NIRVANA : THE HINDU THOUGHT
Within Indian religions, moksha (Sanskrit: मोक्ष mokṣa) or mukti (Sanskrit: मुक्ति), literally "release" (both from a root muc "to let loose, let go"), is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation.
Origins: It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in India by Aryan people whose spiritual ideas greatly influenced later Indian religious thought. Buddhism and Jainism are continuations of this tradition, and the early Upanishadic movement was influenced by it. Reincarnation was likely adopted from this religious culture by Brahmin orthodoxy. Brahmins wrote the earliest recorded scriptures containing these ideas in the early Upanishads.
Advaita
According to Advaita Vedanta, the attainment of liberation coincides with the realization of the unreality of 'personal self in the psyche' [ego] and the simultaneous revelation of the 'Impersonal Self' as the ever-existent Truth Brahman, the source of all spiritual and phenomenal existence. The Neti Neti ("not this alone, not that alone") method of teaching is adopted. Between sentient Awareness and insentient matter is an illusion formed in the mind. Moksha is seen as a final release from this illusion when one's worldly conception of self is erased and there takes place a loosening of the shackle of experiential duality, accompanied by the realization of one's own fundamental nature: sat (true being), cit (pure consciousness), and ananda, an experience which is ineffable and beyond sensation (see satcitananda).[9] Advaita holds that Atman, Brahman, and Paramatman are all one and the same - the formless Nirguna Brahman which is beyond the being/non-being distinction, tangibility, and comprehension.
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Dvaita/Vishistadvaita
In Dvaita (dualism) and Vishistadvaita (qualified monism) schools of Vaishnava traditions, moksha is defined as the loving, eternal union with God (Ishvara) and considered the highest perfection of existence. The bhakta (devotee) attains the abode of the Supreme Lord in a perfected state but maintains his or her individual identity, with a spiritual form, personality, tastes, pastimes, and so on.
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Achieving moksha
In Hinduism, atma-jnana (self-realization) is the key to obtaining moksha. The Hindu is one who practices one or more forms of Yoga - Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Raja - knowing that God is unlimited and exists in many different forms, both personal and impersonal.
There are believed to be four Yogas (disciplines) or margas (paths) for the attainment of moksha. These are: working for the Supreme (Karma Yoga), realizing the Supreme (Jnana Yoga), meditating on the Supreme (Raja Yoga) and serving the Supreme in loving devotion (Bhakti Yoga). Different schools of Hinduism place varying emphasis on one path or other, some of the most famous being the tantric and yogic practices developed in Hinduism.
Vedanta approaches are split between strict non-duality (advaita), non-duality with qualifications (such as vishishtadvaita), and duality (dvaita). The central means to moksha advocated in these three branches vary.
Advaita Vedanta emphasizes Jnana Yoga as the ultimate means of achieving moksha, and other yogas (such as Bhakti Yoga) are means to the knowledge, by which moksha is achieved. It focuses on the knowledge of Brahman provided by traditional vedanta literature and the teachings of its founder, Adi Shankara.[10] Through discernment of the real and the unreal, the sadhak (practitioner) would unravel the maya and come to an understanding that the observable world is unreal and impermanent, and that consciousness is the only true existence. This intellectual understanding was moksha, this was atman and Brahman realized as the substance and void of existential duality. The impersonalist schools of Hinduism also worship various deities, but only as a means of coming to this understanding - both the worshiped and worshiper lose their individual identities.
Non-dualist schools sees God as the most worshippable object of love, for example, a personified monotheistic conception of Shiva or Vishnu. Unlike Abrahamic traditions, Advaita/ Hinduism does not prevent worship of other aspects of God, as they are all seen as rays from a single source. The concept is essentially of devotional service in love, since the ideal nature of being is seen as that of harmony, euphony, its manifest essence being love. By immersing oneself in the love of God, one's karmas (good or bad, regardless) slough off, one's illusions about beings decay and 'truth' is soon known and lived. Both the worshiped and worshiper gradually lose their illusory sense of separation and only One beyond all names remains.
One must achieve moksha on his or her own under the guidance of a Guru. A guru or a siddha inspires but does not intervene.
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Components
Paradise (svarga) is believed to be a place of temporal attractions to be avoided by the seeker to pursue the ultimate goal of union / yoking with God through Yoga. In fact, even acquiring intermediate spiritual powers (siddhis) is to be avoided as they can turn out to be stumbling blocks in the path towards ultimate liberation, mukti. The Bhagavad Gita says that it is impossible to get out of Moksha once achieved. The Blessed Lord states:
"Because you trust me, Arjuna, I will tell you what wisdom is, the secret of life: Know it and be free of suffering forever."—Bhagavad Gita, chapter 9, verse 1.
NIRVANA : IN THE BUDDHISM
Most schools of Buddhism explain Nirvana as a state of bliss or peace, and this state may be experienced in life, or it may be entered into at death.
The word Nirvana means "to extinguish," such as extinguishing the flame of a candle. This "extinguishment" is not understood by Buddhists to mean annihilation, however. Rather, it is thought of as passing into another kind of existence.
In the culture in which the historical Buddha lived and taught, it was understood that fire "burns" and becomes visible when it is attached to fuel, and it stops burning and becomes invisible when it is "released" from fuel. The fire, it was thought, was not annihilated but transformed.
In his book Essence of the Heart Sutra, His Holiness the Dalai Lama defined Nirvana as the "state beyond sorrows," or a "state of freedom from cyclic existence."
In Theravada Buddhism, Nirvana (spelled "Nibbana" in Pali) is understood to be an "unbinding" of the mind from defilements, in particular the Three Poisons, and the mental "effluents" of sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance. It is a liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth and freedom from the effects of karma. In Mahayana Buddhism, Nirvana also is the extinguishing of dualities and a merging with Nirvana and Samsara into an absolute existence.
The various schools of Buddhism have diverse teachings about whether Nirvana can be attained before death or only after death.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
