tman_and_moksa

SR No.: 020053
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G N Joshi
Publisher: Gujarat University
Publication Year: 1965
Total Pages: 901
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 535

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Vedānta (S'agi kara )
Liberation' or Kramamukti (Hyfer). It is to be distinguished from the other kind of liberation which is directly reached by the higher knowledge (qet parat) of the qualityless Brahman (faju ) the rise of which means the rejection of the world as an illusion.' But Sankara himself gives more stress on the direct liberation which is attained by the real knowledge of the Brahman, and by discarding the world only as an illusory non-existent entity.
Sankara is essentially a jñānavādin; he believes that jñāna, the real knowledge of the self, can lead to liberation, because according to him, bondage is caused by nescience or avidyā, which means defective knowledge of the self under certain adjuncts. When the real knowledge dawns it necessarily implies a sudden disappearance of the false knowledge or nescience which had caused bondage. The bondage also suddenly disappears along with the nescience which is its cause. Sankara gives supreme importance to the higher knowledge of the Brahman or soul as the only means of the attainment of liberation. He admitted the efficacy of other moral virtues but only as auxiliaries to the attainment of such knowledge as of 'I am Brahman' or 'Thou art that'. The knowledge as explained above, is not only cognition or feat but is one of experiencing identity with the Brahman. Such a knowledge consists in completely transforming the whole cognitional, affective, and the volitional nature of man. It requires an absolute cessation of the separative consciousness of
1 Deussen.Paul: The Syman df Vedānta, p. 474.
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