Viveka

views updated

Viveka (Skt., ‘discrimination’). In Sāṃkhya philosophy, the direct intuitive discrimination between puruṣa (pure consciousness) and prakṛti (materiality), and the goal of the Sāṃkhya system. In Advaita Vedānta viveka is considered one of the four requisites of a seeker after knowledge of Brahman and is defined by Śaṅkara as: ‘an (intellectual) discrimination between what is eternal and what is noneternal’ (Brahmasūtrabhāṣya 1. 1).

More From encyclopedia.com