The Yoga Sūtra (YS) is perhaps the most popular book of Indian philosophy today the world over. It is widely regarded by practitioners of Yoga as a conceptual manual for yoga and there are several competing translations of the work on the market. Yet, the Yoga Sūtra is also widely regarded as a difficult text to read. It is written in a dense, aphoristic, sūtra format. In the introductory section, I tackle the question of methodology in reading the Yoga Sūtra. (...) In the second explication section, I move to the crux: Yoga and Sāṅkhya—two schools that are often conflated with each other—present two very differing accounts of Freedom and Determinism. In the third section, I review the considerations that Yoga presents for its Normative Compatibilism. Yoga is depicted by the Yoga Sūtra as a process that we explore and finalize in public space. The goal of extricating ourselves from nature so as to deliver us into a personal world is the aim that underlies the project of liberating ourselves from external coercion in public. Ethics, or Dharma, is the normative light that makes us unique and makes us individual persons, as opposed to functions of nature or our environment. Isolation, autonomy, kaivalya, is our freedom as individuals in a social world free from external influence and coercion. (shrink)

The legendary Greek figure Orpheus was said to have possessed magical powers capable of moving all living and inanimate things through the sound of his lyre and voice. Over time, the Orphic theme has come to indicate the power of music to unsettle, subvert, and ultimately bring down oppressive realities in order to liberate the soul and expand human life without limits. The liberating effect of music has been a particularly important theme in twentieth-century African American literature. The nine original (...) essays in Black Orpheus examines the Orphic theme in the fiction of such African American writers as Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, James Baldwin, Nathaniel Mackey, Sherley Anne Williams, Ann Petry, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, Gayl Jones, and Toni Morrison. The authors discussed in this volume depict music as a mystical, shamanistic, and spiritual power that can miraculously transform the realities of the soul and of the world. Here, the musician uses his or her music as a weapon to shield and protect his or her spirituality. Written by scholars of English, music, women's studies, American studies, cultural theory, and black and Africana studies, the essays in this interdisciplinary collection ultimately explore the thematic, linguistic structural presence of music in twentieth-century African American fiction. (shrink)

In his Pramāṇaviniścaya 3, Dharmakīrti criticizes the view of the Sāṅkhyas that the word anityatva (“impermanence”) means a process of transformation ( pariṇāma ) of primordial matter ( pradhāna ). In this connection, he deals with the following two explanations of transformation: (1) the disappearance ( tirodhāna ) of the previous dharma of an entity ( dharmin/dravya ) and (2) the cessation ( nivṛtti ) of the previous state ( avasthā ) of an entity ( avasthātṛ ). In response to (...) these explanations, he proves that whenever a transformation takes place, the previous entity is destroyed, and therefore, impermanence does not mean transformation, but only destruction ( vināśa ). His criticism is basically along the same lines as Vasubandhu’s arguments found in the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya . However, because of developments in the theory of transformation, Vasubandhu’s criticism allows room for a retort from the Sāṅkhya. For this reason, Dharmakīrti augments Vasubandhu’s theory in order to make it sustainable against the more developed Sāṅkhya theory. (shrink)

The rivalry among the philosophical schools in India was not purely intellectual, but had far-reaching social implications. The rivalry between vedic and non-vedic schools had a socio-political dimension. This paper claims that commentaries of the source texts of schools on both sides played an important role in development of inter-darśana politics. This paper deals with some of the interpretative moves made by Vācaspatimiśra in his two famous commentaries: Sāṅkhyatattvakaumudī, the commentary on Sāṅkhyakārikā of Īśvarakṛṣṇa, and Nyāyavārtikatātparyaṭīkā, the commentary on Nyāyavārtika (...) of Udyotakara. The paper argues that some of Vācaspatimiśra’s interpretative moves in these commentaries can be called “political moves.” The paper shows how these interpretative moves deviate from the natural or unforced meanings of the texts. It argues that these deviations aim at strengthening the orthodox front of Indian philosophy. (shrink)

Sankhya philosophy as described in Mahābhārata, Hindu epic; a study.

Critical interpretation of Sankhya philosophy based on Sankhyasutra of Kapil, Sāṅkhyatattvāloka of Hariharananda Aranya and Sāṅkhyasūtra of Pancasikha; includes Sanskrit text with English translation.

Sankhya philosophy with special reference to Brahmasūtra, Bhagavadgītā, Upanishads and Bhāgavatapurāṇa; a study.

On Sankhya philosophy; Sanskrit text with Hindi translation.

On Sankhya, Indic philosophy; with a special reference to Marxism in Nepal.

Lectures on Sankhya philosophy and contribution of Kaṇāda and Pāṇini; lecture series organized by Centre for Vedanta Studies, University of Kerala with the financial assistance from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India during the Sanskrit year 2000.

Critical study of Sankhya school in Hindu philosophy.

Comparative study of Sankhya and Nyaya Schools of Hindu philosophy with special reference of causation.

Comprehensive study on Sankhya philosophy with reference to Jaina and Buddhist philosophy.

Comparative study of Sankhya philosophy of Hinduism and the Ayurvedic system of Indic medicine.

On the tenets of Sankhya philosophy in the light of Vijnanabhiksu's bhāṣya and Yoga varttika.

Study of Sāṅkhyakārikā of Īśvarakr̥ṣṇa, work on the fundamentals of Sankhya philosophy.

Study of concept of Consciousness and soul in the Sankhya school of philosophy with special reference to Vijñānabhikṣu, 16th cent. and Vācaspatimiśra, 976-1000.

Critical study of the Sankhya philosophy as found in Bhagavadgītā and the Upanishads.

Work on Sankhya philosophy; Sanskrit text with Sanskrit commentary of Hariharānanda Āraṇya, Swami and English translation.

Study of Sāṅkhyakārikā, classical treatise on Sankhya philosophy by Īśvarakr̥ṣṇa; includes text with English translation.

Study of a classical commentary on Sāṅkhyakārikā of Īśvarakr̥ṣṇa, basic work on Sankhya philosophy.

Ancient treatise on Sankhya philosophy; Sanskrit text with English and Oriya translation and interpretation.

Aphoristic work on Sankhya philosophy with Sanskrit commentary and Hindi translation of Sāṅkhyaśāstra, Maithili commentary by Durgādhara Jhā.

Work on Sankhya system in Hindu philosophy; includes commentaries.

Critical study of Sankhya and Nyāya philosophy.

Study on the contributions of Vācaspatimiśra, fl. 976-1000 and Vijñānabhikṣu, 16th cent., commentrators and philosophers to Sankhya and Yoga philosophy.

Critical study on Sankhya-Yoga philosophy based on Tattvayāthārthyadīpana commentary on Tattvasamāsasūtra and Bhāvāgaṇeśīyavr̥tti on Yogasūtra by Bhāvāgaṇeśa.

Hindu cosmology in Sankhya philosophy and Kashmir Saivism; a study.

Articles on the fundamentals of Sankhya philosophy.

Exhaustive study of Sankhya philosophy with reference to various Sanskrit text; includes passages of Sanskrit text with English translation.

Comparative study of the fundamentals of Sankhya philosophy in comparison of other schools of Indic philosophy.