SAmkhya/Yoga question

[Vishal Agarwal]

----Original Message Follows----
From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan <vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: SAmkhya/Yoga question
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 01:38:59 PST
Vidya wrote:
In many ways, Sankara's formulation of Advaita Vedanta is
one solution to the central problems that would have been bothering Samkhya
philosophers in his day.
VA: I am inclined to agree with Vidyasamkar here. Bhagvatpada Samkaracharya
criticized the versions of competing schools which existed in his own times.
For that matter, it is questionable if the Yogasutras of Patanjali and the
Samkhya Karikas precede the Brahmasutras. From slightly pre-Samkara accounts
of the schools of Philosophy in India (like the Harshacarita of Bana), it is
clear that the 'Aupanishadas' were just one amongst the numerous schools of
Philosophy in India, and I would even venture to state that Bhagvatpada
acted like a 'sectarian' Vedantin who claimed that the Vedanta
interpretation alone conformed to the teachings of the Upanishads.

Vidya said: Regarding later commentators, I suggest that their invoking
Vishnu as a
catalyst to bring about the manifestation of the world is not something
totally new. If one goes back to proto-Samkhya or "epic Samkhya", i.e. to
texts like the mok.sadharma in MBh, there is an underlying unifying
principle behind the dualism of prakRti and purusha. I would also venture to
suggest that what is normally called proto-Samkhya in these texts can
equally well be called proto-Vedanta.
Vishal: To this, I would like to add a quotation from the now lost
.sa.stitantra in numerous Bhashyas of the Karikas: "Purushadhishtitam
pradhanam pravarttate". And, the word 'Adhyatmic' is used as a synomyn for
'Samkhya' in the Mahabharata as well. (Whereas, with the passage of time, it
becomes a synonymn for Vedanta)

Best wishes

Vishal
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