Yoga and Vivike (Discrimination between the "Real" and the "Unreal")

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The following is taken

from the Pancadasi written by Sri Vidyaranya Swamin. Sri Vidyaranya

Swamin is said to have been the Head of the S’ringeri Math (one of the

four principal Maths established by Bhagavan Shankaracharya). The

Pancadasi is considered to be one of the classics of Advaita Vendanta.

 

“(Question):

By discrimination one can feel that the Self is the dearest, but without the

practice of Yoga what good is it?

 

“(Reply) The goal

which is reached by Yoga can also be reached by discrimination. Yoga is a

means to knowledge; doesn’t knowledge arise from discrimination? ‘The

state achieved by the Sankhyas* is also achieved by the Yogis.’

Thus it has been said in the Gita (5:6) about the identity of the fruit of both

Yoga and discrimination. Knowing that for some Yoga is difficult and for

some others knowledge, the great Lord Sri Krishna speaks of these two paths.

What specialty is there in Yoga when knowledge has been declared as common to

both? Both the Yogi and the Viveki (he who practices discrimination) are

alike freed from attachment and aversion.

 

*Sankhya philosophy

offers a framework for all the levels of manifestation, from the subtlest to

the grossest. Sankhya comes from samyag

akhyate, which literally means that

which explains the whole. Sankhya deals with prakriti (matter), purusha

(consciousness), buddhi or mahat (intelligence), ahamkara (I-am-ness), three

gunas (elements of stability, activity, and lightness), mind (manas), cognitive

and active senses (indriyas), and the five subtle and gross elements (earth,

water, fire, air, and space). - From “Six Schools of Indian Philosophy”

by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati