---
type: Concept
bundle: yoga-darshana
bundle_version: "0.2.0"
id: kaivalya
title: "Kaivalya"
iast: "Kaivalya"
devanagari: "कैवल्य"
description: "Liberation as the permanent isolation of Puruṣa from Prakṛti — not mokṣa, not union, not oneness."
darshana:
  - Pātañjala Yoga
  - Sāṃkhya
text_source: "YS 4.34"
tags:
  - Yoga
  - Patanjali
  - kaivalya
  - liberation
  - purusha
  - prakriti
  - gunas
  - moksha
not:
  - term: "moksha"
    why: "moksha is the Advaita Vedānta term for liberation as the Ātman's recognition of its identity with Brahman; kaivalya is the Yoga Darśana term for Puruṣa's permanent isolation from Prakṛti — the two frameworks describe structurally different liberation events; using them interchangeably is a cross-darśana error"
    instead: "Keep Kaivalya untranslated; do not substitute the English term."
  - term: "enlightenment"
    why: "the English term carries Buddhist and popular connotations that mix non-dual and dual frameworks; kaivalya is specifically the Sāṃkhya-Yoga liberation event in a dual ontology"
  - term: "union"
    why: "union suggests two things merging; kaivalya is precisely the *opposite* — the permanent separation (*viveka*) of Puruṣa from Prakṛti; the apparent union of Puruṣa and Prakṛti was always false; kaivalya is the recognition and stabilization of their permanent distinctness"
  - term: "nirvana"
    why: "nirvāṇa (Buddhist) is the extinguishing of the flame of craving within a non-dual or process ontology; kaivalya is within a dual-eternal ontology; the concepts cannot be mapped onto each other without distortion"
  - term: "oneness"
    why: "oneness implies non-duality; kaivalya is the stabilization of duality — Puruṣa isolated (*kevala*) in its aloneness; it is the many-ness of Puruṣa-s each in their own kaivalya that makes Yoga Darśana fundamentally different from Advaita"
related:
  - /concepts/purusha.md
  - /concepts/prakriti-yoga.md
  - /concepts/asamprajnata-samadhi.md
  - /concepts/viveka-khyati.md
  - /concepts/nirodha.md
  - /concepts/guna.md
  - /concepts/klesha.md
  - /concepts/abhinivesha.md
timestamp: "2026-06-20"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Kaivalya — कैवल्य

**Not:** moksha, enlightenment, union, nirvana, oneness

Liberation in Yoga Darśana — the permanent isolation (*viveka*) of Puruṣa from Prakṛti; the state in which Puruṣa, having recognized its own nature as pure witness, is no longer misidentified with citta's modifications. The Guṇa-s, having completed their purpose (serving Puruṣa's experience and liberation), return to equilibrium. This is the end-state of the eight-limb path.

> **CRITICAL DISTINCTION:** Kaivalya is NOT Advaita Vedānta's Mokṣa. In Mokṣa, Ātman recognizes identity with Brahman — non-dual; world dissolves into Brahman. In Kaivalya, Puruṣa recognizes its permanent isolation from Prakṛti — dual; the world (Prakṛti) continues to exist as ontologically real. These are structurally different liberation-events in structurally different philosophical frameworks.

## Etymology

- *kevala* — alone, only, isolated, absolute, pure; without admixture
- *-ya* — abstract suffix (forming "the state of being kevala")
- *kaivalya* — the state of absolute aloneness; pure isolation; being-only-oneself

The aloneness here is not loneliness — it is ontological purity. Puruṣa in kaivalya is simply what it always was: pure, non-Prakṛtic consciousness. Kaivalya is the name for that recognition becoming permanent and unshakeable.

## YS 4.34 — The Final Sūtra's Definition

*puruṣārthaśūnyānāṃ guṇānāṃ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṃ svarūpapratiṣṭhā vā citiśaktiriti*

"Kaivalya is the return of the Guṇa-s to their source, empty of purpose for Puruṣa — or the establishment of the power of consciousness (*citiśakti*) in its own nature."

Two formulations of the same event from two perspectives:

**From Prakṛti's side:** *pratiprasava* — "return to the source"; the Guṇa-s' evolutionary activity reverses (*prati*); they re-enter the equilibrium state of unmanifest Prakṛti (*avyakta*). The Guṇa-s had evolved in order to serve Puruṣa (YS 2.18: for bhoga and apavarga). When Puruṣa recognizes its non-involvement, the purpose is fulfilled (*puruṣārtha-śūnya* — empty of purpose for Puruṣa); evolution has no further reason to continue.

**From Puruṣa's side:** *svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā* — "establishment in its own nature"; Puruṣa, the *citiśakti* (power of consciousness), abides permanently in its own nature. This mirrors YS 1.3 (*tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe'vasthānam* — "then the seer abides in its own nature") — the state promised at the very beginning is now permanent rather than momentary.

## How Kaivalya Is Reached

The path to kaivalya runs through specific stages:

1. **Practice and dispassion** (*abhyāsa* + *vairāgya*, YS 1.12) — the fundamental pair throughout
2. **Kriyā yoga** (YS 2.1-2.2) — *tapas* (austerity), *svādhyāya* (self-study), *Īśvara-praṇidhāna* (surrender to Īśvara); the preparatory three-fold practice
3. **Reducing the kleśas** (YS 2.10-2.11) — the five affliction-roots are progressively attenuated
4. **Eight-limb practice** (YS 2.28-3.3) — yama through samādhi purifies citta and reduces vṛttis
5. **Viveka-khyāti** (YS 2.26-2.28) — discriminative wisdom arising in nirvicāra samādhi; the sustained recognition of Puruṣa's difference from Prakṛti
6. **Highest vairāgya** (YS 1.15-1.16, 3.51) — dispassion even toward Sattvic states and the fruits of viveka
7. **Asamprajñāta samādhi** — the seedless absorption that burns the remaining vāsanā-saṃskāras
8. **Dharmamegha samādhi** (YS 4.29-4.31) — the "cloud of dharma" samādhi; the penultimate stage in which all kleśas and karmas are destroyed
9. **Kaivalya** — *pratiprasava* of the Guṇa-s; *svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā* of Puruṣa

## The Many Puruṣa-s and Individual Kaivalya

Yoga Darśana, unlike Advaita Vedānta, maintains that there are *many* Puruṣa-s — each distinct, each eternally real. Kaivalya is therefore individual — each Puruṣa's liberation does not dissolve other Puruṣa-s or Prakṛti. This explains a puzzle in the cosmology: if one person achieves kaivalya, why doesn't the universe dissolve? Because the Guṇa-s' return to equilibrium is only the equilibrium for *this* Puruṣa's relationship with *this* citta — other Puruṣa-s still require Prakṛti's evolution.

## Kaivalya vs. Mokṣa — The Structural Comparison

| | Kaivalya (Yoga Darśana) | Mokṣa (Advaita Vedānta) |
|--|------------------------|------------------------|
| Liberating event | Puruṣa permanently isolated from Prakṛti | Ātman recognizes identity with Brahman |
| Ontology | Dual — Puruṣa and Prakṛti both eternally real | Non-dual — only Brahman real; world is Māyā |
| The world after liberation | Prakṛti continues; Guṇa-s return to latent equilibrium | World recognized as never having ultimately existed |
| Liberation of | Each individual Puruṣa (many) | Ātman as Brahman (one, non-individual) |
| Key cognitive act | Viveka-khyāti (discrimination between Puruṣa and Prakṛti) | Jñāna (recognition of Ātman-Brahman identity) |
| Role of guru | Transmits the path; each practices individually | Guru's words trigger recognition; may be sudden |

## Cross-References

- [Puruṣa](purusha.md) — what is liberated in kaivalya; the pure witness that is now permanently recognized as such
- [Prakṛti (Yoga)](prakriti-yoga.md) — the domain from which Puruṣa is isolated; its Guṇa-s return to equilibrium at kaivalya
- [Viveka-Khyāti](viveka-khyati.md) — the discriminative wisdom that progressively prepares for kaivalya
- [Asamprajñāta Samādhi](asamprajnata-samadhi.md) — the seedless absorption immediately preceding or constituting kaivalya
- [Nirodha](nirodha.md) — the permanent nirodha is kaivalya; temporary nirodha is the path toward it
- [Kleśa](klesha.md) — the five affliction-roots are completely dissolved at kaivalya; abhiniveśa, the last kleśa, dissolves only with kaivalya
- [Guṇa-s](guna.md) — the Guṇa-s return to Prakṛtic equilibrium (*pratiprasava*) when kaivalya is reached

## Audience Metaphor

Kaivalya is like the moment when you realize that what you took to be your reflection in a mirror is not you — the reflection never was you, even when you thought it was. The mirror (Prakṛti, citta) has always been showing images; you (Puruṣa) were always the one looking. In ordinary experience, the looking-self got so absorbed in the image that it seemed to *be* the image. Kaivalya is the permanent restoration of the one who looks — stable, clear, unshaken — while the mirror continues reflecting for others who still need it. The mirror is not destroyed. The confusion is.

## Citations

1. [Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali](/references/yoga-sutras.md) 4.34, 2.25, 3.55
2. [Yoga Bhāṣya of Vyāsa](/references/yoga-bhasya.md) on YS 4.34
3. [Tattvavaiśāradī](/references/tattvavaisharadi.md) of Vācaspatimiśra on YS 4.34
4. Rajiv Malhotra — Being Different (2011), Ch. 3 (differences in liberation concepts)
5. Cross-bundle warning: sankhya-darshana v0.13's kaivalya-samkhya.md treats the same end-state word reached via viveka-khyāti alone (no nirodha, no eight-limb path, no Īśvara) — school-scoped, not a duplicate of this entry
