Jivanmukta

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Jivanmukta (from the Sanskrit words jiva and mukti) is someone who, in the advaita philosophy of Hinduism, has attained nirvikalpa samadhi - the realization of the Self, Parasiva - and is liberated from rebirth while living in a human body. ^[1]

Jiivanmukta is a unique concept in Hindu philosophy, particularly in the school of philosophy known as advaita. The ultimate goal of Hinduism is liberation from the cycles of re-birth. This liberation is technically called 'moksha'. In all schools of Hindu philosophy except advaita, liberation is necessarily an event beyond the experience of human being. But the advaita school of Shankara envisages that human is already liberated and the soul is already free - one only has only to realise, and to accept, this freedom. Souls who have had this realisation are called jivanmuktas, though they are extremely rare. Examples include Ramana Maharshi, Chandrashekhara Bharati, Chandrashekarendra Saraswati.

Jivanmuktas live in the natural state of the bliss of Brahman the Absolute Reality of Hindu Vedanta, known as Sat-Cit-Ananda, or 'Existence-Consciousness-Bliss'. It does not necessarily come out of study or scholarship. It is a state to be enjoyed internally, not through the senses. It blossoms when one is no longer pulled to any worldly distraction or glamour. Just like waking up from a dream, you know when you are awake, not before. It is a divine perception of equanimity, that sprouts forth intuitively. When that experience crystallises, there is no more knowledge, no more ignorance, no perceiver, nothing perceived, no perception. It is something devoid of the triple of knower, knowledge and the known. Such enlightened persons do not see this world as we do. All they see is the Godliness of Infinite Love and the Loveliness of the Omnipresent God. In this world, there is no self, no non-self, but everywhere only grace and love. They have no limitations of time, none of action, no merit, no demerit, no happiness, no sorrow, no darkness. It is a permanent unalloyed illumination. It is a state transcending all speech and thought.

In the sramanic traditions the jivanmukta is called an arhat.