Why does Prabhupada say in Gita 2.38p that sankhya doesn’t refer to and does refer to the Bhagavatam’s sankhya?

From Rambhadara Priya Prabhu:

Transcript

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Hare Krishna Question from Rambadrapriya Prabhu Is the Sankhya talked about By Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita Same as or different from The Sankhya talked about By Lord Kapila in the Bhagavatam So Prabhupada In his commentary on 2.39 States initially That This Sankhya In which Krishna refers to 2.39 Doesn’t have anything to do with Either the Atheistic Sankhya Or even the Atheistic Sankhya Talked about by Kapiladeva in the Bhagavatam But later in the same purport Prabhupada also said that Actually both Kapila’s Sankhya And Krishna’s Sankhya Are same and they are essentially Bhakti So what exactly is the Relationship between the two Answer Words don’t have Fixed meanings Sometimes we In the Philosophy of language This is a ongoing Debate That where exactly Are the meanings of words stored Are they stored In the words themselves Or are they also Dependent on the Contexts In which those words are used And are all the Are the meanings Shaped by the context in which they are used By the people whom they are used By the mentalities with which they are used So actually Both are true Words definitely themselves contain some meaning But it is not that words are only the Meaning The meanings of words can be seen Independent of their context So now the word Sankhya Has a literal meaning As in sense of Counting Sankhya has also meaning in terms of analysis You know we count The word analysis is used For us Generally we use analysis in terms of I am going to analyze the subject I am going to think deeply of the subject That’s how we often use the word analysis But analysis has a specific meaning In terms of Breaking down things into Its components Examining each component Closely So it involves breaking down And in one sense counting So Sankhya Is also a system of analysis And beyond that Sankhya is also One of the Systems of One of the six systems of philosophy Which are talked about in the Bhagavad Gita Which are within the Indian tradition Six systems of philosophy Vedic philosophies in the sense that they accept Ascetic philosophies they are there So Now When Krishna refers to Sankhya in 2.39 So when Krishna states That That now I am going to speak this Sankhya to you So when he is Saying this What Sankhya is he referring to He says that I have spoken Sankhya to you And now I will speak further In terms of Applying this Into Yoga from the point of view Of Buddhi Yoga So now what is he referring to over here When he speaks like this So if we look at it carefully Or When Krishna says I have already spoken about Sankhya Before 2.38 What has Krishna spoken First he has talked about The analysis of how we are different from the body From 2.11 to 2.30 And then 2.31 to 37 38 he has talked about Karma Doing Karma so that One can go to heaven So now As Sankhya As a system of philosophy Krishna has not talked about Till now in the Bhagavad Gita So therefore when Krishna says Till now I have spoken This knowledge in terms of Sankhya In terms of analysis And now I will speak in terms of Intellectual application Of Yoga, Buddhi Yoga So when he is using the word Sankhya Over here he is not using it In the sense of Referring to one of the six systems of philosophy Because The system of philosophy involves Analysis either of the world Either of existence and nature Into 24 elements Or in terms of three modes In terms of Purusha and Prakriti None of these terms the Gunas Purusha Prakriti Mahabhutas Krishna has not talked about any of these Prior to 2.39 And yet in 2.39 he is saying That I have spoken this knowledge in terms of Sankhya And now I will speak So now if he is saying that I have spoken in terms of Sankhya And he has actually not spoken In terms of any of the Terms of analysis Used in Sankhya As a school of thought Then we can infer that when Krishna uses the word Sankhya here He is not referring to Sankhya As a As a school of philosophy He is referring to Sankhya In a general sense of analysis So Krishna is saying By referring to 2.11 to 2.30 That I have spoken this Analytically In terms of The difference between the body and the soul So I have given you analysis Of how we are different from the body How the soul is different from the body And now I will tell you the application How by practicing In your life Using an alert intelligence You can realize your non material identity So in that sense In the sense of the In the contextual use Of this word Sankhya It does not refer to The system of Philosophy Sankhya So that is why Prabhupada says it does not refer to either the Atheistic Sankhya or even the Bhagavatam Sankhya So that is the technical analysis Of why Sankhya This Bhagavatam Sankhya In 2.39 is not referring to Kapildev Sankhya Now in terms of essential conclusions The analysis of the world into Material elements Is done by Krishna later Krishna introduces the words Purusha and Prakruti In the 13th chapter quite extensively Actually Arjuna asks the question And Krishna answers And further In the 13th chapter Krishna also Talks about The 24 elements And 14th chapter is also of course about the 3 modes of Material nature So Sankhya analysis just come later in the Bhagavad Gita And that Sankhya analysis Is used To establish The supremacy Of the Ishvara And that’s why if you see In 14.26 after Analysis of Sankhya In terms of Purusha Prakruti And in terms of 3 Gunas, Krishna concludes It all by saying that one should practice Bhakti Mam chayog vicharena Bhakti yogena sevate Sagunan samatit Yaitan brahmabhuyaya kalpate Krishna says that One who practices avibhichari bhakti That person can go beyond the 3 modes of material nature And can attain Transcendence Can attain the spiritual platform Brahmabhuyaya kalpate So in terms of how Krishna is framing His analysis of Sankhya We can see that Krishna is using Sankhya This Sankhya analysis To establish the supremacy of bhakti And Bhagwan So and of course we have the Bhagavad Gita’s conclusion As That You have already the So The Krishna Sankhya in the Bhagavad Gita Culminates In Bhakti By analysing Prakruti into its elements We can understand how The charm of Prakruti is How Prakruti cannot actually Make us happy By analysing The Purusha’s entangled condition We can understand how the Purusha Needs the help of the Purushottama To become disentangled Which also does both The fundamental components of Sankhya By placing them as energies Of Purushottama The Bhagavad Gita establishes That Sankhya culminates in Bhakti And so the Prabhupada says that Krishna Sankhya Is essentially the same as Bhakti And then he says Kapila Sankhya Is also the same as Krishna Sankhya In essential conclusions In that sense it is why there is also Bhakti Now if you look at Kapila Sankhya In the third kind of Srimad Bhagavatam There also there is the analysis Of the material world in 24 elements But then there is much more detailed analysis There is an analysis of how The process of creation unfolds There is an analysis of how The characteristics of each of the elements Are described and There also the conclusion of that analysis Is that one needs to surrender to Ishwara So in terms of Conclusion, yes The Sankhya of Krishna The Sankhya of Kapila They both culminate in Bhakti And so when Prabhupada says that Both these are essentially the same And they are Bhakti That he is talking in terms of The essential conclusion Not in the sense of The technical specifics So in the initial stage In the Purport of Prabhupada states that This Krishna’s usage of the word Sankhya Doesn’t refer to either the theistic or atheistic Sankhya That is in the Technical contextual use of the word Sankhya In that context Whereas when Prabhupada says that Both Krishna’s Sankhya and Kapila’s Sankhya Ultimately are the same And they are Bhakti That is in terms of the essential conclusion In the way in which The system of thought Sankhya Is developed and connected with Krishna With Bhagawan as the Parapurusha, Purushottama Both in Krishna’s Sankhya And Kapila’s Sankhya That is what is being referred to So by seeing what Prabhupada is referring to We can understand that these are not Contradictory terms But they are actually paradoxical terms Which have a higher reconciliation Thank you Question from Rajat Prabhu