Samkhya thoughts in the Mahabharata
by Shini M.V. | 2017 | 51,373 words
This page relates ‘Samanga Narada Samvada’ 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.
Samaṅga Nārada Saṃvāda
Here Nārada describes his sorrows and worries to Samaṅga in the 3rd to 21st ślokas in the 286th chapter of the Śāntiparva
Nārada once asked Samaṅga how he always appeared to be free from sorrow and how he could be cheerful. He also wanted to know how Samaṅga could always be child like. The reply of Samaṅga was that he knew the truth of the past, the present and future which helped him to be high spirited. He also told that one lives by the virtue of one’s pristine deeds. One gains wisdom when one is free from senses. A man who lives in the world of error is devoid of this world and the next. Happiness in this world and the next is the result of one’s conduct.[1] Samaṅga tells that, he acquired a life free from anxiety, fear of death, free from sorrow and mistakes because of his severe and indestructible penance.