Chapter 8
Sankhya and Yoga
Part 1
Part 1
At this stage Krishna moves on to the higher level solution. Here, we should note that Krishna makes a very clear emphasis of Sankhya and Yoga at the point of turning from the first and summary answer to Arjuna’s difficulties as discussed in the previous chapter. It is evident in the very first words which strike the keynote of a higher spiritual solution. The Teacher makes at once a distinction which is of the utmost importance for the understanding of the Gita. This is the distinction of Sankhya and Yoga.
‘Such is the intelligence (i.e. the intelligent knowledge of things and will) declared to thee in the Sankhya. Hear now this in the Yoga. For if thou art in Yoga by this intelligence, O son of Pritha, thou shalt cast away the bondage of works.’
This is the exact translation of the words in which the Gita announces the distinction it intends to make.
We should note that the Gita is in its essence a Vedantic work. It is one of the three recognised authorities for the Vedantic teaching. It is not described as a revealed Scripture like Veda. It is largely intellectual, logical and philosophical in its method. None-the-less, it is still founded on the Truth. However, it is not the directly inspired Word like Veda which is the revelation of the Truth through the higher faculties of the seer. Even so, Gita is still very highly esteemed and ranked almost as a thirteenth Upanishad.
The Vedantic ideas contained in Gita are throughout and thoroughly coloured by the ideas of the Sankhya and the Yoga way of thinking. It derives from this colouring the peculiar synthetic character of its philosophy. In essence Gita teaches primarily a practical system of Yoga. It brings in metaphysical ideas only as explanatory of its practical system. It should particularly noted here that Gita does not merely declare Vedantic knowledge. It lays firm foundation of knowledge and devotion upon works. It even uplifts Works to the culmination of knowledge. At the same time, the Devotion to Divine is at the very heart and kernel of their spirit.
The Yoga of Gita initially follows the line of thinking of the analytical philosophy of the Sankhyas. It takes that as a starting point.[1] It also keeps it as a large element of its method and doctrine. But it goes much beyond the philosophy of Sankhya. It even negatives some of the characteristic tendencies of Sankhya philosophy. Gita finds a means of reconciling the lower analytical knowledge of Sankhya with the higher synthetic and Vedantic truth.
Let us now understand what is the Sankhya Philosophy and what is Yoga - about which Gita speaks. Firs, let us note what they are NOT.
Certainly t They are not the systems which have come down to us under these names as elaborated in the Sankhya Karika of Ishwara Krishna and the Yoga aphorisms of Patanjali respectively. The Sankhya to which Gita refers is not the system of the Karikas as is commonly understood. The conventional Sankhya admits the multiplicity of Purushas as a primal truth of being. The conventional Sankhya is in a way atheistic. It strenuously denies the One as Self and Purusha. On the other hand, the Sankhya of Gita is diametrically opposite to the Sankhya as is conventionally understood. Gita affirms One as Self and Purusha. It affirms that One who is also the Lord, Ishwara or Purushottama as the cause of the universe. The Sankhya of the Gita admits and subtly reconciles the diverse theistic, pantheistic and monistic views of the universe.
The Yoga of Gita is not the yoga system of Patanjali. Patanjali’s Yoga is a purely subjective method of Rajayoga. It is an internal discipline. It is limited, rigidly cut out, severely and scientifically graded system. It helps the mind to progressively get stilled and taken up into Samadhi. Its object is to gain the temporal and eternal results of this self-exceeding. The temporal in a great expansion of the soul’s knowledge and powers. The eternal in the divine union.
On the other hand, the Yoga of the Gita is a large, flexible and many-sided system with various elements. These are all successfully harmonized by a sort of natural and living assimilation. Rajayoga is only one of these elements. It is not even the most important and vital of these elements. The Yoga of Gita does NOT adopt any strict and scientific gradation. It is a PROCESS OF NATURAL SOUL-DEVELOPMENT. It adopts a few principles of subjective poise and action. This is done in order to bring about a renovation of the soul and a sort of change, ascension or new birth out of the lower nature into the divine. Similarly, its idea of Samadhi is quite different from the ordinary notion of the Yogic trance.
Patanjali gives only an initial importance to works in the world. Its aim is limited to bringing about moral purification and religious concentration. On the other hand, Gita goes so far as to make works the distinctive characteristic of Yoga. Action to Patanjali is only a preliminary. In the Gita, it is a permanent foundation.[2] In Rajyoga, Action has to be put aside for all practical purposes when it achieves its desired results. At least it then ceases to be of any importance as means for the Yoga. Whereas for Gita, Action is a means of the highest ascent and it continues even after the complete liberation of the soul is achieved.
It is essential to clarify this difference between the conventional understanding of Sankhya and Patanjali’s Yoga as against that of the Gita. This is to avoid any confusion in thought that may be created by use of these familiar words. The connotation of meaning as intended in Gita to these words is far wider than the technical sense with which we are familiar. However, it should be noted that Gita admits the essential part of conventional Sankhya and Patanjali’s Yoga in so far as it relates to a large, catholic and universally true aspect. At the same time, Gita does not limit itself by these. Gita is not like that of the opposing schools of philosophy and yoga to these systems. It admits and then it surpasses them. Sankhya of Gita is the catholic Vedantic Sankhya. It is similar to the great Vedantic synthesis of the Upanishads and also to the Puranas at a later stage.
Gita’s idea of Yoga is that large idea of principally a subjective practice and inner change. It is necessary for the finding of the Self or the union with God. Rajayoga is only one special application of this system.
Gita insists that Sankhya and Yoga are not two different, incompatible and discordant systems. They are one in their principle and aim. They differ only in their method and starting point. For Gita, Sankhya also is a Yoga which proceeds by knowledge. In a way, Sankhya starts by intellectual discrimination and analysis of the principles of our being. It attains its aim through the vision and possession of the Truth. Yoga on the other hand, proceeds by works. It is in its first principle Karmayoga. At this point, the system of Gita departs and develops into a different Path. It is evident from the whole teaching of the Gita and its later definitions that the word Karma is used in a very wide sense. What Gita means by Yoga is the selfless devotion of all the inner as well as the outer activities as an offering to the Lords of all works. It is offered to the Eternal as Master of all the soul’s energies and austerities.
As per the principle philosophy of Gita, Yoga is the practice of the Truth. Knowledge gives the vision to this Truth. The engine of this Truth is fuelled by a spirit of illumined devotion, of calm or fervent consecration. This devotion is directed towards that which knowledge sees to be the Highest. [3]
......... based on Chapter 8, Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo
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