YOGA FOR SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
DR.MAGANLAL S. MOLIA (Prof.)
Department of Education
Saurashtra University
RAJKOT-360 005
GUJ. INDIA
e-mail :msmolia2000@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT. To a Sanskrit-knowing man the two words are obviously related to one another. Alike in the Bhagavad-Gita and in the Yoga-sutras of Patanjali the terms are Samkhyan, and historically Yoga is based on the Samkhya, so far as its philosophy is concerned. The Samkhyan School starts with the statement that the universe consists of two factors, the first pair of opposites, Spirit and Matter, or more accurately Spirits and Matter. The Spirit is called Purusha--the Man; and each Spirit is an individual. Over against these Purushas, homogeneous units, countless in number, stands Prakriti, Matter, the second in the Samkhyan duality. Only by Prakriti can Spirit, or Purusha, "forth-make" or "manifest" himself. Without the presence of Prakriti, Purusha is helpless, a mere abstraction. Only by the presence of, and in Prakriti, can Purusha make manifest his powers. Prakriti has also three characteristics, the well-known gunas--attributes or qualities. Rhythm enables awareness to become cognition. Mobility enables life to become activity. When Purusha is in propinquity to Matter, then there is a change in Matter--not outside, but in it.Purusha acts on Prakriti by propinquity, says Vyasa. It comes near Prakriti, and Prakriti begins to live. So with Purusha and Prakriti. The Self is One. The moment the Self ceases to think it, the universe is not, it vanishes as a dream. That is the fundamental idea of the Vedanta. It is the play of the Supreme Self that makes the limitations, and thus reproduces within limitations the qualities of the Self; the consciousness of the Self, of the Supreme Self; becomes, in the particularised Self, cognition, the power to know; and the existence of the Self becomes activity, the power to manifest; and the bliss of the Self becomes will, the deepest part of all, the longing for... [continues]
DR.MAGANLAL S. MOLIA (Prof.)
Department of Education
Saurashtra University
RAJKOT-360 005
GUJ. INDIA
e-mail :msmolia2000@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT. To a Sanskrit-knowing man the two words are obviously related to one another. Alike in the Bhagavad-Gita and in the Yoga-sutras of Patanjali the terms are Samkhyan, and historically Yoga is based on the Samkhya, so far as its philosophy is concerned. The Samkhyan School starts with the statement that the universe consists of two factors, the first pair of opposites, Spirit and Matter, or more accurately Spirits and Matter. The Spirit is called Purusha--the Man; and each Spirit is an individual. Over against these Purushas, homogeneous units, countless in number, stands Prakriti, Matter, the second in the Samkhyan duality. Only by Prakriti can Spirit, or Purusha, "forth-make" or "manifest" himself. Without the presence of Prakriti, Purusha is helpless, a mere abstraction. Only by the presence of, and in Prakriti, can Purusha make manifest his powers. Prakriti has also three characteristics, the well-known gunas--attributes or qualities. Rhythm enables awareness to become cognition. Mobility enables life to become activity. When Purusha is in propinquity to Matter, then there is a change in Matter--not outside, but in it.Purusha acts on Prakriti by propinquity, says Vyasa. It comes near Prakriti, and Prakriti begins to live. So with Purusha and Prakriti. The Self is One. The moment the Self ceases to think it, the universe is not, it vanishes as a dream. That is the fundamental idea of the Vedanta. It is the play of the Supreme Self that makes the limitations, and thus reproduces within limitations the qualities of the Self; the consciousness of the Self, of the Supreme Self; becomes, in the particularised Self, cognition, the power to know; and the existence of the Self becomes activity, the power to manifest; and the bliss of the Self becomes will, the deepest part of all, the longing for... [continues]
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