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Wellsprings
hindu-liberationfeatured in 7 works

Liberation (Mokṣa)

Final freedom from the wheel of rebirth — but freedom into what?

Mokṣa is liberation — the final freedom from the wheel of birth, death, and rebirth that the Hindu schools take to be the supreme aim of human life. What liberation is freedom into, however, differs widely: union or identity with the absolute, eternal loving communion with God, or the isolation of the pure witness-self. Every school of Hindu philosophy is, at bottom, a path and a theory aimed at mokṣa.

How it traveled

  1. Kaṭha Upaniṣad
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -500
    explains
  2. Bhagavad-gītā
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -150
    explains
  3. Upadeśasāhasrī
    Kālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710
    explains
  4. Paramārthasāra
    Śrīnagara (Srinagar), Kashmir · 1000
    redefines
  5. Vivekacūḍāmaṇi
    Śṛṅgeri (Sringeri) · 1400
    explains
  6. Aṣṭāvakra-gītā
    Kāśī (Varanasi) · 1450
    explains
  7. Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā
    Kāśī (Varanasi) · 1700
    explains

Key passages(20)

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

Very high

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

Very high

Paramārthasāra · Abhinavagupta

Very high

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

Very high

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

Very high

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

Very high

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

Very high

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā · (attributed to Gheraṇḍa)

Very high

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

Very high

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā · Svātmārāma

High

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Spanda-kārikā · Bhaṭṭa Kallaṭa

High

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā · (attributed to Gheraṇḍa)

High