A detailed guide to the Samkhya philosophy and how to free yourself from the cycles of rebirth.

It explores the meaning of all 72 verses of the 4th-century text Samkhya Karika, word by word, providing helpful explanations and notes to facilitate your understanding.

It highlights how the Samkhya Karika explains the three dukkhas, or causes of suffering, and how to address them to reach a state of freedom from pain and misery.

It shows how the Samkhya Karika explains the origin and evolution of the universe and how it defines the true nature of the Self, the Atman, as an unchanging consciousness distinct from the body and mind.

Together with Yoga and Vedanta, Samkhya is one of the three schools of Vedic philosophy that teach the individual path to liberation from the cycles of death and rebirth. The Samkhya Karika is the oldest surviving text of Samkhya, a brilliant work by the Indian poet and philosopher Ishvarakrishna, who is considered to have been an incarnation of the classical Sanskrit poet Kalidasa.

Providing a translation of the Samkhya Karika from the original Sanskrit along with detailed commentary, Srivatsa Ramaswami explores the meaning of all 72 shlokas word by word, offering helpful explanations and notes to aid your understanding. He shows how the Samkhya philosophy explains the origin and evolution of the universe and identifies the true nature of the Self as unchanging consciousness, distinct from the empirical body and mind. It reveals how the Samkhya Karika explains the three dukkhas and how to overcome them to reach the goal of Samkhya: kaivalya, a state of deep meditation where one is not afflicted by pain and is eternally free from the cycle of samsara.

Providing a user-friendly guide to Samkhya for yoga practitioners and students of yoga philosophy, this book also shares insightful teachings from the author's teacher, the legendary Sri Krishnamacharya, who has been called "the father of modern yoga."