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Consciousness in the State of Moksha

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Malolan Cadambi • April 12, 2002 


Sri:
Srimathe rAmAnujAya namaha

Dear Members,

This topic was discussed sometime back(well about a year back) in the bhakti list. Sorry for raking up this issue now, but I do have some fresh inputs. I would like to read the opinions of other bhaktas in this matter as well.

The essential point being discussed was, if the jIvAtman maintains it's consciousness(that is, remembers it's histroy as a mortal) in the state of moksha. Here is the data I have to add. Please let me know your inputs regarding the same.

I quote directly from Ramanuja on the Upanishads by S S Raghavachar. This is Ramanujar's bhAshyam on the Katha Upanishad.

"The third boon asked by Nachiketa is not enlightenment according to Ramanuja, as to whether or not there is survival of man's personality after death. Ramanuja reviews the story of Nachiketas upto this point and shows the absurdity of taking Nachiketas as being uncertain on the question. It is really a prayer for knowledge about the destiny of a finite sould in the state of final liberation. The word 'Pretre' (Occurs in I.20), may mean one who is dead and therefore refer to a partial and transitory seperation from the body; but it can also mean one winning complete and final emancipation from embodiment m as it does in the discourse of Yajnavalkya to Maitreyi(Brihadaaranyanaka Upanishad II.4). Really, the preplexity here concerns not 'immortality' but 'life eternal'. Hence, Yama's answer constitutes a complete philosophy, comprising the knowledge of man and God and of man's attainment of God."

I reckon that the jiivatma would be in the complete state of moksha in Vaikuntam. Then the very question of remembrance of karma of the past is irrelevant. However, considering that Swami Desikan expresses in the parama paada sopanam that the jiivatma would be able to remember and enjoy ghosthi along with sadaacharya, would mean that the jiivatma would still remember a bit of it's past, which ultimately means that the jiivatma is still a pretre according to one reckoning.

On the other hand following Yajnavalkya, the very question of remembrance of past karma puts the ideas in parama paada sopanam to a question. The question being when the jiivatma does still remember it's past during moksha is a pretre according to katha upanishad. Somehow Swami Desikan's exposition on the parama paada sopanam does not reasonably fit into the framework of Yajnavalkya and indeed the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad. This is where I would like to read the comments of other bhaktas on this matter.

Regards,

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,

Malolan Cadambi






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