Here Itself, in This Body: Śruti on Jīvanmukti and Sri Bhagavān Śaṅkara’s Teaching

 Dear SLC brothers and sisters,

In our last satsanga I briefly mentioned a profound Bhāṣya-vachanam of Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya. I am now sharing it with you in fuller form, together with the Śruti context from the Upaniṣads and the Gītā, and a few supporting reflections from other bhāṣyas.

Śruti here makes an unambiguous declaration that Brahman can be realized while living in this very body, and it also warns us of two serious consequences if this knowledge is not gained.

From the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (4.4.14):

iha eva santaḥ atha vidmaḥ tat dvayam
na cet avedim mahatī vinaṣṭiḥ ।
ye tat viduḥ amṛtāḥ te bhavanti
atha itare duḥkham eva api yanti ॥ 4.4.14 ॥

Swami Madhavanandaji translates:

“Being in this very body we have somehow known That (Brahman).
If not, great destruction would indeed have occurred.
Those who know It become immortal,
while others attain misery alone.”

Śruti’s warning is clear: if Brahman is not realized here, it is a “mahatī vināśaḥ”. Śrī Śaṅkara explains that mahatī means “of infinite magnitude,” immeasurable; vināśaḥ is not physical destruction, but the endless recurrence of birth and death – the terrible loss of having missed the rarest opportunity. To live an entire human life without discovering our real nature is, from the standpoint of Vedānta, a vast destruction.

Śruti further says that without realization, one tends to “hide” from Īśvara. Immediately after, in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.15, we read:

yadā etam anupaśyati ātmānam devam añjasā
īśānam bhūta bhavyasya na tataḥ vijugupsate ॥ 4.4.15 ॥

Swami Madhavanandaji translates:

“When one directly realizes this effulgent Self—the Lord of all that has been and will be—he no longer wishes to hide from It.”

Śaṅkara states explicitly:

sarvo hi loka īśvarāt guptim icchati bheda-darśī;
ayaṁ tu ekatva-darśī na bibheti kutaścana.

“All people who see difference (bheda-darśī) seek to hide from the Lord. But this person, who sees Oneness (ekatva-darśī), is not afraid of anything at all, because nothing is apart from him.”

Thus, if Brahman is not realized, two things follow: first, Śruti calls it a great destruction because of the missed opportunity; second, as long as there is bheda-darśanam, there is scope for self-deception, guilt, hypocrisy, and an inner tendency to “hide” from Īśvara. In contrast, the one who sees Oneness has nothing to conceal and no reason to fear.

Śruti gives further pramāṇas for jīvanmukti. In the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.22), we read:

aśarīraṃ śarīreṣu anavastheṣu avasthitam ।
mahāntam vibhum ātmānam matvā dhīraḥ na śocati ॥ 1.2.22 ॥

“The bodiless (aśarīram), dwelling in bodies (śarīreṣu), abiding as the stable among the unstable (anavastheṣu avasthitam), having known that great, all-pervading Ātman (mahāntam vibhum ātmānam), the wise one (dhīraḥ) does not grieve.”

Here again, the jñānī is still in the body, yet knows himself as the aśarīra, the bodiless Self, and therefore becomes free from sorrow.

The same Upaniṣad explains how such realization takes place:

nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyaḥ
na medhayā na bahunā śrutena ।
yam eva eṣa vṛṇute tena labhyaḥ
tasya eṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanūm svām ॥ 1.2.23 ॥

“This Ātman is not attained by much speaking (pravacanena), nor by mere intellect (na medhayā), nor by much hearing (na bahunā śrutena). It is attained only by the one whom This (Ātman) itself chooses; to that person this Ātman reveals Its own true ‘body’ (nature).”

Thus, realization is not a mere intellectual exercise, but a recognition granted, as it were, by Ātman’s own grace when the prepared mind is ready.

The Gītā also reflects the state of jīvanmukti. There are many verses, beginning with the sthita-prajña-lakṣaṇa in the second chapter, but one very direct pointer occurs in 5.19:

ihaiva tair jitaḥ sargo
yeṣāṃ sāmye sthitaṃ manaḥ ।
nirdoṣaṃ hi samaṃ brahma
tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ ॥ 5.19 ॥

“Even here itself (ihaiva) the creation is conquered by those whose mind is established in equality. For Brahman, which is equal (the same) in all, is free from blemish. Therefore they are established in Brahman.”

The combination of phrases “ihaiva”, “jitaḥ sargaḥ”, and “brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ” is a very direct statement of liberation while still alive. In his bhāṣya, Śaṅkara says that here itself, while living (iha eva jīvadbhiḥ eva), the entire process of becoming beginning with birth is conquered by those wise ones who see sameness everywhere (taiḥ samadarśibhiḥ paṇḍitaiḥ jito vai kṛtaḥ sargaḥ janma). For such people, whose minds are established in the vision of Brahman as the same in all beings, the inner organ becomes steady and unmoving; hence, they are said to be “situated in Brahman alone.”

Śaṅkara then clarifies the essence of Brahmavidyā which leads to jñāna-niṣṭhā: the differences we see belong to body and mind, not to Consciousness. We do not have any valid pramāṇa (means of knowledge) to prove that there is a different Self in each body. What appears as many “individuals” is just many bodies and minds; the Consciousness in all is one and the same. Brahman is “samaṃ” (uniform) and “ekam” (one). The wise, who see this one Consciousness in all beings, are rightly said to be “established in Brahman alone.”

From the standpoint of mananam and nididhyāsanam, the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi summarizes this inner journey beautifully (verses 417–442). True vairāgya leads to knowledge of the Self; this knowledge ripens into inner withdrawal (uparati), and that culminates in an incomparable peace and fulfilment. The practical marks of this are simple: (1) less inner shaking in sorrow, (2) a natural inability to return to old adharmic patterns, and (3) a spontaneous turning away from the mirage-like pursuits of life. If “knowledge” leaves our reactions and pursuits unchanged, Śaṅkara gently asks us to keep going, because the real vidyā inevitably flowers as freedom, cessation, and fearless peace, here itself.

A few more inspiring utterances of Śaṅkara from his bhāṣyas reinforce the same vision. Commenting on the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.2.9), he says:

devair api tasya brahmaprāptim prati vighno na śakyate kartum.
“Even the devatās (devair api) cannot raise an obstacle (vighna) to the attainment of Brahman (brahmaprāptim) by the aspirant.”

On the nature and limits of karma, he writes:

utpattayāpti-vikāra-saṃskārā hi karma-sāmarthyasya viṣayāḥ. upādayitum prāpayitum vikartum saṃskartum ca sāmarthyaṃ karmaṇaḥ, na ato vyatiriktaviṣayo asti karma-sāmarthyasya, loke aprasiddhatvāt.

“Production (utpatti), attainment (āpti), modification (vikāra), and purification (saṃskāra) are the functions of work (karma). In other words, work can produce, or bring within reach, or modify, or purify something. It has no other function besides these, since no other capability of karma is recognized in the world.”

From this, he draws a firm doctrinal conclusion:

jñānāt mokṣa iti sarvopaniṣadām siddhāntaḥ.
“Liberation (mokṣa) arises from knowledge (jñāna); this is the settled conclusion (siddhānta) of all the Upaniṣads.”

In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (2.23.1), he says:

kevalād eva jñānād mokṣa iti eṣaḥ arthaḥ niścitaḥ gītāsu sarvopaniṣatsu ca.
“One conclusion stands out with certainty in the Gītā as also in all the Upaniṣads: liberation (mokṣa) can be had only through knowledge (jñāna).”

Introducing the third chapter of the Gītā, Śaṅkara writes:

na hi nityaṃ kiñcid ārabhyate, loke yad ārabdham tadanityam iti. ato na karma-ārabdho mokṣaḥ.

“Nothing that is everlasting (nitya) can ever have a beginning (ārambha). Whatever is produced in this world is impermanent (anitya). Therefore emancipation (mokṣa), which is nitya, is not something brought about by karma.”

In his introduction to the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, he notes:

karmakāryasya anityatvaṃ prasiddhaṃ loke. karmabhyaḥ cet śreyaḥ nityaṃ syāt, tat ca anityam. nityaḥ hi mokṣa iṣyate.

“It is well known (prasiddhaṃ loke) that the result of work (karmakāryasya) is impermanent (anityatvam). If the eternal (nityam) were to arise from work (karmabhyaḥ), it too would be impermanent. That freedom (mokṣa) is eternal (nityaḥ) is surely an admitted fact.”

In the Bṛhadāraṇyaka (3.2.13, introduction) he says:

sarveṣāṃ hi brahmavidyā puruṣārthāya upadiśyate.
“The Brahmavidyā is taught in order to bring the highest end of life (puruṣārtha), namely mokṣa, within the reach of all.”

And in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.20 he sums up:

apakṣyamāṇāyām avidyāyāṃ, vidyāyāṃ ca kāṣṭhāṃ gatāyāṃ, sarvātmabhāvo mokṣaḥ.
“When ignorance is eliminated and knowledge reaches its perfection, the state of identity with all (sarvātmabhāva), which is another name for liberation, is attained.”

With this quote I shall conclude. This last statement clearly conveys the position of the vaidika sampradāya: mokṣa is identical with our svarūpa. Simply knowing our true Self or svarūpam is the same as the ending of all suffering—which persists only because of our mistaken identification with body, mind, and upādhis, a condition called ajñāna. The Upaniṣads assure us that this recognition is not only possible, but meant to be discovered here and now, in this very life, while living in this very body.

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Appendix
https://teashwar.blogspot.com/2025/11/jivanmukti-according-to-sankara-draft.html