An outstanding feature of Hinduism is the doctrine of “purusarthas”, advocating four complementary engagements in an individual’s life. These are dharma, artha, kama and moksha.
Dharma seeks conscious conduct of life on moral values of honesty, compassion, truthfulness, and purity of body and mind. It is a behaviour toward ethical living. Dharma involves austerity, saintliness, absence of anger and non-violence. Dharma-based actions, duties and responsibilities are the commitments toward a righteous living.
Artha means one should work to earn enough wealth to achieve economic liberty or independence. Kama emphasizes the need for pleasures and enjoyment in life as well.
Moksha, or mukti denoting freedom, is a much-hyped Hindu traditional thought. In essence, it represents spirited purity to seek oneness with the Supreme being.
Moksha covers two allied but distinct schools under the faculty of moksha-shastra.
One is based on the concept of eternal salvation from the repeated cycle of birth, death and rebirth. This rotation of advents is a popular notion among Hindus with the support of reincarnation ideology.
The birth-rebirth cycle to achieve moksha or salvation is referred to as soteriology. In Sanskrit, it is called Samsara.
Life is an entanglement of suffering. Moksha is considered the ultimate goal to be relieved from those miseries and afflictions. The blissful emancipation is achieved thru dharma-inspired righteous actions along with conscious detachment from worldly affairs. Accumulation of wisdom is an imperative of moksha, along with the dispossession of worldly desires or cravings in its pursuits.
It is a stage of Braham-anubhav, a vibe of Supreme within. In this state of capping perfection with a feeling of Oneness, one gets into moksha, and the person is eternally liberated from the fettered cycle of birth, growth and death.
The postmortem of one or several cycles of birth and rebirth determines the qualifying criteria as to how well one treads on the path of dharma before achieving moksha. And once there, it is a point of no return as one is let off from the bondage of samsara.
TRANSCENDENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS
The moksha shastra’s second and alternative school of thought lies in its evolutionary interpretation. Referred to as jivanmukti, it is that state of transcendental consciousness which one receives within the present life. In that respect, moksha does not have to be liberation from samsara or the life-rebirth wheel of suffering.
Dharma provides the route or ‘marg’ to get to the destination of moksha. In this journey, a major emphasis is on discriminatory or critical studies to gain knowledge. Ignorance is dispelled, and illusion is cleared.
The accentuation on critical study involves evaluation in order to accumulate true education. And when true education is being pursued, the rationality factor in Hinduism is once again underlined.
Detachment from the outer world, lack of craving or desire for material possessions, self-restraint, calmness of mind, dispassion, endurance and patience, faith and commitment are the other essentials to make a journey on the moksha marg.
The maneuvers in the pursuit of moksha transform an individual’s nature, attributes and behaviour, where peace and bliss are the ultimate rewards, along with a feeling that the whole universe resides in the self.
Whereas dharma is both a vehicle and route map to reach the goal of moksha, the latter is subjected to its practicality and worthy of its achievability. Sometimes, the travel is more challenging, captivating and compensating than the destination.
Dharma involves actions, while moksha does not. Dharma means karma; moksha is contrary to that. The latter is only a state of thought and consciousness. The scriptures in Geeta emphasize karma or action in its simplistic and literal meaning. Non-karma means a dead end.
Is the moksha stage the dead end of life? According to Osho (Rajneesh), yes, it is. He questions the worthiness of moksha. Seeking moksha is against the law of existence, Osho argues.
Excerpts From Hinduism Beyond Rituals, Customs And Traditions, Chapter 11
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