________________
471
XXII]
Sāmkhya and Vedānta in the case of the rise of true and ultimate knowledge the power of the gunas to undergo modification for the sake of the relevant purusa is destroyed. Before the sattva can show itself in its own vrtti or state, it must dominate the tamas which would have resisted the sattva state. Thus the ontological opposition of the sattva and the tamas must settle their differences before a psychological state can make its appearance.
Relation of Sāmkhya and Vedānta
according to Bhiksu. Bhikṣu thinks that the Sāmkhya and Yoga philosophies are intimately connected with the Vedānta and are referred to in the Upanişads. For this reason when certain topics, as for example the problem of experiential knowledge, are not described in the Vedānta, these are to be supplemented from the Sāmkhya Yoga. If there is any seeming antagonism between the two, these also have to be so explained that the opposition may be reconciled. Bhikṣu takes this attitude not only towards Sāmkhya-yoga but also towards Nyāya-Vaiseșika, and the Pañcarātra. According to him all these systems have their basis in the Vedas and the Upanişads and have therefore an internal affinity which is not to be found in the Buddhists. The Buddhists are therefore the only real opponents. Thus he attempts to reconcile all the āstika systems of philosophy as more or less supplementary to one another or at least presenting differences which can be reconciled if they are looked at from the proper angles of vision. Bhikṣu collects his materials from the Upanişads, the Purāņas and the smrtis and tries to build his system of interpretation on that basis. It may, therefore, be regarded on the whole as a faithful interpretation of the theistic Vedānta which is the dominant view of the Purāņas in general and which represents the general Hindu view of life and religion. Compared with this general current of Hindu thought, which flows through the Purāṇas and the smrtis and has been the main source from which the Hindu life has drawn its inspiration, the extreme Sāmkhya, the extreme Vedānta of Sankara, the extreme Nyāya, and the extreme dualism of Aladhva may be regarded as metaphysical formalisms of conventional philosophy. Bhikṣu's philosophy is a type of bhedābheda which has shown itself in various forms in Bharțr-prapaña,