Contribution of Vachaspati-Mishra to Samkhya System
by Sasikumar. B | 2017 | 35,637 words
This page relates ‘Epistemology and Ontology (conclusion)� of the research on the Sankhya [Samkhya] school of Indian philosophy with special reference to the contribution of Vachaspati-Mishra. The study includes concepts such as Epistemology (validity and worth of knowledge), Ontology (theory of being or reality), Psychology (science of behavior and mind), Phenomenology (the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness) and Ethics (the removal of errors), all forming an essential part of Samkhya philosophy.
Chapter 3.4 - Epistemology and Ontology (conclusion)
ṅkⲹtattvakaumudī of 峦貹پ Ѿś is a fairly simple and straight forward exposition of the ṅkⲹ. The contribution of 峦貹پ Ѿś to ṅkⲹ philosophy may be outlined into five major topics. They are Epistemology, Ontology, Psychology, Phenomenology and Ethics. The Epistemological and Ontological concepts are discussed in this chapter.
Epistemology is concerned with the conditions of the validity of knowledge. The ṅkⲹ System accepts the three ṇa perception, inference and valid testimony. In 峦貹پ’s view, perception is the primary and fundamental of all the sources of valid knowledge. It is most powerful among the means of valid knowledge, because it gives a direct or immediate knowledge of the reality of an object and therefore is the root of all other ṇa. 峦貹پ Ѿś argues that the sense capacities are only capable of mere sensing for they apprehend sense objects without any mental ordering or verbal characterization whereas the mind perform the task of ordering and verbalizing the impressions of the senses. He divides inference into two kind viz. īٲ and aīٲ. He discusses the three fold inferences in terms of positive and exchasionary types placing both ū and Sāmānyatodṛsṭa under īٲ, and śṣa under aīٲ.
峦貹پ says that Vedic testimony is self-evident. It is free from doubt and discrepancy since it is not of a personal origin. He elaborates the three ṇa accepted by ṅkⲹ and establishes that the other five ṇa recognized by other philosophers which are included in these three. So he doesn’t reject the other five ṇa but establishes their existence in these three ṇa. This is also one of the notable contributions of 峦貹پ Ѿś to ṅkⲹ.
The ṅkⲹ philosophy advocates the ontological dualism of ʰṛt and ʳܰṣa. ṅkⲹ postulates ʰṛt as the ultimate cause of all worldly existence. It is the equilibrium of three ṇa, i.e., sattva, rajas and tamas. ʰṛt is the substratum of the changing phenomena of the world. ṅkⲹ conceives of ʰṛt as consisting of mass, energy and illumination in the form of tamas, rajas and sattva. Therefore, ʰṛt contains all the potential powers for creating the world all by herself out of herself. This theory of causality of ṅkⲹ is called �ٰⲹ岹� or 貹ṇām岹, which establishes that effect pre-exists in the cause. Here 峦貹پ Ѿś refutes the causation theories of other systems like aٰⲹ岹, sūnyavāda and ٲ岹 etc.
ʳܰṣa is the only sentient principle in ṅkⲹ System. They accept the plurality of ʳܰṣa and it is changeless, immutable, and eternal. Bondage of ʳܰṣa is caused by non-discrimination between ʳܰṣa and ʰṛt. The attainment of the discriminative knowledge leads to �siddhi� in ṅkⲹ. When the ʳܰṣa realizes its aloneness from prakṛti it becomes liberated and completely freed from all types of sorrow. The author of ṅkⲹtattvakaumudī accepts two types of liberation viz. īԳܰپ and Videha-mukti.