It is important for the history of Samkhya philosophy that Caraka’s treatment of it, which so far as I know has never been dealt with in any of the modern studies of Samkhya, should be brought before the notice of the students of this philosophy.

According to Caraka there are six elements (dhatus), viz. the five elements such as akasha, vayu etc. and cetana, called also purusha. From other points of view, the categories may be said to be twenty-four only, viz. the ten senses (five cognitive and five conative), manas, the five objects of senses and the eightfold prakriti (prakriti, mahat, ahamkara and the five elements)(1).

The manas works through the senses. It is atomic and its existence is proved by the fact that in spite of the existence of the senses there cannot be any knowledge unless manas is in touch with them. There are two movements of manas as indeterminate sensing (uha) and conceiving (vicara) before definite understanding (buddhi) arises. Each of the five senses is the product of the combination of five elements but the auditory sense is made with a preponderance of akasa, the sense of touch with a preponderance of air, the visual sense with a preponderance of light, the taste with a preponderance of water and the sense of smell with a preponderance of earth. Caraka does not mention the tanmatras at all (2).

The conglomeration of the sense-objects (indriyartha) or gross matter, the ten senses, manas, the five subtle bhutas and prakriti, mahat and ahamkara taking place through rajas make up what we call man. When the sattva is at its height this conglomeration ceases. All karma, the fruit of karma, cognition, pleasure, pain, ignorance, life and death belongs to this conglomeration. But there is also the purusha, for had it not been so there would be no birth, death, bondage, or salvation. If the atman were not regarded as cause, all illuminations of cognition would be without any reason. If a permanent self were not recognized, then for the work of one others would be responsible.

This purusha, called also paramatman, is beginningless and it has no cause beyond itself. The self is in itself without consciousness. Consciousness can only come to it through its connection with the sense organs and manas. By ignorance, will, antipathy, and work, this conglomeration of purusha and the other elements takes place. Knowledge, feeling, or action, cannot be produced without this combination. All positive effects are due to conglomerations of causes and not by a single cause, but all destruction comes naturally and without cause. That which is eternal is never the product of anything. Caraka identifies the avyakta part of prakriti with purusha as forming one category. The vikara or evolutionary products of prakriti are called kshetra, whereas the avyakta part of prakriti is regarded as the kshetrajna (avyaktamasya kshetrasya kshetrajnamrishayo viduh). This avyakta and cetana are one and the same entity. From this unmanifested prakriti or cetana is derived the buddhi, and from the buddhi is derived the ego (ahamkara) and from the ahamkara the five elements and the senses are produced, and when this production is complete, we say that creation has taken place. At the time of pralaya (periodical cosmic dissolution) all the evolutes return back to prakriti, and thus become unmanifest with it, whereas at the time of a new creation from the purusha the unmanifest (avyakta), all the manifested forms–the evolutes of buddhi, ahamkara, etc.–appear (3).

This cycle of births or rebirths or of dissolution and new creation acts through the influence of rajas and tamas, and so those who can get rid of these two will never again suffer this revolution in a cycle. The manas can only become active in association with the self, which is the real agent. This self of itself takes rebirth in all kinds of lives according to its own wish, undetermined by anyone else. It works according to its own free will and reaps the fruits of its karma. Though all the souls are pervasive, yet they can only perceive in particular bodies where they are associated with their own specific senses. All pleasures and pains are felt by the conglomeration (rashi), and not by the atman presiding over it. From the enjoyment and suffering of pleasure and pain comes desire (trishna) consisting of wish and antipathy, and from desire again comes pleasure and pain.

Moksha means complete cessation of pleasure and pain, arising through the association of the self with the manas, the sense, and sense-objects. If the manas is settled steadily in the self, it is the state of yoga when there is neither pleasure nor pain. When true knowledge dawns that “all are produced by causes, are transitory, rise of themselves, but are not produced by the self and are sorrow, and do not belong to me the self,” the self transcends all. This is the last renunciation when all affections and knowledge become finally extinct. There remains no indication of any positive existence of the self at this time, and the self can no longer be perceived (4).

It is the state of Brahman. Those who know Brahman call this state the Brahman, which is eternal and absolutely devoid of any characteristic. This state is spoken of by the Samkhyas as their goal, and also that of the Yogins. When rajas and tamas are rooted out and the karma of the past whose fruits have to be enjoyed are exhausted, and there is no new karma and new birth, the state of moksha comes about. Various kinds of moral endeavours in the shape of association with good people, abandoning of desires, determined attempts at discovering the truth with fixed attention, are spoken of as indispensable means. Truth (tattva) thus discovered should be recalled again and again (5) and this will ultimately effect the disunion of the body with the self. As the self is avyakta (unmanifested) and has no specific nature or character, this state can only be described as absolute cessation (mokshe nivrittirnihshesha).

The main features of the Samkhya doctrine as given by Caraka are thus:
1. Purusha is the state of avyakta.
2. By a conglomera of this avyakta with its later products a conglomeration is formed which generates the so-called living being.
3. The tanmatras are not mentioned.
4. Rajas and tamas represent the bad states of the mind and sattva the good ones.
5. The ultimate state of emancipation is either absolute annihilation or characterless absolute existence and it is spoken of as the Brahman state; there is no consciousness in this state, for consciousness is due to the conglomeration of the self with its evolutes, buddhi, ahamkara etc. 6. The senses are formed of matter (bhautika).

This account of Samkhya agrees with the system of Samkhya propounded by Pancashikha (who is said to be the direct pupil of Asuri the pupil of Kapila, the founder of the system) in the Mahabharata XII. 219. Pancashikha of course does not describe the system as elaborately as Caraka does. But even from what little he says it may be supposed that the system of Samkhya he sketches is the same as that of Caraka (6).
1: Purusha is here excluded from the list. Cakrapani, the commentator, says that the prakriti and purusha both being unmanifested, the two together have been counted as one. Prakritivyatiriktancodasinam purushamavyaktatvasadharmyat avyaktayam prakritaveva prakshipya avyaktashavbdenaiva grihnati. Harinatha Visharada’s edition of Caraka, Sharira, p. 4.
2: But some sort of subtle matter, different from gross matter, is referred to as forming part of prakriti which is regarded as having eight elements in it prakritishcashtadhatuki), viz. avyakta, mahat, ahamkara, and five other elements. In addition to these elements forming part of the prakriti we hear of indriyartha, the five sense objects which have evolved out of the prakriti.
3: This passage has been differently explained in a commentary previous to Cakrapani as meaning that at the time of death these resolve back into the prakriti–the purusha–and at the time of rebirth they become manifest again. See Cakrapani on sharira, I. 46.
4: Though this state is called brahmabhuta, it is not in any sense like the Brahman of Vedanta which is of the nature of pure being, pure intelligence and pure bliss. This indescribable state is more like absolute annihilation without any sign of existence (alakshanam), resembling Nagarjuna’s Nirvana. Thus Caraka writes:–tasmimshcaramasannyase samulahhsarvavedanah asamjnajnanavijnana nivrittim yantyasheshatah. atahparam brahmabhuto bhutatma nopalabhyate nihsritah sarvabhavebhyah cihnam yasya na vidyate. gatirbrahmavidam brahma taccaksharamalakshanam. Caraka, Sharira 1. 98-100.
5: Four causes are spoken of here as being causes of memory: (1) Thinking of the cause leads to the remembering of the effect, (2) by similarity, (3) by opposite things, and (4) by acute attempt to remember.
6: Some European scholars have experienced great difficulty in accepting Pancashikha’s doctrine as a genuine Samkhya doctrine. This may probably be due to the fact that the Samkhya doctrines sketched in Caraka did not attract their notice.

akasa, atman, auditory sense, cognition, five elements, five senses, illuminations, karma, manas, pleasure pain, purusha, samkhya philosophy, sense of touch, visual sense