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Chapter 14: Guru's Explanation of Liberation
calming them down. They are reducible and can be destroyed. The state of bondage thus being destructible, the pure nature of the soul, devoid of bondage, is the state of liberation."
Of the three types of activities of the soul described in the third Fundamental, the second one associated with defiling instincts results in the bondage of Karma. The worldly soul is used to indulging in anger, arrogance, etc. whenever the circumstances arise. Such indulgence can be reduced, if one tries to calm down those passions by cultivating the sense of forgiving, modesty, etc. Thus the defiling instincts can go down by averting the same and by avoiding their repetition.
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What can be reduced can also be destroyed. If the soul stays perfectly vigilant, it can avoid new bondage. Since the old Karmas get automatically stripped off after extending their consequences, its bondage can come to an end. The soul acquires the embodiment in order to bear the consequences of its Karma. If there were no bondage of Karma, there would be no need for embodiment. Such a pure, unembodied state of the soul is liberation. In that state, the soul ceases to be Kartä of any Karma, because being fully enlightened, it does not indulge in any passion or defilement. Thus, it retains its purity and stays in perfect bliss forever.
Liberation has been described in this stanza as the state where there is total dissociation of the soul from embodiment and related matter. Since this denotes the Karmaless state, the liberated soul does not have any bondage and is dissociated from all worldly aspects. It is the state where there is no connection with any lifeless particle. It is the ultimate disconnection, which means that reconnection is never going to take place. That state is eternal and it will never end. It is with infinite happiness. The liberated soul enjoys its inherent bliss forever.
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