Concept Of Moksha Or Salvation In Hinduism

Moksha or Mukti denotes freedom. It is a much-hyped Hindu traditional thought. In essence, it represents ardent purity to seek Oneness with the Supreme-being. 

Moksha covers two allied but different schools under the faculty of moksha-shastra. 

One has its base 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.

Like soteriology, the salvation doctrine, the birth-rebirth cycle to achieve moksha or salvation is called Samsara in Sanskrit.

Life is an entanglement of sufferings. Moksha is considered as the ultimate goal to be relieved from those miseries and afflictions.

A person can achieve blissful emancipation or Mukti thru dharma-inspired righteous actions along with conscious detachment from worldly affairs.  

Accumulation of wisdom is an imperative of moksha and the dispossession of earthly 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 that one gets into the moksha stage, and the person feels eternally liberated from the fettered cycle of birth, growth, and death.

The post-mortem of one or several cycles of birth and rebirth determines the qualifying criteria for how well one trod on the path of dharma before achieving moksha.

And once there, it is a point of no return as one gets let off from the bondage of Samsara.

TRANSCENDENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS

The second and alternative school of thought in the moksha shastra lies in its evolutionary interpretation. Referred to as jivanmukti,  it is a 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 significant emphasis is on discriminatory or critical studies to gain knowledge. The approach helps to dispel ignorance, as well it clears illusion.

The accentuation on critical study involves evaluation to accumulate real education. And when proper education gets pursued, the rationality factor in Hinduism is once again underlined.

Detachment from the outer world, lack of craving or desires for material possessions, self-restraint, the 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 the nature, attributes and behaviour of an individual where peace and bliss are the ultimate rewards and a feeling that the whole universe resides in the self.

Whereas dharma is both a vehicle and route map to reach moksha’s goal, the latter gets subjected to its practicality and worthy of its achievability. Sometimes, it is the travel which 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 the 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.

-By Promod Puri