Who is Liberated? The Notion of Liberation While Alive in Some Selected Indian Texts

Abstract

This article looks at three texts—the Mānava Dharmaśāstra, the Bhagavadgītā, and a passage from the Mahābhārata that records a discussion between two self-proclaimed liberated persons—and tries to determine whether liberation in them is thought to be possible while alive. It turns out that the first two of these texts have rather hazy notions of liberation and use the terms liberation and liberated ambiguously. The third one is categorical that liberation while alive is possible, but specifies that it concerns liberation from features such as attachment. A further comparison with Jainism and Buddhism brings to light hat liberation from rebirth typically is not possible while one is alive, but liberation from certain cumbersome features is.