Samkhya thoughts in the Mahabharata
by Shini M.V. | 2017 | 51,373 words
This page relates ‘Introduction to Yoga Darshana’ of the study of Samkhya thought and philosophy as reflected in the Shanti-Parva of the Mahabharata. Samkhya represents one of the six orthodox schools of Indian Philosophy and primarily deals with metaphysical knowledge and explains the Universe without the need to introduce God. The Mahabharata is an ancient Sanskrit epic which includes many Sankhya theories while expounding twenty-five principles.
Introduction to Yoga Darśana
Yoga is the Hindu practice of physical, mental and spiritual discipline originated in ancient India. In the Hindu philosophy the word Yoga is used to refer to one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu Philosophy. Patañjali Maharṣi is the first who systematized the Yoga school. The Yogasūtras of Patañjali introduces the fundamental tenets of the Yoga system. Patañjali’s Yoga is linked with Kapila’s Sāṃkhya. Its aim and object is to lay down a practical path for liberation. The Yoga orders the path of action and the path of knowledge for the attainment of complete freedom and isolation of the self. Aṣṭāṅga Yoga is a superior pathway to Liberation. Yoga is defined as cittavṛtti nirodha -Control or arresting the modifications of mind.
The various steps prescribed for the attainment of kaivalya are eight in number. They are:
Yama i.e. restraint consists in ahimsa i.e. act of refraining, from all kinds of injury to any life. Yama also includes satya, asteya, brahmacarya and aparigraha. All these restraints are aimed at purifying one’s moral life. Cultivating good habits and improving one’s culture consists of Niyama. It consists of five steps they are Sauca, Santoṣa, Tapas, Svādhyāya and Īsvarapraṇidhāna. Āsana is a rigorous disciplinary control over body and Mind by which man gets health of the body and gets united with universe. This consists of a steady posture of the body. Attitudes have different types such as Padmāsana, Śirasāsana, Mayurāsana etc. It helps keep safe the vital energy and also purifying and strengthening both body and Mind. Prāṇāyāma consists in controlling one’s own breath Puruka, kumbhaka and recaka are the three stages of it. Pratyāhāra consists in withdrawing the senses from their respective objects. This discipline aims at restraining the mind from the physical side. Dhāraṇā is the attention by meditation. This is indispensable for mental discipline which consists in holding or fixing the mind on the desired object. Dhyāna means the even flow of thought about or rather around the object of attention held in Dhāraṇā. Samādhi is the last step in this stage. Mind is deeply absorbed in the object of meditation. It loses itself in the object and has no consciousness of itself. It is a kind of trance in which the subject and the object become one. Yoga system believes in the supreme God, it also recognizes the existence of many gods who are entangled in the empirical life through ignorance. Such a conception of God is contradictory to the basic principles of the Yoga system.