Namaste Everyone, this is Vishwa again.
Today I'm going to talk about Sankhya
and yoga philosophy. So let's understand
what is Sankhya and yoga philosophy
today, one is the school of rational
dualism and other is the school of
practice. Many people practice yoga but
they don't have much foundation of the
philosophy. Yoga is just not the asana
practice much more and beyond that. So
it's important to know that what is the
basic philosophy of yoga? So first I'm
going to start with Sankhya philosophy
which is the foundation of yoga
philosophy. So let's take the Sankhya
philosophy first the school of rational
dualism. So Sankhya means knowledge or
Jnana, literally Sankhya means number or
that which sums up. Having said that it's
also called the mother of mathematics,
Ayurveda and yoga. Yes the foundation of
yoga philosophy is Samkhya theory and it is
also used in Tantra philosophy, when i
will talk about Tantra later at some
point you will see how the Sankhya
philosophy fits in the founder of this
Sankhya philosophy is sage Kapila. The
importance of Kapila is such that
Krishna in Bhagavad Gita mentions his
name that in the sages he is Kapila, so
Kaplia wrote Samkhya Sutra containing 526 sutras around 700 BC, however the
original text got lost and it is not
available today. But one of the disciple
in that tradition, he wrote the
commentary on it and the name of that
text was Samkhya Karikas,
and that's how this information retained
and got passed down and we have it
available today. Now let's go into the
main features of Sankhya philosophy and
discover that what Sankhya deals about
the creation and everything else. So
Sankhya philosophy is a dualistic theory
it's called realistic dualism. So what do
you mean by Sankhya dualistic theory? So
to understand the dualism, understand
like day and night, good and bad just
oppose it in nature mother and father.
This is just for understanding, but in
Sankhya in the same way there are two
main principles and they are called
Prakriti and Purusha, In tantra the same
Purusha and Prakriti take a different
understanding, one becomes Shiva and
other becomes Shakti. However keeping the
scope right here in Samkhya
I will only refer Purusha and Prakriti, so
now I'm going to talk about the two main
principles or two main objects which
must be known in order to fully
understand the universe according to
Samkhya philosophy and the first
principle is called purusha or the
consciousness and the second is prakriti
or unconscious principle which is also
called nature, it said that Purusha is
like the Knower, pure consciousness or
ultimate truth which is the energy but
it is choiceless however Prakriti is
like the known, which we all can see and
feel in this nature in this creation,
which is primordial will, primordial
matter and the creative potential of the
Purusha, that is awareness with choice
but Prakriti cannot exist without
Purusha but Purusha can exist without
Prakriti. The root cause of this entire
universe is Prakriti not Purusha
according to Sankhya philosophy. So now
you know that the Prakriti is the mother
of the whole creation. So let's
understand the components of prakruti or
the nature so prakruti has 24 components
and including the Prakriti. So as you can
see on the diagram
Prakriti itself has 3 inherent component
which is called 3 gunas, the lightness
which is sattva, activity which is Rajas
and inertia which is Tamas. When these
three qualities stays in equilibrium the
nature stays unmanifested but when this
equilibrium gets disturbed nature comes
in manifestation. So now you can ask the
question how this equilibrium gets
disturbed, that happens because when
Purusha comes in contact of Prakriti so
just to give you a metaphor assume the
Purusha like the father and the Prakriti 
is like the mother so when the father
comes in touch with the Prakriti or the
mother, mother becomes pregnant and the
equilibrium gets disturbed and thus the
mother gives the birth of the next 23
components and these 23 components are
nothing but the part of the Prakriti. So
the very first thing which is born out
of this unequilibrium state is
the Mahad - the cosmic intelligence and on
which on an individual level it is
called the Buddhi or intellect, out of that the next thing
is born is ahankara or you can call it i
am-ness or false ego,
now this ahankara since this is born out
of the nature so it also contains the
quality of sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. So
there are three kinds of ahankara
inherently. In this box which is Sattvic Ahankara
Rajasic Ahankara and Tamasic Ahankara. So Sattvic ahamkara gives the birth of
mind or Manas through which we perceive
things as from the sattvic ankara again
we have the five sense organs five organ
of actions and the rajasic ahankara is
nothing but is the movement between
sattvic and tamasic, however the
Tamasic ahankara gives birth to other ten
elements five of them are the subtle
elements through which we can hear the
sound we can touch we can see the form
we can test and smell through the nose
and then the five gross elements which
you know the Space, Air, Fire, Water and
Earth. So including the nature these are
24 components of the Prakriti.
So now I'm going to talk about the
practical teachings of Sankhya in which
it talks about the mind that mind is the
cause of our bliss into the misery. So
now let's talk about the practical
teachings of Sankhya philosophy. Sankhya
says that its mind which turns one's bliss into misery by
just its projection. so Samkhya emphasizes
to polishing the mind to filter the
right knowledge so it's actually
focusing on the Gyana yoga, the knowledge
it discourages the external rituals
because people perform without
understanding of its true significance.
It also reminds to examine one's
thinking process to purify and develop
proper attitude towards objects of
senses to minimize the attachment and
aversions because all our life we are
just running around either towards
attachment or running away from the
aversions, and lastly it also advises to
not run away from the world but have
perfect mental control to a stay in
control during ups and down of the life.
So next I want to talk about the theory
of causation of Sankhya philosophy, I
refer to this theory in my previous
video in Naya and vaisheshika, both of them
rejects or refutes this theory. So what
is this theory, this theory says that the
effect pre-existed in the cause before
manifestation, so for example when a pot
is prepared out of clay the pot already
existed in the clay, though in a
potential form so basically it says the
main logic behind this theory is
something can never be produced out of
nothing. so the original cause of
everything is seen as Prakriti, so that
is the core principle of Sankhya
and from here we are going to further
move into yoga philosophy and we will
understand what yoga philosophy is, how
the relationship comes with Sankhya and
then what are the differences and
similarity. Just to mention here that
Samkhya does not believe in God, we will
come to know how and what are the
regions they give, that not to accept the
existence of God, so let's dive into yoga
philosophy now, and yoga is called 
school of practice because it emphasizes
on practice and the yoga word comes
from yuj, the root word yuj that means
to yoke or to unite and it also means
that to concentrate, the yoga what I'm
going to cover here is authored by or
compiled by Patanjali
however yoga existed much before that. So
yoga, the word yoga, the practices of yoga
are found in Rig Veda, it is found in
Tantra, it is found in Upanishads, it is
found in bhagavad-gita and many other
scriptures, so yoga is technically
attributed to Hiranyagarbha, Hiranyagarbha
word is used as an aspect of God but here.
Patanjali was given the credit because
he is the one the most intelligent
person the way how he took all the
knowledge of yoga and compiled in a very
systematic way and that's what we are
going to understand here.
This compilation was done by him around
200 BC, text he wrote was called yoga
Sutra or Patanjali yoga Sutra containing
196 sutras. So let's see the main
features of yoga.  The very second Sutra
of yoga Sutra or Patanjali says yogas
chitta vritti nirodha, the definition of
yoga he says the complete mastery or the
modification of the mind is called yoga.
So now you can understand that this
philosophy deals with the mind it says
that all the suffering all the pain all
the pleasure happens because the
modifications of the mind. So like I have
listed here, in this text it focuses on
the nature of the mind, stages of the
mind, the modifications of the mind and
how to overcome those modifications of
the mind. It also talks about the
obstacles to yoga and yoga practice what
are the impediments like 9 impediments 
and 5 afflictions and then very
systematically it talks about the Ashtanga
yoga and as you will see the many other
yoga come out of that, their methods
steps and stages very detailed in the
sutras. It also talks about the spiritual
power you will gain as you progress on
this path plus the attainment of the highest goal called Kaivalya. This yoga of
Patanjali is also referred as Raja yoga
or Royal yoga. This is purely based on
the practice.
so as I mentioned that Sankhya
philosophy uses two main constituents or
too many principles or too many objects
to understand the reality. Yoga takes the
two as is and add one more and that is
superconsciousness or supreme
consciousness which you can call it your
personal God, so it becomes three main
components in yoga philosophy instead of
two in Sankhya. So definition of Prakriti
and Purusha stays the same exactly the
same theory but the Special Purusha or
Purusha Vishesha, which is the supreme
consciousness is introduced -- called
Ishwara. You will come to know about the
personal God concept of yoga philosophy
a little bit further down when I will
talk about the God concept in Samkhya
and yoga philosophy. let's dive into the real
practices of yoga first. So now I'm
going to talk about the Ashtanga yoga
practice, which Patanjali mentions as the
eighth limb path, this contains the
restrains, observances, posture, control of
vital force, withdrawal of senses, which
leads to concentration and that leads to
meditation and that finally leads to the
total absorption or Samadhi. In the
second stage which is five observances,
the last three I'm not going in detail
of each of them because most people are
familiar with the year five Yamas and
five Niyamas, the last three which is
the Tapas, Swadhyaye, and Ishwar-parnidhana.
In English, you can call it a zeal,
study, surrender to God. Together
Patanjali refers as a Kriya yoga and if
you take all these eight the
first five are external practice in
nature or they're called Bahiranga
sadhana also you can technically call it
as a Hatha yoga practice though Patanjali
does not talk about hatha yoga in the
Yoga Sutra. The last three limbs which is
Dharana, Dhayna and Samadhi, Patanjali refers as Sanyama. The these are internal
practices or Antaranga sadhana,
technically that is Dhyana yoga. So to be
clear the Patanjali's Astanga-yoga is
not the same what Patabhi Jois's Ashtanga
Vinyasa Yoga is, they are two different
things.
Patanjali Kriya yoga is not the same
what you Yogananda's or SRF's kriya yoga is
the name sounds similar but they are not
exactly the same. So now you got the
understanding about Sankhya you got
understanding about yoga
philosophy. Now let's analyze the
differences between Samkhya and yoga
philosophy and then we'll go back to the
similarity and then the practices. okay
so first the differences, yoga accepts
three reality as you saw Purusha and
Prakriti and Ishwara that is personal God but the Samkhya
does not accept God only two principles
it accepts, the number two is Sankhya
primarily emphasizes on knowledge
inquiring the nature of truth but yoga
primarily emphasizes on the practice and
the discipline to control the
modification of mind,
the third is yoga uses Sankhya as
foundation but also borrows knowledge
from other sources such as Vedanta.
So now let's talk about the creator or
God in Sankhya philosophy. Samkhya does not
accept the existence of God, it gives the
following reason - the number one is if
existence of law of karma is assumed the
role of God is unnecessary and if God
enforces the consequence of action then
the law of karma is unnecessary and then
it says if God enforces the consequence
then either God is egoistic or
altruistic and if so then God own desire
to create a world full of suffering. And
then third it says that there is no
proof of the existence of God which can
be validated using the valid source of
knowledge like those six valid source of
knowledge I talked about in the first
video. So now let's see what yoga
philosophy says about the creator or God.
so God is referred as Ishwara in yoga
philosophy it's a unique Purusha or
Purusha Vishesha
its primeval teacher or called Adi guru
it also refer as Pranava or primordial
sound OM. The concept of God gives hope
to the human beings the one who is
perfect eternal all-pervading free from all
Karma's and it is your personal God.
Third it says that when individual
soul or Purusha becomes free from all
Samskaras then becomes a liberated
soul and merges into the God
consciousness. the fourth says when
ignorance is dissolved, the duality drops
and the perfect union of individual
Soul happens with supreme soul which is
the yoga here the union of these two the
lower self to the higher self.
thus the individual soul becomes fully
liberated from suffering. And the last is
says that existence of Ishwara is Purusha
vishesha can be only known through this
scripture so the practices which is
given you first is to identify your true
nature and then through the Scriptures
you will know what is God. Now let's see
the similarity between Sankhya and yoga
philosophy. There are five major similarity
I've listed here the first one is the
both accept three valid sources of
knowledge and they are direct perception
inference and testimony the second is
both accepts the dualistic theory of
Purusha and Prakriti third both accepts
the ignorance is the cause of suffering
both emphasizes polishing and
controlling the mind both uses the
rational and practical approach. So let's
see what Sankhya and yoga philosophy
talks about the creation or the world
since yoga is based on Sankhya
philosophy so whole thing comes as the
root cause of entire universes is Prakriti
not Purusha and it is a journey of
consciousness or Purusha into the matter
of prakruti the unmanifested prakruti is
the limitless potential consisting of
three fundamental forces called gunas
sattva, Rajas and Tamas in equilibrium
exactly like I described you before and
the effective contact between the Purusha
and Prakriti disturbs the balance of the
guna in a Prakriti and sets the motion
the process of evolution and creation of
the world.
so that's the theory about the creation.
Now let's talk about the individual soul
what Samkhya and Yoga Philosophy talk
about, three main things first is the
individual soul or Purusha is the
consciousness and that is his very
essence the soul is eternal ever pure
ever detached and all-pervading, there
are innumerable souls as many as the
living beings just to point it out that
Purusha here individual soul here is
different than what Nyaya and Vaishesika
philosophy talks about, in Nyaya and Vaishesika the individual soul does not have
their consciousness the consciousness
comes from the mind but here the
individual soul has its own
consciousness. So now let's see what's
Samkhya and yoga talks about the liberation from suffering, first it says that due to
ignorance individual soul forgets his
true nature gets involved with evolutes
of Prakriti and suffers and how and when
Purusha got into this mess of suffering
can never be answered except by stating
that it is beginning less but has an end
since ignorance or aviveka is
responsible for this bondage, liberation
can come only from the right knowledge
and that's the core of Sankhya
philosophy however both agrees that the
right knowledge is attained by following
the eight limbs of yoga wherein the
individual soul is the object of
meditation and that's the core of yoga.
So now you understand the yoga principle
Sankhya principles, their similarity, and their differences, now
we are to the last stage for the
practice - this is also a three-step
practice in which you understand the
philosophy they reflect on the
philosophy and then you use the
astanga-yoga
practice with consistency reverence and
non-attachment for a long time in order
to get the result. Yoga is basically the
practice of Sankhya philosophy in true
essence. So this sums up the Sankhya and
yoga philosophy today. I will catch you
next in the last two Indian philosophies
called Mimansa and Vedanta, so you know
how from pluralism we go to dualism and
then we go to non-dualism means there
will become only one entity. Thank you so
much for listening if you like the
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