The word
Sānkhya
comes from the roots
Sāṅ
, meaning “complete,” and
khyā
, meaning “to know.” So
Sānkhya
means the “complete analytical knowledge of something.” The Sankhya Darshan, which is one of the six philosophical treatises in Indian philosophy, makes an analytical enumeration of the entities in cosmos. It lists twenty-four entities
pañch-mahābhūta
(earth, water, fire, air, and sky),
pañch tanmātrā
(the five abstract qualities of matter—taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight),
pañch karmendriya
(five working senses),
pañch jñānendriya
(five knowledge senses), mind,
ahankār
(the entity created by the evolution of
mahān
),
mahān
(the entity created by evolution of
prakṛiti
),
prakṛiti
(the primordial form of the material energy). Apart from these is
puruṣh
or the soul, which tries to enjoy
prakṛiti
, and gets bound in it.
Shree Krishna has just explained to Arjun another form of
Sānkhya
, which is the analytical knowledge of the immortal soul. He now says that he is going to reveal the science of working without desire for rewards. This requires detachment from the fruits of actions. Such detachment comes by practicing discrimination with the intellect. Hence, Shree Krishna has interestingly called it
buddhi yog
, or “Yog of the Intellect.” In subsequent verses (2.41 and 2.44), he goes on to explain how the intellect plays an important role in bringing the mind to a state of detachment.