Feelings & Emotions—Bounded by Purusha and Prakriti
Long before modern psychology or philosophy schools began exploring human emotions, Sage Kapila had already laid down a profound understanding of why we feel what we feel - and what we can do about it. Sage Kapila explained that Prakriti - meaning the natural world, everything around us - constantly pulls at Purusha, which simply means the human being or the inner self.
At the very heart of Sage Kapila’s Sankhya philosophy lies one timeless truth:
“Every feeling you have ever felt, every emotion that has ever moved you — was born at the meeting point of You and the World.”
Neither Purusha (the human self) nor Prakriti (nature/the world) alone creates emotion. It is their interaction -their bond - that gives birth to the entire spectrum of human feeling.
Think of it this way: ”The world attracts you. That attraction creates feelings. Those feelings can either free you or trap you — depending on how wisely you respond.”
Understanding Emotional Intelligence from the perspective of syankhya yoga depicted by (Mehta, 2015)
Prakriti (External World)
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Indriyas react (panch indriya)
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Manas processes (our concious mind)
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Buddhi decides( ← The Erudite lives here)
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Action without bondage (Nishkaam karma)
Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 5, Verse 7 describes that the “One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, who controls the mind and senses, and whose self is dear to all beings - though always working, such a person is never bound.”
There are three things which create the play of feelings and emotions in -Indriya, Manas and Buddhi-
Indriya- means the five senses which leads to raw emotional triggers and impulses, from there.
Manas-which is the processing or conscious mind get the emotional awareness and perceptions.
Buddhi -which is discerning intelligence which leads to the wise judgement and thoughtful response.
Sankhya Yoga fundamentally says Liberation isn’t about escaping the world — it’s about escaping your own unconscious reactions to it.
Sankhya Yoga teaches that Buddhi should lead Manas, and Manas should guide the Indriyas — not the other way around. However ,Most people live in reverse — the senses trigger reactions, the mind justifies them, and intelligence never gets a word in.
That is the highest form of emotional intelligence (EQ)— ancient wisdom, of India remarkably modern in its insight.This push and pull between the outer world (Prakriti) and the inner self (Purusha) is the birthplace of all human emotions — both the uplifting ones like joy, love and enthusiasm, and the draining ones like fear, anger and attachment. It also states that the one who is “Controls the mind and senses” → Jitendriya is the exactly what we call emotional self-regulation — the ability to feel an emotion without being hijacked by it.
Think of your senses as horses and your mind as the reins. Most of us let the horses run wild — we react to every sound, temptation, criticism, or craving automatically.
A Jitendriya person holds the reins calmly but firmly. They don’t suppress feelings they simply don’t get dragged by them.
Their it comes the concept of prakruti and purush where both compliment each other not opposes. To get the fruits in the form of feelings and emotions.
Sage Kapila essentially taught that true intelligence is the intelligence of emotions -and that the wisest human being is not the one who never feels, but the one who feels deeply yet acts freely.
As a healer until and unless we deeply understands the feeling and emotions of our insight, the connect between the one which is searching for healing, not going top accomplish as such.
Dr Nidhi