suffering · Liberation · Cosmology

Why read this?

Sankhya supplies the vocabulary of gunas, prakriti and purusha that runs through the Gita, Yoga and the Puranas. This short text is the clearest classical statement of that dualist system.

Questions it answers

?What is the relation of consciousness to matter?
?Why do we suffer, and can suffering end for good?
?What are the basic principles (tattvas) of reality?

Key teachings

Editorial overview

The problem of threefold suffering

The text begins from suffering in three forms, from oneself, from other beings and from natural or cosmic forces, and seeks a remedy more lasting than ordinary or ritual means.

Purusha and prakriti

Reality has two irreducible kinds: many conscious but inactive purushas, and a single, unconscious but active prakriti (primal nature). Experience arises from their proximity.

The three gunas

Prakriti consists of three gunas: sattva (clarity, lightness), rajas (activity, passion) and tamas (inertia, heaviness). Their balance and imbalance explain the variety of the world and of minds.

The 25 tattvas

From prakriti evolve intellect (buddhi or mahat), the I-maker (ahankara), mind (manas), five senses of knowing, five organs of action, five subtle elements and five gross elements. With purusha these make 25 principles.

Effects pre-exist in their cause

Sankhya holds satkaryavada: an effect already exists in potential form in its material cause. This underwrites its account of the world as an unfolding of prakriti.

Bondage and liberation through discrimination

Bondage is the failure to distinguish purusha from prakriti. Liberation (kaivalya) comes through discriminating knowledge of their difference, after which prakriti ceases to act for that purusha.

Structure

About 72 verses (karikas)The count in the received text is around 72; the final verses describe the transmission of the teaching

Important passages

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References only — the passages themselves are not reproduced until the source text is ingested.

Sankhya Karika 1The threefold suffering and the inquiry into its removal
Sankhya Karika 9Arguments that the effect pre-exists in its cause (satkaryavada)
Sankhya Karika 21The analogy of the lame and the blind for the cooperation of purusha and prakriti
Sankhya Karika 59The analogy of the dancer who withdraws after being seencf. Gita13.19

Source not yet ingested

The text of the Sankhya Karika is not part of this version. What you see here is an editorial overview with passage references. No verses have been reproduced or invented. The architecture is ready for the text to be added.

Concepts

ConceptपुरुषPurusha — pure consciousnessThe conscious witness, distinct from all that changes.Conceptप्रकृतिPrakriti — naturePrimal nature or matter — everything that changes, including the mind.ConceptगुणGunas — the three qualitiesSattva, rajas and tamas — the three strands of all nature.Conceptतत्त्वTattva — principle of reality'Thatness' — a basic category or principle of reality, counted differently by different schools.Conceptबुद्धिBuddhi — intellectThe discerning, deciding faculty — the highest of the inner instruments.Conceptअहङ्कारAhankara — I-maker, egoThe 'I-maker' — the sense of being a separate doer and owner.Conceptमनस्Manas — mindThe mind that receives, coordinates and desires — restless by nature.ConceptदुःखDukkha — suffering, unsatisfactorinessSuffering, stress or unsatisfactoriness — the starting point of the Buddha's teaching and a shared concern of Indian thought.ConceptविवेकVivekaDiscernment between the real and the unreal, the Self and the not-Self.Conceptमोक्षMoksha — liberationFinal freedom from bondage and the cycle of rebirth.Conceptप्रमाणPramana — means of valid knowledgeThe accepted sources of valid knowledge, such as perception, inference and testimony.Conceptसाक्षीSakshi — the witnessThe Self as the silent witness of the mind's changing states.

Textयोगसूत्रYoga Sutras of PatanjaliYoga adopts Sankhya metaphysics and adds Ishvara and a meditative method Textश्रीमद्भगवद्गीताBhagavad GitaThe Gita uses Sankhya terms, for instance the gunas in chapter 14 and prakriti and purusha in chapter 13 Textब्रह्मसूत्रBrahma SutrasVedanta commentators argue against Sankhya's independent prakriti

Thinkers

Thinkerईश्वरकृष्णIshvarakrishnaScholars generally place him around the 4th–5th century CE.ThinkerकपिलKapilaLegendary figure; no historical dating is possible.

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Traditions

साङ्ख्यSankhya

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