Historical development of Indian philosophy

Texts and commentaries until Vachaspati and the “Samkhya-sutras”

There are three commentaries on the Samkhya-karika: that by Raja, much referred to but not extant; that by Gaudapada (7th century), on which there is a subcommentary Chandrika by Narayanatirtha; and the Tattva-kaumudi by Vachaspati (9th century). The Samkhya-sutras are a much later work (c. 14th century) on which Aniruddha (15th century) wrote a vritti and Vijnanabhikshu (16th century) wrote the Samkhya-pravachana-bhashya (“Commentary on the Samkhya Doctrine”). Among independent works, mention may be made of Tattvasamasa (c. 11th century; “Collection of Truths”).

The Yoga-sutras were commented upon by Vyasa in his Vyasa-bhashya (5th century), which has two excellent subcommentaries: Vachaspati’s Tattvavaisharadi and Vijnanabhikshu’s Yogavarttika, besides the vritti by Bhoja (c. 1000).

Metaphysics and epistemology

For Vachaspati, creation was viewed in terms of the mere presence of the selves and the mere presentation to them of Matter (the undifferentiated primeval stuff). Such a view has obvious difficulties, for it would make creation eternal, because the selves and Matter are eternally copresent. Vijnanabhikshu considered the relation between the selves and Matter to be a real relation that affects Matter but leaves the selves unaffected. Creation, in accordance with Bhikshu’s theism, is due to the influence of the chief self—i.e., God. Furthermore, whereas the earlier Samkhya authors, including Vachaspati, did not consider the question about the ontological status of the gunas, Bhikshu regards them as real, as extremely subtle substances—so that each guna is held to be infinite in number. In general, the Samkhya-sutras show a greater Brahmanical influence, and there is a clear tendency to explain away the points of difference between the Samkhya and the Vedanta. The author of the sutras tried to show that the Samkhya doctrines are consistent with theism or even with the Upanishadic conception of brahman. Vijnanabhikshu made use of such contexts to emphasize that the atheism of Samkhya is taught only to discourage human beings from trying to be God, that originally the Samkhya was theistic, and that the original Vedanta also was theistic. The Upanishadic doctrine of the unity of selves is interpreted by him to mean an absence of difference of kind among selves, which is consistent with the Samkhya. Maya (illusion) for Bhikshu means nothing but the prakriti (Matter) of the Samkhya. The sutras also give cosmic significance to mahat, the first aspect to evolve from Matter, which then means cosmic Intelligence, a sense not found in the karikas.

In epistemology the idea of reflection of the spirit in the organs of knowing, particularly in the buddhi, or intelligence, comes to the forefront. Every cognition (jnana) is a modification of the buddhi, with consciousness reflected in it. Though this is Vachaspati’s account, it does not suffice according to Bhikshu. If there is the mere reflection of the self in the state of the buddhi, this can only account for the fact that the state of cognition seems to be a conscious state; it cannot account for the fact that the self considers itself to be the owner and experiencer of that state. Accounting for this latter fact, Bhikshu postulated a real contact between the self and buddhi as a reflection of the buddhi state back in the self.

Vachaspati, taking over a notion emphasized in Indian epistemology for the first time by Kumarila, introduced into the Samkhya theory of knowledge a distinction between two stages of perceptual knowledge. In the first, a stage of nonconceptualized (nirvikalpaka) perception, the object of perception is apprehended vaguely and in a most general manner. In the second stage, this vague knowledge (alochanamatram) is then interpreted and conceptualized by the mind. The interpretation is not so much synthesis as analysis of the vaguely presented totality into its parts. Bhikshu, however, ascribed to the senses the ability to apprehend determinate properties, even independently of the aid of manas. For Samkhya, in general, error is partial truth; there is no negation of error, only supplementation, though later Samkhya authors tended to ascribe error to wrong interpretation.

An important contribution to epistemology was made by the writers on the Yoga: this concerns the key notion of vikalpa, which stands for mental states referring to pseudo-objects posited only by words. Such mental states are neither “valid” nor “invalid” and are said to be unavoidable accompaniments of one’s use of language.

Ethics

Because the self is not truly an agent acting in the world, neither merit nor demerit, arising from one’s actions, attaches to the self. Morality has empirical significance. In the long run, what really matters is knowledge. Nonattached performance of one’s duties is an aid toward purifying intelligence so that it may be conducive to the attainment of knowledge—hence the importance of the restraints and observances laid down in the Yoga-sutras. The greatest good is freedom—i.e., aloofness (kaivalya) from matter.

Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga

Patanjali’s Yoga is known as Raja Yoga (that in which one attains to self-rule), and Hatha Yoga emphasizes bodily postures, regulation of breathing, and cleansing processes as means to spiritual perfection (hatha = “violence,” “violent effort”: ha = “sun,” tha = “moon,” hatha = “sun and moon,” breaths, or breaths travelling through the right and left nostrils). A basic text on Hatha Yoga is the Hatha-yoga-pradipika (c. 15th century; “Light on the Hatha Yoga”). As to the relation between the two yogas, a well-known maxim lays down that “No raja without hatha, and no hatha without raja.”

Religious consequences

The one religious consequence of the emergence of Samkhya and Yoga is an emphasis on austere asceticism and a turning away from the ritualistic elements of Hinduism deriving from the Brahmanical sources. Though they continue to remain as an integral part of the Hindu faith, no major religious order thrived on the basis of these philosophies.