Kapila’s Sankha Darshan: A Cure of Human Misery

Kapila, the philosopher associated with Sankhya Darsan, was an ascetic. The sole purpose of his life was to bring an end to human misery in the world. He realized the physical and mental troubles of people caused by grief and disease . He realized how not only the old age and physical troubles, but also the external crisis like epidemic, earthquake, other natural calamities and ominous influence of stars made human life miserable. He thought of the ways to get rid of human misery. He classified human misery into three categories, namely spiritual, metaphysical and divine. It came to be known later as “Three- pronged Misery” in Sankhya Darsan. In his opinion, the real knowledge of human beings lies in their proper understanding of the relationship between nature and the Almighty or the creation and the creator. By acquiring this understanding, one can do away with all kinds of grief. I want to discuss here the details regarding human misery and the end of misery as suggested in Sankhya Darsan. The feeling of grief is the most painful part of human life. Life is the sum of miseries. All living beings always try to get over the miseries of life and find means of happiness as far as possible. This urge to find means of happiness or salvation has given birth to different trends of Indian philosophy.