[Advaita-l] On mokSa

[Shrinivas Gadkari]

Namaste,

Recently, there were many posts on the topic of rebirth of a jIva, 
and liberation of a jIva. Summarizing my understanding of these
topics - based my assimilation of differing opinions on this subject.

- Each jIva/ soul has an eternal existence - anAdi and ananta.
- There are different loka-s, levels of existence
- Our loka is known as mRtyu loka - let us call it M
  - mRtyu loka is characterized by modest human life span (75-90 years)
  - There is faster ageing and decay in this loka
- There are higher loka-s than ours - let us call them H1, H2, H3 ...
  - Life span is much longer in these higher loka-s
  - Ageing is very slow or non-existent
- There are lower loka-s than ours - let us leave these out of discussion 
- Hierarchy among loka-s: M < H1 < H2 < H3 < ....
- A jIva typically incarnates repeatedly between : M <--> H1
  - During the temporary stay in H1, jIva is provided a temporary body in H1
- One of the goals (purusSArtha) that a jIva should strive for, is to elevate
  its spiritual level so that this to-and-fro ferrying between M <--> H1 stops.
- The puruSArtha that aims for stopping this ferrying is the mokSa puruSArtha
  - mokSa is achieved by an appropriate mix of jnAna, karma, yoga and bhakti.
- After attainment of mokSa jIva-s journey continues in the higher loka-s
  - until the jIva commits a blunder(s) and again starts ferrying between M <--> H1

Hari Om.
Shrinivas Gadkari