|
Question 20. What is Moksha? What will that experience be like? How can one attain it?
We know from our direct experience that we are separate from the dress we wear or the house we live in. Similarly we are separate from the body, the senses, the mind and egoism. When this fact is directly experienced our essentially blissful nature is fully manifest. It is this state that is described as Moksha. In this state there is total annihilation of all sorrow and suffering. After the fall of this body there will be no rebirth.
It is Atmajnana (knowledge or direct experience of the Atman) that gives Moksha. According to the Vedanta, an aspirant after Moksha should cultivate viveka (discrimination), vairagya (dispassion) and virtues like self control and forbearance. Then he should approach a competent Guru (spiritual teacher), listen to him explaining the message of the scriptures, and reflect and meditate on that message, which will ultimately give him the experience of the Atman.
|
