Moksha (मोक्ष, mokṣa), from the root √muc, "to release", is the final goal among the four purusharthas of Sanatan Dharm. It is the release of the self from samsara — the binding cycle of birth, death, and rebirth — and the abiding in one's own true nature.
Varied Conceptions
Each darshana describes differently. For Advaita Vedanta it is the recognition that the individual self (atma) was never other than the absolute (brahman). For Vishishtadvaita it is the eternal loving service of the Lord in His abode. For Dvaita it is blissful proximity to Vishnu without identity. For Sankhya and Yoga it is kaivalya, the isolation of pure consciousness (purusha) from material nature (prakriti).
Jivanmukti and
The tradition distinguishes jivanmukti (जीवन्मुक्ति), liberation while still embodied, from videhamukti (विदेहमुक्ति), liberation at the falling away of the body. A jivanmukta continues to live, eat, and act, but without binding karma; their actions are described as the spinning of a wheel after the potter's hand has been withdrawn.
Paths to
The Bhagavad Gita classically names three (or four) margas. Jnana yoga is the path of discriminative knowledge. Bhakti yoga is the path of devotional surrender to Ishvara. Karma yoga is the path of selfless action. Raja yoga — the eight-limbed yoga of Patanjali — is often counted as a fourth. The Gita itself integrates all three.
Obstacles
What binds is variously described as avidya (ignorance of one's true nature), kama (grasping), raga-dvesha (attraction and aversion), and accumulated karma. The disciplines of yoga, study, devotion, and ethical living are meant to thin and finally dissolve these knots.
and Worldly Life
does not require world-denial in all schools. The grihastha (householder) tradition holds that liberation can be pursued in the midst of family duty, provided action is done as offering. The Isha Upanishad opens īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam — "all this is pervaded by the Lord" — and counsels enjoyment by renunciation, not renunciation of enjoyment.
Why It Is the Highest Aim
The other three purusharthas — dharma, artha, kama — bring real but bounded fruit. Wealth ends, pleasure ends, even merit ends. alone is described as param (highest), nityam (eternal), and anantam (without end). It is freedom not from life but for the deepest life — life lived in conscious union with the real.