The ultimate aim of both Samkhya-yoga and Vedanta is mukti (liberation). By mukti, both of them understand Kaivalya, perfect isolation or Soleness, the only difference being that Samkhya-yoga aims at isolation from Prakrti while Vedanta aims at isolation from Maya. There is, however, one difference between the two in the concept of Self. According to SamkhyaYoga, Self or Purusa is saccit (existence-consciousness) and there is nothing higher than Purusa. According to Vedanta, Self or Atma is Saccidananda (existence-consciousness-bliss) and is identical with Brahman.
The ultimate aim of Saivagama is not simply mukti or Self-realization but Sivatva-yojana acquiring the status of Siva. In the words of Saivagama, the ultimate ideal is not merely Atmavyapti but Siva-vyapti. In Atma-vyapti, there is Self-realization, but the concept of Self-realization in Saivagama is different from that of Vedanta. In Vedanta, Self is merely jnana devoid of any activity whatsoever. In Saivagama, Self is characterized by both jnana and kriya. But Atma-vyapti in Saivagama is a lower ideal. The highest ideal is Siva-vyapti. In Siva-vyapti, there is Siva-Sakti-samarasya, fusion and union of Siva-sakti. In Atma-vyapti, there is limited jnana-kriya (knowledge and activity); in Siva-vyapti, there is universal, all-pervasive jnanakriyd. This Siva-vyapti is the status of Parama Siva who is simultaneously transcendent to and immanent in the universe. This comes about only when unmana sakti is developed.
In Vedantic liberation, Maya disappears and along with it goes the wretched universe which was only a fiction conjured up by her. In Siva-vyapti, the universe appears as a magnificent expression of Siva's - one's own - Sakti.
The liberated Self in Samkhya-yoga is only Saccit (existenceconsciousness). The Self or Purusa is freed of all pain and suffering, but he has no positive bliss. In Vedanta, the characteristic of Self is saccidananda (existence-consciousness-bliss). There is positive bliss in liberation. But it is only atmananda, the delight of Self. In Siva-vyapti, the entire universe gleams as the wondrous delight of I-consciousness.
Both in Samkhya-Yoga and Vedanta, the citta or mind reverts to its causal matrix, the Prakrti at the time of liberation. Patanjala yoga has a special word for this reversion, viz; pratiprasava which means reabsorption, remergence (into Prakrti). The defiling buddhi or citta has to withdraw into its primal cause. It is only then that Purusa can shine in his pristine, inherent glory. The citta can never be allowed to enter the sacred precincts of Purusa. It is an alien and has to be repatriated to its original home.
Saivagama which is undiluted advaita (non-dualism) has, however, a word of cheer even for the poor citta. According to it, the citta of the self-realized person becomes regenerated, transformed, transfigured into Cit (the Universal Divine Consciousness). Sutra 13 of Pratyabhijnahrdayam announces the reassuring tidings of its higher destiny in unmistakable terms:
(couldn't copy over Sanskrit)
On the realization of the five-fold act of the Self citta (the individual consciousness), by inward movement becomes citi (universal consciousness) by rising to the status of cetana (the knowing subject).
The following lucid commentary of Ksemaraja on this sutra deserves to be carefully pondered over:
(couldn't copy Sanskrit)
"The citta giving up the limiting tendency of extroversion, becoming introverted, rises to the status of cetana i.e. to the status of the knowing subject, when by the dissolution of the aspect of limitation and attaining its real nature, it becomes citi. That is to say, it now enters its highest stage of cit."
Citta is not an alien in this system. Sutra 5 of Pratyabhijnahrdayam says clearly:
(couldn't copy over Sanskrit)
"Citi (universal consciousness) itself, descending from the stage of Cetana (knower) becomes citta (individual consciousness), inasmuch as it becomes contracted in conformity with the objects of consciousness." In involution (avaroha, nimesa) citi becomes citta; in the highest stage of evolution (adhyaroha, unmesa) citta attains its real nature and becomes citi again.
