Moksha
Mokṣa (IAST)Translation: "liberation"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: मोक्ष
Transliteration: Mokṣa
Translation: "liberation; spiritual freedom; release; the final goal of human life (from the verb root mokṣ – “to liberate”)"
Definition: - There are two views in the Upaniṣad toward liberation. Some say it is attainable in this very life and others say that it is attainable only after death. (See Jīvanmukta.)
- Mīmāṃsā says that it is achieved through action (Karma) and Vedic rites alone. It is release from action, both in the sense of action and in the sense of the fruits of one’s actions.
- Advaita Vedānta says that knowledge (Jñāna) is the ultimate means to release. Truly speaking, release is the eternal nature of the Self (Ātman) and manifests itself once ignorance is removed. It is not a new acquisition, but the realization of what eternally is.
- Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta says that devotion (Bhakti) is the ultimate means to release. Karma-Yoga and Jñāna-Yoga are aids to devotion (Bhakti-Yoga). Liberation is living in Vaikuṇṭha with a non-physical body enjoying omniscience and bliss and dwelling in the presence of God. Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta also recognizes total surrender (Prapatti) as a means to release.
- Dvaita Vedānta says that God’s grace (Prasāda) is the ultimate means to release. Leading to ultimate release, the individual soul practices knowledge, dispassion, action, devotion, and a loving meditation of God, regarding oneself as His reflection. In the state of release, the individual soul remains separate from God though similar and dependent. Its personality remains in one of the four levels of graded release which Dvaita posits.
- Jainism says that release is the highest state of isolation in which the individual is freed from all fetters of Karma particles. The means to release are right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct. Aids to these include the Mahā-Vratas.
- Buddhism says that release (Nirvāṇa) is the eradication of all craving and an overcoming of the wheel of birth and death. The means to it is the eight-fold path.
- Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika says that release (Apavarga) is a separation from all qualities. There is no pleasure, happiness, or pain, or any experience whatsoever in release. It is achieved by cultivating ethical virtues and obtaining an insight into the nature of the categories.
- Sāṅkhya says that release (Kaivalya) is aloofness from all matter. There is neither pleasure nor pain, though there is an undisturbable peace. It is achieved once the individual is able to discriminate between the spirit (Puruṣa) and matter (Prakṛti). It is defined as Puruṣa-Prakṛti Viveka.
- Yoga says that the cultivation of the eight-limbed Yogic path is the way to Kaivalya or a state of superconscious Samādhi in which the individual is left totally alone. Yoga defines it as Citta-Vṛtti-Nirodha.
- Śaiva Siddhānta says that the path to release consists in Caryā, Kriyā, Yoga, and Jñāna. In release, the soul retains its individuality. It becomes similar to God and, thus, release is unity in duality. The soul enjoys God’s nature, though it is not identical with God.
- Vīra Shaivism says that release is identity in essence between Śiva and the individual soul (Liṅgāṅga-Sāmarasya). The individual soul is a part of Śiva though it is also different. Release is a unity (Aikya) of the individual soul with Śiva, wherein the individual soul enjoys complete and unexcellable bliss. The path to release is devotion as aided by the eight aids (Aṣṭāvaraṇa).
- Śivādvaita says that release is freedom from bondage and an attainment of bliss. Release is attained through realization of one’s own nature. Contemplation of Lord Śiva is the means to release.
- Kashmir Shaivism says that release is the recognition of the individual’s identity with the ultimate Reality. It is a return to one’s original state of perfection and purity. It is gained by the four steps of Āṅavopāya, Śāktopāya, Śāmbhavopāya, and Anupāya, culminating in the grace of the Divine Will.
- Liberation in theistic Shaivism is generally said to be in heaven (Kailāsa). Liberation in Vaishnavism is in Vaikuṇṭha.
The Upanishads: Volume I (Swami Nikhilananda)
"Mokṣa, or Liberation, is not the result of Knowledge. It is not a new acquisition. Causation applies to the realm of becoming and not to Brahman, which is Pure Being and beyond all categories. Causation rules the finite world of the manifold. It is inconceivable in Ātman, which is one and without a second. If Mokṣa were the result of Knowledge and were, therefore, endowed with a beginning, it would then come to an end. It would not be eternal. Arising from non-existence, it would again dissolve into nothingness. "Mokṣa (Liberation) cannot have a beginning and be eternal." Liberation is, therefore, not something which is created, but is the realization of That which has existed from eternity but has hitherto been concealed from us. "All Jīvas are ever free from bondage and pure by nature. They are ever illumined and liberated from the very beginning." As people who do not know the location of hidden gold fail to find it through walking over it again and again, so likewise, "all these creatures, day after day, go into the world of Brahman, being merged in Brahman while asleep, and yet do not discover It because they are carried away by untruth." He who knows the Self is liberated; even the gods cannot prevent his being so, because he has realized himself to be the very Soul (Ātman) of the gods. "He who knows the Supreme Brahman verily becomes Brahman." He has attained the true Immortality, that is to say, indestructibility without a continued existence, and not the state of non-dying-ness in heaven. Thus, according to the Upanishads, Liberation is not the result of the Knowledge of Ātman; it is that Knowledge. It is not affected by the Knowledge of Ātman; but this Knowledge is itself Liberation in its fullness. Desire and death; desirelessness is Liberation. He who has realized himself as Brahman, infinite and all-pervading, he who sees the whole universe in himself and himself in the universe, cannot desire anything. "What can he crave who has attained all desires?" "The fetters of the heart are broken, all doubts are resolved, and all works cease to bear fruit."
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Nikhilananda, Swami (1949). The Upanishads: Volume I—Katha, Iśa, Kena, and Mundaka. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. p. 103.
