Sankhya : Spirit and Matter

Here comes my favorite. Sankhya is one of the most ancient, most interesting, and most influential philosophies of all times. Thinkers from other schools would do their best to debunk Sankaya, but in the end, they'd incorporate parts of their own systems. If you can grasp the fundamental insights of Sankhya, you'll have a firm handle on the mystical traditions all over the world.

The yogis and the pandits I've studied with claim Sankhya is the oldest known philosophical system in existence. They may be right. The system was founded by the sage Kapila in prehistory. Sankhya terminology already appears in the Veda, particularly the Upanishads.

Sankhya literally means " number". Sankhya enumerates the categories that make up physical and mental reality. In prehistory, the great minds of India didn't have particle accelerators to help them analyze different types of atoms. Instead they used astute observation of nature and of their own minds to analyze the components added up to twenty-five.

Let's start at ground zero, the most physical of physical matter, and work our way up the ladder of reality:

1. Prithivi : Dense physical matter (like earth)

2. Apas   : Fluid physical matter (such as water)

3. Agni    : Combustive physical matter ( like fire)

4. Vayu   : Gaseous matter (like air)

5. Akasha : Extremely attenuated physical matter (like space)

6. Gandha : That which is smelled

7. Rasa     : That which is tasted

8. Rupa     : That which is seen

9. Sparsha : That which is felt

10. Shabda : That which is heard

11. Payu     : The ability to excrete

12.  Upastha:The ability to procreate 

13. Pada      : The ability to locomote

14 . Pani      : The ability to handle objects

15. Vak       : The ability to speak

16. Ghrana   : The sense of smell

17. Jinva      : The sense of taste

18. Chakshu: The sense of sight

19. Tvak      : The sense of touch

20. Stotra : The sense of hearing

21. Manas : Thought process

22. Ahankara : Self-identify

23. Buddhi   : The sense of judgment. Intellect and intuition.

24. Prakriti   : The material matrix. Root matter

25. Purusha  : The individual spirit