| Concept of Moksha Moksha means liberation or freedom. Vedanta does not accept a real bondage of the Soul and therefore there cannot be any real striving for moksha. The Self is already free and perfect. So moksha simply means to remove the veil of ignorance and realize one's own essential nature as Sat-Chit-Ananda. Absolute existence, absolute consciousness and absolute bliss. Moksha is not an achievement, it is simply realization of the truth that already abides within. This realisation however is not intellectual but is experiencial. Qualifications for Vedantic Sadhana Vivek (discrimination) Vivek is the discrimination between the permanent and the impermanent and a desire to strive for the permanent. This is an inner condition of the mind of a spiritual aspirant who feels a strong sense of dissatisfaction with the superficial experiences of his material existence and glimpses though very indistinctly the presence of a higher and better form of life. This glimpse creates in him a strong desire to seek that life. Vairagya (dispassion) This consciousness of a higher life creates a distaste in the mind of the aspirant for the things that go against the higher ideal. This distaste is called vairagya (dispassion). In the beginning this vairagya may be very temporary, very mild and the mind tends to fall back again and again to past habit patterns. Gradually this tendency becomes strong. Vivek and vairagya go hand in hand. One compliments the other. Shad-sampat (sixfold virtues) Sama To achieve calmness of mind through eradication of desires especially those that inflate the ego. Desires are eradicated with this understanding that unfulfilled desires leads to frustrations and pain and fulfilled desires gives only temporary happiness and soon leads to a fresh desire. Desires are insatiable. Dama Checking the sense organs from running after sense objects. This is done with this understanding that all sense pleasures are temporary and are never fully satisfying. Uparati This is the result of the practice of sama and dama. It is self-withdrawal. It is the turning of the mind from the objects of sense enjoyments with this understanding that sense pleasures are never fully satisfying. Titiksha This is the power of endurance. Power to bear pain, insult, injury or injustice. One who practices titiksha does not lament over injustice or plan to take revenge. Shraddha An unshakable faith in the existence of the bliss of the Soul, the teachings of the Guru and the Scriptures. The faith should however not be blind but based on reason, commonsense and conviction after protracted questioning. |