Introducing the concept
Full of compassion for the jivas suffering in the tormenting fires of samsara due to their abysmal ignorance, Bhagavan Dakshinamurti, sitting still under the banyan tree, left His silence and descended to the earth in the form of Shankaracharya to redeem them by imparting Atmavidya.
- From Sankaravijaya, by Vyasachala
Over the pages of this primer we look at the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta in various aspects - its metaphysics and epistemology, its guidance on ethical life, and the various paths of spiritual practice that it prescribes. But what is the point of it all? What is all of this leading toward? When we embark on this magnificent - but hard - spiritual journey, it is important that we keep the goal firmly in mind. There will be harsh winds on the path, moments and periods of time when the spiritual quest seems like an immense struggle, when the pulls and blows of life challenge the strength of your spiritual will; at all such times, for you to hold on to the path, you need to know what it is that you are striving toward.
We are born into this world, into various levels of comfort or pain; we strive and strive in the world, pushing through the hurdles that the world throws at us; people come into our lives, enrich it immensely for a period of time, and then fade away; Friends whom we met every day with will move apart; we age, we start to lose our bodily faculties; the life filled with joys and sorrows comes to an end; and then we are born again, depending on our accumulated Karma. And again, and again. What is the point of all this?
It is pointless to trace the beginning to samsara, to our cycle of births and deaths, But there can be an end.
In all systems of Indian philosophy, in all Indian religions, the final goal of human existence is to attain Freedom - Moksha. It might be called by different names in different spiritual traditions - Kaivalya, Nirvana - but they all point to the same concept. The point of all human striving is to finally break free of the clutches of the World, to transcend our limitations, indeed to fly out of grasp of space, time, and causality.
We might accumulate wealth and various other forms of material wealth in this World, but we will find that the satisfaction they provide is temporary. Things fall apart, material joys fade away, we gradually lose the very faculties by which we were enjoying these material comforts.
We will come to the realization that as long as we are held in bondage to the World, as long as we are tied down with the chains of Karma, as long as we are on the wheels of samsara, we can never be permanently satisfied. To attain fulfillment, we need to break free.
Let us understand this better. What is Moksha in Advaita Vedanta?
Going a little deeper
In some of our other pages, we saw that all of us individuals are chained to Karma, which is simply causality viewed via a broader lens, causality that extends beyond the physical realm to the moral and ethical realm. The theory of Karma states that all consciously performed actions (physical and mental actions) will set in motion consequences. These consequences will stay with us, and put us in situations where we need to perform further actions, which in turn will trigger more consequences, and so on. The very fact that we are born in this life indicates that we had Karma from previous births that remained unexhausted, and every moment in this life you are generating more Karma, further tying yourself up in its chains.
As long as we do not transcend Karma, we will continue being pulled along in these cycles of births and deaths. And Karma or Causality is nothing but Maya itself, this magic show that Isvara, the Lord of Maya, is playing on us. How can we transcend Karma? How can we see through the veil of Maya? Only by Knowledge.
We will be able to break free of Maya only when we realize what we truly are. This is the teaching of Advaita Vedanta. We are held in Maya, and tied by the chains of Karma, as long as we are in ignorance of Reality - as long as Avidya remains. It is only the Highest Knowledge - Atmavidya, the Knowledge of the Self - that will decisively and irreversibly move aside the veil of Ignorance.
When the clear and unshakeable understanding of the teachings of Vedanta arises on a still and spotless mind, the final realization dawns. We then don’t just understand but can see that we are nothing but the unborn, indestructible Brahman. We then don’t just know but can experience everything in the World as a reflection of our own selves.
‘Atmaiva idam sarvam!’ Adi Shankaracharya writes repeatedly as he looks at the World, ‘All this is my own Self indeed!’ With this realization the chains of Karma drop, and one is free.
All the spiritual paradigms in Sanatana Dharma, all the four Yogas, are designed to help us progress along the path to this final release. While Jnana - the Knowledge of Reality - is essential, it will not ripen into full realization until the mind and the heart are purified, until the ego is shed; in other words until there is chitha shudhi. All forms of spiritual practice - philosophical inquiry, ritual, devotion, meditation, selfless service, ethical conduct - help us in attaining chitta shudhi. Indian civilization has structured itself in ways that enable each individual to make progress toward this final goal.
When the spiritual seeker achieves Freedom, they are no longer within the hold of Karma. They still live and act in the world, but they do so with the full understanding that the world is not separate from them; they live and act without any sense of clinging to the fruits of their action. Read our page on the topic of Karma to understand this in more detail.
One who has attained Freedom is called a Jivanmukta, someone who is liberated while alive. In Advaita Vedanta, the highest goal is Jivanmukti, to live in this world while being Free. This is in contrast to many other spiritual paths, where the highest goal is to attain Moksha - or to remain at the Lord’s abode - after death.
‘Ihaiva, ihaiva!’ Adi Shankaracharya writes, ‘Here itself! Here itself!’ - the Advaitin seeks Freedom right here, in this very life.
In the Panchadasi, Vidyaranya Swami writes that everyone who very clearly understands the Ultimate Truth will attain Moksha when their current life ends - their journey in the cycles of samsara has ended; but the goal for the Advaitic seeker is not just Moksha after death but Jivanmukti - to live in the world with the bliss of the Highest Knowledge. Jivanmukti is the point of these births and deaths; this is what all of us - whether or not we know it or accept it - are striving towards.
‘This is the result of that Knowledge: one becomes free even in this body, externally and internally, always enjoying the ever-blissfulness in the Atman.[1]’
Tying it all together
The crystal clear message of Advaita Vedanta is that we are already divine, we just need to re-discover who we really are.
It is important to note that a very important element in moving toward Moksha is vairagya - a dispassion for the world, or more specifically lack of clinging onto the fruits of one’s actions. This is a spiritual quality one must develop on the path, and it is often the most challenging aspect of the quest.
The detachment of the Free person does not mean that they will disengage from the word; it does not mean that they will watch on mutely when injustice is being performed. Quite the opposite. The Free man or woman will step into the thick of things when they have to, they will be a blessing to everyone around them. They will perform selfless actions spontaneously, and not out of a sense of duty or as the outcome of ethical deliberations. The Mukta can see very clearly that they are just a vessel through which the drama of the world is playing out; they have overcome the limitations of the ego and have seen beyond the appearances of duality.
‘Only the great sword of Discrimination [Viveka] can cut down this Maya,’ Adi Shankaracharya writes, ‘and that sword should be whetted by the grace of the Lord.[2]’
Vedanta provides us with this great sword. It is then up to us - How much do we want freedom? How hard are we going to push ourselves to reach that destination? The final moment of release is by the grace of Isvara, but that will not come about unless we strive to the very best of our abilities, unless we keep strengthening and purifying our minds and hearts, unless we try and incorporate all the four spiritual paths into our lives in various ways - Bhakti, Karma, Dhyana, and of course Jnana.
‘All the powers in the universe are already ours,’ Swami Vivekananda said, ‘It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark. Know that there is no darkness around us. Take the hands away and there is the light which was from the beginning. Darkness never existed, weakness never existed. We who are fools cry that we are weak; we who are fools cry that we are impure. Thus Vedanta not only insists that the ideal is practical, but that it has been so all the time; and this Ideal, this Reality, is our own nature. Everything else that you see is false, untrue. As soon as you say, "I am a little mortal being," you are saying something which is not true, you are giving the lie to yourselves, you are hypnotizing yourselves into something vile and weak and wretched.[3]’