Sanskrit | Yoga Sūtras | Lists
(these are a work in progress)
Translation
discriminative discernment
Other Translations
discrimination, insight, discriminative knowledge
Background
- In the context of Sāṅkhya and Yoga philosophy, a primary meaning of viveka is the discrimination or knowing the distinction between prakṛti (material nature) and puruṣa (Self or pure awareness)
- Sometimes described as the shifting of awareness from the object of perception to the power of perception itself (purusha)
- viveka is described as a grain-by-grain realization that begins to emerge from nonreaction (vairāgya) and interiorization
- In Buddhist literature, the term viveka is used in the sense of separation and is classified into three kinds: bodily seclusion (kāya-viveka), mental purification (citta-viveka), and final liberation (avadhi-viveka)