Introduction (Soteriology)

Soteriology is the study of the salvation^[1] of humanity. In Indian philosophy, soteriology can be defined as attaining mokṣa (Sanskrit: mokṣaḥ-mokṣ ghañ, mokṣa “liberation”) or mukti (Sanskrit: muktiḥ-muc ktin “release”), which is defined as the liberation from māyā (saṃsāra, the cycle of death and rebirth).^[2]

“The principle of liberation is one of the distinguishing features of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. It is variously referred to as mukti, mokṣa, kaivalya and nirvāṇa in the scriptures. Mukti means freedom from bondage. Mokṣa means the destruction of delusion. Kaivalya means aloneness arising from the destruction of all bonds, and nirvāṇa means entering into a stateless state of immutability and non-becoming.”^[3]

In Indian philosophy, Vedic tradition, culture, and heritage, mokṣa is concerned with the individual’s blissful, spiritual and moral life. Indian philosophy explains the way by which the continuous experience of sorrows and suffering can be entirely overcome.

“Indian philosophers have applied a realistic and practical approach to solve the problems of life and reality. All the Indian schools of Philosophy, (except the Cārvākas and the Buddha) accept the self or ātman as eternal, pure, and free. Due to ignorance, the self identifies itself with the body and undergoes various sufferings in which the cycle of death and birth is the topmost suffering. Due to the knowledge of Parabrahman, the self becomes liberated.”^[4]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Definition of salvation: Oxford, "The saving of the self; the deliverance from sin and its consequences", 1989

[2]:

Āpṭe Vāmana Śivarāma, Saṃskṛta-Hindī Śabdakośa, Shri Prakashan, Encyclopedia Britannica, Delhi, p.880

[3]:

Olivelle, Patrick, The Āśrama System: The History and Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993, p.162

[4]:

E. Deutsch, The self in Advaita Vedanta, in Roy Perrett, Ed., Indian philosophy: metaphysics, Vol -3, pp.343–360