From Indian Metaphysics to Universal Ontology: Sāṃkhya, Sri Aurobindo, Meta-Para-Ontology

Integrated metaphysical systems combine ontological, cosmological, psychological, evolutionary, and soteriological relations within larger conceptual configurations. Their concepts therefore cannot be compared adequately by examining individual terms or apparent similarities alone. Meaning is shaped by the relations in which concepts participate and by the larger systems in which those relations are organized. Direct synthesis risks importing the internal organization of one system into another. Terminological comparison can identify similarities without establishing the structural relations that make them comparable. This essay develops a framework for addressing this problem of comparison and for formalizing relations identified across different integrated metaphysical systems within a common ontological architecture. Sāṃkhya and the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo are examined as two systems characterized by different forms of architectural organization: Sāṃkhya differentiates fundamental ontological relations within a coherent metaphysical framework, while Sri Aurobindo integrates related ontological, cosmological, psychological, and evolutionary relations into a broader metaphysical vision. Meta-Para-Ontology (MPO) engages these systems through ontological decomposition, identification of structural functions, and reconstruction. This procedure distinguishes general ontological relations from the particular metaphysical interpretations through which they are expressed and reconstructs them within an explicit ontological architecture. Universality arises through coordination across difference: heterogeneous metaphysical systems can retain their distinct conceptual and metaphysical configurations while becoming structurally comparable through common ontological relations. The essay thus presents MPO as a method for constructing a universal ontology by differentiating and reconstructing ontological relations identified across historically situated metaphysical systems.