What is Moksha?
Moksha in English means salvation. Hindus believe in the doctrine of karma. In accordance with this philosophy, there are four objectives in existence, namely dharma (duty), Artha (wealth), kama (desire), and moksha (salvation). Each is equally important. However, moksha is the greatest ideal of human life (purushartha).
If a person attains Moksha, one is completely free from the eternal cycle of birth and rebirth. It is thus imperative for all human beings to attempt to achieve moksha.
Very good deeds, pious feelings, and living your own life in line with the ideals of dharma is able to help you achieve moksha. This article delves deep to the concept of moksha as expressed in Hindu doctrine and explicates how to attain it.
It is in the Vedas itself that we come to listen about moksha, meaning salvation. The concept of Moksha stems in the idea of purushartha.
Purush here describes the primal man, who's the origin of the universe. Scholars feel this purush is not gender-specific and may incorporate both men and women.
Artha means the goal or aim of life. Therefore purushartha identifies the aims in life. We all need to design our own lives in this way that we meet our purushartha. The greater we fulfill our goals of life, the greater are the odds of attaining moksha.
Since our soul is eternal and never expires, it only passes on to a different body.
The Bhagavad Gita states that just like a man sheds off its old clothes and wears new ones, which does the spirit.
It only casts off an older body and enters a new one. This continues until one is free from the cycle of birth and rebirth and attains moksha.
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What is Moksha in Hinduism
The idea of moksha is closely intertwined with the concept of the soul and also the concept of karma. To understand moksha in Hinduism, we must understand the notion of the soul nicely.
The concept of the soul is present in several different religions in the world, apart from Hinduism. However, the idea of soul significantly differs from 1 tradition to another.
In Judaism and Christianity, just human beings have immortal souls. Animals and other animals do not. In Hinduism, but the soul is everywhere. In the tiniest of these pests to the biggest of those mammals, the soul is omnipresent.
Further, Hinduism considers that soul transmigrates. To put it differently, the spirit travels from 1 body to the other. The soul can't be killed, burnt, or hurt. It is neither born nor does it die. It only travels from one body to another.
The transmigration of the soul can also be connected with the concept of moksha closely. Transmigration of the soul is common to many philosophies across the world.
In many tribal cultures, the spirit is thought to migrate from one body to another.
The souls of ancestors are believed to be reincarnated in the kinds of babies or even animals.
The affliction of the soul and also the quality of the rebirth is determined by the cumulative amount of your past karma (deeds).
This liberation or salvation is known as moksha.
Which are the two stages of Moksha?
The Vedantic school of doctrine divides moksha to two stages: Jivanmukti (liberation in this life) and videhamukti (liberation after death).
In Advaita Vedanta philosophy, a jivanmukta has attained a deep realisation of his sense of self and of the world.
Therefore, a jivanmukta can be known as Atma Jnani (one who possesses the knowledge of his ego ) and Brahma Jnani (one that has attained the sense of the universe). In the conclusion of the own lives, jivanmuktas attain paramukti (final liberation).
When a Jivanmukta person teaches about the knowledge of the universe to other people, then he's called Avadhuta. Some Avadhutas reach the name of Paramhamsa (enlightened).
On the other hand, this Jivanmukti is different from the idea of Videhamukti (literally meaning liberation in the body or liberation after death).
This usually means that the soul was freed from samsara or the cycle of birth and rebirth and achieved moksha or liberation.
Both the Vedantic and the Yoga philosophical schools of Hindusim discuss the concept of liberation through both of these phases of jivanmukti and videhamukti.
How can you access to Moksha?
First, you must attempt to detach yourself against the desires, anger, fears, and frustration of the world.
This is the way you can achieve liberation in this life.
According to Vedantic doctrine, it's possible to attain liberation in this life . One does not need to leave this world.
All one needs to do is to free oneself from the negativity of the world and get accurate knowledge of the soul (atma) and the universe (brahma).
On the flip side, there's liberation after death. This can be known as videhamukti or liberation after death. The soul eventually frees itself from the pain and suffering and adventures boundless bliss, knowledge, and power.
Someone who is jivanmukta, experiences liberation both during life and after death. Thereforehe becomes Paramukta. While jivanmukta has the entire body, paramukta and videhamukta are with no body.