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SANKHYA PSYCHOLOGY
man insight, the psychological Sānkhyic-Yogic isolation in unconsciousness becomes as archaic as the physical isolation of the Jaina Tīrthankaras.
The supreme contribution of Sānkhya and Yoga to Hindu philosophy lies in their strictly psychological interpretation of ('xistence. Their analyses of the micromacrocosm, as well as of the whole range of human problems, arc presented in terms of a sort of proto-scientific psychological functionalism, which is comparable, in its meticulousness and sober positivism, to the comprehensive system and theory of biological evolution that we discussed in connection with the Jainas and Gosāla. Here the primitive mythical image of the rise of a universe out of the cosmic waters and cosmic egg is reinterpreted and revivified in terms of stages of hunan consciousness, as these can be observed in the subjective experiences of yoga. From the primal state of self-absorption, or involution, which amounts practically to quiescence and resembles non-being, a state of intuitive inner awareness (buddhi) is evolved; this is antecedent to the notion of “I” (ahankāra), which is the following transformation; and through intellect (manas), consciousness then proceeds to an expericnce of (and to action upon) the outer world through extcrior senses. The cosmogonic process thus is read, in terms of psychological experience, as the unfoldment of a perceived environment from an innermost, all-perceiving center. The naïve myth becomes immediately significantly structuralized: the world is understood as unfolding from a quiescent state of inward absorption; and introspection therewith becomes the key to the riddle of the sphinx.
Finally, it should be observed that the following four features of Sārkhya appear in Buddhism as well: an insistence that all life is, necessarily, suffering; an indifference to theism and to Vedic sacrificial ritualism; a denunciation of ascetic extravagances (as represented, for example, in Jainism); and a be
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| SR No. | 007309 |
| Book Title | Philosophies of India |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell |
| Publisher | Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd |
| Publication Year | 1953 |
| Total Pages | 709 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 34 MB |