The Nectar of Gita…for you, me and all! Essay 5: Myths around the concept of ‘Moksha’

Om Namo Bhagavathe Vaasudevaayaa!

Essay 5:

Myths around the concept of ‘Moksha’

In our day to day life, we often hear people using the word ‘Moksha’ quite liberally. Often times, it is loosely used to indicate death, liberation, freedom from worries and the like. This word ‘Moksha’ is a very mysterious and elusive concept for many, more so, in the contemporary world. Even the educated lot from the practitioners of Hinduism tend to believe that it is something esoteric.

If someone was speaking about ‘moksha’, people tend to move away. This happens on account of the following reasons. The young think that it is more relevant for their parents, the middle-aged think that it is for the retired and the old think that it is something that comes after death and are therefore reluctant to deal with it. The reality is that, people have neither clarity on this nor do they make any effort to actually understand the concept of ‘Moksha’

Let us try to see a few myths around this concept arising out of a sheer lack of understanding and try to demystify the same.

Myth 1: “Moksha means death”

For many, moksha means death. It is the end of life. It is something that happens concurrently with death.  

Fact: The fact of the matter is, moksha does not mean death. It means ‘Liberation’. Liberation from the cycle of ‘births and deaths’. In fact, it leads to immortality. When someone is free from the cycle of births, he has no death. Hence immortality.

Myth 2: “Moksha is the ‘other worldly’ thing”

For most, it is something not relevant for this world and happens only in the ‘other world’. They believe it is something to do with living in ‘swarg’ or heaven after death.

Fact: The fact is that, ‘moksha’ as per Gita, is to be attained in this world, in the current life itself. It is a state of ‘self-realisation’ or ‘Enlightenment’ or destruction of ‘avidya’ or ‘ignorance’, which a person has to attain through continuous ‘saadhana’ on the path of ‘gnana’ or ‘Knowledge’.

Myth 3; “Moksha is for the retired and the aged”

People try to move away from understanding this concept, thinking that it has relevance for the retired and the aged people. So, the young and the middle-aged happily defer knowing this concept.

Fact: The fact is that it is as relevant to the young as it is to the aged. It is the knowledge about one’s ‘Inner-self’ that is synonymous with the ‘Cosmic self’ and it helps an individual to lead a life of eternal happiness and bliss. The sooner in life one understands this concept, the better it is for him to lead a life of bliss in universal harmony for the rest of one’s life.

Myth 4: “The desire for Moksha is a selfish goal”

We often come across this kind of baseless criticism from people who seem to hardly know the concept of moksha leave alone understand it. They tend to say that, our scriptures impress upon the individual to attain this goal, which is aimed at the selfish interest of an individual and not the community as a whole. They say that, it may help an individual to benefit but does not benefit the community as such.

Fact: This criticism comes out of total ignorance. An individual is a part of the whole and when all individuals work for it, the community itself moves towards the common goal. Here, the ‘saadhana’ or the training is individualistic. Attainment of moksha does not happen through community prayers. If a person wants to become a police officer, he has to work for it and undergo the training grind to be successful at it. Similarly, a saadhaka has to work persistently on the laid down spiritual practices that lead him from ignorance to knowledge and eventually to the state of enlightenment.

The concept of moksha directs an individual to look inwards and realise his ‘inner-self’. Once he realizes this, enlightenment dawns on him that the ‘Chaitanya’ that flows within, is no different from the ‘Chaitanya’ that is pervading in everything and everywhere. In other words, the ‘aathma chaitnaya’ or the ‘inner energy’ is a reflection of the ‘vishwa chaitnaya’ or the ‘cosmic energy’. One who attains this state of Enlightenment does not differentiate between self or others and exudes universal love. He will be in a state of eternal happiness and bliss. If all the individuals reach this state, the entire community, state, country or the whole world will be a place bathing in universal love and brotherhood. Such a world has no place for hatred, enmity or war.

Now it is for you to decide whether the desire for moksha is really a selfish goal or not?  

Once these common myths are demystified, we can lean more about what Gita tells us about the concept of moksha in the coming blogs!