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THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION IN INDIAN RELIGIONS
refers to mukati as "the liberation-element' (mukati-padārath). It consists in getting out of the ocean of becoming (bhavajal) and in cutting off the system of birth, death and rebirth. In liberation, doubt and disease are completely destroyed.45
The Sikh canon distinguishes between liberation or release and heaven (surag, Sanskrit sraraga). The goal of Sikh bhakti is not the attainment of heaven but the realization of God. The state of liberation is often called sahaj and sunn. The word sahaj means Innate and in this sense it was first used by the Buddhist siddhas who expounded the system of Sahajayāna. The word sunn (Sanskrit sünya) means 'empty' or 'void'. The Buddhist philosophers of the Madhyamaka School had used the words sūnya in the sense of Ultimate Reality which is wholly free from all discriminations. Their system was called Sünyavāda by Samkarācārya and Kumārila. Reality is called śünya because it is devoid of duality and discrimination. We have seen above that Guru Nānak refers to God prior to creation as withdrawn into emptiness-trance (sunn-samadhi). Thus Emptiness and Innate are the two great words signifying the profound and mysterious nature of Ultimate Release.
The word śün ya is a negative symbol which serves to reject the application of linguistic structure and discursive thought to Ultimate Reality. The word sahaja, however, indicates somehow the nearness of this Reality and suggests that it is realizable within. The path of bhakti is said to be an easy (sahaja) path which makes the realization of Innate (sahaja) comparatively easy. But the Ultimate nature of liberation is as indescribable as the ultimate nature of God. We can. however, have an idea of what liberation means by analysing the positive and negative achievements of a being released while alive (jivanmukta).
The liberated being experiences peace (śānti), bliss (sukh, anand) and satiety (santokhu). He experiences a bewildering ecstasy which the Gurus call unmani state. Those who achieve Emptiness-trance through perfect devotion to God attain this state of bewildering ecstasy. It is, therefore, also called Emptiness-trance (sunn-samadhi nām ras mäte). It is an indescribable and wonderful bewilderment (kahanu na jāi acaraj bismād).46 The negative description of God is
45. Vārān Bhai Gurdās, I.1. 46. Adi Granth, pp. 91, 298, 780, 1034; see L.M. Joshi, "Conception of Jivanmukti
in Guru Tegh Bahādur's' Hymn's” in Guru Tegh Bahadur, Patiala, Punjabi University, 1976., pp. 146-156.
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