Sakayanya
Sakayanya |
---|
Sakayanya, also known as Jata Sakayanya, a descendant of Saka, was a ritual authority and contemporary of Sankha in the Kathaka Samhita (xxii.70)[1] also known as Charaka Samhita belonging to Krishna Yajurveda, and which was compiled by Katha, a disciple of Vaisampayana.[2]
Sakayanya was a disciple of Rishi Maitri. And, Shubhra Sharma in his treatise titled - 'Life in the Upanishads' writes that Sakayanya "burns with all the splendor and the grandeur of an incarnation of the Puranic literature, who appears out of the blue and even has the capacity of granting boons". The ideas which Sakayanya expresses were already formed and developed in the earlier Upanishads.[3]
Sakayanya speaks about the 'pure noumenal Self' who arising from the body shines in his own splendour, and of the 'phenomenal Self' called the Bhutatman who is subject to the influence of actions and therefore undergoes
He even offers Samkhya metaphysics to explain the Yoga processes.[7]
He finally removes the pessimism of Brihadratha Ikshvaku who saw the whole universe decaying around him and who had requested Sakayanya to lift him out of the mire of existence like a frog from a waterless well (Maitri I.7) by teaching him the six-faceted yoga involving pranayama ('breath-control'), pratyahara ('withdrawal of the senses'), dhyana ('meditation'), dharana ('concentration'), tarka ('inquiry') and samadhi ('absorption') which yoga was centuries later systemised by Patanjali.[8]
References
- ^ Kathaka Samhita.
- ISBN 9788120813328.
- ISBN 9788170172024.
- ^ R.D.Ranade (1926). A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 23.
- ISBN 9788120807969.
- ISBN 9780791400456.
- ISBN 9788170172024.
- ^ Gavin D. Flood (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. p. 95.
Sakayanya.