9. Conclusion

The history of human existence is a history of endless efforts to eradicate sorrow and attain happiness. But due to our kārma-bondage misery remains forever. Then what should we do to uproot this bondage and acquire the ultimate bliss? Perhaps this was the only search and research of the great thinkers. Death alone is not the full-stop to our sufferings. There is an infinitive stream of lives; it would mean a tragic blow to the sense of human adventure, freedom, and effort. We cannot be satisfied with less than immortality. More than that, immortality must be accompanied by joy. This state indeed is liberation or mokṣa. In this way, the fifth chapter of this thesis discusses liberation, the ultimate fruit of spiritual endeavor. In the Svāminārāyaṇa School, liberation is defined as a state in which one is brahmarūpa and offers bhakti to Paramātmān.

The Vacanāmṛta and the Svāminārāyaṇa Bhāṣyas further explain two types of liberation, or:

1. mukti-jīvanmukti and
2. videhamukti.

Jīvanmukti is spiritual perfection that is reached while one is still living. The state a released self experiences after death is known as videhamukti.

This chapter provides an efficient analysis of jīvanamukti and videhamukti at length, describing the process by which one becomes a videhamukta and the benefits that the videhamukta enjoys. Specifically, after the death of the physical body, There, the self receives a new body, attains divine virtues like those of Brahman and Paramātmā, and enjoys eternal bliss. Upon videhamukti, the self does not return to saṃsāra. All of them (muktas) enjoy the same enjoyment (i.e. the same darśana) and the same bliss of Parabrahman. 416