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Chapter 4: Statement of Six Fundamentals
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realm. They are collectively called Shaddarshan. Shad (a derivation of Shat) means six and Darshan means theological school of thought. Those six schools are presented differently by different people. The Vedäntist consider only those schools which are based on the Ved. Sänkhya, Yog, Purva Mimänsak, Uttar Mimänsak, Nyäy, and Vaisheshik are the six schools. The list obviously keeps Jainism and Buddhism out, because they do not subscribe to the Ved. In order to accommodate them, the schools are laid down a bit differently. Since Nyäy and Vaisheshik schools have much in common, they are grouped together under the title Naiyäyik. Similarly Purva Mimänsak and Uttar Mimänsak are grouped together under the title Vedänt. The six schools then consist of Sänkhya, Yog, Vedänt, Naiyäyik, Jainism, and Buddhism.
All these schools have the same common objective of liberation. The differences arise on the account of differing beliefs about the concepts of the creation, creator, soul, and liberation. Sänkhya, Jainism and Buddhism, for instance, do not believe in the creation of the world, while other schools believe in creation and a creator. Sänkhya, Yog, Naiyayik, and Jainism believe in the endless number of individual souls. Vedänt believes in one single soul. Buddhism does not believe in the existence of an everlasting soul. Such differences arise, because most of the people tend to think from their own perspective. Jainism takes into consideration all possible perspectives. The six Fundamentals present the synthesis of all these different viewpoints. It is therefore said in this stanza that the Fundamentals constitute those six ideologies.
Some people like to accommodate even the atheist belief of Chärväk within the framework of six schools. For that purpose they group Sänkhya and Yog together, because their approach is more or less similar and treat Sänkhya, Naiyäyik, Vedänt, Jainism, Buddhism and Chärväk as six schools of thought. In the Stavan (adoration prayer) of Naminäth, the
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