- shrI Devavrata Sen Sharma

According to the trika system, all sAdhakas who have attained the knowledge of their Essence and have had the self-experience of aham, do not necessarily become disembodied immediately with the achievement of such knowledge. There are sAdhakas who, after the achievement of the supreme knowledge and their establishment in their pure svarUpa, may continue to exist in embodied form for some time to come, provided they have previously ripened karma (i.e. prArabdha karma) sustaining their present embodied condition, and possess keen desire for enjoyment (bhogavAsanA). Such sAdhakas, when enlightened, are said to become the jIvanmuktas. The jIvanmuktas do not live in a different world or walk about and behave differently from ordinary mortals. They exist, on the other hand, with ordinary mortals; they perform karma and participate in all activities of the world like ordinary mortals, yet their actions do not affect them. They remain as they are, emancipated beings. They perform karma only to keep themselves in embodied form and to satiate their desire for bhoga in this world, but in this process do not acquire any fresh karma. As soon as the fruits of their ripened or prArabdha karma which were sustaining them in their embodied form, are enjoyed and exhausted, they lose their body-apparatuses once for all and become one with the Supreme. They do not have further birth after the present one.

But all sAdhakas cannot achieve this state, the state of jIvanmukti. Of the four distinct kinds of sAdhakas into which the trika system has broadly classified all the sAdhakas from the point of view of their varying capacities and their being recipients of the shaktipAta in different degrees of intensity, the adhikArins of anupAya, for instance, are incapable of attaining this state of jIvanmukti. They are the recipients of a very intense form of shaktipAta, for which reason they are said to have their integral Self-realization in an instant as it were, when their body-apparatuses fall off and they are firmly established in nirvikalpa svarUpa. Hence, the possibility of their attaining the state of jIvanmukti is not there at all.

In the case of the aspirants following shAmbhava upAya, the chances of their becoming jIvanmukta appear bright, though nothing definite can be said about them. The reason for such a view is not far to seek. After the descent of divine grace or shaktipAta in intense form, they stay in their physical body for a short time, but not as short as the aspirants following anupAya, viz., until the traces of mayIya and kArma malas are automatically destroyed and the revelation of the glory of their divine Self takes place. When the traces of the persisting veil of malas disappear, they are said to establish themselves in their pure nirvikalpa svarUpa, when their body-apparatuses automatically fall off. The destruction of the body-apparatus is said to be essential for the perfect realization of shivatva. Hence, in their case, the possibility of attaining the state of jIvanmukti is there, though it might be for a short duration only.

In the case of the aspirants following the shAkta upAya, however, the prospects of their attaining the state of jIvanmukti are very bright, because in their case the process of the dropping off of physical body is not immediate; it is a long-drawn affair. Being sAdhakas of lesser capacity, and therefore possessing relatively less perfect body-apparatus when they receive the shaktipAta in relatively less intense form, they have the kArma and mAyIya malas persisting in their body apparatuses even after the descent of divine grace. Hence, to realize their divine svarUpa, they have to exert and perform sAdhanA as laid down under either of the two upAyas as the case may be. And when they succeed in their efforts, they have the shAkta and ANava samAveshas respectively, but they do not at once become disembodied. They continue to exist for some time in embodied form, and it is during this period that they have the chances of attaining the state of jIvanmukti, provided they fulfill necessary conditions for its attainment and possess requisite qualifications.

There are three essential conditions which must be fulfilled by all sAdhakas attaining the state of jIvanmukti. Firstly, the sAdhakas should have perfect realization of their true svarUpa in which they should also secure their perfect establishment. This, no doubt, implies the destruction of the false identification of Self with no-Self, the complete eradication of ashuddha vikalpa, with which the false ego-sense also disappears; in other words, the sAdhakas should have the self-experience of aham in their pure svarUpa, the shuddha aham.

Second, the sAdhakas must also possess pure bhogavAsanA, which, is of two kinds - the bhogavAsanA of shivadharmI bubhukShu sAdhakas, who aspire for enjoyment from elevated positions such as of the AdhikArika devatAs, and the bhogavAsanA of lokadharmI bubhukShu sAdhakas, who do not desire any elevation but perfer to remain in this world as jnAnins. It is the latter kind of sAdhakas who are eligible for the attainment of jIvanmukti.

Lastly, the sAdhakas should have the appropriate form of dIkShA performed by the guru. The guru should perform the appropriate form of putraka dIkShA so that the accumulated fruits of their past and present karmas become automatically destroyed. In doing so, the guru should not, it is enjoined, destroy the karmabIja altogether, he should allow the ripened fruits of past karma, i.e., the prArabdha karma, to remain in their body apparatuses so that they might continue in their embodied form performing the meritorious deeds and enjoying the fruits thereof.

When the sAdhakas attain liberation from their embodied forms, they do not achieve anything new or other than the establishment in their pure divine svarUpa. Hence, outwardly no change is noticeable in them though inwardly of course, they undergo revolutionary changes which are mainly confined to their self-experience. They first experience themselves as pure Aham. They then experience the universe as their self-manifestation out of their free will, divine sport. As a result of this, they come “unembodied” (asharIri) as it were, though their body does not fall off immediately. They continue to be associated with a body in the form of a thin veil (AvaraNa) only, to fulfill their pure bhogavAsanA and exhaust the prArabdha karma.

They perform karma like any ordinary unliberated individual, but they are said to be unaffected by the fruits. The reason for this is twofold: first, they are always conscious of their pure svarUpa which is not subject to ajnAna, and perform actions from their existence in their pure svarUpa. And second, as such, they have no false ego-sense, which is said to be the repository of the fruits of actions performed by them from the state of ignorance.

After exhausting the seeds of ripened karma and satiating their bhogavAsanA through the performance of karma in this world, when in the end the jIvanmuktas are dissociated from their physical body-apparatus, they establish themselves firmly and perfectly in their integral divine svarUpa, and become the Supreme itself. This is the culminating stage of their existence, technically called the videha mukti.

The trika system is purely a monistic system of philosophy, but it believes in both the theories of the unity and the plurality of souls (i.e. ekajIvavAda and bahujIvavAda) from different points of view. Looking from the point of view of the manifested universe, it admits the plurality of jIvas, and looking from the point of view of the Supreme Reality, it believes in the unity of all souls. In admitting both the unity and the plurality of souls at the same time, the trika system does not think that there is any contradiction or incongruity involved in it, because in the trika view, the multiplicity is only a self-projection and self-manifestation of the unity, which is the Supreme Lord, out of his free and independent will. The multiplicity of souls is, thus, in the trika view, as real as the unity of the Supreme Lord; there is no inconsistency involved in the two.

This view holds good even in the field of Self-realization or liberation of individual souls, where the admission of both the theories of ekajIvavAda and bahujIvavAda raises the important question of salvation of individual soul and that of all souls simultaneously. The trika system, for instance, does not believe that there is really any contradiction between the emancipation of one soul and that of all souls. The ultimate fate of each of the souls is bound up with that of the rest, so that, strictly speaking, there can be no absolute liberation of one soul to the exclusion of the others. Consequently, the liberation of one is simultaneous with, if not identical with that of the rest. Hence what is generally looked upon as liberation achieved by one individual soul is not, strictly speaking, a full and complete liberation, the attainment of absolute perfection, it is only a partial liberation, a state of relative perfection. The achievement of absolute perfection or liberation is possible only when all souls achieve liberation or perfection simultaneously and are merged in the unity of the Supreme. Just as all the inner points of the radii of the circle are united in a common center, in the same way the plurality of souls, when they achieve absolute liberation, are said to meet on the same ground and be united in the fundamental unity of the Supreme. This is the most supreme goal, the supreme destiny, the supreme end of all manifested beings.

This view is not an exclusive view of the trika system; it is one which is shared and supported by many monistic systems of philosophy. The vedAntin philosopher Appayya Dikshita, for instance, says that the perfect realization, which is a realization not of one soul but of all souls simultaneously, has not yet taken place. The highest limit of advance that the individual souls could make by securing their personal salvation is confined to the state of Ishvara sAyujya. Unless all individuals simultaneously achieve their personal liberation or perfection, it will not be possible for them to achieve Absolute Perfection. Even in the mahAyAna school of Buddhism, it is believed that the Buddha is still working for the liberation of entire humanity, and that he will not enter into nirvANa until and unless the entire world accompanies him. The emancipation of the entire creation is the Goal, the Supreme destiny of mankind.