About Pratiyogitvam

Pratiyogitvam, a Sanskrit term, means recognizing 'difference' by noting the 'otherness' in another thing; 'difference' means 'the want of the total characteristic of one thing in another'. Differences are of three kinds: (a) 'difference existing in oneself' (svajātiya-bheda), (b) 'difference in species' (svagata-bheda), and (c) 'difference of genus' (vijātiya-bheda). These differences do not exist in Brahman who is one without a second. The Upanishads negate these differences in Brahman who is self-revealing and can be experienced when all mentations cease, what is then experienced is not nothing, for there can be no knowledge of a thing that does not exist.