________________
xxx] Liberation (mokşa)
317 God alone is the cause of all bondage, as well as of all liberation. When one directly realizes the nature of God, there arises in him devotion (bhakti) to the Lord; for without personal, direct and immediate knowledge of Him there cannot be any devotion. Devotion (bhakti) consists of a continual flow of love for the Lord, which cannot be impaired or affected by thousands of obstacles, which is many times greater than love for one's own self or love for what is generally regarded as one's own, and which is preceded by a knowledge of the Lord as the possessor of an infinite number of good and benign qualities. And when such a bhakti arises, the Lord is highly pleased (atyartha-prasāda), and it is when God is so pleased with us that we can attain salvation.
Though individual souls are self-luminous in themselves, yet through God's will their self-luminous intelligence becomes veiled by ignorance (avidyā). When, as a modification of the mind or inner organ (antahkarana), direct knowledge of God arises, such a modification serves to dispel the ignorance or avidyā; for, though avidyā is not directly associated with the mind, yet such a mental advancement can affect it, since they are both severally connected with the individual self. Ordinarily the rise of knowledge destroys only the deeds of unappointed fruition, whereas the deeds of appointed fruition (prārabdha-karma) remain and cause pleasure and pain, cognition and want of cognition. So ordinarily the realization of God serves to destroy the association of prakyti and the gunas with an individual, as also his karmas and subtle body (linga-deha),
1 God maintains or keeps in existence all other entities, which are all wholly dependent on Him. He creates and destroys only the non-eternal and eternalnon-eternal entities. Again, with reference to all beings except Lakşmi, it is He who holds up the veil of positive ignorance (bhāva-rüpā avidyā) of prakrti, either as the first avidyā, the gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas, or as the second avidyā of desire (kāma), or as the third avidyā of actions of appointed fruition (prārabdha-karma), or as the subtle body, or finally as His own will. It is the last, the power of Hari, which forms the real stuff of all ignorance; the avidyā is only an indirect agent (parameswara-saktir eva svarūpāvaraņā mukhyā, avidyā tu nimitta-mātram); for, even if avidyā is destroyed, there will not arise supreme bliss, unless God so desires it. It is again He who gives knowledge to the conscious entities, happiness to all except those demons who are by nature unfit for attaining it, and sorrow also to all except Lakşmi, who is by nature without any touch of sorrow. Tattva-samkhyāna-vivarana and Tattva-samkhyānatippana, pp. 43-7.
2 parameśvara-bhaktirnāma niravadhikānantānavadya-kalyāna-gunatvājñānapūrvakaḥ stātmātmīya-samasta-vastubhyah aneka-gunādhikah antarāyasahasrenāpi apratibaddhaḥ nirantara-prema-pravāḥah. Nyāya-sudhā on Anuvyākhyāna.
