Preface

Sankhya Kārika is the oldest exclusive work on Sānkhya darshana that survives in its original form. It was composed by a 3rd century scholar Īshwara Krishna. Sānkhya is an inside out metaphysics i.e it enlists the meta-physical mental constructs that the being experiences, as it moves through the evolution process interacting with Prakrti. Sānkhya is the earliest of the six classical darshanas and is the foundation to understand any other philosophy of Bharat. Traditionally Sānkhya and Yōga are grouped together, as Sānkhya is considered as theoretical knowledge, while Yōga is the application of this knowledge to practice. We find mention of Sānkhya in the Upanishads and the Mahabharata.

- Madhukrishna Sudhindra