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THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION IN INDIAN RELIGIONS
in the early Upanisads we find that devotion (bhakti) to God and His grace (prasāda) are also considered essential for mukti. In the following pages we will elaborate these points.
The Upanisads make a clear distinction between knowledge (vidyā) and ignorance (avidyā). The people in general live in ignornce and do not know the real truth. The Katha Upanisad, for example, ridicules the ignorant worldlings in the following words:
"Those abiding in the midst of ignorance, self-wise, thinking themselves learned, running hither and thither, go around deluded, like blind men led by one who is himself blind."36
The doctrine of two types of knowledge is set forth in the Mundaka-Upanisad. The knowledge of the four Vedas and six Vedāngas is called the lower (apară) knowledge. The higher (para) knowledge is described as that whereby the Imperishable (akṣara) is known.37 This shows that all the other kinds of knowledge such as scientific, literary, ritualistic, etc., are inferior to the knowledge of the ultimate reality. The Upanisads therefore eulogise the knowledge of brahmun alone. He who knows the braman, declares a text, becomes identical with brahman.38
From the above statements it follows that knowledge is the chief means of liberation. Knowledge of brahman itself constitutes liberation. As has been observed by Paul Deussen, "Emancipation is not to be regarded as becoming something which previously had no existence."39 It is the recovery of lost identity of the individual self and Universal Self, the discovery of an already existing real fact. To quote Paul Deussen again :
"Deliverance is not effected by the knowledge of the ätman, but it consists in this knowledge; it is not a consequence of the knowledge of the atman, but this knowledge is itself already deliverance in all its fullness."'40
Liberation means the knowledge of the Absolute Reality. This Reality, say the Upanisadic philosophers, is within. He who has a vision of brahman, becomes liberated. The knot of his heart is cut
36. Katha Upanisad, II. 4-5; R. E. Hume's translation.
37.
Mun laka Upanisad, I. i. 4-5.
38. Ibid., III. 2-9.
39.
Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of Upanishads, Eng. translation by A.S. Geden, p. 344.
Ibid., p. 346.
40.
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