The Sankhya Aphorisms of Kapila

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Samkhya, also Sankhya, is one of the six schools of classical Indian philosophy. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered to be the founder of the Sankhya school, although no historical verification is possible. It is regarded as the oldest of the philosophical systems in India. This was later incorporated as being one of the six orthodox (astika) (that which recognizes vedic authority) systems of Hindu philosophy with the major text of the theistic school being the extant Sankhya Karika, written by Ishvara Krishna, circa 200 [AD]. There are no purely Samkhya schools existing today in Hinduism, but its influence is felt in Yoga and Vedanta schools of philosophy. Its philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two eternal realities: Purusha and Prakriti. It is therefore a strongly dualist and enumerationist philosophy. The Purusha is the centre of consciousness, whereas the Prakriti is the source of all material existence. The Samkhya school has deeply influenced the Hindu Yoga school of philosophy. They are sometimes referred together as Samkhya - yoga school.