Moksha: The liberation of the Soul from the cycle of birth and death.
Let me emphasize that this is probably the simplest and a very summarized version of this very deep and detailed topic.
In the previous article we discussed about karma, reincarnation and rebirth. We saw what happens to the Soul after the body ceases to exist. We understood that the Soul is in constant struggle to attain its ulterior motive: Moksha, the salvation.
The ultimate goal of the reincarnating Soul is to attain freedom from the birth-death cycle. To reach this goal the Soul has to follow the path of absolute wisdom, practice patience, persistence and perseverance at its best. It has to attain enlightenment of the Self, understand the deeper purpose of its journey, gain knowledge of its existence and finally recognise and find ways to reach its final destination, Moksha. Till then it has to undergo multitudes of birth-death cycles.
The supreme abode harbours the supreme state of the Soul (Moksha) which is said to be unmanifested and imperishable. Having attained a place in the supreme abode, one never has to return to the worldly web of maya.
Of course different schools of thought exist on this view. Some believe that, great is the Soul which voluntarily leaves this state of Moksha to return to the Earth to help the mankind attain the same. A Buddha is an example.
Some Souls do return to earth for the purpose of enlightenment of the humans with the message from the Supreme power, The Almighty. Such great Souls are called Lords or Prophets e.g. Lord Rama and Prophet Mohammed. There is a huge gap between the level of their knowledge and the capacity of our understanding of their spiritual knowledge that we might as well see and regard them as Gods.
The differences between the understanding/interpretation of the Holy scriptures by individuals are the reasons behind the vast gap between people of different religions. It is always easier to first note the differences anywhere before the similarities. For example when a woman sees another woman (no offense to any ladies please), among the first things to mentally note is "Look at her dressing, not my taste at all!" She could have thought that she is a woman like me or great! We both have two eyes and one nose but no! It is in human nature to see the differences first. Ya okay, it was a lame example, but you did get the point right?
The cause of this nature is the driving force behind many of our sufferings: Ego. It is because of ego we like to think that we are always better off than others in a particular aspect. The same reason why people think that their religion is the only true religion. But the fact is religion is merely a code of conduct; the simplest and perhaps the easiest guide to help human live a life that leads to salvation/Moksha.
Do we, as a member of any religion, really know and understand thouroughly our scriptures? Have we practised even 10% of all that has been said by our Lords and Prophets? Has any of us atleast been able to control the desires for material possessions, greed, anger or even shown compassion continously for more than a year?
Funny enough people actually convert. What is the logic behind? When one has not fully understood their first religion nor has made any efforts to show faith in their primary religion what justice are they going to do converting to the other religion? All they do is look like the new faith holders, pray in new postures and visit new prayer buildings because ultimately the Supreme power is the same to which the whole world prays, only His name differ on every set of lips. Besides, if one has no faith in the religion which they were born into how can they show faith in the new religion? Isn't this ignorance?
These are the questions to ask oneself before going to wars in the name of religion, before critisizing a particular religion or a particular belief. Ignorance can only push us deeply into commiting more sins while the correct and complete knowledge alone can be the eye opener.
Therefore, it is useful to remember that belonging to a certain faith does not and should not restrict one from exploring and accepting concepts from other faiths too. Always have correct and clear knowledge about a concept and see how it relates to your existence. Afterall, we are all pieces of a great puzzle that awaits us for it to be completed. We all come from this big puzzle and have to ultimately merge in it. There are several routes to reach it, short and long, bumpy and smooth but the final destination is the same. The irony is, we are the engineers of the road we walk on! So the choice is ours! Let us build good roads that save our Souls.
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