Samkhya — Cosmological Backdrop Of Yoga & Ayurveda
The uniqueness of Yoga and Ayurveda in comparison to western healing practices lays in their cosmological backdrop. Both sister sciences are based in Samkhya — one of six systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy.
Samkhya is a partly atheistic and a partly agnostic system that gives us a basic understanding of the origins of our Universe.
According to this philosophy the source of the whole Universe is Brahman (the pure state of consciousness).
The Universe was created, because of Brahman’s desire to unfold and experience itself and it all started with a vibration of AUM (science refers to it as big bang and in different cultures and religions, this sound is refereed as Om or Amen).
As nothing is separate from Brahman, this vibration wasn’t a “one-time-thing”, but it is ongoing, as Universe is constantly expanding and we can tune in with a sound of AUM, once immersed in the deep meditative state.
Moreover, Samkhya claims that Brahman is nothing we can really understand with our intellectual mind. It can be neither described nor labeled. It’s formless and beyond all creation as we may be familiar with, as long as we are exploring the world only through a gateway of our senses.
As the whole play of life is within Brahman, it is also the one that creates duality. Basic aspects of this duality are: Purusha and Prakriti.
Purusha is:
- a witness of creation (the observer)
- masculine energy
- eternal and absolute unmanifested consciousness (true self)
- transcendental state of existence & being
- ultimate truth, healing power & enlightenment
Prakriti is:
- creative potential
- feminine energy
- manifesting force
- primordial will
- primordial matter
Prakriti is dynamic in nature — it can be manifested or unmanifested. For this reason, according to Samkhya, we can state for sure that:
There is no matter without energy, but there can be energy without matter.
It is important to notice that these two aspects are not separate from each other, they just seem to be separate for us, but in fact they are one — the reflection of Brahman that wants to unfold and experience itself, but ultimately — manifest the pure love (or, at least this is what my Bhakti Yogi heart truly believes in).
Purusha energizes creating force of Prakriti and this is how Buddhi (cosmic intelligence), Ahamkara (ego, sense of self) and the three Gunas (Satva, Rajas and Tamas) come into life.
Gunas are qualities that are present in all manifested Universe. We can say that they are the building blocks of Prakriti. Everything is controlled by the Gunas, also our actions and consequently, karma.
Sattva is stability, pure aspect of awakening, essence and light. Rajas is dynamic movement and Tamas is static, potential energy or inertia — darkness, matter, ignorance.
One of the aspects that originate from Tamas are Tanmatras — five subtle elements with the most tamasic functions of manas (taste, form, touch, sounds, smell).
Furthermore, Samkhya showing us the origin of Doshas. As they are made up of Pancha Mahaboothas, the 5 elements that are already present in each of us in its unique combination at the moment of conception. Then our Ayurvedic Prakruti (“the state of perfect health”) is being defined. What is the most fascinating aspect of Samkhya to me: We are the combination of the same elements that the universe is made up from!
Learning about Samkhya made me realize, how small are we experiencing this dimension of life? How little do we know about ourselves, about our origins and the vastness of the Universe around us?
This makes me feel very humble… But also motivated on staying on the path of self-exploration, as the teachings of Samkhya can be best understood only through deep contemplation and own experiences (in meditation 🙂🧘🏼).
