11am Sunday Talk: 24 Principles of Your Being: Samkhya Cosmology, with Br. Shankara

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This Sunday morning at 11am Br. Shankara will give a talk on 24 Principles of Your Being: Samkhya Cosmology. Join us online and participate in the discussion!

June is a month for study of Karma Yoga, a spiritual path leading to the abandonment of selfishness. As a karma yogi, you practice offering your actions and their results, as well as your perceptions, thoughts, and feelings to the Divine Presence.

Even before fully knowing this Presence, you hold firmly to the belief that the Presence is within each person or other living being that you interact with or serve. Working and abiding in this spirit, you are increasingly able to release attachment to your activities and their results. This yields the freedom and contentment promised by Karma Yoga.

“Even a little practice of this yoga will save you form the terrible wheel of rebirth and death …” — Sri Krishna, Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 2

In Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna’s explanation of the four yogas — especially karma and raja yoga — is rooted in Samkhya Philosophy. The better you understand Samkhya, the more likely you are to make practical use of what He tells us.

Samkhya is a Sanskrit word that, roughly speaking, means counting. As a philosophy, Samkhya explains who you truly are, and how the everyday reality you perceive and interact with arises and captures your attention.

It is difficult to date the origins of Samkhya; some scholars find that its basic principles and practices pre-date the Vedas. Apparently it was the post-Vedic sage Kapila who organized and formalized it.

Using a system of 24 categories, Kapila begins with the Great Cause (Mahat, Cosmic Principle #1). By the time he reaches the Five Gross Elements (Principles 20-24), Kapila’s Samkhya can tell you why everything you know came to be, and why it persists during your three states of consciousness.

On Sunday morning we will define the 24 Cosmic Principles, and explore the purpose and nature of what they create.