[Advaita-l] Can Sankhya and Yoga give Moksha?

[Srikanta Narayanaswami]

Pranams.
In his Brahma Sutra Bashya,Shankara has commented on whether the Sankhya and the Yoga can give Moksha.First of all if these two individually or collectively give Moksha,there was no need for Shankara to write his Brahma sutra bashya as a Vedantic text.It is the emphatic view of Shankara or other Vedantins like Gaudapadacharya that eitherSankya or Yoga cannot give Moksha.In his Karikas,Gaudapada has examined these two schools and criticised these two from the point of view of Cause-effect basis.Shankara in his bashya calla Sankhya as "Pradhana mallas"and says that if the Sankhyans are defeated then it is the defeat of the champions among the other siddhantas.He calls the defeat of the Sankhyans as,:"Pradhana-malla nibarhana",and goes further to point out the loopholes in the Sankhyan theory.In his earlier bhashya on the "Yoga"he points out the inconsistencies in the "Yoga"school,and obaserves that certain portions which donot contradict the Vedanta can
 be accepted.Altogether,it is the view of the Bhagawathpada that these two cannot give moksha either individually or collectively.
N.Srikanta.