Four disciplines. (Glossary for the Vahinis)
To entitle one to the inquiry into the Atman, one must be endowed with the Sadhana Chatushtaya or the Four Qualifications. Scholarship in all the Vedas and Shastras, asceticism, mastery of ritual, dedication to japa, charity, and pilgrimage - none of these will help in granting that authority. ‘Samadhana Uparati titiksha...’ says Sruti; so, equanimity, self-control, withdrawal of the senses, steadfastness... these alone confers that title, not caste, colour or social status. Be it a Pandit versed in all the Shastras, a Vidwan or an illiterate, a child or youth or an old person, a Brahmachari, Grihastha, Vanaprastha or Sannyasin, a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, or Shudra, or even an outcast, man or woman, the Vedas declare, ‘Every one is qualified, provided one is equipped with the Sadhana Chatushtaya’. (JV, p. 57)
Before we take up the quest for Truth, we should have our hearts purified. This is the four-fold preparatory discipline called Sadhana Chatushtaya enjoined on all aspirants.
These are primarily the moral and ethical disciplines more or less alike and akin to the Yama disciplines described in the chapter on Yoga. The four-fold disciplines are:
Nityanityavastuviveka ihamutraphalabhoga viraga,
samadamadi sadhanasampat mumukshutva
- Viveka - ‘Nityanitya Vastu Viveka Jnana’ (discrimination between the impermanent and the Permanent, the unreal and the Real, that is, the non-self and the Self).
- Vairagya - ‘Ihamutraphalabhoga Viraga’ (desirelessness either for the joys of this world or the joys of the other world, i.e., of Heaven).
- Shatsampatti (the six fold treasures) - Sama (mind control), Dama (control of senses), Uparati (contentment), Titiksha (forbearance) Shraddha (adibing faith) and Samadhana (steadfastness and equanimity of mind).
- Mumukshutva (yearning for liberation)
(TDP, p. 109)