Mircea Eliade YOGA IMMORTALITY AND ... - Brihaspati.net

YOGA AND Samkhya
Given the request by Yudhisthira to explain the difference between these two paths,
Bhishma replied (Mahabharata, XII, 11043), "The Samkhya and Yoga exalt each his
method as the best means (karana) (...). Those who are guided by the Yoga, are based on
immediate perception (of mystical essence: pratyaksahetava), those who follow the
Samkhya, in traditional teaching (sastraviniscayah). Consider both real one and the other
of these teachings Continuing with precision the
lead both to the supreme goal. Have in common the purity, the repression (of desires) and
mercy to all beings, the res-peto strict oaths is common to both, but the views (darsana)
are not identical in the Samkhya and the Yoga "(see Note IV, 2).
The non-systematic character of these two paths soteriol6gicos is evident. Although findmainly
on the Gita and the Moksadharma-technical terms such as prakriti, tattva, Mahat,
etcetera, in the Samkhya no side is presented as the method to distinguish the spirit of the
psycho-mental experience, the starting point of the system of Isvara Krishna. The
Samkhya there just means "true knowledge" (tattva jnana) or "knowledge of the Soul
(atmahodha): in this respect rather presents analogies with the positions Upanishads. Not
because it concerns" a mixture of ideas Samkhya and Vedanta " Hopkins as he thinks, but
simply a stage prior to Samkhya and Vedanta systems. Nor is it necessary to look at
certain parts of precise references to Mahabharata theistic Samkhya school, parallel to the
atheist darsana Iswara Krishna.
The Moksadharma (v. 11463) states that the precursors (purah-sarah) of yogis are in the
Vedas (ie the Upanishads) and the Samkhya. In other words, the "truth" discovered "by
the open: Upanishad Samkhya and is accepted and absorbed in Yoga, as this termcualquiers
that is the meaning assigned to" applies especially to a spiritual technique. The
Bhagavad-Gita goes further and states that "only the strong spirits to oppose the Samkhya
Yoga, not the wise (panditah) 'Who is really duefio of one of them is assured of the
outcome of the two" (V, 4) . "Samkhya and Yoga are but one" (V, 5). This position
corresponds perfectly to the spirit of the Bhagavad-Gita. Because, as we shall see, in this
masterpiece of the Mahabharata, Krishna tries to gather all soteriological paths in a new
and unique spiritual synthesis.
YOGA TECHNIQUES IN MAHABHARATA
In opposition to the Samkhya, Yoga Mahabharata fixed in any activity that brings the
soul to Brahman while grants that many "powers". Commonly, this equi -
applies to the realm of the senses, to asceticism and penances of all kinds. Yoga has only
sporadically in the meaning that gives Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, namely:
"renunciation of the fruits of one's actions." This variety of meanings has been elucidated
in a study by Hopkins-.3 Yoga means exhaustive sometimes "method" (Gita, III, 3),
sometimes "activity" (Moksadharma, 11682), or "strength" (Moksad., and p. 11,675 ff.)
or "meditation" (Moksad., 11,691, etc.), or "renunciation" (sannyasa, Gita, VI, 2), etc..
These dif-ferent senses correspond to a real morphological diversity. If the word yoga
means many things, is because Yoga is mu-chas things. Epic is in effect, the meeting of
countless popular ascetic traditions, each with a 'Toga ", ie a technique of" mysticism "-
that is proper. The long centuries in which new episodes coming up for connection, permiten
all these forms of Yoga baroque secure a place (and a justificative), which results