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

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