Part 4 - Nature of Kaivalya

In the last and fourth chapter of (Patañjali Yogasūtra) entitled ‘kaivalya pāda’, Mahaṛṣi Patañjali throws some more light on the concept of kaivalya. He says:-the practicing yogī, in due course, develop a unique insight into things, by which he can clearly distinguish between Prakṛti (nature) and Puruṣa (the soul). He grasps the fact the two are poles apart. While the one i.e. Prakṛti is totally devoid of all consciousness the Puruṣa is all consciousness and pure. In this state the yogī becomes completely free from all questionings, bordering on doubts lack of clarity etc. A person who has not yet reached this stage is invariable troubled by such thoughts as “Who am I”. How am I “What shall I be? How shall I be?” Having reached a nature stage a yogī is no more tormented by such thoughts.^[1]

When this happens, the yogis mind (which earlier was depressed by ignorance on account of its learning towards objects of senses) becomes dominated by discrimination (viveka) and leans heavily towards kaivalya.^[2]

The yogī goes further beyond this stage called prasaṃkhyāna. In this next stage he losses complete interest even in this awakening and for him there is nothing but total pervasiveness of the light of discrimination (viveka khyāti). It is this stage which has been given the name of Dharma megha–translated by Swami Vivekananda as the ‘cloud of virtue’.^[3]

The Mahaṛṣi goes onto observe that in this stage all veil impurities is from the yogī. He reaches the extreme limit of knowledge. And therefore little else remains to be known.

At this stage the various objective for which the attributes or characteristic of nature i.e. guṇas (sattva, rajas, and tamas) exist also come to an end. They were never meant for themselves and were always meant for the Puruṣa and jīva. The Puruṣa has nothing to do with them. Accordingly their cycle of fruition and succession comes to an end. In so far as the Puruṣa is concerned, they have ceased to be of any use to it. And thus they whether away, having lost of purpose for which they have existed all along. This is so insofar as a particular jīva (individual) is concerned.

And lastly when those guṇas become totally devoid of all purpose towards the puruṣa, they return to the source from which they strong. This is the state called kaivalya. It is a state when the puruṣa gets firmly established in its own real self.

Swami Vivekānanda translates this last aphorism of the Yoga Darśana as “the resolution the inverse order of the qualities hereft. In any motive of action for the Puruṣa, is kaivalya or it is the establishment of the power of knowledge in its own nature.”

The Swami also makes the following observations on this apharism. “Natures taste is done this unselfish task which our sweet nurse, nature, had imposed upon herself. She gently took the self forgetting soul by the hard as it were and showed him all the experiences in the universe, all manifestations, bringing him higher and higher through various bodies, till his lost glory came back and he remembered his own nature. Then the kind mother went back and the same way, she came for others who also have lost their way in the trackless desert of life, and thus she is working, without beginning and without end. And thus through pleasure and pain, through good and evil, the infinite river of souls is flowing in to the ocean of perfection of self realization. Glory upto those who have realized their own nature. May their blessings be on us all”.^[4]

The Bhagavadgītā declares–A soul not engrossed in external contacts with sense objects experiences a peculiar happiness. Such a person whose soul is engrossed in the supreme self experiences an inexhaustibile happiness.^[5]

It also further clarifies that all enjoyments resulting from contacts with sense objects are only the womb of misery. Moreover these have a beginning and an end. As such the wise person does not seek to indulge in them.^[6]

Again the sages who have got rid of desire and anger; who have brought their mind under control and who have known their inner-self attain total merger in Brahma the ultimate supreme.^[7]

Mahaṛṣi Patañjali answers this legitimate query by observing that:

The practice of the various limbs of Yoga in the first instance reduces all the impurities to nullity. Once these impurities are removed, the practitioner starts experiencing an illumination of knowledge.^[8]

Kaivalya (liberation) is attained when there is equality between sattva and Puruṣa. Liberation takes place when the mind has the same purity as Puruṣa itself. The purified mind recognizes its nature as Puruṣa. The essence of this nature is and always has been bliss freedom peace self sufficiency and perfection.

Kaivalya is the last state (of enlightenment) following reemergence of the guṇas because of their becoming devoid of the object of Puruṣa is established in his real nature which is pure consciousness. By non-attachment to even that (the omnipotence and omniscience of Puruṣa) comes destruction of the final seed of bondage and liberation is attained. Absolutely everything must be given up in order to reach God realization even the powers that come with God realization.^[9]

Freedom in Yoga is kaivalya, or absolute independence. It is not a mere negotiation out is internal life of Puruṣa when it is freed form the fetters of Prakṛti. Kaivalya is that state in which the guṇas (attain equilibrium) and merge in their cause, having no longer a purpose in relation to Puruṣa. The soul is established in its true nature, which is pure consciousness. Liberation on occurs when the guṇas no longer have an effect. The true qualities of nature rest in balance, ceasing to go through change, for their purpose has been fulfilled. Then, the yogī can do longer be called an individual, for he is Puruṣa itself.

Knowingly on unknowingly all of us are struggling to get peace. As long as our mind is in pieces and the pieces are in ceaseless mutual conflict, peace eludes us. It is only when we learn to put these pieces together so as to make the mind whole and integrated that we gain the peace of ‘kaivalya’.

The first result of attaining kaivalya is that the yogī can not there forwarded be bound by kleśas and karmas. In kaivalya this paradoxical simultaneity of individuality and oneness reaches its utmost perfection. The Kaivalyapāda deals with the state of enlightment or liberation. The self is freed of the agent hood, the role of the experience of the participant becoming a pure observer. “He who sees clearly, refuses to identity the mind with the self.

In the Yogasūtra the guṇas (the qualities of being) dissolve in their own substratum cause and this is liberation, the full revelation of the power of the self. Its being only itself (kaivalya). In kaivalya state the Puruṣa is isolated from matter; it is pure consciousness which is realized on the level of unity; it does not suppose an object in front of it; it does not require any organ of knowledge and does not experience limitations of any sort. This state of isolation occurs at the movement of total nirodha.^[10]

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

“viśeṣadarśina ātmabhāvanā nibṛttiḥ” Patañjali Yogasūtra-IV-25.

[2]:

“tadā vivekanimna kaivalyapragbhāram cittam” Ibid-IV.26.

[3]:

Ibid, IV-29.

[4]:

Yoga Perceived and Practiced by Sages of India, pp.455-456.

[5]:

“Vāhyasparseṣvasaktātmā———Sukhankhayaṃśnute”. Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā-V.21.

[6]:

Ibid-V-22.

[7]:

Ibid-V-26.

[8]:

“yogāṅganuṣṭhānādaśuddhikṣyae jñānadiptira vivekakhyāteḥ”. Ibid-II.28.

[9]:

Ibid-III.51.

[10]:

The Yoga System of Patañjali, p.123.