Sankhya is the first radical achievement of Indian world-view that we know of—and not just Indian, it is a great advancement in human thought. This is when most humans do not even know about it. But a time may well come when this singular breakthrough will be considered a quantum leap in human understanding, more significant than even our achievements in calculus and physical sciences.
Sankhya is not a philosophy, that is, it is not a love of knowledge or a systematized thought process. It is a darshana, which means to see, to behold.
To see perfect activity in pure stillness or absolute stillness in intense movement, is the wisdom of Sankhya. It is to be passive when tremendously active and active when utterly passive. It is a beautiful introduction to Indian sanskriti, the Indic culture, our darshanas and their subsequent exploration.
This first darshana, and its consequences, might have defined the Indian civilization and its evolution. Thus, understanding it, experiencing and realizing it are critical to anyone who loves India and wishes to immerse himself or herself in it. Not as abstract or in theory but wholly with all one’s attention and energy. Once one has tasted this wine, or soma rasa, they will keep coming back for more for something true within has awakened and touched its own source and origins.
Sankhya is the first radical achievement of Indian world-view that we know of—and not just Indian, it is a great advancement in human thought. This is when most humans do not even know about it. But a time may well come when this singular breakthrough will be considered a quantum leap in human understanding, more significant than even our achievements in calculus and physical sciences.
The Sankhya anubhooti gives our mind an opening beyond the world of phenomenon and noumenon, of self and other, of awareness and the inanimate universe. It might be many things to many people—it is atheistic as well as theistic, dualistic as well as monistic, Vedantic as well as Tantric. And yet, how little do we know of it and live it, even those of us who find it easy to master complex subjects as Quantum Physics or Artificial Intelligence or neural pathways.
Personally, I find it more phenomenological than Husserl, more ontological than Heidegger, more existential than Sartre. These western philosophers were great with some remarkable insights and yet how pale and confused their weltanschauung is compared to that of the ancient Indian rishis such as Kapila or Iswar Krishna.
Sankhya is a revolution. It ends in one fell swoop the past of philosophies and religions and all sorts of tribalism and cultism and its discovery paves the way for further human evolution. Belief and blind faith are replaced by direct perception of the Real which wipes away all our speculations, hallucinations and delusions. The encumbrance of time in our psyche is ended and the baggage of past is dropped.
Sankhya is the true reason for the longevity of the Indian civilization since it is founded on Truth and what is sanatana about the human condition, what is eternal and universal.
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