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Wellsprings
hindu-liberationfeatured in 2 works

Discernment (Viveka)

The trained eye that tells the lasting real from the passing unreal.

Viveka is the trained power of discrimination: the ability to tell the real from the unreal, the lasting from the passing, the self from what merely belongs to it. In Advaita it is the very first qualification a seeker must cultivate, because the whole path of knowledge depends on learning to see clearly what is and is not the true self. In Yoga, the dawning of perfect discrimination is itself the doorway to freedom.

How it traveled

  1. Upadeśasāhasrī
    Kālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710
    applies
  2. Vivekacūḍāmaṇi
    Śṛṅgeri (Sringeri) · 1400
    applies

Key passages(20)

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

Very high

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

Very high

Yoga-sūtra · Patañjali

Very high

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

Very high

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

Very high

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

High

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

High

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

High

Paramārthasāra · Abhinavagupta

High

Spanda-kārikā · Bhaṭṭa Kallaṭa

High

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Gītārtha-saṃgraha · Yāmunācārya (Ālavandār)

High

Vijñāna-bhairava · Anonymous (Bhairava Āgama / Tantra)

High

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Moderate

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

Moderate

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

Moderate

Śiva-stotrāvalī · Utpaladeva

Moderate