3.2 Bharatiya Darshana: Salient Features and the Astika/Nastika Branches
Key Takeaways
- Darshana means 'a way of seeing' from the root 'drish'; Indian philosophy is treated as a realisable vision, not a speculative system, which is why every darshana ends in a discipline.
- Astika means accepting the authority of the Vedas and Nastika means rejecting it - neither term is about belief in God, which is why atheistic Samkhya and Mimamsa are Astika and theistic-adjacent Jainism is Nastika.
- The six Astika darshanas are Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta, conventionally paired as Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Samkhya-Yoga and Mimamsa-Vedanta.
- The three Nastika darshanas are Charvaka (Lokayata), Bauddha and Jaina.
- Salient shared features across the systems include Purushartha Chatushtaya, karma and rebirth, Avidya as the root of bondage, Moksha as the ultimate goal, and the standard sutra-plus-commentary literary form.
3.2 Bharatiya Darshana: Salient Features and the Astika/Nastika Branches
Yoga is not a free-standing wellness system. It is one of the six Astika darshanas of Indian philosophy, and it borrows its metaphysics wholesale from another of them. A Level 3 candidate who cannot place Yoga on that map cannot explain why Patanjali talks about Purusha and Prakriti at all. Syllabus item 1.6 asks for the salient features and branches; item 1.7 goes deeper into the six. This section handles the map.
What "Darshana" means
Darshana comes from the Sanskrit root drish, to see. A darshana is a way of seeing — a direct vision of reality — not a "philosophy" in the modern academic sense of a theory to be argued about. The distinction is practical and it is examinable: every Indian darshana ends with a sadhana, a discipline by which the vision is to be realised in one's own experience. Philosophy that terminates in argument alone would not be called darshana at all.
The Sanskrit for the discipline of philosophising is Anvikshiki, "the science of enquiry" — the term Kautilya uses when he lists Samkhya, Yoga and Lokayata among the branches of learning.
The classification criterion: Astika and Nastika
This is the single most frequently mis-stated fact in the whole unit, so state it exactly:
Astika = accepts the authority of the Vedas (Veda-pramanya). Nastika = does not accept the authority of the Vedas.
The criterion is scriptural authority, not theism. Two consequences follow, and both are examiner favourites:
- Classical Samkhya is atheistic (nirishvara) — it posits no creator God — and Purva Mimamsa treats the Vedas as authorless and eternal rather than divinely authored. Both are nevertheless Astika, because both accept Vedic authority.
- Jainism affirms an infinity of eternal souls and Buddhism affirms rebirth and moral law. Both are nevertheless Nastika, because both reject Vedic authority.
Anyone who translates Astika as "theist" will get these four cases wrong.
The branches
Shad Darshana — the six Astika systems
| Darshana | Founder / Sutrakara | Root text | Central concern |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nyaya | Gautama (Akshapada) | Nyaya Sutra | Logic and epistemology; four pramanas; liberation through correct knowledge |
| Vaisheshika | Kanada (Uluka) | Vaisheshika Sutra | Atomism; the seven padarthas (categories of reality) |
| Samkhya | Kapila | Samkhya Karika of Ishvarakrishna | 25 tattvas; dualism of Purusha and Prakriti; the three Gunas |
| Yoga | Patanjali | Patanjala Yoga Sutra | Practical realisation of the Samkhya vision; Chitta Vritti Nirodha |
| Purva Mimamsa | Jaimini | Mimamsa Sutra | Dharma and the ritual portion of the Veda (Karma Kanda) |
| Uttara Mimamsa / Vedanta | Badarayana (Vyasa) | Brahma Sutra | Brahman and the knowledge portion (Jnana Kanda) |
The six are conventionally studied in three pairs, because in each pair one system supplies the theory and the other the method or the complement:
| Pair | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Nyaya – Vaisheshika | Vaisheshika supplies the categories of what exists; Nyaya supplies the logic for knowing them |
| Samkhya – Yoga | Samkhya supplies the metaphysics; Yoga supplies the practice. Yoga is often called Sa-ishvara Samkhya — Samkhya with Ishvara |
| Purva Mimamsa – Uttara Mimamsa (Vedanta) | The ritual half and the knowledge half of the same Veda |
The three Nastika systems
| Darshana | Position |
|---|---|
| Charvaka / Lokayata | Materialist. Only pratyaksha (perception) is a valid means of knowledge; consciousness is a by-product of the four elements; no soul, no rebirth, no Moksha. The one system with no yoga in it at all. |
| Bauddha | Momentariness (kshanikavada), no permanent self (anatta), Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path. Four principal schools: Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Yogachara, Madhyamika. |
| Jaina | Anekantavada and Syadvada; infinite eternal jivas; liberation through the Three Jewels (Ratnatraya): right faith, right knowledge, right conduct. |
Salient features shared across the darshanas
Beyond the Astika/Nastika split, all the Indian systems (Charvaka excepted on most counts) share a recognisable set of features. Examiners often ask for these as a list:
- Practical orientation. Philosophy exists to end suffering, not to satisfy curiosity. Every system prescribes a sadhana.
- Purushartha Chatushtaya. Human life has four legitimate aims: Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), Moksha (liberation). Moksha is the Parama Purushartha.
- Karma and rebirth. Action produces consequence; consequence produces further embodiment. The cycle is Samsara.
- Avidya as the root of bondage. Ignorance — not sin, not fate — is what binds; knowledge is therefore liberating.
- Moksha as the summum bonum. Called Kaivalya in Samkhya-Yoga, Nirvana in Buddhism, Apavarga in Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Mukti in Vedanta.
- Pessimism at the start, optimism at the end. Every system opens by declaring life to be shot through with suffering, and every one of them asserts that suffering can be wholly ended. It is diagnostic realism, not despair.
- The sutra-and-commentary form. A terse root text (Sutra), then a primary commentary (Bhashya), then sub-commentaries (Vritti, Tika, Vartika). Patanjali's Yoga Sutra → Vyasa's Yoga Bhashya → Vachaspati Mishra's Tattva Vaisharadi is the textbook example.
- Moral discipline as prerequisite. Ethical preparation precedes metaphysical insight everywhere — Yamas in Yoga, Shila in Buddhism, the Three Jewels in Jainism.
Why this matters at Level 3
An evaluator is expected to place a candidate's answer, not merely mark it right or wrong. If a candidate explains Kaivalya as "merging with God," you need to be able to say precisely why that is a Vedantic formulation imported into a Samkhya-Yoga context where Purusha and Prakriti never merge with anything — Kaivalya is isolation, not union. That judgement is only available to someone who holds the map.
Summary of Exam-Key Points
- Darshana ← root drish, to see; a realisable vision terminating in sadhana.
- Astika = accepts Vedic authority; Nastika = rejects it. Not about theism.
- Six Astika: Nyaya (Gautama), Vaisheshika (Kanada), Samkhya (Kapila), Yoga (Patanjali), Purva Mimamsa (Jaimini), Vedanta (Badarayana).
- Three Nastika: Charvaka, Bauddha, Jaina.
- Pairs: Nyaya–Vaisheshika, Samkhya–Yoga, Mimamsa–Vedanta.
- Purushartha Chatushtaya: Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha.
On what basis are the Indian philosophical systems divided into Astika and Nastika?
Which pairing of darshana and founder is correct?
Which of the Nastika darshanas rejects rebirth and liberation altogether, accepting only perception as a valid means of knowledge?
Yoga is sometimes described as 'Sa-ishvara Samkhya'. What does this indicate about the relationship between the two darshanas?
Which set correctly names the Purushartha Chatushtaya, the four aims of human life common to the Indian darshanas?