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Thus, the practice of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga leads to vivekakhyāti or in simple words, Self- Realization. However, to get to the Spiritual Liberation, one must wait till all the past Karma is over. The attainment of Kaivalya is explained in the Kaivalya Pāda chapter of Pātañjala- Y ogadarshana.
The nature of Vivekakhyāti may be explored here for better understanding. After completion of the first seven steps of Patañjali’s eight-fold path, the yoga practitioner lands into the eighth step, samādhi, total concentration of mind. This step must evolve further until asamprajñāta samādhi is reached. This practice requires a very intensive endeavor that include two parts abhyāsa and vairāgya. abhyāsa involves sincere, long term, uninterrupted, repetitive practice of meditation. vairāgya involves total sublimation of any sensual desires called vaśīkāra vairāgya and ultimately, disinterest in the prakr̥ ti or prakr̥ ti’s constituents called guṇas. This is called Para vairāgya. While explaining Paravairāgya, Patañjali gives the citation that it is the vairāgya of a person who has reached Vivekakhyāti stage, as shown in the following Sūtras.
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