________________
101
Neither by Yoga, nor by Sankhya, nor by ritualism, nor by much learning, can liberation be possible. Only by the realisation of the identity of oneself with Brahman can final realisation be possible for one-not by any other means.
None of these paths enumerated in the stanza is in itself a fulfilment, if without his own co-operation, ardent and sincere, a student is only mechanically following any or all these paths.
There are altogether six schools of philosophical thoughts in India; only some of them are indicated here; not that the others are positively against man's self-realisation, or that they are against the very principles of self-realisation. The three or four of them mentioned here indicate and include all the rest. By the term "Yoga", here Sankara means the path of mysticism developed and maintained through the exercise of Hatha-Yoga. The "Sankhyan" philosophy is one of the main fountain-heads into which Vedanta often retires for inspiration. Vedanta has sprung out from its early roots to reach a greater precision of thought and perfection of detail from the elaborate philosophy of the "Sankhya".
According to the "Sankhyan" philosophy-essentially a dualistic philosophy-the world is constituted of two essential factors the Purusa and the Prakriti : the Spirit and the Matter. The Spirit is sentient, intelligent and is the knowingprinciple; the vital factor, the source of all life, that comes to exhibit through the physical structure. Prakriti is insentient, unintelligent and lifeless in itself, but it comes to exhibit these qualities when it is blessed by the presence of the Spirit in close proximity. The Supreme has in Itself, no dynamism or activity; all the activities of life are only when the Divine puts on the robe of matter.
Prakriti herself is inert; Purusa, in himself, cannot achieve or execute; but when these two are wedded to each other, both seem to gain a divinity, might and power, as a result of each one blessing the other. In this philosophical concept, their logic of thinking had to take them, naturally, to a conclusion that the Purusa revelling within each sam
