Old School Yoga

The teaching of Samkhya philosophy begins with the problem of suffering. The sutras pertaining to this topic are summarized here. The sutras are clear and require little explanation.

SPS 1.1

• Atha = now, the beginning of an undertaking, a good omen
• Trividha-duhkha = threefold suffering
• Atyanta-nirvritti = permanent cessation
• Purusa-artha = the supreme object of purusa

At this time begins the explanation of Samkhya philosophy. The permanent cessation of the three kinds of suffering is the highest purpose of life.

Samkhya recognized three broad categories of pain:

• Adhyatmika : arising from the embodied self, i.e., self-caused. This can be mental or physical.
• Adhibhautika: arising from other beings, other people, animals, and insects; and
• Adhidaivika: arising from the gods, which a modern man would regard as the forces of nature that are beyond our control, sometimes called acts of God.

SPS 1.2

• Na dristat = not from observed, meaning visible, or ordinary means
• Tat-siddhih nivrtte = the accomplishment of cessation
• Api = even, because of
• Anuvrtti darsana = observation of re-appearance or re-occurrence

Complete and permanent cessation cannot be accomplished by ordinary means, since the re-occurrence of pain in various forms is always observed.

SPS 1.3

• Pratyahika-ksut-pratikara-vat = like the satisfaction of daily hunger
• Tat-pratikara-chestanat = on account of the endeavor for relief of pain by means of that (by ordinary means)
• Purusa-artha-tvam = is also an object of purusa

Sutra 1.3 continues the thought from 1.2: (since the re-occurrence of pain in various forms is always observed), like the satisfaction of daily hunger. These too are a purpose of life, and many are engaged in the endeavor for relief of pain by ordinary means.

The ordinary means of preventing and mitigating pain, such as production of food, clothing, shelter, medicine, etc., are legitimate and necessary and are pursued by the majority of people worldwide. While these are legitimate pursuits, they are not the highest purpose of life.

SPS 1.4

• Sarva-asambhavat = on account of absence of universal possibility, i.e. non-existence of visible means at all times and places.
• Tat-sambhave api = in the case of their existence, even
• Atyanta-asambhavat = on account of the impossibility of complete cessation
• Heyah pramana-kusalaih = should be given up by men skillful in argument

The author states the reasons why ordinary means should be given up:

• Because they do not exist at all times and in all places, in other words, they are not always available,
• And even when they do exist, they cannot achieve complete, permanent cessation.

This is not for everyone, though. This pursuit is for men who are “skillful in argument”. These would have been the upper echelons of the society, who in our time would be the doctors, scientists, and engineers.

SPS 1.5

• Utkarasat = on account of excellence or superiority
• Moksasya = of moksa or release
• Sarva-utkaras-sruteh = from the sruti, which declare excellence over all else

The author states a third reason why ordinary means should be given up, and that is because moksa or release from samsara has been declared by the scriptures to be the superior means.

SPS 1.6

• Avisesah = non-distinction
• Cha = and
• Ubhayoh = between the two

Scriptural means are no different than ordinary means. This is further elaborated by Karika 2.

Karika 1.

• Duhkha-traya-abhighatat = from the disagreeable occurrence of the threefold pain
• Jijnasa = the desire to know, inquiry
• Tat-avaghatake = prevention or counter-action
• Hetau = into the means
• Drsta = there existing visible or ordinary means
• sa apa-artha chat = if it is said that the enquiry is without purpose
• Na ekanta-atyanta-tah-abhavat = no, because of the absence of permanence and certainty

Pain is a disagreeable occurrence. From this, arises the desire to know the means to counter-act and prevent it. Seeing that there are many ordinary means of removing pain, it might be said that this inquiry into the means of removal is superfluous. Not so, because ordinary means cannot permanently and completely remove pain.

Karika 2

• Drista-vat = like the ordinary (means)
• Anusravika = scriptural means; vedic sacrifices, soma rituals
• Sah hi = for it
• a-visuddhi-kasya-atisaya-yuktah = attended with impurity, waste, and excess
• Tat-viparita sreyan = the opposite thereof is preferable
• Vyakta-a-vyakta-jna-vijnana = it consists of discriminative knowledge of the manifest, the unmanifest, and the knower

The scriptural means such as animal sacrifices and soma rituals, are like ordinary means, for they are accompanied by impurity, waste, and excess. The opposite is preferable. It consists of discriminative knowledge of the Manifest, the Unmanifest, and the Knower.

Perspective

The three categories of suffering have implications for how the different kinds of pain can be counteracted. If you believe that the gods are causing your trouble, then the remedies will consist of sacrifices, rituals, prayers, and offerings to the gods. Civilized people develop rules of conduct in order to limit and deal with the kinds of pain that people inflict on one another. In general, people take all kinds of actions in order to try to prevent various types of suffering, and to mitigate it when it does occur. These “ordinary means” are legitimate and necessary pursuits in in life. But no matter what we do, pain always returns in one form or another. It has to be acknowledged that suffering is a fact of life and as long as we exist as embodied beings, we will experience suffering in one form or another.

According to Samkhya, the means of complete and permanent cessation of suffering consists of discriminative knowledge of the Manifest, the Unmanifest, and the Knower. What is meant by the Manifest, the Unmanifest, and the Knower and how to gain discriminative knowledge are the topics of Samkhya philosophy.