The Moksha Gita: Swami Sivananda // Commentary: Chapter 10- 10&11: Swami Krishnananda.

Swami Udit Chaithanyaji

Chittorgarh is home to the Chittor Fort, the largest fort in India and Asia. 

The fort of Chittor has witnessed the world's longest-ruling dynasty, the Kingdom of Mewar, for almost 8 centuries. 

Built in the 7th century, Chittorgarh is the largest fort in Asia. 

Spread over the area of 700 acres, this place has 22 water bodies. 

It was sacked thrice; first in 1303 by Alauddin Khalji, again in 1535 by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, and lastly by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1568. 

Its Hindu Rajput rulers fought fiercely to maintain their independence.

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Saturday, 16 Sep 2023 06:30.

The Moksha Gita: Swami Sivananda

Chapter 10: The State of Jivanmukti- 10&11.

Commentary: Swami Krishnananda.

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10. 

"He whose mind does neither sink nor float amidst pains and pleasures is indeed a liberated sage. He has rendered his mind completely quiescent by identifying himself with Brahman."

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Delusion has vanished for the Jivanmukta. The sense of want is annihilated once for all by the ineffable experience of Self-realization. His only delight is in the Self, for he is truly conscious of living, moving and having his being in the Divine Existence. The transcendental intuition which has brought to him the realization of his oneness with Brahman gives him also the realization of the same Brahman in all beings. His life, therefore, becomes one of service in the light of knowledge of the One Self in everything. He performs the Jnana-Yajna, the sacrifice of the self in the Knowledge of Brahman. Brahman is offered in Brahman by Brahman through the act of Brahman. It is a joyous suffusion of oneself in Brahman and the exact nature of this experience is one of immediate directness of being and cannot be understood, thought, felt or talked about.

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11. 

"The Jivanmukta has a consciousness of body in the form of a Samskara; the Videhamukta has no consciousness of the body."

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The Jivanmukta melts himself in Brahman even as ice melts into the ocean of water. "Knowing It in every single being, the wise, on departing from this world, become Immortal. When all the desires that are lodged in the heart are cast off, then the mortal becomes Immortal! Herein he attains Brahman! Attaining Him, the seers who are satisfied with Knowledge, who are perfected souls, free from passion, tranquil – attaining Him who is the universally omnipresent, those wise devout souls into the All itself do enter. They who have realised the meaning of the Vedanta-Knowledge, the sages, with natures purified through Sanyasa and Yoga, they in the State of Brahman in the end of time are all liberated beyond death. Gone are the fifteen parts according to their station, even all the sense-organs are gone to their corresponding divinities! One's actions and the self consisting of Intelligence, all become unified in the Supreme Imperishable! As the flowing rivers in the ocean disappear leaving name and form, so also the wise man being liberated from name and form, reaches the Divine Being, who is Higher than the high! He who knows that Supreme Brahman, verily, becomes Brahman. He crosses over sorrow. He crosses over sin. Liberated from the knots of the heart, he becomes Immortal" (Upanishads).

Sage Vasishtha says to Rama that a Videha-Mukta need not necessarily dissolve himself in the Absolute Brahman. If he so wishes he may merge in the Being of Satchidananda; but if he wishes to remain as an individual merely as a sport, he may shine as the Sun of a universe or rule like a Vishnu or become a Brahma or a Siva. He may become a universal individual like Krishna or Vasishtha who are identical with Brahman but still assume bodies for the solace of the world. If he at any time does not wish to be an individual, he may exist as the Absolute wherever he pleases to be so. The liberated state is not bound by or limited to Indivisibility and Changelessness alone, for the Absolute is unlimited and is free to assume any form. But that formative will is not like the unconscious will of the Jiva which involuntarily binds it to individuality. The conscious formative play of the Absolute is a completely free and voluntary act. The Videhamukta is Brahman himself and hence lives and acts as the Absolute.

The Jnani attains Sadyo-Mukti or immediate salvation. The Jivanmukta who has realised that there is nothing anywhere except Brahman merely, does not have the departing of the soul, as in the case of other individuals. Where can his Self depart to? There is no space where the Self is not and hence it does not depart to any place. It merges in Itself here only.

Mukti is not a thing to be attained. It is not far away to be obtained. It is the very being itself and hence the mere knowledge or realization of it is itself Mukti. Everything is Brahman only in the three periods of time. There is neither bondage nor suffering. The Consciousness of this Truth is called Liberation in empirical language.

The Brahmasutras discuss the question of the possibility of a return of the liberated one to earth in a new existence. Sages like Apantaratamas etc., though possessed of the highest Brahmajnana, returned to bodily existence. They do so in order to fulfil a mission for the good of the world. When their mission is completed, they again exist as the Absolute. Lord Krishna says that though he has no form, birth or death, he assumes forms in every age for the uplift of the world. Such incarnations are not the effect of Prarabdha Karmas but the conscious manifestations of the Supreme Absolute in the plane of relativeness. The Upanishads also indicate the free will of the liberated soul, when they say that it acquires full freedom in all the worlds. Logically, the highest state of Moksha is the merging of individual consciousness in Absolute Consciousness. Eternal Existence, Infinite Knowledge and Immortal Bliss is Moksha or Final Emancipation.

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Next

Chapter 11: Brahman-Upadesa

To be continued

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