Kaivalya

(“isolation”) In Samkhya and Yoga, two
of the six schools of Hindu philosophy,
kaivalya is the state of final liberation. A
person who has attained kaivalya has
fully comprehended the difference
between two important principles: the
conscious but inert purusha, which is
identified as the Self, and the active but
331
Kaivalya
unconscious prakrti. According to
Samkhya metaphysics, confusion
between these two eternally distinct
principles triggers the evolution of subjective consciousness and the exterior
world, in which the eternal Self becomes
the witness to repeated rebirths. Of the
two schools, Samkhya provides the theoretical explanation for bondage and
liberation of the soul, whereas Yoga provides the method to liberation. The purpose in performing yoga is to help the
person distinguish between these two
principles, removing obstructions to
understanding, particularly the karmic
tendencies rooted in egoism. According
to the Yoga Sutras, the foundational text
for the Yoga school, those who can distinguish between these two principles
and discern the soul’s identity with the
purusha attain independence from all
external causes, mastery over all states
of being, and omniscience. For further
information see Gerald Larson and Ram
Shankar Bhattacharya (eds.), Samkhya:
A Dualist Tradition in Indian
Philosophy, 1987; and Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore
(eds.), A Sourcebook in Indian
Philosophy, 1957.