---
type: Concept
bundle: sankhya-darshana
bundle_version: 0.13.0
id: kaivalya-samkhya
title: Kaivalya (Sāṃkhya)
iast: Kaivalya
devanagari: कैवल्य
description: 'Absolute isolation of purusha from prakriti -- Samkhya''s term for final liberation, SCHOOL-SCOPED against yoga-darshana''s already-published kaivalya (v0.2): same word, same general sense (isolation/aloneness), but reached by a different method (viveka-khyati here vs. nirodha there) and without any Ishvara-inclusive framing.'
darshana:
- Samkhya
tags:
- kaivalya
- liberation
- samkhya
- isolation
not:
- term: union with a divine being (bhakti-marga sense of liberation)
  why: 'Kaivalya is isolation, not union. Where bhakti-marga''s liberation concepts involve relationship with a divine person, Samkhya''s kaivalya is the opposite structurally: puruṣa is recognized as having always been alone, untouched by prakṛti, requiring no union with anything -- the illusion of entanglement simply ceases to be sustained.'
- term: the Yoga-darshana kaivalya reached via nirodha (v0.2)
  why: Yoga-darshana's kaivalya.md already documents this term reached through the eight-limbed practice of nirodha, with Ishvara-pranidhana as an available accelerant. This file's kaivalya is reached through viveka-khyati alone and, per classical Samkhya's nirishvara stance, involves no Ishvara at any stage.
  instead: school_scope this file explicitly to Samkhya and cross-link reciprocally to v0.2's kaivalya.md, naming the shared word and the differing method.
related:
- /concepts/viveka-khyati.md
- /concepts/purusha.md
- /concepts/nirishvara.md
timestamp: '2026-07-10'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Kaivalya (Sāṃkhya) -- कैवल्य

**Not:** union with a divine being (bhakti-marga sense of liberation), the Yoga-darshana kaivalya reached via nirodha (v0.2)

## What It Actually Means

Kaivalya in Sāṃkhya is puruṣa's absolute aloneness, finally recognized rather than newly achieved: once viveka-khyāti is stable, prakṛti ceases producing experience for that puruṣa's sake, much as a dancer stops once she realizes her sole spectator has left. There is no residue, no further becoming, and -- distinctively for classical Sāṃkhya -- no Īśvara involved in bringing it about; it is the direct, unmediated fruit of discrimination alone.

## Audience Metaphor

Kaivalya is less like arriving somewhere and more like realizing you were never actually inside the room you thought you were trapped in -- the walls dissolve not because you broke them, but because you finally saw they were never real barriers around you.

## Citations

1. Samkhya-Karika 68 -- see [references/samkhya-karika.md](../references/samkhya-karika.md)
2. Cross-bundle warning: kaivalya in yoga-darshana v0.2 -- same word, reached via nirodha rather than viveka-khyati; reciprocal related: link patched into v0.2's kaivalya.md per this bundle's concept-lock
