Sankhya vs. Advaita Vedanta

[Shrisha Rao]

> Namaskaar All,
>
> I was reading about Samkhya a couple of days ago and from a cursory
> reading (have to admit it was an online source with a bare description),
> I found a lot of similarities between the Maya as Sri Sankara has
> described the world and Prakriti, as Sage Kapila has described it. The
> same goes for Purusha vs. Brahma. Pardon my ignorance but can anyone
> describe to me the basic differences ?

The most important difference, as I see it, is that the similarities
have not been considered significant enough, and the sAN^khya doctrine
is roundly rejected in Sri Shankara's BSB:

  tatra padavAkyapramANaj~nena AchAryeNa vedAntavAkyAnAM brahmAvagati-
  paratvadarshanAya vAkyAbhAshayuktyAbhAsapratipattayaH
  *pUrvapaxIkR^itya nirAkrityante*  |  tatra sAN^khyAH pradhAnaM
  triguNamachetanaM jagataH kAraNamiti manyamAnA AhuH -- yAni
  vedAntavAkyAni sarvaj~nasya sarvashakterbrahmaNo jagatkAraNatvaM
  darshayantItyavochastAni pradhAnakAraNapaxe.api yojayituM shayante  |
  sarvashaktitvaM tAvatpradhAnasyApi svavikAravishhayamupapadyate ...

  (the pUrvapaxa to sUtra I-1-5)

-- where, as you can see, he opines that the view that the statements
in favor of Brahman can also be interpreted in favor of the `pradhAna'
of the sAN^khya, is rejected by the sUtrakAra as a pUrva-paxa.

A little later, in explaining the sUtra `IxaternAshabdam.h', he states:

  na sAN^khyaparikampitamachetanaM pradhAnaM jagataH kAraNaM shakyaM
  vedAnteshhu Ashrayitum.h  |  ashabdaM hi tat.h  |

-- that the `pradhAna' is `ashabda' or not spoken of in the Vedas; he
further holds later on that such Shruti statements as `tadaixata bahu
syAM prajAyeyeti' (chAndoga VI-2-3), `sa IxAchakre, sa
prANamasR^ijata' (prashna u. VI-3) cannot be applied to `pradhAna'
because the latter is insentient and cannot be an experiencer and an
all-knower like Brahman: `na cha achetanasya pradhAnasya sAxitvaM
asti, tasmAd.h anupapannaM pradhAnasya sarvaj~natvam.h'.

As such, there is little reason to believe that the Brahman of Advaita
and the pradhAna of the sAN^khya are interchangeable.

Regards,

Shrisha Rao

> Ashish

================================================================
"bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam"
List archives : http://listserv.tamu.edu/archives/advaita-l.html
================================================================