6. Jīvanamukti (Introduction)

As we mentioned earlier, in the Svāminārāyaṇa Darśana, there are two types of mukti. The SSS discloses it in this way:

sā punarddhividhā proktā brahmasthitimatāṃ dhruvā |
ekā jīvata eva syād anyā ca maraṇādanu || SSSK 428 ||

“This everlasting mukti for those who have attained oneness with Akṣarabrahman is said to be of two types: one that occurs while living and the other after death.”

Out of these two muktis, we will first analyze jīvanamukti. Jīvanamukti is liberation while still having a body. One who has attained jīvanamukti experiences total absence of misery, becomes brahmarūpa, and experiences the presence and bliss of Paramātman whilst alive.

In the Vacanāmṛta, Svāminārāyaṇa has spoken of attaining the brāhmic state, or the highest state of enlightenment whilst still possessing a physical body.

“Thus, if one follows satsaṅga with perfect sincerity, then no deficiency will remain in one’s heart, and one will become brahmarūpa in this very lifetime.”(Vacanāmṛta Sārangpur 9, p.224).

In another discourse:

“When the aspirant has kept his mind at the holy feet of Parabrahman in this way, he does not have to die to attain the abode of Parabrahman -he has attained it while still alive.” (Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā III/7, p.594)

In the Svāminārāyaṇa-Bhāṣyam, jīvanmukti has also been substantiated. For instance,

yadā sarve pramucyante kāmā ye'sya hṛdi śritāḥ |
atha martyo'mṛto bhavatyatra brahma samaśnute ||^[1]

“When all desires clinging to the heart of one fall off, then the mortal becomes immortal and here attains Brahman.”

Consequently, the Bhāṣyakāra comments on a Śruti about attaining the brāhmic state:

“itthamiha sākṣāt śrutireva jīvanamuktiṃ prasthapayati”^[2]

“In this manner, here the Śruti itself establishes jīvanamukti as a vouched principle.”

The Īśa-upaniṣad acknowledges:

yastu sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmanyevānupaśyati |
sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ tato na vijugupsate || Īśa-upaniṣad 6 || 363

“He who sees all beings in Parabrahman and Parabrahman in all beings does not suffer from any repulsion by that experience.”

yasminsarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūdvijānataḥ |
tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ || Īśa-upaniṣad 7 ||

“He who has known that all beings are seen within Parabrahman, and he who has seen the Parabrahman everywhere, even though he understands Parabrahman to be one and forever pure, what sorrow and what delusion can overwhelm him?”

Such a universal vision that is described in these verses, which is the ultimate product of our spiritual endeavor, comes only when one sees everything filled with Brahman and Parabrahman. Likes and dislikes arise because of the attachment of the mind with the objects of the world and because of the feelings of I-ness and my-ness. But he who achieves ‘Ishavashya’ perception becomes jīvanmukta and is no more troubled by the adversity of likes and dislikes. For him, everything belongs to Akṣarabrahman and Parabrahman, as a result, what delusion can overwhelm him. Moreover, such a jīvanmukta never harms any living being and is never be harmed by anyone.

Moreover, the Gītā mainly spares its fifth chapter for jīvanamukti and videhamukti.

The Bhāṣyakāra states at the beginning of the chapter:

“idānīṃ svātmabrahmarūpatvasaṃpattipūrvakaṃ paraṃ brahma sakṣātkurvato yogino jīvanmuktidaśāṃ ca videhamuktidaśāṃ ca pradhānata samupadekṣyanti pañcame |” (Bhagavad-Gītā Intro. 5/1, p.116)

Now, the fifth chapter, predominantly describes the yogi’s state of jīvanamukti and videhamukti. For example,

śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṃ prākśarīravimokṣaṇāt |
kāmakrodhodbhavaṃ vegaṃ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ ||Bhagavad-Gītā 5/23 ||

“One who is able to withstand the impulse of lust and anger before death is a yogi and a happy person.”

Bhadreśadāsa comments:

“yaḥ janaḥ śarīravimokṣaṇād dehapātāt prāk pūrvaṃ ihaiva asmin dehe jīvanneva kāmakrodhodbhavaṃ… kāmakrodhajanitaṃ vegaṃ soḍhuṃ prasahituṃ śaknoti samartho bhavati sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ |” (Bhagavad-Gītā 5/23, pp.127-128)

“A person who can endure the force of lust, anger etc., while living on earth before he dies is called a yogi and happy person forever.”

In this way, jīvanamukti is a state where the ātman experiences full bliss of Parabrahman even whilst living in this mortal world. In this state, the obstacle of māyā, such as lust, anger, avarice etc., are completely uprooted.

The Brahmasūtras also confirms it: aihikamapyaprastutapratibandhe taddarśanāt || Brahmasūtras 3/4/50 || When the hindrances of mukti are subsided while living on earth, one attains jīvanamukti.

The Bhāṣyakāra comments:

“svātmabrahmarūpatvasampattisaṃskṛtapratyakṣaparabrahmopāsanaśīlasya bhaktasya aprastutapratibandhe aprastute'nupasthite pratibandhe bādhake paramaniḥśreyasā'nubhūtibādhake praṇaṣṭe sati kāmakrodhā'bhimānādi-prakṛtiparābhavadeśakālādivaiparītyadilakṣaṇapratibandhavirahe sati aihikamapi brahmarūpātmanā pratyakṣaparabrahmasahajānanda-tatparamānandādyanubhūtilakṣaṇaparamamuktirūpaṃ phalamutpadyate | evamanena jīvanmuktiḥ pratipāditā | (Brahmasūtra 3/4/50, pp.382-383)

“When a devotee attains brahmabhāva and offers upāsanā to Parabrahman, all of his hindrances such as lust, anger, ego etc. are uprooted. As a result, this brahmarūpa devotee experiences the ultimate bliss of Parabrahman. In this way, jīvanamukti is asserted.”

Here Bhadreśadāsa explicitly acknowledges jīvanamukti by the actual words of the scriptures. Even though some scholars who are not believing in jīvanamukti, according to Bhadreśadāsa, should revise their material.^[3] One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that jīvanamukti is a verified principle of the scriptures.^[4]

According to the Svāminārāyaṇa School, Parabrahman is always present on earth in a perceptibly accessible form. He either assumes the regal-role of a monarch (exhibiting thirty-nine redemptive virtues, as per Śrīmad Bhāgawatam-1/16/26-28) or saintly role (exhibiting thirty redemptive virtues, as per Śrīmad Bhāgawatam 11/11/23-33). Therefore, Parabrahman is always existent on earth to redeem the seekers of salvation.^[5] As an ascetic role, Parabrahman, through Ekāntik Satpuruṣa (Akṣara-Guru) uplifts the ātman to the level of jīvanmukta, and as a consequence, he then does not see the Guru as a Guru or a sadhu but sees Him as Parabrahman; wholly divine. What is narrated of as accomplishable after death, he has accomplished because of the endowment of divine vision by the manifest-incarnate Parabrahman.^[6] Both in his heart and outside before him (in the Akṣara-Guru), he sees nothing else but the same transcendental lord. This now becomes his ceaseless state. Therefore, jīvanamukti is a realistic state of experience, and not a conjecture, nor proximate-imminent attainment (āsanna-mukti).^[7] The released self becomes capable of seeing everything, for it now has become infinitely omniscient.^[8] The devotee, who has reached the state of jīvanamukti, if he so desires, does certainly see the nature of jīva, īśvara, māyā and Akṣarabrahman distinctly with their differentia, by the grace of Parabrahman.^[9] The fruit thus accumulated is as a consequence of his constant Parabrahman-consciousness (Parabrahman-remembrance).

Moreover, as the darśana (vision) of Parabrahman in the most effulgent blissful light of the highest abode is intuitively experienced by a yogi, in samādhi, who through the practice of eightfold disciplines of yoga has succeeded in traversing through all the six plexuses (cakras) in the body and has settled one-pointedly in the thousand-petalled lotus of Brahmarandhra. The same is intuitively visualized by the jīvanamuktas, by the blessing of Parabrahman, for they too are dwelling in the same highest level of nirvikalpa samādhi.^[10]

The scriptures like the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3/33/23-29) also enlighten the doctrine of jīvanamukti in its unique way. When, on the words of the great sage Kapila, his mother Devahuti realized her ātman as distinct from and transcendent to prakṛti and its products (body-mind complex), and fixed her mind on Parabrahman, she became firmly established in a state of samādhi: the communion with Parabrahman, all her kleshas (afflictions) were destroyed and she attained kaivalya (liberation) or mokṣa in an embodied state.

Explaining this state of jīvanmukta daśā, the 29th verse says:

“Her mind being fully merged in Lord Vāsudeva, she did not perceive her own body, which was completely given up to austerity and yoga, and was being maintained by providence, even when her hair got loose and her clothes fell off from her body.”

A spiritual seeker affiliated and committed to the perceptibly present (manifest) form of Parabrahman (pratyakṣa-paramātmasvarupa) be it in the form of incarnate Parabrahman Himself or through the Parama-Ekāntika-Satpuruṣa (i.e. Akṣara-Guru)-alone can attain perfect self-realization and Parabrahman-realization, and the consequent blessing of Parabrahman's abode-vision (pramatman’s dhāma-darśana) in an embodied state during worldly existence. When in the heart (antaḥkaraṇa), the aforesaid form of Parabrahman is meditated upon ceaselessly, the devotee attains the ultimate spiritual realization of the supreme divine form of Parabrahman, even without undergoing time-consuming strenuous practice of the eightfold path of yogic discipline. The highest state of nirvikalpa samādhi and Parabrahman-realization in the form of constant communion with Him is attained during worldly existence in an embodied state. Therefore, the ultimate attainment is not delayed, shrouded in mystery and dubious indecision. The state of jīvanamukti is attained as a fact of life. The devotee sees Parabrahman (perceptibly present manifest before him) as infinitely effulgent and divine.

He closes down seeing the individual objects of the peripheral world, and instead, he perceives Parabrahman alone in everything and everywhere.^[11] He feels now divinely fully accomplished and self-fulfilled. He, consequently, becomes one with Parabrahman spiritually and psychologically despite being distinct from Him as His devout servant. This is the ultimate state of final dissolution (ātyaṃtika-pralaya) also known as jñāna-pralaya in which everything except Parabrahman (up to the level of mūla-prakṛti and mūla-puruṣa) gets out of the field of perception. Wherever he sees, he sees Parabrahman (the inner self of everything), failing to perceive an object as object. He becomes free from all the entangling adjuncts (upādhis) of māyā (prakṛti), and never gets bogged in māyā once again. He, by the grace of Parabrahman, becomes free like Parabrahman Himself i.e. He is not too governed and forced by the influences of kāla (time), māyā (nescience) and kārma (the pressures of the past actions). His constant perseverance on the path of knowledge (jnāna-yagna) and path of loving affiliation of body-mind in Parabrahman (yoga-yagna) finds its highest consummation in the form of highest Parabrahman-realization and constant Parabrahman-perception (Paramātman-darśana) in one’s very self.^[12]

When an aspirant’s vṛtti becomes complettely immersed in the personality of current manifest form of (perceptible-pratyakṣa) Bhagavān, it is a final stage of nirvikalpa samādhi for it involves the detention of all the modifications (citta-vṛtti-nirodha) in the svarūp of Parabrahman. It is also described as a state of yoganidra enjoyed by the yogis, for it is filled with bliss and tranquility peculiar to it. Now nothing can disturb and distract him from constant contemplation of Parabrahman. When the ātman is associated with Akṣarabrahman, subsequently, becomes brahmarūpa, total servitude and utter humility come forth, and constant awareness of the ceaseless presence of Puruṣottama (Parabrahman) is envisioned in one’s ātman. The ego gets eliminated and false-body-awareness gets totally exterminated. Therefore, self-realization (ātma-sākṣātkāra) culminates in Parabrahman-realization (Parāmatmasākṣātkāra).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Katha-upaniṣad 6/14

[2]:

Katha-upaniṣad 6/14

[3]:

evaṃ sūtrakāreṇaiva śrutibhirjīvanmukteḥ prasādhanād ye jīvanmuktitiraskāraparibaddhadhiyastaiḥ śrutiśabdābhidhānaśaktivijñānavidhuraiḥ kṛtsno vedāntārtho na viditaḥ |

[4]:

tatra pramāṇamāha taddarśanād iti | dṛṣyate hi ‘yadā sarve pramucyante kāmā ye'sya hṛdi śritāḥ | atha me'mṛto bhavatyatra brahma samaśrute' (bṛ. 4/ 4/ 7, kaṭha. 6/ 14), 'yastu sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmanyevānupaśyati | sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ tato na vijugupsate || yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivā'bhūd vijānataḥ | tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ || (ī. 6, 7), 'yadā pañcāvatiṣṭhante jñānāni manasā saha | buddhiśca na viceṣṭate tāmāhuḥ paramāṃ gatim ||(kaṭha. 6/ 10), 'etad yo veda nihitaṃ guhāyāṃ so'vidyāgranthiं vikiratīha somya' (mu. 2/ 1/ 10), 'paryāptakāmasya kṛtātmanastvihaiva sarve pravilīyanti kāmāḥ '(mu. 3/ 2/ 2), 'ihaiva tairjitaḥ sargo yeṣāṃ sāmye sthitaṃ manaḥ | nirdoṣaṃ hi samaṃ brahma tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ ||' (gī. 5/ 19), 'na prahṛṣyet priyaṃ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cā'priyam | sthirabuddhirasaṃmūḍho brahmavid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ ||' (gī. 5/ 20), 'śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṃ prāk śarīravimokṣaṇāt | kāmakrodhodbhavaṃ vegaṃ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ ||' (gī. 5/ 23), 'yatendriyamanobuddhimunirmokṣaparāyaṇaḥ | vigatecchābhayakrodho yaḥ sadā mukta eva saḥ ||' (gī. 5/ 28), 'sarvabhūtasthitaṃ yo māṃ bhajatyekatvamāsthitaḥ | sarvathā vartamāno'pi sa yogī mayi vartate ||(gī. 6/ 31) iti bhūyobhūyo jīvata eva yathoktabhaktasya muktiphalā'nubhavaḥ śāstropadiṣṭaḥ |

[5]:

Vacanāmṛta Vartāl 10

[6]:

Svāmīnī Vāto 1/1

[7]:

Īśa-upaniṣad 1, p.8

[8]:

Īśa-upaniṣad 7, p.16

[9]:

Vacanamrut Loyā 15

[10]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā I/25, 40, Loyā. 12, 14; Gadh. 2/3,13,14,20

[11]:

Vacanāmṛta Kāriyānī 7

[12]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā II/8,13