MOKSHA – MEANING BEHIND THE WORD
If one were to ‘Google’ the term ‘Moksha’ they would come across a myriad of interesting links, web pages, definitions, history and roots. ‘Moksha’ is a very relevant term even for those who are non-spiritual or non-religious because eventually we all struggle with answering age-old questions such as, “Who am I? What is the purpose of my life? And how do I achieve this? ” However, before ‘Moksha’ can be associated with today’s world, we must explore the historical roots in relation to religion and spirituality.
Moksha is a final release [emancipation] from one’s worldly conception of self, the loosening of experiential duality and a realization of one’s own fundamental nature which is the true being, pure consciousness and bliss and experience which…is beyond sensation. Here the soul is a separate entity from the body and is described as formless, timeless, non-tangible, and without causation (karma) or attributes. Moreover, ‘Moksha’, “is not seen as a soteriological goal in the same sense as in a Christian context, but signifies rather a dissolution of the sense of self as an egoistic personality. (More on Moksha and Religion further in this reading.)
MOKSHA’S SPIRITUAL & RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION
Moksha‘s roots began in India; whereby non-Aryan Indians influenced those from within the caste system of Hinduism. This concept was later adopted in Jainism and Buddhism.
Many important journeys have been ignited by the preparation for Moksha. The process of Moksha or Mukti is the process by which the soul is liberated from repeating the cycle of reincarnation (death and re-birth). The soul is then freed from experiencing all pain, suffering, and limitations involved in ‘worldly existence’. These limitations are influenced by one’s attachment to worldly experiences and possessions or Maya. In doing so, the ‘enlightened’ soul is able to leave behind all concepts of ego, power, money, greed and other related earthly passions.
It is this liberation from and the pacifying of these passions in Buddhism that is known as Nirvana. Buddhists believe that Nirvana is the goal of attaining the ‘highest happiness’ or ‘salvation’. Whereas in Jainism and Hinduism, Moksha is achieved when the soul is separate from all actions or Karmas. Despite these differences, all believe that the soul strives to reach self-awareness through Nirvana or Moksha by releasing Maya and by aligning with God or a higher spiritual power.
ANCIENT WISDOM FOR MODERN TIMES
Moksha (or Mukti) is the ultimate peace, knowledge and enlightenment; and this is how Moksha relates to us in today’s world.
So what does this all mean to us? Well, it shows us that people have always wondered what their purpose in life is and how this purpose is achieved within reason and balance. To feel at peace and harmony we need to feel love, joy, laughter, happiness and ultimately at balance between feelings and experiences of pain and suffering. Although we would all like to eliminate pain and suffering, without these emotions experiences we can’t appreciate the positive ones. Life would be without meaning and we wouldn’t be able to strive to be ‘better’ human beings.
We can all strive toward Moksha in the form of self-development. By gaining the knowledge of who we truly are; we are constantly improving on ourselves and reducing our negative attributes that are limiting or blocking our abilities to feel secure, happy, loved and balanced.
You may wonder how you recognize who you truly are and also realize that this process in itself can take a lifetime of exploration, experience and knowledge. However, this is an important struggle because it helps you to understand what your individual weaknesses and strengths are. This sense of awareness then helps you associate your past patterns of Karmas or behaviours with some insight or enlightenment towards your present. The combination of this awareness of your past and present will then influence what your future will be.
With the world’s current economic state, we have all had to reassess the priorities in each of our lives. This has meant a huge paradigm shift in thinking about what actually brings us peace, happiness and balance.
Experts such as Deepak Chopra believe that we each need to experience peace and stillness by re-aligning our thoughts and actions. Chopra recommends daily meditation, embracing uncertainty by focusing less on material consumption and more on our relationships with one another. Chopra also states that as a society, we have bought into false ideas about happiness, well-being and security. As a society, we have come to believe that money will bring us happiness, that technology will bring us well-being and that war and weapons will bring us security; but we all know that these notions have been proven to be false.
Through daily meditation, we can learn to spend time alone and to be still. It is here that we can reflect and reconnect with ourselves. We can reassert our journeys and assess where we are on these journeys and what we need to do on a daily basis to achieve our goals of self-development.
Research is showing that happiness comes from our relationships with others and how we make one another happy. This is the easiest route to contentment. It has also been proven that some of the poorest countries are happier than more affluent ones. So if happiness comes from within, how do we achieve this? Chopra states that the happiest people are those who find opportunities where others find problems. He also states that the easiest thing for even the busiest person today is to take a little time everyday and to reflect by asking: who am I?, what do I want?, what gives me meaning and purpose?, what do I look for in a good relationship?, and how can I be a better friend? These kinds of questions will help to nurture your self-development. The beauty behind this is that you never have to know the answer at first glance!
We achieve Moksha or enlightenment when we have reached the finish line towards self-awareness and self-development. It is this constant reflection, reassessing, and readjusting that we all find ourselves undergoing throughout our lives. It is a great achievement for each of us when our thoughts and actions bring us love, joy, laughter, happiness, peace and harmony in our lives.
MOKSHA AND RELIGION
In Indian religions, Moksha (Sanskrit: मोक्ष mokṣa) or Mukti (Sanskrit: मुक्ति), literally “release” (both from a root muc “to let loose, let go”), is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and rebirth (reincarnation).
It is highly probable that the concept of Moksha was first developed in India by non-Aryan people outside of the caste system whose spiritual ideas greatly influenced later Indian religious thought. Buddhism and Jainism are continuations of this tradition, and the early Upanishadic movement was influenced by it. Reincarnation was likely adopted from this religious culture by Brahmin orthodoxy. Brahmins wrote the earliest recorded scriptures containing these ideas in the early Upanishads.
In Hinduism, Atma-Jnana (self-realization) is the key to obtaining Moksha. The Hindu is one who practices one or more forms of Yoga — Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Raja, knowing that God is unlimited and exists in many different forms, both personal and impersonal.
There are believed to be four Yogas (disciplines) or margas (paths) for the attainment of Moksha. These are: working for the Supreme (Karma Yoga), realizing the Supreme (Jnana Yoga), meditating on the Supreme (Raja Yoga) and serving the Supreme in loving devotion (Bhakti Yoga). Different schools of Hinduism place varying emphasis on one path or other, some of the most famous being the tantric and yogic practices developed in Hinduism.
Vedanta approaches are split between strict non-duality (Advaita), non-duality with qualifications (such as Vishishtadvaita), and duality (dvaita). The central means to Moksha advocated in these three branches vary.
1. Advaita Vedanta emphasizes on Jnana Yoga as the ultimate means of achieving moksha, and other Yogas (such as Bhakti Yoga are means to the knowledge, by which Moksha is achieved. It focuses on the knowledge of Brahman provided by traditional Vedanta literature and the teachings of its founder, Adi Shankara. Through discernment of the real and the unreal, the Sadhak (Practitioner) would unravel the Maya (illusion) and come to an understanding that the observable world is unreal and impermanent, and that consciousness is the only true existence. This intellectual understanding was Moksha, this was Atman and Brahman realized as the substance and void of existential duality. The Impersonalist schools of Hinduism also worship various deities, but only as a means of coming to this understanding – both the worshiped and worshiper lose their individual identities.
2. Non-dualist schools sees God as the most deserving of worship as an object of love, for example, a personified monotheistic conception of Shiva or Vishnu. Unlike Abrahamic traditions, Advaita/ Smartha Hinduism does not prevent worship of other aspects of God, as they are all seen as rays from a single source. The concept is essentially of devotional service in love, since the ideal nature of being is seen as that of harmony, euphony, its manifest essence being love. By immersing oneself in the love of God, one’s Karmas (good or bad, regardless) one is able to let go of one’s illusions about beings and decay and ‘truth’ is soon known and lived. Both the worshiped and worshiper gradually loose their illusory sense of separation and only One beyond all names remains.
One must achieve Moksha on his or her own under the guidance of a Guru (or modern day Mentor). A Guru or a Siddha inspires but does not intervene.