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Mukti-niśreyasa | Nirvana
Mokşa
4 Kaivalya and
regaining the original state of the soul
In the important earlier Upanişads these very four doctrines find expression in different ways in the discussions centring around Brahman, Ātman, Avyakta, and Sat. It is true that the four basic principles have given rise to a number of other sub-doctrines and divergence of views amongst the Sādhakas and thinkers who critically evaluated them. Thus, for instance, some recognise only one Sentient Principle, while others recognise a multiplicity of such principles. Some believe it to be an invariable constant ( kūțasthanitya ). Some regard it to be a variable constant (pariņāminitya ) while for some others it may be of the nature of a series (santati). Similarly, according to some, atma-jñana may be the immediate cause of Mokșa and yama-niyama (căritra) may serve as aids to jñāna.1 According to others, caritra may be the immediate cause and samyak-jñāna, its accessory.? Howsoever varied and numerous such differences may be, their importance in the path of spiritual discipline is almost nil; because they are incapable of affecting the true sãdhanā. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that if the sādhaka lacks conviction or faith in respect of the above four principles, the sadhana never comes into existance and if at all it does, it proves infructuous. That is the reason why all the schools of spiritual discipline concentrate on the discussion of those four fundamental postulates.
To whatever philosophical school the sādhakas may belong – to the monistic one or the dualistic one like the Sāṁkhya or the NyāyaVaišeşika, they all unanimously acknowledge the spiritual discipline which is lucidly and almost completely embɔdied in the Påtañjala Yoga-śästra. The latter may have been of a later date, yet it has found universal recognition as it happens to embody the gist of all the earlier yoga literature. So, for describing the different stages of spiritual discipline and its aids according to Vedic schools (Sámkhya-Yoga and Nyāya-Vaišeşika), we shall confine ourselves exclusively to the Pātañjala-Yogaśāstra. Tathāgata Buddha himself deviated from the prevalent yoga tradition and developed his independent and new path of spiritual discipline on the basis of his own experience. His sādhanā is described in his biography and Päli Pitakas. However Buddhaghoșa in his Visuddhi-magga has described this sadhana by summarising everything that is there in the Pițakas and the 1. vivekakhyātir aviplavā bānopāyaḥ/ Yogasūtra II. 27.
2. Samyagdarśana-jñāna-cāritrāņi mokṣa-mārgaḥ / Tattvårtha-sūtra I. 1. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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