ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>MUKT&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background:#EAF1F7 url('../images/gtbh.jpg') no-repeat fixed center; color: #0066CC} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="MUKT*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279MUKT&#298 or <i>Mukti</i> and its synonym <i>mokh</i> (Sanskrit <i>mok&#7779a</i>, <i>P&#257l&#299 mo(k)kha</i>) are derived from the root much (to let go, release) and seem to be identical in primary meaning with the English words deliverance, liberation, release, freedom and emancipation.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Although sometimes translated as &#8216salvation', <i>mukt&#299</i> is different from the Christian salvation. The latter is a composite concept embodying redemption and reconciliation. Redemption is &#8216the change in man's relation to God by the removal of guilt and sin' (R. Hazelton, &#8216Salvation' in a Handbook of Christian Theology edited by M. Halverson and A. Cohen, London : Collins Fontana Books); guilt and sin, however, are not basic to the concept of <i>mukt&#299</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Mukt&#299</i> has two aspects &#8212 a negative and a positive one. On the negative side, it stands for having got &#8216loose from' or &#8216rid of&#8217. That essentially implies a bonded state from which man must be freed &#8212 be it ignorance (<i>añj&#257n</i>), nescience (<i>m&#257y&#257</i>), mortality (<i>k&#257l</i>), suffering (<i>dukkha</i>), passion (<i>k&#257ma</i>), desire (<i>trish&#7751&#257</i>), attachment (<i>moha</i>), superstition (<i>bhrama</i>), physical body (<i>shar&#299ra</i>) or the wheel of life and death (<i>&#257v&#257gavan</i>). All these spell only a perilous existence for man.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Mukt&#299</i>, however, is not to be construed as escapism. It is not that man is removed to a safe quarter in existence where no perils overtake him. He, rather, discovers within himself an unexpected power to withstand and not be shaken by any threat or danger. The security and integrity experienced are spiritual and ultimate; neither ephemeral nor circumstantial.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On the positive side, <i>mukt&#299</i> signifies the fullest and truest realization of the self. The saved life is a fully human self, open and unhindered. It embodies the realization that there is no <i>other</i> than the <i>self</i>. Separation and ego-consciousness stand decimated. Everlasting peace of the eternal and infinite self transcend the make-believe world of weal and woe, good and evil, gaiety and sorrow, wisdom and folly.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The basic concept underlying <i>mukt&#299</i> is that human life is in bondage on account of its own works (<i>karma</i>). All the schools of Indian philosophy, with the lone exception of C&#257rv&#257ka, conceive of an emancipated soul which, after exhausting the effects of all <i>karmas</i>, attains the liberated state. However, what exactly is conceived as bondage, and what as liberation varies from school to school.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>Ny&#257ya-Vai&#347e&#7779ika</i> school views it as freedom from bondage to the senses and sensuous life of pleasure and pain.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>S&#257&#7749khya</i> view characterizes <i>mukt&#299</i> as the cessation of the three types of pain (<i>&#257dhy&#257tmika, adhibh&#257vik&#257</i>, and <i>adhidaivika</i>). The <i>Puru&#7779a</i> (self) is able to attain such a state only by transcending the adjuncts of <i>Prak&#7771t&#299</i> (material nature). Happiness and misery are the handicraft of the <i>gu&#7751as</i> (qualities). The liberated soul having transcended the <i>gu&#7751as</i> goes beyond pleasure and pain.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <i>yogic</i> school prescribes <i>dhy&#257na</i> (meditation) and <i>sam&#257dh&#299</i> (the state of pure, contentless consciousness) as means to liberation &#8212 the emptied consciousness shining with its own radiance.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In Ved&#257nta, <i>mukt&#299</i> stands for the removal of duality (<i>dvaita</i>) and the merger of the self (J&#299v&#257tman) with the Absolute (Brahman). The self then becomes resplendent as existent, intelligent and blissful (<i>sat, cit</i>, and <i>&#257nanda</i>).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>Nirv&#257&#7751a</i> is the name for <i>mukt&#299</i> in the Buddhist vocabulary, the two being considered mutually comparable in the same Thought category (<i>Majjhimai 304). Nirv&#257&#7751a</i> literally means extinction, and implies the extinction of &#8216the five' - viz, <i>r&#363pa</i> (form), <i>sañjñ&#257</i> (name), <i>sa&#7749sk&#257ra</i> (impression), <i>vijñ&#257na</i> (knowledge) and <i>vedan&#257</i> (pleasure-pain).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; According to <i>Bhakt&#299</i> schools, <i>mukt&#299</i> is attained through <i>up&#257sn&#257</i> (worship) and consists in finding an abode in the spiritual realm of the <i>up&#257sya</i> (worshipped deity).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The above bird's-eye view of <i>mukt&#299</i> as conceived by different schools of Indian philosophy serves as the essential background for the Sikh concept. In the first place, the variegated terminology employed by the various schools &#8212 including such terms as <i>mok&#7779a, nirv&#257&#7751a, paramgat&#299, brahmajñ&#257na, nirbhau pad, sh&#363nya</i> (Punjabi <i>sunn</i>), <i>nirgu&#7751a avasth&#257</i>, etc &#8212 has been indistinctively employed in the Sikh scripture. That possibly signifies that these various terms, differing somewhat in conceptual detail one from the other, are held to be essentially identical by Sikh thought. Alternately, the Sikh view of <i>mukt&#299</i> is essentially an eclectic one. That they can lend themselves to an eclectic treatment also testifies to their conceptual proximity and the Sikh concern with its catholicity.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the second place, the Sikh thought seems to place accent on the positive aspect of <i>mukt&#299</i> -&#8212 thus departing from those schools that lay primary emphasis on its negative aspects. As an example of the latter, one may take the concept of <i>mok&#7779a</i> in the <i>Bhagvadg&#299t&#257</i> which is described as emancipation from evil (vii, 20), from <i>karma</i> (iv, 28), from lust and anger (v, 26), from decay and death (vii, 29), from the body (v, 23), from the illusion of opposites (xv, 5) and so on. A predominantly negative view, according to Sikh thought, cannot be the highest objective of life. Therefore</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Those who know (<i>jñ&#257n&#299</i>) desire not <i>vaiku&#7751&#7789h</i> (heaven),</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They reject even <i>mukt&#299</i> as of little import. </p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (GG, 328)</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;and again,</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I crave not for a kingdom, nor even for <i>mukt&#299</i>;</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;What I long for is the lotus feet (of the Lord). </p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (GG, 534)</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In these quotations <i>mukt&#299</i> as a negative concept is rejected.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Sikh view holds that God, in His own pleasure, has Himself created both : the state of bondage (<i>bandhan</i>) and the state of freedom (<i>mukt&#299</i>). "'The free (<i>muk&#257t</i>) and the bonded (<i>bandh</i>) alike are your creation" (GG,796).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In point of fact, man is born free, but as he grows up, the ways of the world grow upon him. That is how from his nascent free state (<i>sahaj</i>) he slinks down step by step into the conditioned existence of worldly pursuit (<i>dh&#257t</i>). In order to reemerge from it and to reattain the original state of <i>sahaj</i> he must pursue the pah of <i>liv</i> (devotion). <i>Mukt&#299, </i> in fact, is a by-product of the practice of <i>liv</i>, not its highest objective which is nothing short of God-experience itself, and subsequently remaining immersed in it for ever.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The path of <i>liv</i> has its own distinctive discipline which therefore is a prerequisite for <i>mukt&#299</i>. This discipline includes good actions as the first requisite (<i>binu kart&#363ti mukti n&#257 p&#257&#299ai</i> &#8212GG, 201). Other requisites are : the giving up of egoism (<i>mukt&#299 du&#257r&#257 so&#299 p&#257e je vichon &#257pu gav&#257i</i>, GG, 1276); associating with God-men (<i>mukti p&#257&#299ai s&#257dh sa&#7749gati</i>, GG, 675); dwelling upon the Gur&#363's word (<i>mukt&#299 mah&#257 sukh gur sabadu b&#299ch&#257ri</i>, GG, 942), and accepting it mentally (<i>mannai p&#257vahi mokhu du&#257r</i>. GG, 3); and ever remembering the Lord (<i>mukte rama&#7751 gobindah, </i> GG, 1360). It is imperative for attaining <i>mukt&#299</i> that one should be &#8216dead to oneself'. An egoist, be he clever or dumb, never can attain <i>mukt&#299</i> (<i>hau vichi m&#363rakhu hau vichi si&#257&#7751&#257 mokh mukati k&#299 s&#257r na j&#257n&#257</i>, GG, 466). One can attain freedom by serving him alone who is free himself (<i>mukte seve mukt&#257 hovai</i>. GG,116). The Gur&#363 can remove all fetters and render one free (<i>bandhan k&#257&#7789i mukati guri k&#299n&#257</i>, GG, 804). However, none can attain <i>mukt&#299</i> without Divine Grace (<i>so&#299 mukt&#299 j&#257 kau kirp&#257 hoe</i>, GG, 1261).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Sikh concept of <i>mukt&#299</i> is essentially that of <i>J&#299van mukt&#299</i>, the one attainable in one's lifetime itself. Further, Sikhism rejects the idea of considering renunciation as the vesture of a <i>j&#299van mukta</i>. Contrast with it, for example, the Jain view according to which "The liberated persons...have to lead a mendicant's life, for, otherwise, they cannot keep themselves free from <i>karma</i>" (G.N. Josh&#299 : <i>Atman and Moksa</i>. Gujar&#257t University Ahmed&#257b&#257d, 1965, p. 260).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>J&#299van mukt&#299</i> itself brings one to the brink of <i>videha mukt&#299</i> (incorporeal emancipation), which is freedom not from the present body but from any corporeal state hereafter. It spells for the <i>mukta</i> a final cessation of the weals and woes of the cycle of birth-death-birth (<i>janam-maran</i>). This ultimate <i>mukt&#299</i> is a continuation of <i>j&#299van mukt&#299</i>, going on after the shedding away of the corporeal frame to the final absorption into the One Absolute &#8212 the blending of light with Light (<i>jot&#299 jot sam&#257&#7751&#257</i>).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Sikh <i>mukt&#299</i> is positive concept in two important ways. First it stands for the realization of the ultimate Reality, a real enlightenment (<i>jñ&#257na</i>). The <i>mukta</i> is not just free from this or that, he is the master of sense and self, fearless (<i>nirbhai</i>) and devoid of rancour (<i>nirvair</i>), upright yet humble, treating all creatures as if they were he himself, wanting nothing, clinging to nothing.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He rises from the life of do's and don'ts to that of perfection &#8212 a state of at-one-ment with the All-self. Secondly, the <i>mukta</i> is not just a friend for all, he even strives for their freedom as well. He no longer lives for himself. He lives for others.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Dharam Singh, <i> Sikh Theology of Liberation </i>. Delhi, 1991<BR> <li class="C1"> Glassnapp, Helmuth Von (Tr. E.F.J. Payne), <i>Immortality and Salvation in Indian Religions</i>. Calcutta, 1863<BR> <li class="C1"> Gutierrez, Gustavo, <i> A Theology of Liberation </i>. New York, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"><i> A Comparative Study of the Concept of Liberation in Indian Philosophy </i>. Burhanpur, 1967<BR> <li class="C1"> Shivkumar, Muni, <i>The Doctrine of Liberation in Indian Religions with special reference to Jainism</i>. Panchkula, 1981<BR> <li class="C1"> Sher Singh, <i> The Philosophy of Sikhism </i>. Lahore, 1944<BR> <li class="C1"> Radhakrishnan, S., <i>Indian Philosophy</i>. London,1948<BR> <li class="C1"> Nripinder Singh, <i> The Sikh Moral Tradition </i>. Delhi, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Jaswant Si&#7749gh Nek&#299<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>