Hinduism and Creation: The 24 Principles of Creation Samkhya Yoga

By www. hinduwebsite.com

Hinduism and Creation: The 24 Principles of Creation & Samkhya Yoga

Hinduism owes a great deal to the Samkhya school of philosophy, which influenced the minds of many great scholars in ancient India. Though it started with an atheistic note on the nature of creation and existence of God, its fundamental philosophy was gradually absorbed into the main stream of Hinduism with some suitable modifications.

According to the Samkhya philosophy, Prakriti is the unmanifest, primal resource, the sum total of the universal energy that manifests itself in various material forms in different planes. The creative process (Shristi) begins, when Purusha, the individual soul enters and becomes established in it. Out of this process evolve 24 principles, which are:

á  Mahat: the great principle (1)

á  Buddhi:the discriminating, reasoning and causative intelligence (2)

á  Ahamkara:the ego-principle (3)

á  Manas:the mind or the sixth sense (4)

á  Panchendiryas:the five sense organs (9)

á  Five karmendriyas: the five organs of action (14

á  Five tanmantras: the five subtle elements (19)

á  Five Mahabhutas:the five gross elements (earth, water, air, fire and ether)(24)

These are the evolutes. The Mahat (the Great One), is the first to emerge in this process of evolution. The Mahat is Prakriti or the primordial nature in its dynamic aspect. From the Mahat evolves buddhi and Manas. Buddhi is the principle of intelligence or the discriminating awareness and Manas is the mind stuff consisting of pure consciousness. From Buddhi evolve ahmkara or the feeling of individuality and separation and the five tanmantras of sound, touch smell, form or color and taste. 

The rest of the principles arise from from Manas, which are the five senses, the five organs of actions and the five gross elements. These are the 24 evolutes and together with the Purusha (individual soul) who joins with Prakriti to initiate this process, the number becomes 25. 

As one European commentator pointed out, Samkhya is "the most significant system of philosophy that India has produced." Its popularity in ancient India can be gauged from the fact the epic, the Mahabharata, Manusmriti, the Puranas and the Bhagavad gita describe its main features though with some variations and sometimes without making a direct reference to this school.

The Samkhya school was founded by Kapila, who lived in very ancient times, even before the composition of some of the principal Upanishads such as the Svetavatara, Katha, Prashna and Maitrayani Upanishads. A comprehensive treatment of the subject can be found in an ancient scripture called the Samkhyakarika, ascribed historically to Isvarakrishna, who probably lived in the third century A.D. This scripture became more prominent with a commentary written on it by Gaudapada, who is probably different from the Gaudapada of Mandukyopanishad and who lived around 8th Century A.D.

The greatness of Samkyha lies in the fact that the evolution of life on earth is depicted not as miracle work of God, but as a creative process passing through different phases of change and transformation. 

Infact the original Samkhya did not accept the idea of an Absolute Principle or God behind creation. The individual soul or Purusha is the eternal principle which joins with Prakriti, another eternal principle to establish its presence in the material world. The individual soul is immortal. It exists prior to the emergence of other principles and will continue to exist even after the rest disappear. 

The Bhagavad gita picks up the basic aspects of Samkhya, but adds the principle of Supreme Self or Universal Purusha as the cause of all creation.

According to the Bhagavad gita, the Purusha enters the Prakriti and manifests the entire creation. At the human level, the purusha is compared symbolically with a man and the Prakriti with a woman. At the microcosmic level a union between the two indeed leads to the creation of a new being, which can be compared to the Hiranyagarbha (the golden embryo) at the microcosmic level. 

The concept of Prakriti as the source of material evolution, probably led to the popularity of the worship of Mother Goddess and led subsequently to the emergence of Tantricism during the post Gupta perod.

Courtesy to www. hinduwebsite.com

Hinduwebsite.com provides comprehensive information on Hinduism and related religions. Besides religion, we also provide free email services, daily news and a host of other resources that make Hinduwebsite a truly comprehensive information portal comparable to any other in this category. Make Hinduwebsite.com your home page for information updates and a great browsing experience. Visit our shopping center where you will find useful products and services from some of the best websites in the world in each category. Please help us with your suggestions and ideas to improve the website. We also invite intellectuals and scholars to submit their original articles and works on Hinduism and related religions to Hinduwebsite for publication. Quality submissions will be rewarded with suitable compensation.