(Based
on the lectures of Swami Paramarthananda)
In our scriptures all the human goals are classified into four types. In Sanskrit the goal of a human being is called Purushartha. The four human goals are Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksha. Artha is all those things that we seek for our security and survival. All those things that one seeks for one’s pleasure constitute Kama. Dharma is good or noble actions through which one’s satisfaction and feel-good factor is enhanced and which Sastras call as punyam. The last one is called Moksha or liberation (spiritual freedom). According to our scriptures Moksha is the greatest Purushartha. Katha Upanishad calls the first three Purusharthas as Preyas and the Moksha Purushartha as Sreyas and names the majority of people who seek only the Preyas as mandas (non-intelligent)) and the few matured, wise people who seek Sreyas as dheeras (intelligent).
According to Advaita
Vedanta, one can realise Moksha through the realization that one’s Self,
Athma, is in fact Brahman, the Supreme.
Jiva in its ignorance of its true Self, imagines it is bound to samsara
and with Self-knowledge the shackles of assumed bondage fall off and the Jiva
becomes a muktha purusha even while alive and at the exhaustion of
prarabhdha karma, is free of the body once and for all. The self-ignorance can be removed through
self-knowledge only and so it is said in traditional teaching that Moksha
can be attained only through Jnanam as Athma Jnanam alone dispels
Athma ajjnanam and reveals one’s own svarupa as Brahman. In
Brahma Sutra Sri Vyasacharya establishes that study of Sastras under the
guidance of a competent Guru is the only means for getting this Jnanam.
Study of sastras require not
only the desire to acquire the knowledge but also a pure mind to absorb the subtle
knowledge when acquired. Sastras
prescribe various methods like performing pancha maha yagnas, yoga and
pranayama for getting the mind purified for Sastra study. This purified mind is required to learn the
sastras and understand that one is not bound at all. Tattva-Bodha of Sri Aadhi Sankara says at the
start: “Sadhana chatushtaya sampanna adhikarinam Moksha sadhana bhutam
tatva viveka prakaram vakshyamaha. (We
shall explain to those who are endowed with four-fold qualifications the mode
of discrimination which is the means of liberation.)”. Sadhana chathushtayam, the four-fold
qualification; Viveka (discrimination), Vairagyam (dispassion), Samadhi
shatka sampatthi (six qualities of mind-discipline), and Mumukshutvam
(desire for liberation), shortly referred as 4D’s i.e. Discrimination.
Dispassion, Discipline and Desire, is required as a preparation for the study
of sastras to learn the truth about one’s Real Self. But this fact of the identity of one’s self
with Brahman cannot be known or understood before learning about Athma. This means a Jiva getting liberated is
not conditional on any requirement but only his understanding, absorbing and
internalising the fact revealed by Mahavakhyas that is conditional on factors
like a purified mind, Sadhana Chathushtaya Sampaththi etc. So Moksha is not conditional but
acquiring Athma Jnanam, which leads to the discovery that one is ever-free
and never bound, is conditional.
Then one may wonder why in
the beginning of the Vedanta study Sadhana Chathushtaya Sampaththi is
introduced as a condition for Moksha only to be negated in the advanced
stage of study. It is because the methodology
of teaching employed here is Adhyaropa Apavada Nyayaha i.e. the method
of superimposition and negation. The
word Adhyaropa means superimposition and Apavada means negation. This method can also be interpreted as the
method of introducing an idea in the beginning and withdrawal of the very same
idea in the later part of the teaching. Both Adhyaropa and Apavada complement each
other as Adhyaropa is incomplete without Apavada and Apavada is irrelevant
without Adhyaropa. Talking about the
creation in the beginning and later saying that really there is no new creation,
is one other instance where this method is employed.
Some dharmic people look upon pursuit of Moksha as a selfish pursuit as it benefits the individual only unlike social service which benefits society. Swami Paramarthananda in one of his Sivarathri talks explains in detail why pursuit of Moksha, though a selfish pursuit, is to be considered as the best selfish pursuit since Moksha destroys one’s selfishness and gives Aananda and also accommodates others’ selfishness. Let us see that briefly.
According to scriptures
except for a Jnani, who is a liberated person with Self-knowledge, all
others have selfishness as their instinctive characteristic. This selfishness
is expressed in three ways. The first expression of selfishness is “Ahamkara”. Ahmakara is the misconception or
notion that one is a human being with a body-mind sense complex. The second expression of selfishness, Mamakara
is a natural corollary of the first.
One’s feeling of ownership and attachment to a few things and people around
like house, property, wife, child etc., are called Mamakara. The
third expression of selfishness is an extension of Ahamkara and Mamakara. From the standpoint of one’s Ahamkara and
Mamakara, one classifies and differentiates things and people as
favourable, giving him happiness and unfavourable, being a source of sorrow and
develops attachment or Raga towards favourable ones and dislike or Dwesha
towards the unfavourable ones. According
to our scriptures every living being and every human being is bound by Ahamkara,
Mamakara and Raga-Dwesha. So
the nature of every being is selfishness.
In the case of a Moksha
seeker, his entire endeavour is to get rid of this selfishness package of Ahamkara,
Mamakara and Raga-Dwesha. So scriptures call the pursuit of Moksha
as the most intelligent selfish pursuit.
In other pursuits of Artha, Kama, and Dharma the
selfishness is perpetuated while only in Moksha pursuit the aim is to
remove and dilute selfishness through the attainment of Self-knowledge. This Moksha
pursuit which is the pursuit of Self-knowledge is a long pursuit. In this long journey one learns three
important lessons the adoption of which act as antidotes to Ahamkara,
Mamakara and Raga-Dwesha. The
first lesson is a new understanding or insight with respect to one’s body which
knowledge will annul Ahamkara. The understanding gained is “I am not body and I
am not mind, they are temporary medium through which I transact with the world”. The second lesson is that “I am not the owner
of the body as well besides being not the body itself. I am the user of
the body only and only Bhagawan is the owner of the body”. The third important lesson is the understanding
that one is not even the controller of the body. Like time, place and law of karma, oneself is
also only one of the factors that determine the destiny of the body. Once it becomes clear “I am not the body; I
am not the owner of the body; and I am not the controller of the body” Ahamkara
weakens, Mamakara reduces and Raga-Dwesha diminishes and with the
firm unshakeable understanding of one’s nature as Athma and the knowledge “Athma
is the only source of happiness in the creation” they all get liquidated.
A wise person who is
established in Self-knowledge and has dropped the Ahamkara and Mamakara
and is free of Raga-Dwesha, has destroyed his selfishness and does not suffer
from Raga-Dwesha based samsara. He also understands and accommodates the
selfishness of ignorant people as he realizes that people are helplessly
selfish because of their Self-ignorance. One who has attained the Moksha Purushartha
is called Jivan Muktha who does not depend on the world or others for
his security and happiness; is as comfortable being alone as in the presence of
others; returns anger with soft and kind words; never injures or harms any life
form; and is humble and selfless and at the exhaustion of his Prarabhdha
karma lays down the body and is free of the Samsara cycle forever.
--------------------------------------------
