[Advaita-l] vikalpa

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,
While savikalpa & nirvikalpa have been beautifullyexplained, here is the definition for vikalpa fromPatanjali Yoga Sutra.
*shabdajnAnAnupAti vastushunyO vikalpaH*
The rough translation goes as:
The vastu jnAna (the knowledge of the object) with the help of sabda pramANa even in the absence of that perceived object is called vikalpa.  
In simple terms, the knowledge of the object with the helpof the uttered word even though the object is not aroundis called vikalpa jnAna. For eg.,
1) puruSa chaitanya
Here, there are two words ie., puruSa & chaitanya. Even though, puruSa and chaitanyais a single entity, a bhEda jnAna is conceived in the form of 2 objects ie., puruSa & chaitanya.
2) the head of rAhu
Even though, it is a single entity, bhEda jnAna is conceived in the form of 2 objects ie.,rAhu & shiras.  
So, the bhEda jnAna one gets with the help of the shabda eventhough there isno bhEda in the vastu sthiti is called vikalpa jnAna.
So, now you can understand easily what is *sa-vikalpa* & *nir-vikalpa*which is self-explanatory.
regs,sriram