Moksha in Vaidika and avaidika schools:

In Vedic schools of thought moksha is considered as the highest goal of a living being. The Avaidika schools such as Bauddhas and Jainas also claim moksha/nirvana as their ultimate goal.

However between Vaidika and Avaidika schools there exists a subtle difference in attitude towards worldly existence and moksha, the final liberation.

Avaidika schools perceive world and what it offers as inherently full of misery ,worthless and shun the world with extreme disgust and repulsion to a level that if followers of such religions are to apply such teachings directly in their day to day life, their very existence would be threatened.

However, the Vedas take a different approach to this altogether. They neither negate the reality of the world as absolute shunya nor do they scrap the pleasures that the world has to offer. Infact they give detailed instructions on how to pursue such happiness and encourage individuals to attain such goals for they openly accept that all living beings are looking for the pleasure. However then they take one step further and say that, "by nature material enjoyment only generates temporary happiness due to the very nature of prakruti, one should dwell in to the methods of attaining permanent happiness through engaging in the pursuit of Brahma jnana and eventually reaching the moksha in pursuit of happiness".

In this context, vairagya is a word celebrated in both Vedic literatures and also in Avaidika traditions such as Jains and Buddhists. For Vaidikas the Vairagya comes from having fulfilled the lower level (material) desires and realising the temporary nature of such pleasures and desiring ever lasting gayness which is not bound by the continuum of time & space. For Avaidikas the Vairagya comes from the pure frustration coming out of the inability to fulfill their material cravings and as a result, shunning everything that is material, with an idea of seeking pleasure that is ever lasting and ever increasing.

This vairāgya arising from the frustration or kaitava vairāgya is criticized by followers of Vedic tradition. In the beginning of Bhagavad-gīta, Arjuna manifesting a similar false detachment, which was actually arising from a deep rooted attachment for the self and it̍s manifestations such as relatives, expressed his desire to renounce the world rather than engaging in war. Kṛṣṇa criticized such escapism as kaśmalam - impure, asvargyam - not carrying one to higher realms after death, akīrtikaram - generating infamy in society as a coward running away from duties and anārya-juṣṭam - unfit for āryans or Vaidikas. Even if Arjuna has lost the sense of duty or dharma Kṛṣṇa encouraged him to atleast fight considering the bhoga of kingdom he will receive if he wins or svarga that he will attain if he dies in the battle.

Even in Upaniṣads where the nature of Brahman and path to attaining moksha is described, we find descriptions of how one can approach the moksha only after having enjoyed the material pleasures sufficiently both on earth and in higher realms, to such an extent that the vairagya or detachment has risen in the heart naturally, effortlessly and irrevocably.

परीक्ष्य लोकान्कर्मचितान्ब्राह्मणो निर्वेदमायान्नास्त्यकृतः कृतेन ।

तद्विज्ञानार्थं स गुरुमेवाभिगच्छेत्समित्पाणिः श्रोत्रियं ब्रह्मनिष्ठम् ॥ १२ ॥

parīkṣya lokānkarmacitānbrāhmaṇo nirvedamāyānnāstyakṛtaḥ kṛtena |

tadvijñānārthaṃ sa gurumevābhigacchetsamitpāṇiḥ śrotriyaṃ brahmaniṣṭham II

It is clearly evident here that one only reaches the point of being qualified to even enter the realm of inquiry about the Brahma tattva only after parikshya lokaan karmaarchitaan - having observed the multiple realms of enjoyment bestowed upon by undergoing karmas or prescribed rituals along with observing a specific lifestyle given in Vedas.

By transgressing this natural pattern of evolution by the use of insignificant amount of free will available, the living being will enter a state that is similar to that of Trishanku, neither useful for this world or for the other. In iha and para both lokas he will remain an utter failure due to the transgression of his adhikara.

Pemature Vairagya is just like a fetus born without completion of due course of garbhavasa (pregnancy) and will perish. Acaryas have used the term "Smashan Vairagya" to describe this state, which resembles the temporary Vaigragya that rises in any individual's mind when he visits the cremation grounds, but disappears immediately or subsequently after leaving the premises and being presented with variegated sensory pleasures. Such Vairagya is of no use. Neither it is sufficient to pursue the path of moksha with single minded attention nor does it allow one to pursue material success with an unwavering mind.

Amount of introspection and honesty needed for such self analysis is indeed rare in this modern pretentious age of make do appearances and hence real siddhi in both laulikaka and paralaukika realms has become a scarcity. Even the Devatas which are invoked by such dishonest sadhakas remain confused as to, what boons and benedictions to be bestowed upon them.

Such sadhakas will remain ever trapped in the spiritual and material realm displaying the manifestation of the famous hindi saying regarding the dog belonging neither to the dobhi (cloth washer or the individual) nor to the ghat (locality).

🙏 Namo Narasimha 🙏