What is Samkhya, and to whom is it traditionally attributed?

It is one of the classical schools of Indian philosophy, traditionally attributed to the sage Kapila, and its name means enumeration because it sets out reality as a fixed list of principles.

Explain the basic dualism of Samkhya.

It distinguishes purusha, pure consciousness which does not act, from prakriti, unconscious matter which does; bondage is the mistaking of one for the other, and liberation is the discrimination that separates them.

Name the three gunas and state what each is.

Sattva is clarity, light and goodness, rajas is activity, passion and restlessness, and tamas is heaviness, inertia and darkness.

What does Shvetashvatara Upanishad 5:7 teach about rebirth?

It teaches that the embodied self reaps the fruits of what it has done and takes a new body according to its own qualities and actions.

WJEC A-Level Religious Studies 603-0277-X

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Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Samkhya yoga and Advaita Vedanta

3 things to know
A2 Unit 3

Overview

Basic dualism of Samkhya, eight limbs of Patanjali's ashtanga yoga in order and word Advaita.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Process

How does the Shvetashvatara Upanishad set out the three forms of Brahman?

Key term

How do the gunas apply to a person's life?

Key term

Name the eight limbs of Patanjali's ashtanga yoga in order.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is Samkhya, and to whom is it traditionally attributed?
Model answer
It is one of the classical schools of Indian philosophy, traditionally attributed to the sage Kapila, and its name means enumeration because it sets out reality as a fixed list of principles.
2
Explain the basic dualism of Samkhya.
Model answer
It distinguishes purusha, pure consciousness which does not act, from prakriti, unconscious matter which does; bondage is the mistaking of one for the other, and liberation is the discrimination that separates them.
3
How does the Shvetashvatara Upanishad set out the three forms of Brahman?
Model answer
It takes the categories of Samkhya into a theistic frame and speaks of ishvara, the lord who rules, prakriti, the matter that is ruled, and the atman, the individual self bound within it, as belonging to one reality.
4
Name the three gunas and state what each is.
Model answer
Sattva is clarity, light and goodness, rajas is activity, passion and restlessness, and tamas is heaviness, inertia and darkness.
5
How do the gunas apply to a person's life?
Model answer
Everything material is a mixture of the three in changing proportions, so food, work, temperament and worship are all classified by which guna predominates, and a person seeking liberation cultivates what is sattvic.
6
What does Shvetashvatara Upanishad 5:7 teach about rebirth?
Model answer
It teaches that the embodied self reaps the fruits of what it has done and takes a new body according to its own qualities and actions.

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