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INTRODUCTION
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by sacrifice Kapila condemns the sacrificial cult The revealed vedic method is quite useless according to Kapıla because of its defects which are three
Impurity-Destruction and excess or enormity. The vedic method of sacrifice is impure because it is caused by bloodshed due to slaughter of animals. This method of sacrifice though supposed to expiate all sins even Brahmahatya is rejected by Kapila for all such rites according to him are impure Further it leads to mere destiuction The method of sacrifice instead of leading to complete liberation from Samsara merely leads to another state of Samsaiic existence. The end aimed at is happiness in Swarga and certainly this is not Moksha Hence the path of sacrifice is the path of destiuction and not of salvation The traditional method is excessive or unequal Sacrifice generally involves lot of expenditure, eg, in an Aswamedha sacrifice sometimes hundreds of horses have to be sacrificed Hence this method is not within the reach of all Therefore as against such an impossible way of escape Kapıla proposes a method which is quite adequate and feasible to all The path to liberation according to Sankhya philosophy consists in the progress of acquiring discriminative knowledge of the nature of the self from its environmental existence This discrimination that the spirit or Purusha is quite different from Prakriti or matter that leads to self realisation which is the true Moksha. The material environment which practically imprisons the spirit is called by Kapila Prakriti. The whole physical universe is but a manifestation of this Prakriti. Hence the discriminative knowledge also means the knowledge of the number and the nature of the several Tatvas-ultimate principles. The problem relating to the path to Moksha resolves therefore into the problem as to the nature of the Tatvas. The next question therefore is what are the Sankhyan Tatvas ? Kapila starts with the assumption that the self or Purusha is quite distinct from Prakritt or the ultimate matter. The former is the spiritual principle in man whereas the latter, the primeval basic principle of the material universe. The cosmos is evolved out of this Plakriti. In the midst of this unfolding
