VIDEHA-MUKTI AND JĪVAN-MUKTI
Deliverance, in the case which has just been discussed, is properly speaking liberation achieved when 'out of the bodily form' (videha-mukti) and obtained in an immediate manner at the moment of death, Knowledge being already virtually perfect before the termination of earthly existence; it must be distinguished therefore from deferred and gradual liberation (krama-mukti), and it must also be distinguished from liberation obtained by the yogi during his actual lifetime (jīvan-mukti), by virtue of Knowledge no longer only virtual and theoretical but fully effective, that is to say by genuine realization of the 'Supreme Identity'. It must be clearly understood that the body cannot constitute an obstacle to Deliverance any more than any other type of contingency; nothing can enter into opposition with absolute totality, in the presence of which all particular things are as if they were not. In relation to the supreme goal there is perfect equivalence between all the states of existence, so that no distinction any longer holds good between the living and the dead man (taking these expressions in the earthly sense). In this we note a further essential difference between Deliverance and 'salvation': the latter, as the Western religions conceive it, cannot be effectively obtained, nor even be assured (that is to say obtained virtually), before death; that which is attained through action can also always be lost through action; moreover, there may be incompatibility between certain modalities of one particular individual state, at least accidentally and under particular conditions, whereas there can no longer be anything of the kind once we are dealing with supra-individual states, and above all with the
unconditioned state. [1] To view things otherwise is to attribute to one special mode of manifestation an importance which it could not possess and which even manifestation in its entirety cannot claim; only the prodigious inadequacy of Western conceptions in regard to the constitution of the human being could render such an illusion possible, and only this moreover could give rise to any astonishment at the fact that Deliverance may be accomplished during life on earth as well as in any other state.
Deliverance or Union, which is one and the same thing, implies 'by superaddition', as has already been said, the possession of every state, since it is the perfect realization (sādhana) and totalization of the being; besides, it matters little whether these states are actually manifested or not, since it is only as permanent and immutable possibilities that they have to be taken into account metaphysically.
Lord of many states by the simple effect of his will, the yogi occupies but one of them, leaving the others empty of life-giving breath [prāna], like so many unused instruments; he is able to animate more than one form in the same way that a single lamp is able to feed more than one wick. [2]
'The yogi,' says Aniruddha,
is in immediate contact with the primordial principle of the Universe and in consequence [secondarily] with the whole of space, of time, and of everything included therein, that is to say with manifestation, and more particularly with the human state in all its modalities. [3]
Moreover, it would be a mistake to suppose that liberation acquired when the being is quit of the bodily form (videha-mukti) is more complete than liberation 'during life' (jivan-mukti); if certain Westerners have made this mistake, it is always as a result of the excessive importance they attach to the corporeal state, and what has just been said above dispenses us from further remarks on this subject. The yogi has nothing further to obtain subsequently, since he has actually realized 'transformation' (that is to say a passing beyond form) within himself, if not outwardly; it matters little to him therefore that a certain formal appearance persists in the manifested world, since henceforth, for him, it cannot exist otherwise than in illusory mode. Strictly speaking it is only for others that the appearances persist thus without external change, and not for him, since they are now incapable of limiting or conditioning him; these appearances affect and concern him no more than does all the rest of universal manifestation.
The yogi, having crossed the sea of passions, [4] is united with Tranquillity [5] and possesses the 'Self' [unconditioned Ātmā with which he is identified] in its plenitude. Having renounced those
pleasures which are born of perishable external objects [and which are themselves but external and accidental modifications of the being], and rejoicing in Bliss [Ānanda, which is the sole permanent and imperishable object, and which is not different from the 'Self'], he is calm and serene like the torch beneath an extinguisher, [6] in the fullness of his own essence [which is no longer distinguished from the Supreme Brahma]. During his [apparent] residence in the body he is not affected by its properties any more than the firmament is affected by that which floats in its bosom [because, in reality, he contains all states within himself and is not contained by any one of them]; knowing all things [and thereby being all things, not distinctively, but as absolute totality], he remains immutable, unaffected by contingencies. [7]
Thus there is no spiritual degree superior to that of the yogi and it is evident that there cannot be; considered in his concentration within himself, he is also called Muni, that is to say the 'Solitary one', [8] not in the popular and literal sense of the word but as one who, in the
fullness of his being, realizes the state of 'perfect Solitude', which does not allow any distinction between outer and inner, nor any extra-principial diversity whatsoever to subsist in the Supreme Unity (or as we should say, to be strictly accurate, in 'Non-Duality'). For him the illusion of 'separateness' has finally ceased to exist, and with it every confusion engendered by the ignorance (avidyā) which produces and sustains that illusion, [9] for,
imagining first that he is the individual 'living soul' [jīvätmā], man becomes afraid [through belief in the existence of some being other than himself], like one who mistakes [10] a piece of rope for a serpent; but his fear is dispelled by the certitude that he is not in reality this 'living soul', but Ātmā Itself [in Its unconditioned universality]. [11]
Shankarāchārya names three attributes that correspond in a way to so many functions of the Sannyāsin, the possessor of Knowledge, who, if that Knowledge be fully effective, is none other than the yogi: [12] these three attributes are, in ascending order, bälya, pānditya, and mauna. [13] The first of these words means literally a state comparable to that of a child (bäla): [14] it is a stage of 'non-expansion', if one may so call it, where all the powers of the being are concentrated as it were in one point, realizing by their unification an
undifferentiated simplicity, comparable to embryonic potentiality. [15] In a sense which is somewhat different, but which completes the foregoing (since it implies both reabsorption and plenitude), it also means the return to the 'primordial state', of which all the traditions speak and which Taoism and Islamic esoterism more especially stress. This return is in fact a necessary stage on the path leading to Union, since it is only from this primordial state that it is possible to escape the limits of human individuality in order to rise to the higher states. [16]
A further stage is called pānditya, that is to say 'learning', an attribute indicating the teaching function; the possessor of Knowledge is qualified to communicate it to others or, more accurately speaking, to awaken corresponding possibilities within them, since Knowledge in itself is strictly personal and incommunicable. The Pāndita therefore partakes more especially of the character of Guru or 'Spiritual Master'; [17] but he may be in possession of the perfection of theoretical knowledge only, and for this reason it is necessary to take into account, as a still further and final stage, mauna or the state of the Muni, as being the only condition in which Union can genuinely be realized. There is yet another expression, Kaivalya, which also means 'isolation', [18] and which at the same time expresses the ideas of 'perfection' and 'totality'; this term is often employed as an equivalent of Moksha: kevala denotes the absolute and unconditioned state which is that of the 'delivered' being (mukta).
We have described the three attributes mentioned above as representing so many stages preparatory to Union; but obviously the yogi
who has reached the supreme goal possesses each one of them a fortiori, since he possesses all states in the fullness of his essence. [19] These three attributes are implied moreover in what is called aishvarya, namely participation in the essence of İshvara, for they correspond respectively to the three Shaktis of the Trimurti: if it be understood that the fundamental characteristic of the 'primordial state' is 'Harmony', it will immediately be apparent that bälya corresponds to Lakshmī, while pānditya corresponds to Sarasvatī and mauna to Pārvatī. [20] This point is of special importance for understanding the nature of the 'powers' that pertain to the jivan-mukta, as secondary consequences of perfect metaphysical realization.
Furthermore, the exact equivalent of the theory we have just mentioned is also to be found in the Far-Eastern tradition: this is the theory of the 'four Happinesses', the first two being 'Longevity', which, as has already been remarked, is simply perpetuity of individual existence, and 'Posterity', which consists in the indefinite prolongations of the individual through all his modalities. These two Happinesses therefore only concern the extension of the individuality and they are included in the restoration of the 'primordial state', which implies their complete attainment; the remaining two, which refer on the contrary to the higher and extra-individual states of the
being, [21] are the 'Great Wisdom' and the 'Perfect Solitude', that is to say pānditya and mauna. Finally, these 'four Happinesses' attain their fullness in a 'fifth', which contains them all principially and unites them synthetically in their single and indivisible essence: no name is ascribed to this 'fifth Happiness' (any more than to the 'fourth state' of the Māndūkya Upanishad), since it is inexpressible and cannot be the object of any distinctive knowledge: it is however easy to see that we are concerned here with nothing less than Union itself or the 'Supreme Identity', obtained in and through complete and total realization of what other traditions call 'Universal Man', for the yogi, in the true sense of the word, like the 'transcendent man' (chen-jen) of Taoism, is also identical with 'Universal Man'. [22]