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There are four non-defiling Karmas, viz. situation conferring, physique determining, life span giving and status determining, which still prevail at that stage. Being non-defiling, they do not affect the purity of soul, which remains fully manifest in that state. The embodiment at that state is therefore comparable to a burnt cord. As a cord retains its shape in spite of being burnt, the Lords also continue to retain their bodies so long as the non-defiling Karmas remain operative. Such Karmas normally lapse at the end of the life span. Thereby the Lords reach Karmaless state, which does not require embodiment. As such, they do not obtain new body and rise to the next state of Ayogi Kevali, which means the state of unembodied omniscience.
In rare cases some non-defiling Karmas may continue to prevail by the end of that life. Though the life span Karma necessarily comes to the end, the remaining three Karmas may still stay. In that case, the Lords undertake a procedure called Kevali Samudghät, (simultaneous exposure by the omniscient) for expiating them. Thereby the Lords drag all the remaining Karmas towards the soul and shed them off simultaneously.
That procedure consists of Dand, Kapät and Manthän and that takes only eight Samays (one Samay is the infinitesimal part of a second). Dand means a staff. At the first Samay the Lord expands the soul in the shape of a staff long enough to touch the lowest level of universe at the bottom and the highest level at the top. At the second Samay he expands it in easterly and westerly directions so as to touch the eastern and western ends of the universe. That is termed as Kapät. At the third Samay he expands it northward and southward so as to touch the northern and southern ends of the universe. That is termed as Manthän, because that shape resembles a churning rod. At the fourth Samay the Lord fills the entire space of the universe with Manthän. At the fifth Samay he vacates the space. At the sixth Samay he contracts the Manthän back to the shape of Kapät. At the seventh Samay he contracts Kapät to the shape of Dand and at the eighth Samay he contracts Dand and assumes the original size of the body. That procedure removes the remaining three Karmas and the Lord rises to the 14th stage.
17) Man, Vachan, Käyä Ne Karmani Varganä, Chhoote Jahän Sakal Pudgal Sambandh Jo; Evun Ayogi Gunsthänak Tyän Vartatun, Mahäbhägya Sukhdäyak Poorna Abandh Jo. Apoorva.
Being freed from mental, verbal and physical particles of Karma and from all connections with the lifeless objects, there may prevail the highly graceful, blissful and entirely unbinding, unembodied state-----When?
Now we come to the state of liberation, which literally means freedom from bondage. Attachment for the worldly situations constitutes the bondage and that bondage leads to the different situations of happiness or unhappiness, of pleasure or pain and so on. As the worldly soul reacts to such situations with the sense of craving or aversion, it acquires new bondage. The liberation means freedom from all such bondage so that soul can experience its true state of infinite perception, infinite knowledge and infinite bliss.
Liberation is the utmost abstract state, which is almost impossible to be expressed in words. The bliss in the state of liberation is beyond verbal description; one can only experience it. Since Shrimad had the glimpse of that state, he describes it in this and the next stanza. Mental, verbal and physical faculties arise as the consequence of Karma. Since all Karmas stand destroyed in the liberated state, there is no connection with those faculties and the soul remains entirely unembodied. There is thus no interaction of any Karma or of any other lifeless matter in that state.
In the Letter of Six Fundamentals, Shrimad has described the state of liberation as under.
"Soul has been described above as being Karta of material Karma and thereby as being subject to their consequences. Those Karmas can, however, be terminated as well; because even if the defiling instincts etc. are evidently very acute, they can be reduced by discontinuing their practice, by avoiding their contact and by calming them down. They are reducible and can be destroyed."
It is a principle that what can be reduced, can also be destroyed. If soul stays perfectly vigilant, it can avoid the new bondage. Since the old Karmas are stripped off after extending the consequences, their bondage can come to the end. The embodiment occurs in order to bear the consequences of Karmas. If there is no bondage of Karma, there would be no embodiment. Such pure, unembodied state of soul itself is liberation,
