Viveka (Sanskrit:विवेक,romanized: viveka) is aSanskrit andPali term translated into English as discernment or discrimination. In theVedanta,viveka is considered to be the first requirement of the spiritual journey, the next beingvairagya (detachment), as a natural extension ofviveka.[1]AdvaitaVedanta Darshana interpretsviveka as discrimination between the real (Satya) and the unreal (asatya).VisistadvaitaVedanta Darshana interprets viveka as discrimination of food.[2]
According toRao and Paranjpe,viveka can be understood as the sense of discrimination or wisdom: discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the self and the non-self, between the permanent and the impermanent; discriminative inquiry; right intuitive discrimination.[3]: 348 Viveka also means the power of distinguishing the invisibleBrahman from the visible world, a faculty that enables the classification of things according to their real properties. It is an antidote toavidya which is the root cause of all suffering. Viveka can be cultivated by association withJnanis andsaints, the study ofVedanta literature,meditation, and by separating oneself from the senses.[4]
In the Advaita tradition, theVivekachudamani (attributed toAdi Shankara) is a pedagogical treatise in poetic form that addresses the development ofviveka in the spititual aspirant.[5] Much of the work is in the form of a dialogue between a student and a spiritual master. It expounds the nondualist approach to discernment of the real (eternal and unchanging) and unreal (temporal and changing),purusha (consciousness) andprakriti (matter or energy), and the ultimate unity ofatman (individual essence) andBrahman (universal essence).[6]
Viveka is the basis of the monastic name ofSwami Vivekananda, the late 19th century Indian saint and spiritual teacher who first brought the Advaita philosophy to the West. The name "Vivekananda" is a conglomerate ofviveka andānanda, meaning "the bliss of discerning wisdom". The name was suggested by his patron, friend and disciple RajaAjit Singh of Khetri in 1893, just before the Swami left for his first visit to America.
According toRamanujacharya of theSri VaishnavaVisistadvaita tradition,viveka refers to discrimination in relation to food-taking, with the purpose of minimizing the individual's subjection to the senses and refining the capacity to go beyond them towards God. Food contains all the energies that make up the forces of our body and mind and the material particles of the food eaten construct the instrument of thought. There are certain kinds of food that produce a certain change in themind and the body. According to Ramanuja, the following three things in food must be avoided byBhaktas:[2]
When these things are avoided, food becomes pure. Ramanuja quotesChandogya Upanishad: "If one eats pure food, one’s mind becomes pure. If the mind is pure, one’s memory becomes strong and steady. If the memory is good, one becomes free from all bondages and mind is a constant memory of God".
