We Are Never Away From Mokṣa (Liberation)

“It is only because of ignorance that we mistake ourselves to be mortal Jīvātmas. All we have to do is drop this mistaken notion. It is also wrong to think that dropping the erroneous notion will make one immortal. All one has to do is drop the wrong notion and claim that one is the immortal Brahman. The body, the world, and experiences are only appearances. Just as a child sleeping in the lap of the mother dreams that he has gone away from the mother and screams, but upon waking realizes that he was never away from his mother at all, we are never away from Mokṣa.”

~ Swami Paramarthananda, Māṇḍūkyopaniṣat and Kārikā (commentary on Chapter 4, Verse 8)