Yoga
The Yoga school of orthodox Hinduism is focused on practical processes for attaining liberation—of disentangling the soul-witness from nature. The founding text of the Yoga school is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that arose centuries after Sankhya. The Yoga Sutras substantially derive from Sankhya and centrally feature reincarnation and transmigration of the subtle-body. However, there is a major difference between Yoga and Sankhya. Yoga posits the existence of a special super-soul (which it calls Isvara) that is the only omniscient soul. Even after attaining liberation, an ordinary soul will never know what the super-soul knows, because the super-soul alone has infinite knowledge. The super-soul fills the role of God, and when liberation is attained by an ordinary soul-witness, the luminous reality of the super-soul comes into view. The reason for introducing the super-soul into Yoga’s metaphysical model appears to have been motivated by criticism aimed at the nature of Sankhya’s liberation, which is described as perfect isolation of the soul from everything including other souls. Sankhya asserted this state was bliss, but its critics called it cold, joyless suspended-animation. Free of suffering yes, but also devoid of anything similar to joy, awe, or reverence.[Edt1] Although Yoga leaves the exact relationship between a liberated soul and the super-soul unclear, the super-soul is important for describing what to expect when approaching liberation. The radiance of the super-soul comes into sight and the whole of existence is seen to have the properties of the super-soul, which is beauty, joy, and awe.