Jnana Yoga - Fourfold Discipline

Fourfold Discipline

Classical Advaita Vedanta uses the "fourfold discipline" (sādhana-catustaya) to train students and attain moksha. It consitsts of four stages:

• Samanyasa, cultivating oneself the following qualities:
  • Viveka, the capacity to discern between the real and the unreal. This was an important concept in texts older even than the Bhagavad Gita, and often invoked the image of a Swan, which was said to be able to separate milk (or Soma) from water, whilst drinking.
  • Viaragya, dipassion, detachment, indifference to pleasure and pain under all circumstances;
  • Shad-sampat, the six virtues:
    • Sama, tranquility or control of mind, calmess;
    • Dama, control of the senses;
    • Uparati, renunciation of worldy activities;
    • Titiksha, endurance of changing and opposite circumstances;
    • Shradda, faith in the guru, the atman and the scriptures;
    • Samadhana, concentration of the mind.
  • Mumukshutva, intense longing for liberation.
• Sravana, listening to the teachings of the sages on the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta, and studying the Vedas and Vedantic texts, such as the Brahma Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata. In this stage the student learns about the reality of Brahman and it's relationship with atman;
• Manana, the stage of reflection on the teachings;
• Dhyana, the stage of meditation on the truth "that art Thou".