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A SYNOPSIS OF THE CARDINAL DOCTRINES OF
THE SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY
BY
Gangānātha Jhā
The lucid writing of Vācaspati Mišra does not stand in need of much in the shape of an Introduction. But under the cover of this title, I propose to give a brief synopsis of the cardinal doctrines of the Sārkhya Philosophy, in the hope that a reading of this resume would prepare the mind of the student for the reception of the abstruse truths, in which the Tattvakaumudi abounds. Any corrections or suggestions for alteration, &c., will be most gratefully received.
To begin with, the Sārikhya lays down a fourfold division of categories based on their respective causal and productive efficiency. This division is into-(1) Productive (2) Productive--and-Produced (3) Produced (4) Neither-Productive-nor Produced. This classification includes all the twenly. five Principles--called Tattvas,- Prakrtı or Nature being the purely productive, since the Sarikhyas allow of no other purely productive agency. The Productie-and-produced are the other Principles-Buddhı, &c. These partake of the nature of both;—thus Buddhi is productive in as much as out of it evolves Ahamkāra, and it is produced in as much as it itself evolves out of Prakytı. The purely non-productive Principles are the eleven sense-organs and the five material substances. These are purely non-productive because none of these can give birth to a substance essentially different from themselves. The Puruşa (Spirit) is neither productive nor produced. In fact it is without attributes. All accessories are the effects of the Guņas,•and the Spirit is by its very nature free from these and as such without any accessories.
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