For one endowed with discernment, liberation is immediate

Viveka — discernment, the capacity to distinguish real from apparent, permanent from transitory, subject from object. It is the same word Patañjali uses as the first instrument of kriyā yoga, and the Haṭha Pradīpikā places at the foundation of all practice. But where Patañjali lists it as a step, Vasiṣṭha proclaims it as sufficient condition. He does not say “discernment leads to liberation” — he says that for one who truly discerns, liberation is already here. The difference between gradual and instantaneous is not doctrinal; it depends on the depth of discernment.