| In the ancient India, philosophy has been | | | | moksha. |
| traditionally divided into two main groups. | | | | |
| These groups are called as the orthodox group | | | | Yoga adopts the dualistic doctrine of |
| and heretic group. The orthodox group | | | | explaining the universe of objects and living |
| believes in the authority of Vedas in all the | | | | beings. It assumes that the universe was |
| philosophical matters. These orthodox systems | | | | originally created by the uniting or samyoga |
| are six in all. One of the most popular | | | | of two eternal realities called purusha and |
| systems of philosophy is yoga. | | | | prakriti. Purusha forms the basis of all the |
| | | | spiritual objects while prakriti deals with |
| It shares the following common beliefs with | | | | the material objects. Prakriti and everything |
| the other orthodox systems: | | | | that comes from it has three gunas viz.: |
| | | | sattva, rajo and tamas in various proportions |
| - Belief in the permanent soul, which forms | | | | and combinations. |
| the basis of life. | | | | |
| | | | Sattvaguna deals with all that is pure and |
| - Soul is supposed to discard one body at the | | | | holy while rajasguna deals with all the rich |
| time of death and enter a new one at the time | | | | and royal qualities and tamasguna deals with |
| of new birth. | | | | all the baser qualities like greed, lust, |
| | | | anger, fear etc. The samyoga of the purusha |
| - A strong belief in the karma, which states | | | | and the prakriti is virtual. It does not |
| that the events happening in a person's life | | | | exist but only the ignorant mind thinks it is |
| are a direct results of the events in his | | | | real. This is due to the illusion called |
| previous life or lives (if the person has | | | | avidya and binds the purusha and causes him |
| been born many times). | | | | to transmigrate from one body to another in |
| | | | the various births. Once the avidya is |
| - A belief that the life of an individual is | | | | dispelled completely, one can break free from |
| primarily of misery and sorrow. | | | | the cycle of bith and death and can achieve |
| | | | moksha. This is easily achieved by following |
| - A belief in the state of complete freedom | | | | the eightfold path given by Patanjali in his |
| from misery and sorrow called mukti or | | | | Yogasutras. |