Liberation (Skt. मुक्ति Mukti / मोक्ष Moksha) is the ultimate state of freedom on the path of knowledge. It is defined as complete and permanent freedom from ignorance, the limitations of the body-mind complex, and the cycle of births and deaths (samsara).

The Illusion of Bondage

• Bondage is Mental: Bondage and liberation are dual concepts of the mind, and as such, they are not ultimately real. The experiencer (the Self) is eternally, infinitely free.

• No Liberation in Separation: Believing oneself to be a separate, limited individual is the only bondage. Separation is always bondage. True liberation is seeing the partless, non-dual One in the manifold, illusory world.

• Subtractive Release: Liberation cannot be achieved or built; it is a recognition of what already is. It is realized through the graceful dissolution of the false belief that we are bound.

The State of a Liberated Being

• Cessation of Births: A liberated being has dissolved the causal link between their causal body (stored desires) and lower layers of memory. They no longer compulsively reincarnate as a human or any other creature.

• Freedom in Action: If they act in the world, they do so without any sense of doership or attachment to the fruits of action.

• The World Liberated: When an individual is liberated from the world and drops the claim to be separate, the world itself is liberated from the task of trying to fulfill their false beliefs and ideas. The illusion continues, but it is seen purely as a playful dream.

See also

Freedom, ignorance, ego, causal body, samsara, oneness, doer.