Essay name: Devala-smriti (critical study)
Author:
Mukund Lalji Wadekar
Affiliation: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda / Department of Sanskrit Pali and Prakrit
This essay represents an English study of the Devala-smriti鈥攁n ancient text attributed to sage Devala classified as belonging to the Dharma-Shastra branch of Indian literature which encompasses jurisprudence and religious law. This study deals with the reconstructed text of the Devala-smriti based on surviving references, emphasizing Devala鈥檚 unique viewpoints on social, religious, and philosophical aspects, particularly the Sankhya and Yoga philosophies.
Chapter 10 - Philosophical aspect of the Devalasmriti
6 (of 75)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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principles is very necessary for understanding the difference
between the self & not-self & consequently for obtaining the
15 final release or emancipation. There is a famous verse , declaring
that the knower of 25 principles, in whatever stages & conditions
of life he may be, is liberated. The person, who has realized
such a distinction between self & notself can understand the
24 principles as distinct from his self. Hence he is described
as a Sankhya (Sankhyayante
-
ganyantepadarthah yena sah ) . Devala:
also regards such a person possessing discriminative realization
real
or discerning faculty as a Sankhya (2441). The supreme reality,
the goal of Yogins, the Brahman is also described as Sankhya
by the author (2473).
The Yogas奴tra (IV.29) 16 & the commentator Vyasa (on Yagasutra
I.15 & II.2) most probably seem to use the word prasankhyana in
the sense of discriminative knowledge of 24 principles & the self
like Devala. While the 'real knowledge of the pure nature of
self' is also represented as Sankhya in the quotation of Vyas a
Here there is no reference to the knowledge of 24 principles.
19 17
The term Sankhya in Svetasvatara Up. (6.13) 18 is in the sense
of knowledge of Vedic Reality, according to Sankar膩c膩rya
Bh.S.2.1.3), while Bhamatikara explains it as - Sankhya means
proper vedic wisdom and those who follow it are called Sankhyas
-21
20 The Bhagavadgita (2.39, 5.4, 5.5, 13.24, 18/13), also has
employed the term in the sense of tattvajnana (knowledge of
reality) and also in the sense of a person, knowing the ultimate
reality 22 (3.3, 5.5).
