A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19.s6.3

v2.c19.s6.3

*Jīvan-mukti*, or emancipation while living, is considered by Śaṅkara also as a possible state, though he does not seem to have used the term in his works. Thus, on the basis of *Chāndogya*, VI. 14. 2, he says that knowledge destroys only those actions which have not already begun to yield their fruits; those actions which have already begun to yield fruits cannot be destroyed by true knowledge, and so it is not possible for anyone to escape from their effects, good or bad; and it has to be admitted that even after the dawning of true knowledge the body remains until the effects of the actions which have already begun to yield fruits are exhausted by enjoyment or suffering. In explaining such a condition Śaṅkara gives two analogies: (1) as a potter's wheel goes on revolving when the vessel that it was forming is completed, so the body, which was necessary till the attainment of true knowledge, may continue to exist for some time even after the rise of knowledge; (2) as, when a man through some eye-disease sees two moons instead of one, he continues to do so even when he is convinced that there are not two moons but one, so, even when the saint is firmly convinced of the unreality of the world-appearance, he may still continue to have the illusion of world-appearance, though internally he may remain unaffected by it². Of the Upaniṣads only the later *Muktika Upaniṣad*, which seems to have drawn its inspiration from the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, mentions the word *jīvan-mukta*, meaning those saints who live till their fruit-yielding actions (*prārabdha-karma*) are exhausted¹. But, though the word is not mentioned, the idea seems to be pretty old.