Viveka
Sanskrit: विवेकTransliteration: Viveka (IAST)
Translation: “discrimination”
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Translation: "discrimination"
Definition: "Viveka is defined as an awareness by means of which one can tell the true from the false, the eternal from the impermanent. It is an understanding that the world is impermanent and perishable and that the Self is permanent."
Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)
Translation: "intuitive discrimination, one of the two components of Smṛti, a faculty of Jñāna; its function is “to seize on our thoughts and intuitions, arrange them, separate their intellectual from their Vijñānamaya elements, correct their false extensions, false limitations, misapplications and assign them their right application, right extension, right limitation."
The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)
Translation: "discrimination"
Commentary: "Real Vairagya is not characterized by a violent struggle with our desires. It comes naturally and in its most effective form by the exercise of our discriminative faculty which is called Viveka. Glamour plays a very great part in producing Rāga or attachment and even ordinary intellectual analysis, combined with reason and commonsense, can free us from many unreasonable habits and attachments. But the real weapon to be used in acquiring true Vairagya is the more penetrating light of Buddhi which expresses itself as Viveka. As our bodies are purified and our mind becomes free from the cruder desires, this light shines with increasing brightness and destroys our attachments by exposing the illusions which underlie them. In fact, Viveka and Vairagya may be considered as two aspects of the same process of dissipation of illusion through the exercise of discrimination on the one hand and renunciation on the other. As the process reaches a deeper level, it merges more and more in Jñāna and becomes almost indistinguishable from it." (p. 33)
"The first result of this realization when Viveka dawns is fear. The very ground from under our feet seems to have been cut away; we seem to have no foothold, nothing to which we can hold on in this fast-moving current of time and material changes. The whole Universe appears to be a swirling flux of phenomena like water running under a bridge. People and objects around us which appeared so real become mere phantoms in the panorama which is passing before us. We seem to be standing in a void and the horror of loneliness unspeakable engulfs us. [...]
[...] But if we do not try to smother this horrible vision, and facing it squarely, take to the self-discipline prescribed in Yoga, then sooner or later, beneath this fast flowing stream of phenomena, we begin, first to sense, and later to discern something which is abiding, which transcends change and gives us an eternal foothold. We begin to realize that the phenomena change but not That in which the phenomena take place. First only dimly but later in its fullness this realization of the Eternal grows within us. But we have to pass through the valley of fear before this realization comes. We must see the whole solid world of men and things disintegrate and disappear into a flux of mere phenomena before we can see the Real hidden beneath the unreal." (p. 149-150)
"Having given in Part 2, Sutra 25 the general principle underlying the destruction of Avidyā, the author gives in Part 2, Sutra 26 the practical method which has to be adopted to bring this about. The method prescribed is the practice of uninterrupted Viveka-Khyāti. What is this Viveka-Khyāti? Viveka means, of course, discrimination between the Real and the unreal and the general idea underlying this word is familiar to students of Yogic philosophy. Khyāti is usually translated as knowledge or consciousness. So Viveka-Khyāti means knowledge of the discrimination between the Real and the unreal. As this does not make much sense let us examine the two words Viveka and Khyāti more fully.
Viveka is generally used for that state of the mind in which it is aware of the great problems of life and the illusions which are inherent in ordinary human life. In the state of Aviveka we take everything as a matter of course. The great problems of life do not exist for us, or if they do, they are of mere academic interest. There is no desire to question life, to see beyond its ordinary illusions, to discriminate between the things of real and permanent value and those of passing interest. When the light of Viveka dawns on the mind, all this changes. We become very much alive to the fundamental problems of life, begin to question life's values and detach ourselves from the current of ordinary thoughts and desires, and above all, we want to find that Reality which is hidden behind the flux of phenomena. This is not a mere process of thinking but an illuminated state of the mind. It may come temporarily as a result of some shock in life or may grow naturally and become a permanent feature of our outlook on life.
When it is a normal feature of our life, it is really the harbinger of the spiritual development which is to follow. The soul is awakening from its long spiritual sleep and now wants to find itself. It has reached maturity and wants to come into its Divine heritage. Ordinary Viveka is merely a symptom of these changes which are taking place in the recesses of the soul.
Now, the point to be noted here is that this kind of Viveka is only a reflection of the spiritual consciousness into the lower mind, a sensing, as it were, of the Reality hidden within us. It is not an actual awareness of Reality. Viveka-Khyāti is an actual awareness of Reality, a direct, immediate contact with the innermost spiritual consciousness, Pratyakṣa knowledge of Reality. What the sense of touch is to the sense of sight that is Viveka to Viveka-Khyāti. In the case of the former, we merely sense the Reality within us more or less dimly. In the case of the latter, we are in direct contact with it though in different degrees.
The awareness of Reality or Viveka-Khyāti is the opposite of Avidyā—lack of awareness of Reality, the two being related to each other as light and darkness. When the Puruṣa is fully aware of Reality, he is out of the dominion of Avidyā. When he loses this awareness, he relapses into Avidyā and the other Kleśa. It will be seen that real discrimination between the Real and the unreal is possible only when we have experienced Reality and know both the Real and the unreal. When a beginner is asked to discriminate between the Real and the unreal, what is really meant is that he should learn to discriminate between the things of permanent value in life and those which are transitory." (181-182)
"The knowledge which is gained as a result of performing Saṃyama on the process of time is the highest kind of knowledge which can be attained—even higher than Omniscience referred to in Part 2, Sutra 50. It is called Vivekajaṃ Jñānam ‘knowledge born of the awareness of Reality’. The word Viveka is generally translated into English by the word ‘discrimination’ but the use of this word in this context is not appropriate. The word ‘discrimination’ is used ordinarily for that process of spiritual discernment which enables us to detect the illusions of life and to discover the relative reality hidden behind them. But the word Viveka in this context stands for the full awareness of the Ultimate Reality. Essentially, the process is the same in both the cases and involves passing from a less real to a more real state of consciousness, but the difference in degree is so tremendous that the use of the rather vague word ‘discrimination’ for this final ‘discovery’ may not give an adequate conception of the change which is involved. It is, therefore, better to translate the phrase Vivekajaṃ Jñānam by ‘awareness of the Ultimate Reality’ because the use of the word knowledge in connection with this exalted state of consciousness does not seem to be proper. A state of consciousness which transcends Omniscience itself cannot be called knowledge. It is better to use for it the phrase given above." (p. 325-326)
"Part 3, Sutra 55 defines the nature of this knowledge. In the first place, it is transcendent, i.e., it transcends all forms of knowledge within the sphere of phenomenal existence. It is the knowledge or rather full awareness of Reality while all other forms of knowledge, even those pertaining to the highest levels of consciousness are in the realm of Relativity. The word Tārakaṃ also means that which enables the Yogi to cross over Bhava Sagara or the ocean of conditioned existence. The soul which is involved in the limitations and illusions of conditioned existence is liberated completely from these on the attainment of Taraka-Jñāna.
In the second place, this knowledge is Sarva-Viṣayaṃ. This means not only embracing all objects but having all objects in consciousness simultaneously. Sarvathā-Viṣayam means knowledge pertaining to the past, present and future. Just as Sarva-Viṣayaṃ has reference to space so Sarvathā-Viṣayam has reference to time. So Vivekajaṃ Jñānam includes everything within the realm of time and space, i.e., all things which are within the World Process.
In the third place, Vivekajaṃ Jñānam is Akramam, i.e., transcends the World Process which produces time. In the world of the Relative which is subject to the World Process, things take place one after another and it is this which produces the impression of past, present, and future. In the world of Reality which is beyond the World Process time cannot exist, and this timeless condition is called the Eternal. This is not a mere, interesting hypothesis. Time, according to the highest occultists and mystics, has no real existence. It is merely an impression produced in consciousness by the succession of phenomena which are produced by the World Process. When, therefore, the Yogi transcends the World Process, he also conquers the illusion of time. This is the most fundamental illusion in which his consciousness is involved, and is therefore, naturally, the last to disappear as pointed out in Part 4, Sutra 33.
The fact that Vivekajaṃ Jñānam is Sarva-Viṣayaṃ, Sarvathā-Viṣayam and Akramam at the same time means that the world of the Real is not something apart from the world of the Relative. Passing into the world of the Real does not, therefore, mean leaving the world of the Relative behind. It means seeing the world of the Relative in its true nature and correct perspective and living in that world in the light of the Real. Established in his true Self, the Self-realized Yogi can live and work in the world of the Relative, using all the powers which Prakṛti has placed at his disposal, but without being in the least affected by the illusions which she creates for those who have not yet mastered her." (p. 327-328)
References:
Translation: "discrimination"
Definition: "Viveka is defined as an awareness by means of which one can tell the true from the false, the eternal from the impermanent. It is an understanding that the world is impermanent and perishable and that the Self is permanent."
Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)
Translation: "intuitive discrimination, one of the two components of Smṛti, a faculty of Jñāna; its function is “to seize on our thoughts and intuitions, arrange them, separate their intellectual from their Vijñānamaya elements, correct their false extensions, false limitations, misapplications and assign them their right application, right extension, right limitation."
The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)
Translation: "discrimination"
Commentary: "Real Vairagya is not characterized by a violent struggle with our desires. It comes naturally and in its most effective form by the exercise of our discriminative faculty which is called Viveka. Glamour plays a very great part in producing Rāga or attachment and even ordinary intellectual analysis, combined with reason and commonsense, can free us from many unreasonable habits and attachments. But the real weapon to be used in acquiring true Vairagya is the more penetrating light of Buddhi which expresses itself as Viveka. As our bodies are purified and our mind becomes free from the cruder desires, this light shines with increasing brightness and destroys our attachments by exposing the illusions which underlie them. In fact, Viveka and Vairagya may be considered as two aspects of the same process of dissipation of illusion through the exercise of discrimination on the one hand and renunciation on the other. As the process reaches a deeper level, it merges more and more in Jñāna and becomes almost indistinguishable from it." (p. 33)
"The first result of this realization when Viveka dawns is fear. The very ground from under our feet seems to have been cut away; we seem to have no foothold, nothing to which we can hold on in this fast-moving current of time and material changes. The whole Universe appears to be a swirling flux of phenomena like water running under a bridge. People and objects around us which appeared so real become mere phantoms in the panorama which is passing before us. We seem to be standing in a void and the horror of loneliness unspeakable engulfs us. [...]
[...] But if we do not try to smother this horrible vision, and facing it squarely, take to the self-discipline prescribed in Yoga, then sooner or later, beneath this fast flowing stream of phenomena, we begin, first to sense, and later to discern something which is abiding, which transcends change and gives us an eternal foothold. We begin to realize that the phenomena change but not That in which the phenomena take place. First only dimly but later in its fullness this realization of the Eternal grows within us. But we have to pass through the valley of fear before this realization comes. We must see the whole solid world of men and things disintegrate and disappear into a flux of mere phenomena before we can see the Real hidden beneath the unreal." (p. 149-150)
"Having given in Part 2, Sutra 25 the general principle underlying the destruction of Avidyā, the author gives in Part 2, Sutra 26 the practical method which has to be adopted to bring this about. The method prescribed is the practice of uninterrupted Viveka-Khyāti. What is this Viveka-Khyāti? Viveka means, of course, discrimination between the Real and the unreal and the general idea underlying this word is familiar to students of Yogic philosophy. Khyāti is usually translated as knowledge or consciousness. So Viveka-Khyāti means knowledge of the discrimination between the Real and the unreal. As this does not make much sense let us examine the two words Viveka and Khyāti more fully.
Viveka is generally used for that state of the mind in which it is aware of the great problems of life and the illusions which are inherent in ordinary human life. In the state of Aviveka we take everything as a matter of course. The great problems of life do not exist for us, or if they do, they are of mere academic interest. There is no desire to question life, to see beyond its ordinary illusions, to discriminate between the things of real and permanent value and those of passing interest. When the light of Viveka dawns on the mind, all this changes. We become very much alive to the fundamental problems of life, begin to question life's values and detach ourselves from the current of ordinary thoughts and desires, and above all, we want to find that Reality which is hidden behind the flux of phenomena. This is not a mere process of thinking but an illuminated state of the mind. It may come temporarily as a result of some shock in life or may grow naturally and become a permanent feature of our outlook on life.
When it is a normal feature of our life, it is really the harbinger of the spiritual development which is to follow. The soul is awakening from its long spiritual sleep and now wants to find itself. It has reached maturity and wants to come into its Divine heritage. Ordinary Viveka is merely a symptom of these changes which are taking place in the recesses of the soul.
Now, the point to be noted here is that this kind of Viveka is only a reflection of the spiritual consciousness into the lower mind, a sensing, as it were, of the Reality hidden within us. It is not an actual awareness of Reality. Viveka-Khyāti is an actual awareness of Reality, a direct, immediate contact with the innermost spiritual consciousness, Pratyakṣa knowledge of Reality. What the sense of touch is to the sense of sight that is Viveka to Viveka-Khyāti. In the case of the former, we merely sense the Reality within us more or less dimly. In the case of the latter, we are in direct contact with it though in different degrees.
The awareness of Reality or Viveka-Khyāti is the opposite of Avidyā—lack of awareness of Reality, the two being related to each other as light and darkness. When the Puruṣa is fully aware of Reality, he is out of the dominion of Avidyā. When he loses this awareness, he relapses into Avidyā and the other Kleśa. It will be seen that real discrimination between the Real and the unreal is possible only when we have experienced Reality and know both the Real and the unreal. When a beginner is asked to discriminate between the Real and the unreal, what is really meant is that he should learn to discriminate between the things of permanent value in life and those which are transitory." (181-182)
विवेकजंज्ञानम्
Vivekajaṃ Jñānam
Vivekajaṃ Jñānam
"The knowledge which is gained as a result of performing Saṃyama on the process of time is the highest kind of knowledge which can be attained—even higher than Omniscience referred to in Part 2, Sutra 50. It is called Vivekajaṃ Jñānam ‘knowledge born of the awareness of Reality’. The word Viveka is generally translated into English by the word ‘discrimination’ but the use of this word in this context is not appropriate. The word ‘discrimination’ is used ordinarily for that process of spiritual discernment which enables us to detect the illusions of life and to discover the relative reality hidden behind them. But the word Viveka in this context stands for the full awareness of the Ultimate Reality. Essentially, the process is the same in both the cases and involves passing from a less real to a more real state of consciousness, but the difference in degree is so tremendous that the use of the rather vague word ‘discrimination’ for this final ‘discovery’ may not give an adequate conception of the change which is involved. It is, therefore, better to translate the phrase Vivekajaṃ Jñānam by ‘awareness of the Ultimate Reality’ because the use of the word knowledge in connection with this exalted state of consciousness does not seem to be proper. A state of consciousness which transcends Omniscience itself cannot be called knowledge. It is better to use for it the phrase given above." (p. 325-326)
"Part 3, Sutra 55 defines the nature of this knowledge. In the first place, it is transcendent, i.e., it transcends all forms of knowledge within the sphere of phenomenal existence. It is the knowledge or rather full awareness of Reality while all other forms of knowledge, even those pertaining to the highest levels of consciousness are in the realm of Relativity. The word Tārakaṃ also means that which enables the Yogi to cross over Bhava Sagara or the ocean of conditioned existence. The soul which is involved in the limitations and illusions of conditioned existence is liberated completely from these on the attainment of Taraka-Jñāna.
In the second place, this knowledge is Sarva-Viṣayaṃ. This means not only embracing all objects but having all objects in consciousness simultaneously. Sarvathā-Viṣayam means knowledge pertaining to the past, present and future. Just as Sarva-Viṣayaṃ has reference to space so Sarvathā-Viṣayam has reference to time. So Vivekajaṃ Jñānam includes everything within the realm of time and space, i.e., all things which are within the World Process.
In the third place, Vivekajaṃ Jñānam is Akramam, i.e., transcends the World Process which produces time. In the world of the Relative which is subject to the World Process, things take place one after another and it is this which produces the impression of past, present, and future. In the world of Reality which is beyond the World Process time cannot exist, and this timeless condition is called the Eternal. This is not a mere, interesting hypothesis. Time, according to the highest occultists and mystics, has no real existence. It is merely an impression produced in consciousness by the succession of phenomena which are produced by the World Process. When, therefore, the Yogi transcends the World Process, he also conquers the illusion of time. This is the most fundamental illusion in which his consciousness is involved, and is therefore, naturally, the last to disappear as pointed out in Part 4, Sutra 33.
The fact that Vivekajaṃ Jñānam is Sarva-Viṣayaṃ, Sarvathā-Viṣayam and Akramam at the same time means that the world of the Real is not something apart from the world of the Relative. Passing into the world of the Real does not, therefore, mean leaving the world of the Relative behind. It means seeing the world of the Relative in its true nature and correct perspective and living in that world in the light of the Real. Established in his true Self, the Self-realized Yogi can live and work in the world of the Relative, using all the powers which Prakṛti has placed at his disposal, but without being in the least affected by the illusions which she creates for those who have not yet mastered her." (p. 327-328)
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
- Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 33, 149-150, 181-182, 325-328.
