38. THE MEANS TO ATTAIN MOKṢA

D: What is the means to mokṣa?

A: Brahma-jñāna alone is the direct means to mokṣa. The śāstra-s say:

(Mokṣa is attained only on account of jñāna.)

(PS)

(Only on knowing Him, one becomes deathless. There is no other way to immortality.)

D: Does it follow that action is not the direct cause of liberation?

A: Yes. The śāstra-s are conclusive in this regard. For example, the Mahānārayaṇa Upaniṣad teaches:

(MNU, XII.14)

(Mokṣa is not attained by action.)

D: When does jñāna dawn?

A: Jñāna arises when the mind becomes pure and devoid of desires.

D: Will not the mind attain purity if actions are performed in a spirit of dedication to Īśvara?

A: Yes. It will.

D: Then, should not karma also be said to be the cause of mokṣa? This is because the mind becomes pure when karma is performed in a spirit of dedication to Īśvara. Jñāna dawns in a pure mind and mokṣa is, thereby, attained.

A: Your reasoning itself shows that karma is not the direct means to mokṣa. Everybody knows that clay is the cause of a pot. Similarly, the one who makes the pot is also its cause. Now, is the father of the potter also a cause of the pot? After all, but for his father, the potter would not have been born and but for the potter, the pot would not have been produced.

D: The father of the potter cannot be considered as a cause, for if he is, we will be forced to regard the potter’s grandfather, great-grandfather, etc., also as causes.

A: If the same reasoning is applied, it can be seen that karma is never the direct cause of mokṣa. Further, that which stems from karma has a beginning and so, has an end. Hence, if mokṣa results from karma, it cannot be permanent. However, the śāstra-s say that mokṣa is permanent. Hence, it should be understood that jñāna alone is the direct cause for mokṣa and nothing else.

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❑ Discourses of Acharyal

In the Bhāgavata, it is said that karma, bhakti and jñāna constitute the means for a person to attain the highest and that there are no other paths besides these three. Meditation on Śiva, Viṣṇu, etc., is included in the path of bhakti. When it is said that karma and jñāna are both necessary, does it mean that they have to be conjoined? In other words, do they have to be practised at the same time? That is impossible. Can water and fire be kept together in the same place at the same time? No. Similar is the case here.

Bhagavatpāda advises, “You should keep doing karma with sincerity. By virtue of its performance, your mind will become pure in due course. Then take to contemplation on God. With the practice of contemplation, you will gradually get to the stage where you will see the entire universe as having no existence apart from the Supreme. Then you would have become a jñānin or a knower of the Truth.”

When a person has had numerous experiences of being censured, he gradually gets the realisation, “In this world, neither censure nor praise has any value.” If we remain unruffled even in the face of provocation, then we become noble persons. When does this understanding dawn? Usually, on our becoming old. Just as with the passage of years, people progress from immaturity and irritability to maturity and calmness, one gradually progresses from activity to renunciation. One should start by regularly engaging in one’s religious duties.

No matter what is seen in this world, there is not much to it. The sun rose. We got up. Then, we bathed. Next, we ate breakfast and went to office. There, we did work, came home, ate our night meal and then went to sleep. The next day, the same sequence was repeated; nothing else. Bhartṛhari says, “We keep doing the same things again and again. However, because of our delusion, we do not even feel ashamed of ourselves.” One should sit, reflect deeply and realise that this is the way of the world. If something needs to be done then let it be carried out; else, let it not be done. When does an understanding of this form arise? Only after prolonged analysis of the ways of the world.

Even if one were to go from here to heaven, on the exhaustion of puṇya, one returns to the world of mortals. On coming back, the man who went to heaven engages in further karma. Again, he goes to heaven and then returns. Thus, either in this world or in going to heaven and coming back, there is nothing of consequence. Does it not seem, “enough?”

The river flows and keeps on doing so. Till when? Till it reaches the ocean. Then it just becomes the ocean. It is the water of the ocean that becomes mist, then a cloud and descends to the ground as rain. The rain water forms a brook, then becomes a river and goes back to the ocean. He who has not analysed the situation would say, “The ocean and the source of the river are far apart and yet some say that the river and the ocean are one. They are stupid.” However, he who has analysed would say, “The river could not have come into existence but for the ocean. The source of the river is the ocean itself and it is to the ocean that the river goes back. As such, they are essentially one.”

When does transmigration cease for the individual soul who goes from birth to birth like the flowing water of a river? Bhagavān says, “On attaining Me, there is no rebirth.” Many are the jīva-s or individual souls that are encountered in the world. Who are they? The Lord avers, “It is verily a part of Mine that has become the eternal individual soul in the world.”

There is a big fire from which a spark emerges. Is this spark different from the fire? No, they are essentially one. On separation from its source, a fiery particle becomes a spark. On its rejoining its source, it becomes indistinguishable from the big fire.

“Likewise”, says the Lord, “If you, who are a spark that has emerged from the big fire that is Myself, want to escape from this cycle of birth, old age and death, then merge with Me.” How are we to merge with God?

A river has a name and form till it reaches the ocean but not thereafter. After it merges with the ocean, it is just called ‘ocean’. For us, who have been moving, like a flowing river, from birth to birth in the cycle of transmigratory existence, the goal is merger with the ocean that is the Supreme. What demarcates our case from the merger of a river with the ocean or a spark into its source is that we were never actually separated from our source, the Supreme. Our separation is only apparent. While we continue to be the Supreme alone, owing to our ignorance of our true nature, we suffer.

Merger with the Supreme, characterised by our realising our true nature, is the goal that we must attain. For this, the paths are those of karma, bhakti and jñāna; karma leads to bhakti and bhakti to jñāna. After jñāna or firm realisation of the Truth is got, what does a person have to do? Nothing. He has no identification with the body and abides in bliss.

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