Chapter 10 – The Concept of Moksha
Moksha available only through the grace of Sri Hari
Moksha is defined as the casting off what is not natural to the soul and remaining in its true nature for all eternity. The souls are in their intrinsic nature of pure intelligence (chit) and happiness (ananda). They have varying capacities for intelligence and ananda and other intrinsic qualities like devotion or love to Brahman, such capacity being the greatest in Chaturmukha Brahma who is therefore regarded as jivottama (the highest among jivas), and least in what are called trinajivas (jivas like a blade of grass). The souls are atomic in size, while Sri Vishnu (Brahman) is all pervading and is therefore essentially different from the individual souls. The qualities of knowledge, Ananda etc., of individual souls are not completely manifested during the state of samsara or bondage. The intrinsic nature of soul is obscured from being realized by beginningless cosmic ignorance (anadi avidya). The soul is obscured by jivacchadika, an avidya which obscures its own nature and by paramacchadika, an avidya which obscures the Brahman from being perceived by the soul. The process of discipline inculcated in the scriptures is intended to remove this avidya and enable the jiva to realize its full nature unhampered. The avidya can be removed only by the grace (prasada) of Sri Hari. The course of discipline is directed towards obtaining His grace. It is contended that knowledge of Brahman alone is the direct cause of removal of avidya and that His grace is not called for. If it were so, argues Sri Madhwacharya, those who have acquired such knowledge should obtain immediate release or Moksha. Such however is not the case since there is an interval or delay (vilamba) between the realizations of knowledge and obtaining of Moksha. The delay indicates the existence of a personality (purusha) who confers Moksha by His grace. The Acharya therefore states – ‘mokshascha vishnuprasdena vina na labhyate’ (V.T.V.p6). This is affirmed in the Narayana Shruti – ‘yasya prasadat paramartiroopat asmat samsarat muchyate naparena Naryanosou paramo vichintyo mumukshibihi hi’ – Narayana, the Great, should be contemplated by those desirous of Moksha, by whose Grace alone release from this world of misery can result. Lord Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavadgita – ‘matprasadadavapnoti shashwatam shukham avyayam’ (Bh.G. 18-56) – from My Grace souls attain eternal happiness. Thus, the immediate cause of Moksha or release from bondage is Sri Hari’s Grace. Such grace (prasada) can be obtained through a course consisting of renunciation (vairagya), devotion (bhakti), contemplation (upasana), and direct perception (aparoksha) of the Lord.
The necessary discipline for obtaining Grace
The seeker of truth or God should first learn to discriminate between nitya and anitya i.e., between eternal and non-eternal or ephemeral things of the world. Such a discriminating knowledge would awaken a proper sense of values and of casting off hedonic desires and prejudices. The mind becomes detached and prepared to get absorbed in God, being unfettered by wordily desires. True devotion to God cannot arise in mind attached to earthly things. The devotion of God becomes steadfast and deep when the knowledge of His Nature dawns on the souls. The contemplation of the Glories of God, the knowledge of His Avataras (incarnations) and constant meditation deepen the devotion or bhakti. The knowledge of God as the creator of our bodies would generate love towards Him as towards a father and the knowledge of God as the All Creator would generate veneration towards Him, the knowledge of God as full of infinite auspicious qualities would produce a feeling of contempt for other things and a knowledge of dependence of everything on Him would tend to deepen our devotion towards Him says Sri Madhwacharya (refer A.V. p.46). Such deep devotion or bhakti is conducive for upasana or contemplation. Contemplation practiced for a long time produces Aparoksha or direct perception of God. Sri Hari manifests Himself in all His Glory before His devotee and such perception assures release for the soul. Seeing God face to face the germ of beginningless avidya is shattered and all doubts automatically vanish declared the shuti ‘bhidyate hrdayagranthi chidyanthe sarva samshayah ksheeyathe chasya karmani yasmin drushte paravare' (Katha. Up.). The path of discipline inculcated in the scriptures consists of: (1) vairagya- realization of the ephemeral nature of wordily things, such realization being developed after a through experience of the vicissitudes of life (2) shama- mind being always focused or directed towards Sri Hari (3) dama- control of the senses (Refer Bh.G. 18-42) (4) adhyayana- study of the Vedic and associated scriptures (5) gurukula vasa - staying with a preceptor (6) shravana listening to the teaching of the preceptor or guru (7) manana -recapitulation of what has been taught (8) sharanagati -surrender of self to God (9) bhakti-devotion to God and guru (10) kindness towards inferiors, friendliness with equals and regards towards elders (11) nishkama karma-performing of one's duties without desire (12) avoiding what is proscribed or prohibited in the scriptures (13) sarva samarpanam - dedication of all to God (14) taratamya parijnanam— true knowledge of the gradations (15) Pancha bheda jnanam - true knowledge of fivefold difference (16) prakrtipurusa-vivekajnanam - true knowledge of difference between prakrti and souls (17) ayogyaninda - deprecation of the wicked and (18) upasana - contemplation of Brahman. Such a course of discipline is common to all souls and cannot be completed in a single birth. The jiva is subject to various births and can complete the sadhana (spiritual efforts) in a number of births.
The concept of Moksha according to other schools not acceptable
The state of Moksha is conceived of in different ways by the various schools of philosophy. According to the Jaina system the soul attains release from bondage by the triple means of samyak jnana, samyak darshana and samyak charitra i.e., right knowledge, right perception and right conduct. The released soul flies asway from bondage even as a released bird flies away from Its cage. The soul will have organs (non-material) of the same shape and size as those of its last body (charama deha) and flies eternally higher and higher without limit. The souls however do not possess ananda as other systems of philosophy believe. Sri Madhwacharya objects to such a concept of Moksha by pointing out that on the basis of inference flying eternally higher and higher cannot be conceded as the true nature of Moksha because such a flying if anything ought to be a source of misery. In experience we know that going higher involves much strain and consequent unhappiness. On the basis of inference therefore flying higher and higher cannot be admitted as the true nature of the state of Moksha. Again, the Jainas do not admit of positive happiness in the state of Moksha. According to them happiness is merely non-misery. The view that happiness is non-misery is criticized by the Acharya. That there is such a thing as positive happiness, which is not merely absence of misery, says Sn Madhwacharya, can be realized from the fact that we have experience of increase of happiness with the increase of the means of happiness (matrabhogatirekena sukhadhikyasya darshanat A.V. p.68). Such cannot be the case if happiness was merely non-misery. A person feels relieved and happy when he acquires more and more money after becoming solvent and the feeling in the case Is not merely one of relief but of elation consequent on acquiring greater means of happiness. Happiness therefore is a positive entity and not merely absence of misery.
The concept of Moksha according to Bauddhas is also not acceptable of Sri Madhwacharya. There are four prominent schools among Bauddhas, and the concept of Moksha is accordingly slightly different in the different schools. According to the first school called Shunyavada or Madhyamika school ’Shunya' is the only tatwa or entity in the universe. In the state of Moksha there is no knowledge and no object of knowledge. The world of sentient and non- sentient beings is merely an appearance due to the cosmic ignorance called samvruti of a particular soul. When such cosmic ignorance is destroyed the world of appearance disappears and what remains is attributeless existence called Shunya. Such a view of Moksha is also the view of Advaita says Sri Madhwacharya (te moksham tadrisham bryurnishankam mayino yatha (A.V.p.68). The Shunya tatwa cannot be characterized as the existing or as the non-existing, as happiness or as misery; it is nirvishesha i.e., without any attributes, nirlepa i.e., without any contact and beyond the conception of mind or words (no satvam naiva chasatvam shunyatvasya vidyate… nirvishesham…nirlepam A.V.p.68). The Shunyavada has a group of adherents who say that the world of appearance is due to different individuated ignorance of different souls and each such differentiated soul attains the state of shunyatva after its ignorance or samvruti is destroyed. The view that the world of appearance is due to ignorance or samvurti of one soul and the view that the world of appearance is due to the ignorance of different souls find parallels in the ekajivavada and the anekajivavada of Advaita. Sri Madhwacharya criticizes such concept of Moksha. In the first place if the soul cannot persist during the state of Moksa (it cannot because Moksha is Shunyatva or nothingness) then to which entity should the state of Moksha be ascribed? The loss of personality of the soul cannot be a desirable end or summum bonum. All effort and all philosophy are intended to secure emancipation of the soul and if after emancipation no such thing as a soul exists the labour would indeed appear to be in vain. Again, nobody can be expected to enthuse over a state of Moksa, which results in the annihilation of the self. The annihilation of the self is no different from the annihilation of a pot and a philosophy of such annihilation would be nihilism. According to the second school of Bauddhas called yogachara, vijnana alone is tatwa. But vijnana or knowledge without a knower cannot be. The absence of knowership is tantamount to annihilation of self, which cannot be conceived as the proper ideal for anyone to strive for.
The third school of Buddhas called Vaibhashika and the fourth school called Sautrantika conceive of Moksha thus: knowledge is kshanika or momentary by nature and the soul or atman is knowledge itself. But each momentary knowledge is succeeded by a similar knowledge as an eternal series (sanatana) and is therefore eternal. Bondage (samsara) is due to association with beginningless samsara i.e., impression or inhibitions of the mind. The true knowledge of the self removes such bondage. The soul conceived as a series of momentary knowledge cannot be accepted as a metaphysical entity. The persistence of I-ness in self-knowledge is against the ‘momentariness’ of the self as adumbrated by the Vaibhashika and Sautrantika schools.
The Sankhya and the Nyayavaisheshika schools regard the state of Moksha as a state of freedom from misery. All desires, prejudices and efforts are completely annihilated during the state of Moksha. But such a restricted view is again not acceptable to Sri Madhwacharya. The shrutis which are accepted as pramanas declare that the souls enjoy unmitigated bliss also during the state of Moksha and possess knowledge. The Shruti 'jaksan kridan ramamanah' declares that the released souls enjoy themselves in diverse ways. The Shruti ‘ashariramavavasantham na priya apriyespraatatah' would seem to declare that during Moksha what is dear and what is not dear do not exist. The Shruti ‘napretyasamjnasti’ would seem to say that there is no knowledge during the state of Moksha. But the former Shruti only denies the existence of those things, which were regarded as dear or non-dear while in the state of bondage. The later shruti only says that to a soul in bondage there is no knowledge of a released soul. The Shruti itself further says the soul during Moksha remains with its intrinsic qualities unremoved (anuchittadharma) and declares the soul during Moksha as vijnanaghana i.e., as the embodiment of knowledge. Further the Shruti refers to the released soul as avinashi i.e., the undestroyed. Pratyaksha reveals that the soul has knowledge as revealed in self-knowledge. I know myself and there is no difference in the matter of mere knowing between ‘I know myself’ and ‘I know pot’. In the former case however the subject ‘I’ and the object 'myself’ are the same entity but that need be no ground to deny the existence of such knowledge. The rule that the subject and object are different clearly finds an exception in this case and ‘myself’ when I know is the soul which persists in Moksha with the knowledge of myself unimpaired. The shruti ‘ahamityevayo vedyah sa jiva iti kirtitah… sa dukhi sa sukhi chaivasapatram bandha mokshayoh’ declares that, that which knows itself as myself is called jiva, that is the entity, which experiences happiness or misery, and that is the entity which is subject to bondage and liberation. Shrutis without number can be quoted declaring the state of Moksha as one of unalloyed happiness and bliss. The shruti ‘yatrananadascha modascha mudah pramudasate kamasya yatraptah kamahatvamamriamkridhi’ declares that in the state of amrtuatva (Moksha) there is happiness of various kinds like ananda, moda, muda, and pramoda.
The State of Moksha according to Sri Madhwacharya
In the state of Moksha as conceived by Sri Madhwacharya the released souls enjoy eternal bliss without the least taint of unhappiness. There is no influence of Rajas and Tamas in Moksha. Time has no influence in ageing those in Moksha. All are eternally young and eternally joyous. The released souls have various capacities for happiness, with Chaturmukha Brahma having the highest happiness and other souls in decreasing order. The Taittariya Shruti declares the gradation of ananda of the released souls - ‘sa eko manushanandha te yestam manushinandah... teyesatam- prajpateranandah sa eko brahmananandah' the ananda of jivas called manushya ganadharvas is a hundred-fold that of manushya (humans); the ananda of Brahma is a hundred-fold of that of prajapati. That the reference here in this Shruti is to the state of Mukthi of released souls can be realized from a detailed examination of the Shruti. The shruti commences with the determination of ananda by saying ‘saishanandasyamimsmsabhavathi’ and characterizes the souls as avrijina and akamahata i.e., as free from sin and desire. Such a freedom from sin and desire is persistent only in the case of released souls. Sri Madhwacharya has expounded this shruti in great detail in the Anuvyakhyana. It might however be objected that differences in ananda during the state of Moksha would lead to jealousy and envy. Sri Madhwacharya however answers such an objection most effectively. In the first place even if we accept for a moment that all released souls enjoy the same amount of happiness it does not necessarily follow that they can be free from jealousy. People are jealous even with their equals and would like others to be inferior to them. Superiority complex in calculated to make men happier. The gradation of happiness in the state of Moksha as conceived by Sri Madhwacharya does not lead to mutual envy for the following reasons. There can be no envy in Moksha because the very condition of obtaining Moksha is absence of envy and other such
defects. Those that have not cast-off envy and desire cannot enter the kingdom of God. The different souls have different capacities for enjoyment and when their enjoyment is complete the extent of enjoyment of other souls does not and cannot bother them. When I am satisfied with my meal, I do not envy my friend who may eat more. I do not even envy his greasier capacity for food. Again, as Sri Madhwacharya says, all souls superior to a particular soul are regarded by him as gurus. Sri Madhwacharya therefore says that just as no true disciple envies his gurus, no soul in the state of Moksha envies its superiors. Lastly the sadhana of each soul is appropriate for its capacity and difference in sadhana imply difference in ananda during Moksha. Brahma observed penance for two hundred kalpas while Rudra observed penance for forty kalpas drinking the waters of the salt sea and Indra observed penance for millions of years living just on smoke. Such different courses of penance point towards the difference in ananda of the released souls in the state of Moksha.
The souls reside in Moksha for all eternity and never again return to samsara as the Shruti 'nacha punaravartate' states. Sri Krishna says of His Abode as that entering which one never returns ‘yadgatva na nivartante taddama paramam mama’ (Bh. G 15-6). There are various classes of released souls in Moksha and the souls have definite shapes and are atomic in size. The shapes range through the whole gamut of the shapes of the vegetable and the animal kingdom culminating in human. Every object in creation in this world has its own beauty and such beauty alone is what obtains in Moksha. Even a blade of grass gently vacillating in air with a light green colour on a sunny morning is a beautiful thing to gaze at. The dignity of the lion is well known. The grand matter of the walking of the elephant draws forth our admiration. The snake also has its charm, and the poet compares the flowing and plaited hair of a woman to a snake. The souls in the state of Moksha have their intrinsic beauty and charm as reflected in their counterparts in this world of ours. The souls have their intrinsic bodies of intelligence and can take up material bodies of pure Sattva at pleasure and cast them away at will. There are souls who are like kings, souls who are like rishis doing penance, souls who are always performing sacrifices, and souls who are sanyasis and souls in holy eternal wedlock and souls practicing brahmacharya. These are mere modes of enjoyment for them. The souls have hunger but whereas hunger is a source of pain for us on the earth it is source of pleasure for them and satisfying hunger is a still greater source of pleasure. There are four types of Moksha called Sayujya (togetherness with God). Salokya (residing in the same place with God), Sameepya (being near God), and Swaroopya (having a similarity to Him). Some souls have four arms like Vishnu and have similar ornaments. The released souls reside in three regions called Shwetadweepa, Anantasana and Vaikunta. Some souls however even after release stay in this world itself and some others in the higher worlds including Brahmaloka. They are however in the state of Mukthi and never return to the state of bondage.
There is no death, disease, disappointment or any other kind of dosha (defect) in the state of Moksha. All are attuned towards God and there is no competition, no jealousy and no strife. The souls cherish the highest devotion towards Sri Hari and such devotion is in the nature of eternal happiness ‘mukthau shiaisa anandaroopini’. The individual soul by constant meditation of his dependence on Sri Hari and persistent and undiminished devotion to Him obtains release by His Grace (prasada) and enjoys everlasting beatitude.