Nishtha  The Sanskrit word Nishtha (निष्ठा), in Hindu philosophy, refers to faith, steadiness, devotion and the culmination, and in Sanskrit grammar, to the affixes of the Past Participles - "kta" and "katavatu". Nishtha (Sanskrit: निष्ठ or निष्ठा) means – 'being in or on', 'situated on', 'depending or 'resting on', 'referring' or 'relating to', 'devoted or attached to', 'practicing', 'intent on', 'skilled in', 'believing in', 'conducive to', 'effecting', 'position', 'condition', 'state', 'basis', 'foundation', 'fixity', 'fixedness', 'steadiness', 'devotion', 'application', 'close attachment', 'belief', 'firm adherencev, 'faith', 'excellence', 'skill', 'proficiency', 'perfection', conclusion', 'end', 'termination', 'the catastrophe or end of a drama', 'accomplishment', 'completion', 'the culminating point', 'death', 'destruction', 'disappearance from the world at the fixed time', 'fixed or certain knowledge', 'certainty', 'begging', 'suffering', 'trouble', 'distress', 'anxiety', 'a technical term for past participial terminations', and is one of the many names of Vishnu. On the battle-field of Kurukshetra, Krishna tells Arjuna:  In his commentary on this "sloka", Sankara states – "तत्र का सा द्विविधा निष्ठा इति? आह - What is this two-fold discipline? Listen: (i) The discipline of knowledge (ज्ञानयोग),….(for) the renouncers of the "Paramhamsa order" who have established themselves in the ultimate Reality, and (ii) The discipline of works (कर्मयोग)…. (for) the performers of works…the discipline of works may promote life’s ends by endowing the agent with the fitness to adopt the discipline of knowledge, and not independently, by itself, whereas the discipline of knowledge, generated by that of works, is totally independent means to life’s supreme end."