Samkhyakarika of Isvarakrsna: With the Commentary of Gaudapada (Translated into English with an Exhaustive Introduction and Notes)

Of the different systems of philosophical thought that evolved in ancient India, the Samkhya is perhaps the most important and the oldest one. It has exercised tremendous influence over practically all the different systems that came later. It is as much a child of the Upanisads, as much as the Vedanta itself, has something in it which goes to indicate its relations with Buddhism and Jainism too, and finally though regarded by the Vedanta as its principal opponent, has influenced the Vedantic thought as well. Samkara has been quite candid in admitting the greatness of this thought when he observed that this thought was full of logic (yuktigadha) and was accepted by the great in the society (mahajana-parigrhita). From Samkara's own testimony it appears that the Samkhyas had tried to establish their claims too, for the support of the Upanisads. Samkara observes that it is his special aim to show that the explanation offered of the Upanisadic passages by the Samkhyas is not the correct explanation and that the correct explanation is the one offered by him, (Samkhyadayah svapaksasthapanaya vedantavakyani udahrtya…na samyag-vyakhyanam, p. 220) Samkara adds also that the Samkhyatantra was of weight (mahanti) and that its founder was held in considerable esteem (sarvajnabhasita). The main difference between the traditional approach and that of the Samkhyas appears to be that the Samkhyas insisted upon the use of Logic in philosophical matters and regarded it as having a far greater scope than the one given to it by those who admitted absolute authority of the Agamas, hence the use of the term Anumana by Badarayana as indicative of the Samkhya. The Samkhyas held that Reality was a matter that could be known through the other valid sources of knowledge (pramanantara-gamya) while the Vedanta appears to have held that it is only known through the Agamas (agama-gamya-artha). If all these things are put together, the Samkhya emerges out as a powerful rational thought, developed out of the Upanisadic hints by a powerful mind that had held sway over thinking minds and therefore was a serious rival of the Vedanta. Tradition is unanimous, though rather hazy, about ascribing the foundership of this celebrated rational and intellectual thought to Kapila.