6.1. Experience of Jīvanamukti

Jīvanamukti is a state of the bliss of the highest communion with Parabrahman, here on earth in an embodied condition. It is a persistent spiritual experience in an embodied state, identical to the final experience to be had in a disembodied state after the death of the physical body. Wherever jīvanamukt casts his eyes he sees Parabrahman alone in everything. He, as the brahmanized (brahmarūpa) devotee, worships Puruṣottama with utter servitude and total self-effacement. Therefore, a true jnāni is a realized one who is brahmarūpa (brahmanized). He knows the transcendental glory of Parabrahman veritably. He has no desire to be fulfilled, nor has he any thought except that of Parabrahman in his mind. He is lost in total Parabrahman-consciousness.

Svāminārāyaṇa highlights jīvanmukta state:

“Wherever he glances among all the mobile and immobile forms -he sees the form of Parabrahman as if it is before his eyes, the same form that forever remains in Akṣaradhāma even after the dissolution of the body, the brahmānda and Prakritipurusha. Other than that form, he does not perceive even an atom. These are the characteristics of one who has attained Parabrahman-realization.” (Vacanāmṛta Kāriyānī 7, p.265)

To figure out the experience process deeply we look at this principle from another perspective. This is about the ultimate dissolution of the world. In that time, the entire creation of māyā is vanished. De facto, this whole process is beyond our experience, but only a jīvanmukta can experience this state in his very life on earth.

After the dissolution of the universes (in ātyaṃtika-pralaya), the incarnate Parabrahman manifests before the seeker alone is seen as existing. And again, at the time of creating everything afresh, the same incarnate manifest Parabrahman alone through the instrumentality of mūla-puruṣa and mūla-prakṛti creates a countless number of universes. Such resolute right knowledge (niścaya) with the knowledge of Parabrahman's transcendental glory spawns deepest detachment and disinterest (vairāgya) in the heart. Jñāna-pralaya of such a lofty quality is called ātyaṃtika pralaya.^[1] According to the Svāminārāyaṇa Vedanta, ātyaṃtika-pralaya is a kind of total dissolution or regression in which there is a reversion of all the evolutes-each going back to its unmanifest state and returning into its earlier (preceding) emergent, till the whole process reaches to its primary source, i.e. the great unmanifest called mūla-prakṛti (or mahā-māyā) from which all developments had commenced stage-wise.

Svāminārāyaṇa explicitly explains the nature of jñāna-pralaya in its step by step that when one focuses his attention on earth, all the objects of the world with their names and forms are not cognized, instead only the earth remains in view. The earth has evolved from a small portion (aṃśa) of water. So, when the standpoint shifts to higher stage of water: the element subtler than the earth, the jnāni cognizes nothing else but water. And the water has emerged from a subtler portion of fire; therefore, he cognizes fire as the basis of all. And the fire has evolved from a subtler portion of air; and hence, air alone is cognized as the basis of all. And the air has evolved from a subtler portion of space; therefore, the space alone is cognized as all-encompassing entity.

The space has evolved from a subtler portion of tāmasaahamkāra, and all three forms of ahaṃkāra (tāmasa, rājasa ad sāttvika) together with sensory-motor organs, mind and their presiding deities have emerged from a subtler portion of mahat-tattva, and consequently, Mahattattva alone appears as all-encompassing entity. But, mahat-tattva also has evolved from a subtle portion of pradhāna-prakṛti, and hence, it appears that prakṛti alone, exists. Pradhāna-prakṛti too gets submerged and eclipsed into puruṣa’ s very subtle portion at the time of dissolution (pralaya); and from it alone, it sprouts forth like an emergent. So, when one sees from the standpoint of puruṣa, even prakṛti does not seem to exist and all that exists is puruṣa alone. And there are such infinite number of Puruṣas who emerge out from a small portion of mahā māyā (i.e. mūla-prakṛti), and hence, viewed from the standpoint of mahā māyā, it alone exists as the source of all. But this mahā māyā (mūla-prakṛti) also rests submerged and eclipsed in a small portion of mahā puruṣa (i.e. mūla-puruṣa). So, viewed from the level of Mahāpurusa, he alone exists and not even the mahāmāyā. Mahāmāyā, thus appears valueless-insignificant entity. Now, this mahāpurusa (a freed self) also has come (arisen) forth from a small portion (place) of the Akṣara (Brahman): the abode of Parabrahman. So, taking into account the all-pervading, all immanent Akṣara, it looks as if, and Akṣarabrahman alone exists. But when the knowledge-vision (jnāna-dṛṣṭi) reaches its apex, one finds the supreme truth that the only Supreme Reality transcendent to Akṣarabrahman, namely Puruṣottama (Parabrahman) alone exists. He alone is the source and support of all. He is the cause of all causes, and hence, is immanent in all effects to the remotest extent.

He is the cause of all creation-sustenance-destruction. He is the enselfing inner self of all. Alongside having His original transcendental divine form ever-present in His abode. When the jnāni reaches this level of resolute knowledge (niscayatmaka-jnāna), nothing except Parabrahman remains shining in his vision. He sees Parabrahman everywhere in everything. And that transcendental Parabrahman is the same as one present before me in His manifest incarnate form (pratyakṣa-parāmatma svarūp). When this conviction dawns upon the knower, all sensory-motor apparatus and the mind (antaḥkaraṇa a) get instantaneously divinized by the grace of Parabrahman, and he becomes the knower of Parabrahman in the true sense of the term. Thus, Parabrahman is knowable, and He is known; but Parabrahman's knowledge comes through Parabrahman alone, by His grace!^[2]

The Bhagavad-Gītā discloses:

yogayukto viśuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ |
sarvabhūtātmabhūtātmā kurvannapi na lipyate ||^[3]

“A Karma-yogi whose mind is pure, whose mind and senses are under control, and who sees one and the same self in all beings, is not bound by kārma though engaged in work.”

Bhadreśadāsa explains the experience of a jīvanmukta by commenting on this verse:

“brahmabhūto brahmaguṇasādharmyamāpta ātmā yasya sa brahmarūpaḥ sannityartha...sarvathā karmaṇi pravartamānopi mukta evāvatiṣṭhata iti bhāvaḥ |” (Bhagavad-Gītā 5/7, p.119)

“One who has become brahmarūpa encompasses the virtues of Brahman; he is never bound by any karma in which he indulges.”

In this way, the Bhagavad-Gītā invests so many ślokas in elucidating the experience of a jīvanmukta.^[4] The jīvanmukta does all work as an offering to Parabrahman-abandoning attachment to results-remains untouched by kārmic reaction or sin, just as a lotus leaf never gets wet by water. Moreover, he neither rejoices on obtaining what is pleasant nor grieves on obtaining the unpleasant. He possesses a steady mind and is a knower of Brahman; such a person abides in Brahman.

In a similar way, the Brahmasūtra also throws light to highlights the state of jīvanmukta:

“brahmavedanasyā'nyadapyānuṣaṅgikaṃ phalamāha nā'syā'brahmavit kule bhavatīti | asya brahmasākṣātkāravato hyupāsakasya kule ko'pi tatputrapautrādiḥ abrahmavid akṣarabrahmajñānaśūnyo na bhavati | tatkulajo'vaśyaṃ brahmavettaiva sampadyata iti bhāvaḥ | anyānyapi phalānyāha sa brahmarūpo bhaktaḥ śokaṃ trividhatāpajanyaśokaṃ tarati jīvannevātikrāmatītyarthaḥ | pāpmānaṃ śokamūlabhūtaṃ ca pāpmānamapi tarati | tathā ca guhāgranthibhyo hṛdayaguhāyāṃ vartamānebhyo granthivad durmocanīyebhyo'nāditaḥ surūḍhamūlebhyo rāgadveṣādyātmakaprākṛtasvabhāvagranthibhya ityarthaḥ | vimuktaḥ rahitaḥ san amṛ to bhavati, brahmarūpeṇa svātmanā paramātmasahajānandadivyānandamagno janmamaraṇarahito'kṣaramukto bhavatītyarthaḥ || (Mundaka-upaniṣad 3/2/9, p.304)

“The Upaniṣad mantra concludes by describing various other benefits of realizing Brahman. It states that when one realizes Brahman, no one in their family lineage remains ignorant of Akṣarabrahman. Thus, everyone born into their family surely comes to realize Brahman. Furthermore, the brahmarūpa devotee, in this very life, overcomes grief caused by the three types of misery. They overcome sin, which is the root of grief. Moreover, by becoming free of the ‘guhagranthi’, the innate, mundane, firmly rooted instincts such as attachment and spite, they become amrta. Upon becoming a brahmarūpa, they become free from the cycle of births and deaths, and enjoy the divine bliss of Paramātman Sahajānanda.”

Here, the question emerges, ‘How does the effulgent divine body come forth (or emerge) to a seeker attaining mokṣa?’ The truth is enunciated in the Vacanāmṛta.^[5] It can be put in simple words that just as in a finer tin-mold in a human shape, you keep on pouring water inside and allow it to freeze to ice-state yielding shape of ice-statue in human-shape. And in the process, the outer cover of the finer tin-mold gets totally rusted-corroded and wears out and sheds. Or, just as forecasting a vax-icon in a clay-mold of icon-shape, you keep on filling it with liquid (molten/boiled) vax, which when cools and becomes a vax-icon, the mold is broken off and the icon is carried away by its owner. In the same manner, an aspirant clothed in the mold of prārabdha-kārma-born māyic-body, when comes in contact of the Parama-Ekāntik-Satpuruṣa (Brahmasvarūp Santa), and as he keeps on learning from him the right knowledge concerning the transcendental-glorious-divine nature of Parabrahman manifest before him (pratyakṣa-Bhagavān), the unyielding knowledge (niścaya) of Parabrahman gradually keeps on settling in his self, and along with that his sensory-motor organs, prāṇa, mind (antaḥkaraṇa) etc. keep turning divine. His Parabrahman-consciousness becomes profound and permanent. Besides, in addition, in the company of Brahma-svarūp Satpuruṣa (Akṣara-G uru), as his brāhmi-sthiti (acquisition of brahmanhood) keeps burgeoning and forming and the component virtues (dharma-jñāna-vairāgya-bhakti) of ekāntik-dharma keeps flourishing and flowering; the divine effulgent body of the nature of consciousness-bliss keeps on advancing and increasing.

In this manner, when the whole process reaches its zenith (completion) and when both niścaya (resolute knowledge) and Brāhmi-ekāntiki-stithi (spiritual conversion into brahman-form) reaches the state of excellence, he becomes a jīvanmukta; and in his personal divine-effulgent body already takes a shape to its perfection. Now, the jīvanmukta simply waits for wish of Parabrahman to break-off this māyic-body-mold and carry him to the ultimate abode, to serve Him for eternity. At the termination of the physical body, leaving the prārabdha-born body, he departs to the abode of Parabrahman with a divine-effulgent body thus acquired. Of course, till the death of the physical body, such a jīvanmukta lives with his divine body in his perishable physical body, as if like a sword sheathed in a scabbard. He, like a snake, who has acquired new skin and the old one has been already loosened and detached but waiting to crack down and open up, so that it can slough it and leaving it behind, and can go away. In the same manner, jīvanmukta who has become free from the bonds of avidyā-kāma-vāsanā and body attachments, and has a new divine-effulgent body already formed inside (as if like a full-term grown baby in the womb), has no more prārabdha to suffer, but yet waits in it for His Lord's will and call; and hence, a jīvanmukta cannot be viewed on par with other aspirants who are otherwise looking alike.^[6]

Now a question may arise that does the jīvanmukta continue to offer devotion and upāsanā even after attaining this liberated state?

The Brahmasūtra replies:

“ye hi samyagupāsanānuṣṭhānena jīvanmuktidaśāṃ prāptāstepyanāyāsena paramānandamanubhavantastadupāsanaṃ nityamanutiṣṭhanti eva |” (Brahmasūtra 2/1/12, p.389)

“After offering the highest level of upāsanā to Parabrahman, one attains the state of jīvanamukti. However, he indulges in the same upāsanā towards Parabrahman continuously after attaining the state of jīvanamukti while experiencing the bliss of Parabrahman.”

A jīvanmukta feels delivered from the misery and limitations of bodily existence. The physical body does not restrict or obstruct him in anyway. He reaches a state of divine ecstasy in which the bliss of Parabrahman keeps welling up from within. He reaches the state of total fulfillment and contentedness. He feels fully accomplished, enjoying the highest bliss of Parabrahman, which is otherwise sought after the perish of the physical body. He is in the body, but not in the sway of it, and he is turned inward, but enjoying the presence of Paramātman in his ātman.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā I/24

[2]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā I/51

[3]:

Bhagavad-Gītā 5/7

[4]:

brahmaṇyādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ |
lipyate na sa pāpena padmapatramivāmbhasā || 5-10 ||
na prahṛṣyetpriyaṃ prāpya nodvijetprāpya cāpriyam |
sthirabuddhirasammūḍho brahmavid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ || 5-20 ||

[5]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā I/51, Sar. 12 & 17, Kar. 1 & 7, Loya 7 and Var. 11. 373

[6]:

Gopālānanda Sādhu, Gopālānanda Svāminī Vāto, 1/303, Śrī Svāminārāyaṇa Gurukula Rājakoṭa, 1984, p.141 374