Sankhyas

This phylosophy is by Kapila Muni.The exact time era of Kapila is unknown. Although in Bhagavatgita Srikrishna says, "I came as Kapila muni before". According to Indian calendars Srikrishna is 3000BC. So obviously Kapila muni is much older than that. He is considered as one of the most genius philosophers and enlightened thinker. Sankhya suttras which is his contribution was later included as part of Shad-darshanas or six branches of philosophy are sankhya, yoga, vedanta, nyaya, vaisheshika, mimansa). According to mythology Kapila muni was a hermit. Upon request from his mother, he told her these Sankhya sutras.

The word 'Sankhya' means 'number'. The system gives the principles of the universe, twenty-five in number. Sankhya embraces a form of dualism. This is not the Christian dualism of good and evil, nor it is a dualism of God and devotee. It is a radical distinction between Prakruti and Purusha. Prakruti is the material cause and Purusha is the efficient cause of the universe according to Sankhya.

It assumes the reality of Purusha and Prakruti. Prakruti and Purusha are Anadi (beginningless) and Ananta (infinite). Both Purusha and Prakruti are Sat (real). Purusha is Asanga (unattached). He is consciousness. Prakruti is doer. So the Sankhya implies that there is no need for an intelligent Creator of the world. The Prakruti 'Prakruti' means that which is primary, that which precedes what is made. It comes from 'Pra' (before) and 'Kri' (to make).  It is the one root of the universe. It is called Pradhana or the chief, because all effects are founded on it and it is the root of all objects. Prakruti is one. It has no cause, but is the cause of all effects. Prakruti is independent and uncaused, while its products are caused and dependent. Prakruti is the basis of all objective existence. Prakruti does not create for itself. All objects are for the enjoyment of the spirit or soul. Prakruti evolves under the influence of Purusha. Prakruti creates only when it comes into union with Purusha.

The Purusha
The Purusha or the Self is the witness (Sakshi), a spectator (Drashta). The Purusha is not the doer. The Purusha is like a crystal without any color. It appears to be colored by the different colors which are placed before it. It is not material. It is not a result of combination. The Purusha is beyond Prakruti. It is eternally separate from the Prakruti. Purusha is without beginning or end. It is without attributes and without qualities. It is subtle and omnipresent. It is beyond mind, intellect and the senses. It is beyond time, space and causality. It is perfect and immutable. It is pure consciousness (Chidrupa). It is beyond the Gunas. Actually it is the witness of the Gunas. The Gunas are the objects. Purusha is the witness-subject who is not affected by pleasure, pain and delusion which are attributes of the three Gunas.

The Three Gunas

According to the Sankhya philosophy, Prakruti attains certain potentials because of three Gunas or forces, called Sattva (purity, light, harmony), Rajas (passion, activity, motion), and Tamas (inertia, darkness, inertness, inactivity). The three Gunas are never separate. They intermingle with one another with a certain combination dominating at certain time. When Sattva
prevails, there is peace and tranquillity. Rajas is activity which is expressed as likes or dislikes, love or hatred, attraction or repulsion.
Tamas is that binding force with a tendency to lethargy, sloth and foolish actions. The two principles of Prakruti and Purusha are contrary in nature. Prakruti is non-sentient but active whereas Purusha is sentient but inactive substance. Purusha is consciousness, while Prakruti is non-consciousness. Purusha is inactive (Akarta), while Prakruti is active. Purusha is destitute of the Gunas, while Prakruti is characterized by the three Gunas. Purusha is unchanging, while Prakruti is changing.

Purusha cannot act without the help of Prakruti. Prakruti is compared to a blind woman and Purusha to a lame man. When Purusha like a lame man sits on the shoulder of the Prakruti which is like a blind woman then both can function.

The Soul
The souls are infinite in number, according to the Sankhya. Souls appear eternally separate from each other and they are separate from Prakruti. Each soul retains its individuality. It is not the intellect, but is an infinite and passionless entity. The different souls are fundamentally identical in nature and part of Purusha. It remains unchanged through all transmigrations of Jiva. Although the soul is a vitalizing element, it is not itself the life which ends in death, nor is it life which is transmitted from one existence to another. Although it does not itself act or suffer, the soul reflects the suffering that occurs, much as a mirror reflects. This so called 'captivity of Jiva' is an illusion. Once the soul is aware that it is not part of the material world, the world ceases to exist for that particular soul, and it is free.

The Jiva (embodied soul)
The Jiva is the soul in union with the senses. It is limited by the body. It is endowed with egoism. It is associated with ignorance and Karma. It is subject to pleasure and pain, action and its fruits, and rotates in the cycle of births and deaths. Release is not merging in the absolute, but isolation from Prakruti. Release is nothing but termination of the play of
Prakruti for him.(Note that in Advaita Vedanta puts the idea about universe in different way. It says the world is Maya and there is nothing else than Bramha. Shakaracharya says 'Bramham satyam, Jagan mithya')

Cause and effects
The effect truly exists beforehand in its cause. This is one of the central features of the Sankhya system of philosophy. Cause is a substance in which the effect subsists in a latent form. Just as the whole tree exists in a latent or dormant state in the seed, so also the whole universe exists in a latent state in Prakruti. The effect is of the same nature as the cause. The effect is not a new creation but is the manifestation of what already exists. Nothing comes from nothing. The cause and effect relation is unflinching.

The Process of Evolution and Involution
The Sankhya evolution of elements is based on the principle that matter is not destroyed. It undergoes changes both during creation and destruction. According to Sankhya theory, matter undergoes evolution, dissolution and quiescence. There is no such thing as total destruction. In destruction, the effect is involved into its cause- that is all. The creation and dissolution
takes place in cycles. Every real effect has a real cause behind it. The effect pre-exists in its cause in a potential state. In dissolution the gunas are in a balanced state.

When Purusha comes in proximity to Prakruti, its equilibrium is disturbed called Vikruti. And evolution begins with different elements. Prakruti is the root of the universe. Prakruti is the cause of everything material including time and space.

From this Prakruti emanates the cosmic Buddhi or Mahat i.e. intellect. From Mahat proceeds the cosmic Ahamkara or the principle of egoism. Ahamkara is of three types according to the three gunas. The whole universe comes into being from these elements. From Ahamkara come, the mind, the five organs of perception (which are senses of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching), and the five organs of action (which are hands, feet, mouth, anus and the genitals). Mahat, Aham and Mind are the internal senses while the five perceptive senses and five working senses are external. Mind is the internal sense which co-ordinates the function of external senses.Five subtle elements called Tanmatras proceed the five gross elements - earth, water, fire, air and space.

Like this, Sankhya divides universe in 25 principles.

Overall these 25 principles may be classified as
1. Productive (Prakruti)
2. Productive and Produced (Prakruti-Vikruti)
3. Produced (Vikruti)
4. Neither Productive nor Produced (Anubhayarupa)

The Purusha is neither a production, nor is it productive. According to the Sankhya, when a Jiva can understand these elements, he will be emancipated from material bondage, which is the ultimate purpose.

During dissolution of the world, the products return by a reverse movement into the preceding stages of development, and ultimately into Prakruti. Earth merges in water, water in fire, fire in air, air in space; space in Ahamkara (egoism); Ahamkara in Mahat (intellect) and Mahat in Prakruti.

There is no end to Samsara or this play of Prakruti. This cycle of evolution and involution has neither a beginning nor an end. Prakruti's performances are solely for the benefit and enjoyment of the Purusha. Prakruti takes hold of the hand of the Purusha and shows it the whole show of the universe, and makes it enjoy everything which this world can give, and lastly helps it in
its liberation.

I tried to explain what I understand from some famous translations I read. Many consider that Sankhya system is atheist. This is because one line in one sutras 'Eshwar asidhye' which literally means 'God can not be proved'.  Still, some (including me) do not believe that Sankhya denies God. What this line means is existence of God can not be totally realized with limited human knowledge through senses and theories. Sankhya does not recognize God as super human and the creator of the Universe. In fact Sankhya makes no explicit mention of God or speaking about bhakti, simply because its not line of topics in Sankhya. Sankhya makes no objection to belief in popular divinities, but these are not part of its operative order. Neither ethics nor rituals are of great importance to the Sankhya scheme of things in the sense it does not talk about it. Someone has given a nice example, 'You can't say "this is not an elephant" looking at a front view picture of elephant when you have in mind the side view'. So also you can't say Sankhya an atheist theology.