Kaivalya

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A spiritual condition representing ultimate freedom through the realization of unity with the cosmos
2. An achieved state of enlightenment that brings liberation from the cycle of life and death through discerning the true self
3. A transcendent state of spiritual liberation attained by recognizing the oneness of existence and overcoming earthly attachments

Etymology: Kaivalya is a Sanskrit noun meaning "isolation" or "aloneness," and in the classical Hindu philosophy of Yoga and Samkhya it names the final liberation of the self (purusha) from the material world (prakriti). The word comes from "kevala," meaning "alone," "only" or "unmixed," which in turn gives the sense of a consciousness standing apart from everything it has been entangled with. The root is ancient, found in Vedic texts, and the philosophical use became central in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which close with a chapter on kaivalya (the final chapter is titled Kaivalya Pada, "the chapter on liberation"). The surprise is that the word's core idea is solitude rather than release. Liberation here is not a merging into something larger but a state of the self being unmixed and self-standing once it has finally understood its separateness from matter and mind. Sanskrit speakers would hear the same root in "kevala" used of anything sole or unaccompanied, so the spiritual sense grows directly out of a plain word for being alone.

Synonyms: liberation, emancipation