Moksha is a Sanskrit word meaning “free, release, liberate“. This word is related to the Sanskrit word mukti meaning “liberation”.The root word of both is muc meaning “to be free”*.
In his commentary on the Upanishads, 8th century CE philosopher and theologian Adi Shankara speaks of Moksha.Shankara tells us that the Upanishads, the Gita, and the scriptures establish a path to Moksha. Sankara says:
“The Upanishads exhaust themselves simply by determining the true nature of the Self, and the Gita and the scriptures dealing with moksha have only this end in view” [Intro to the Isa Upanishad].
The Upanishads ‘liberate’ the soul through the removal of spiritual ignorance. Shankara explains:
The heart of the Upanishads is the Self, expressed as both a path of Self-knowledge and a realization of the fullness and potential of an eternal Truth discovered within the innermost Self (Atman). In the Isha Upanishad, Isha is the eternal Truth of the Self.
The first mantra of the Isha Upanishad expresses, within its compressed form, a profound insight into the nature of the Self. The eternal truth is expressed in a few mantric syllables, as is a complete path to enlightenment. One only need meditate on the words, recite the words, come into a full understanding of the meaning of the mantras. The Self reveals itself within these sacred syllables, inviting us to inhabit the mantra: OmIsha vāsyam idam sarvam…
Mohandas K. Gandhi said, “if only the first verse in the Ishopanishad were left in the memory of the Hindus, Hinduism would live for ever.” The first verse expresses a fundamental insight not only of Hinduism, but of a universal awareness. The verse offers a religion, a philosophy, a psychology, and a transformation in our very modes of seeing and perceiving, our means and modes of being.
Oneness is a “state of being unified or whole, though comprised of two or more parts.” Carl Jung understood that the Self is the archetype of wholeness (CW 5, 9i, 9ii), meaning that the Self is realized when opposites are unified. The spiritual path of Vedanta understands that the only true Identity is between the individual Self and Ultimate Reality. In Shaivism, the supreme identity is Mahādeva. Shiva is an image and representation of Ultimate Reality, and thus also an image of our potential union with Ultimate Reality. The union between the Self and Ultimate Reality is known as Oneness. In this post, I am going to continue my exploration of various spiritual traditions. I am going to share some passages from the Brahmanda Purana (Chapter 27), a Hindu Sanskrit text. In the story, Shiva makes a strong statement concerning his own nature.
In Symbols of Transformation, Carl Jung speaks of the ‘cosmic man’, drawing upon a passage from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad:
“Without feet, without hands, he moves, he grasps; eyeless he sees, earless he hears; he knows all that is to be known, yet there is no knower of him. Men call him the Primordial Person, the cosmic man. Smaller than small, greater than great ….” (cited in CW5, para. 182)
In the image above, we see the Goddess Durga (Shakti) under an arch displaying the Mahavidyas. The mahavidyas express various forms of the Devi. Mahavidya is a Sanskrit word that speaks to the revelatory power of the mother goddess. Maha means ‘great’ and Vidya means ‘knowledge’ or ‘wisdom’.
Sitting on top of the arch, we find Shiva. Shiva is an image of the cosmic Self (Brahman). The mother goddesses express the form and power of the cosmic Self. As such, she emerges as ‘great wisdoms’, offering esoteric knowledge of the Cosmic Self. Arthur Avalon speaks to the relation of Shiva and Shakti:
“Mind and Matter are ultimately one, the two latter being the twin aspects of the Fundamental Substance or Brahman [or Shiva] and Its Power or Shakti. Spirit is the substance of mind-matter, the Reality (in the sense of the lasting changelessness) out of which, by Its Power, all Appearance is fashioned not by the individual mind and senses but by the cosmic mind and senses of which they are but a part. What It creates It perceives.”
Shiva and Shakti form two aspects or poles of the cosmic Self (Brahman). All of reality emerges as such: cosmic mind and cosmic body. For the yogi, this eternal truth is revealed within both the macrocosm (cosmic body) and the microcosm (individual body). By working to realize these poles of being, we come to know the nature of the Self.