Hinduism: Details about 'Jivanmukta'
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Jivanmukta is a unique concept in Hindu philosophy, and that too, particularly in the school of philosophy known as advaita. The word means 'Liberated even when alive'. The ultimate goal of Hinduism is Liberation from the cycle of births and deaths. This Liberation is technically called 'moksha'.In all schools of Hindu philosophy except advaita, Liberation is necessarily an event after the death of the body, if at all. But the advaita school of Shankara, envisages that Man is already liberated, his soul is already free, he has only to realise so. So such souls who have had this realisation, are called jivanmuktas, though they are extremely rare. Sadashiva brahman, Ramana Maharshi, Chandrashekarendra Saraswati are monumental examples of such jivanmuktas. Such jivanmuktas live in the natural state of the bliss of Brahman the Absolute Reality of Hindu Vedanta, which is also described as 'Existence-Knowledge-Bliss' -- known in Sanskrit as 'Sat-cid-ananda'. They never slip from that state. This 'being' in Brahman, automatically implies an equanimous view of every being in the world as the same self as the one that dwells in the seer. This balanced view of everything as One, everything as the Self, is blissful experience, called Brahma-ananda (bliss in brahman) It does not necessarily come out of studies or scholarship. It is a state to be enjoyed internally, not by the external apparatus. It blossoms when one is no more alive to any worldly distraction or glamour. Just like waking up from a dream, you know when you are awake, not before. It is a divine perception of equanimity, that sprouts forth intuitively. When that experience crystallises, there is no more knowledge, no more ignorance, no perceiver, nothing perceived, no perception. It is something devoid of the triple of knower, knowledge and the known. Such enlightened persons do not see this world, they do not see anything. All they see is the godliness of Infinite Love and the loveliness of the Omnipresent God. In their world, there is no self, no non-self,; everywhere only grace and love. They have no limitations of time, none of action, no merit, no demerit, no happiness, no sorrow, no darkness. It is a permanent unalloyed illumination. It is a state transcending all speech and thought.
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