by Jayram Daya

Editor’s note: The beautiful Indian word दर्शन does not equate to philosophy. दर्शन is much more than mere philosophy. It is a comprehensive, holistic view of life — a view on which a person stakes his or her entire life. Indian history is replete with men and women bravely seeking their own दर्शन of universal, eternal truth. Over millennia, many holistic views of life have thereby emeged and guided Indian society. These views complement and enrich one another, in a historic process which has been creative, vibrant, adaptable, dynamic — and unparalleled anywhere else.

Today’s post by Jayram Daya is about सांख्य — samkhya — a well-known दर्शन which is generally considered as being ‘dualistic’. Jayram’s post was prompted by a question posed to him by Ved, a younger reader of the blog.

Let us hope Ved and Jayram continue the good work! Enjoy!

[To clearly see the connection between this post and ‘modern life’, we may note one fact. On Wall Street and in other financial centres, the common view is that ‘booming markets’ need ‘animal instincts’ to drive them. Clearly, colonial conquests are also driven by the same instincts.]

VED: Your post on kali yuga was something I have been exploring for a long time. As a conversation in Mahabharata between Bhishma and Dharmaraja says: It is about prakriti tattva increasing more than purusha tattva; and somewhere an analysis is made that in kali yuga, we slide more toward prakriti tattva — more and more into the forest, survival-of-the- fittest type of world.

I believe this has something to do with samkya darshana, and would love to know your thoughts on this.

Continue reading MODERN IMBALANCE, ANCIENT ANALYSIS →