Re: Who Attains Moksha?
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté
There is much one can say about this subject... let me offer just a few ideas. This is offered not to challenge, but to offer a different vantage point.
The conversation that is taking place is within the field of action that involves karma, karta, and kārya. That of action (karma¹), karta (separation , distinction) and kārya (practised, performed, aim or purpose). It is within karma, karta and kārya the 3 guna-s perform their duty.
We are told that without any exception all actions are performed by the 3 guna-s¹. And we are informed in the bhāgavad gītā, chapt, 2 45th śloka :
nistraiguṇo = nis + trai+ guṇo - without + 3 + guna-s
That is, to be without the 3 guna-s - then one is free from duality or karta (separation , distinction). This is where one will find this mokṣa unveiled.
There is a concern of meat eating. I myself do not think it is conducive to one's health and avoid it. Yet all else that one does within the realm of the 3 guna-s also keeps the veil on this mokṣa . So, we have targeted meat as one action. What of all the others? They are collected within the 3 guna-s.
So, one pursues the notion of not eating meat. I applaud it and advocate that meat eating is one less thing on the list to get rid of. But what of the other thousand things ? They too must be addressed but not 1 by 1. They need to be rid of in one swoop.
ramaṇa mahaṛṣi said it best ( for me ) : The more you prune the plant the more vigorously it grows. The more you rectify your karma the more it accumulates. Find the root of karma and cut it off.
So , what is the root of karma. It is none other then the 3 guna-s. To rid one's self of these 3, then what remains ( not what is obtained) is the rays of the Self that shine in all of its brightness. One is ātma-niṣṭa ( established in the Self) some like to call ātma-siddhi (Self-realization).
So , what then is this mokṣa ? It is ignorance exhausted. Exhausted of what? That I am not this body-frame, this ego, this individual entity. When this falls away then one can say they mokṣ - 'to cast away', and is mokṣayadhvam - one who dwells in mokṣa.
iti śivaṁ
words
- karma is short for karman - action. It is said there is 4 types:
- nirvartya , when anything new is produced
- vikārya , when change is implied either of the substance and form
- prāpya , when any desired object is attained
- anīpsita, when an undesired object is abandoned
- Action performed by the 3 guna-s - from the bhāgavad gītā, chapt 3, 27th śloka
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
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