Tag Archive for: Liberation

Can a Muslim attain moksha in the Hindu way?

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In fact Moksha = eternal birthless/ deathless state in Hinduism.

It’s equivalent in Islam, we can say, is life in Heaven. For a Muslim, life in Heaven is an eternal reward.

A ‘true Muslim’ is assured of the reward. Who is a true Muslim?

  • One who does all the right things that Koran dictates. (Having total faith in Allah, doing daily Namaz, ete etc)
  • One who does not do all the wrong things that Koran dictates (refraining from  worshiping any other God,  worshiping God with form or worshiping any human being; no drinking, no earning money through money-lending etc etc)

In Islam, there is no rebirth. This current life is just one. At the end of it, wait for the day of judgement in your grave. Allah would judge you based on your deeds during your lifetime and either you will end in heaven or in hell forever.

An Islamic heaven is a place of permanent enjoyment and merry making in the company of God. A Hindu’s heaven is not equivalent to Islam’s heaven. A Hindu’s heaven is not a moksha either. Hindu’s heaven is at the best a temporary stay of enjoyment of the fruits of good deeds till you exhaust them. It is said that there is no physical body for enjoyment, but only a subtle body (soul) where the enjoyment is only mental. You will have to return to earth afterwards. Coming and going will go on till you are freed of desires and wants and totally refine yourself— till you attain moksha. It is also believed that enjoyment in heaven is for extraordinary good deeds only. For not so great good deeds, the earth itself is the place of enjoyment (in the next birth).

An Islamic hell is a permanent and never ending place of suffering. There is no escape once one ends there. A Hindu’s hell is not equivalent to an Islam’s hell. It is just a temporary place of stay and suffering till you exhaust the effects of your evil karmas. Here again it is said that all the sufferings are mental only as there is no physical body. You then get a chance to take a rebirth in earth to refine yourself. Again, the punishment in hell is for any extraordinary acts of evil done in previous births. For other wrong doings, suffering comes in some way or other in the next birth. Any number of births may be there till you refine yourself completely and attain moksha.

A Hindu’s moksha is neither enjoyment equivalent to what you get in Heaven nor any suffering whatsoever. It is called Ananda — Bliss — total peace.

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Is life after Moksha pretty boring because you can’t have sex there? Doesn’t Moksha mean slave soul who can’t do anything?

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At the age of one, a child loves and craves for breast milk. At four, it does not have that craving. At the age of 8, a girl loves and craves for ice cream. At her 40, she may no longer have any attraction for it.

At 18, a youth could withstand pain in order to maximize his enjoyments. At 50, he may perhaps not like those pains, nor be keen to maximize the enjoyments.

At 30, a promotion in office was the best thing one may strive for. At 58, he may perhaps long for just one thing —retirement!

At 70, one may have no longing for any enjoyment, because life taught him that “joy and woe are woven fine”. If you long for pleasure, pain too comes with it as a free attachment; if you want to get freed of pain, you have to discard pleasure seeking too. Peace may be the one thing he may seek at that age.

Of course it depends on person to person as to when one realizes this truth.

For many, sex appears to be the best of all enjoyments, but those who are very watchful know for sure the pains attached to it. There are indeed many saints who had no craving for sex at all right from young age.

So, a stage of realization comes to some people at some age at some birth (after going through several births and deaths to finally grasp the hopelessness of running behind pleasure seeking and ending up with inevitable pain) . That realizaion is this: a life of perfect bliss with total absence of both pleasure and pain is the most valuable thing.

That is state of longing for moksha.

At that state, doing anything (any karma either to seek pleasure or to ward off pain) becomes unnecessary and unattractive. It is not forced on you and hence it is not slavery! You sought for it, opted for it; once you get it, you are in perfect peace with it. That is moksha for you.

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Do Hindu Gods too seek Moksha?

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The concept of God is very multifaceted in Hinduism. At the grand perspective, we have Brahman (or Parabrahman) — the only existing, all pervading God beyond name and form.

Then we have functional God forms (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva) who are verily the manifestation of Brahman considered with separate identity for the tasks of Creation, Protection and Destruction. They are ever existent.

Perspective 1: Such a functional God is beyond boundaries and limitations. He is ever perfect. He is nitya mukta – ever free.

Perspective 2:  

Then we have the concept of Avatar — God descending to earth in human form.

When God comes down to earth as an Avatara Purusha He may sport a lila (play) of doing tapas (undergoing austerities) and attaining liberation as a human being, before starting teaching others. Some avatars may even sport a lila of taking instructions from Gurus too. E.g. Rama learning Yoga Vashistha from Rishi Vashishta; Krishna learning Kundalini Yoga from Rishi Sandipani; Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa learning Nirvikalpa Samadhi from Totapuri.

Perspective 3: 

Then we have the concept of God residing as in-dweller in each one of us.

God as an indweller in all keeps himself totally hidden on account of the ego of the individuals. When an individual, getting Viveka & Vairagya (Discrimination & dispassion) starts seeking the truth about his true status, he starts yearning for Moksha. “At that point of time God appears as the external Guru and and turns the mind of the seeker inwards; God the indweller pulls him in from inside” (as stated by Ramana Maharshi)

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