For Hindus only: Do you retain consciousness once you achieve moksha?

Question

I'm from the US, and I've been reading a little about Hinduism lately. If I understand correctly, according to Hinduism, a person goes through a potentially endless cycle of rebirth until he attains enough good karma to reach moksha, or unity with Brahman. However, once you reach moksha, are you conscious of it? If not, then why would anyone want to reach moksha? After all, no one wants to die, and in that case, reincarnation doesn't sound like such a bad deal to me. Can anyone explain this to me?

Answer 1

Everyone has explained it very nicely. I too, will try my best to explain the concept of moksha, and consciousness.


Means to attain moksha
Moksha is not attained through good karma, it is attained by practicing some beliefs based on ones temperament and understanding. There are four paths to attain moksha, selfless work (Karma Yoga), of self-dissolving love (Bhakti Yoga), of absolute discernment (Jnana Yoga), and of 'royal' meditative immersion (Raja Yoga).


Moksha
The soul is divine as it originates from the one soul of the universe, Brahman. It is only held in the bondage of matter, or material desires that are one of the primary causes for rebirth. Perfection is reached when this bond will burst.

God reveals himself only to the pure hearted. Only the pure and the stainless see God. Only then, is the crookedness of the heart made straight. After that only, will all doubt cease.

If there are existences beyond the ordinary, Hinduism teaches us to come face to face with them. If there is an all merciful universal soul in him which is not matter, Hinduism teaches us that we must see him, that soul. Only then can doubts (if any, about universal soul, God, etc) be destroyed. So among the many sages in Hinduism who claim to have seen God, what proof do they give? They say that they have seen the soul, they have seen God. And that is the only condition for perfection. The Hindu religion does not consist of struggles and attempts to believe a certain doctrine or dogma, but in realizing - not in believing, but in being and becoming.

The whole object of Hinduism is by constant struggle to become perfect, to become divine, to see God, to reach God. This seeing and reaching God, becoming perfect constitutes the religion of Hinduism. After man attains perfection, he lives a life of bliss infinite. He enjoys the perfect bliss, and obtains the only thing in which a man should have pleasure in and that is God. When a soul becomes perfect it becomes one with Brahman, and it would only realize the supreme lord as its perfection, the reality, the nature of its own existence, existence absolute, knowledge absolute and bliss absolute.

Well if it so much happiness to realize consciousness of a small body, it must be greater happiness to realize the consciousness of two "bodies", the measure of happiness would only increase with the consciousness of increasing number of bodies, the aim, the ultimate happiness of life, being reached when it would become a universal consciousness.

Answer 2

Moksha can be best explained like this: Everything that has a Beginning must have an End. We strive to achieve and end to the process through various births, deeds and situations.

In terms of science, let us look at it. We try to develop the best possible balancing of the chemical reaction called life. In other words, our good and bad karma only help us to balance the equation of life and death. In the end of the discussion, we may not be able to foresee the beginning of the chain reaction or the end of it. But that doesnt stop us to see the big picture - the equation itself.

We as humans have the power to understand the basic sides of good and evil. We know that if we do a good deed, it adds up as a good karma and vice versa.

In Hinduism, while it is common myth that we believe in idols, it must be understood that we believe in the ideology called god, For instance, we believe that creation, welfare, destruction, wealth, education, power, etc, are basic human virtues. These are respresented and worshipped in the form of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati, respectively.

Hinduism, which is an ideology, and not a religion, leads to the basic instillation of the failth and belief in the system, which holds moksha as a virtue as well.

It should be understood that no one who has attained moksha is visible to us. So we do not know what happens in "happily ever after land". But it is the belief and faith that by promoting the advocacy of good deeds and the returns of it, humans have a tendency to aim for that goal.

Religion and faith only guide us to follow the path of rightiousness. Taking this path needs an ultimate goal, which is Moksha.

If you saw the matrix, you will understand that the rebirths are like the different versions of the matrix, and the peace and tranquility that exists in the end, is equivalent to moksha.

Try and visualise the ideologies in terms of simple everyday concepts, and you will be able to find the answer.

Answer 3

you have consciousness in the sense that it comes back, but in the state of moksha(liberation) the mind becomes united with its will, and is in a sense, conscious of itself. Technically there is no more consciousness at that point, since consciousness requires a mind and an object of knowledge, the correlation, or link, between the two is consciousness, but when your mind is united there is no longer anything for it to discern or be conscious of. You still see the mind united with the will, so you are technically conscious, in the sense of the word, but that consciousness takes place on a higher level, more like the higher consciousness of the univeral mind, rather than just your own human-thought processes.

Answer 4

Moksha means liberation from material miseries. Currently the soul is entrapped in the material body, and is under a illusion of thinking himself as the body. So, all the pains and happiness related to the body, the soul thinks as his own. When teh soul comes out of this duality and is situated above material understanding, then he is liberated.

Conciousness is a symptom of soul. Just like heat and light are symptoms of fire. So, even after liberation, since the soul is existing, counciousness exits.

Answer 5

Moksha is a stage in so many life cycle that human being breaks this cycle of life and death and go back to God.We do not have to come back to this miserable place called earth.Buddhism explain better about Moksha.In America I do not find much literature about it.

Answer 6

Well, my learned friends have explained it well.

If you mean consciousness by this body and this personality then you lose it even after death.

In each birth we get a new body and new mental consciousness (Ego), which brings in old lessons (not memory) from last births...and gains new lessons

This superfluous Ego (name, form, family) is transitory.
and is changed in every birth

In Moksha, one may retain ego (not the personality of a birth)...and enjoy the supreme bliss sitting inside the supreme Consciousness called God

Or one may merge completely into the Supreme Consciousness...and this does not mean becoming Un-conscious or inconscious.

It means stretching your ego into the whole of the Universe

Guru Nanak explained Moksha in simple but beautiful words

सतगुरू हम पर कृपा करी, तव यह जुगति पिछानी
नानक लीन भयो गोबिन्द में, ज्यों पानी में पानी

Revered Guru kindly gave me the secret ; and I understood
that Nanak will merge into God, as a drop falling into Ocean
(Drop losing consciousness as drop...but expanding as ocean)

Answer 7

Yes. One is conscience of 'moksha'. You are then a spiritually elevated Soul free from the cycles of 'birth and death'
Birth and death are only of the physical body the soul undergoes qualitative change.

Answer 8

Hindu and Buddhist are two separate entities. Insight and metta meditation is must to 1) grasp/control the mind 2) train for neutral life. The silencing of desires is a must for nirvana. Practice the five Buddhist percepts first of all. Then think of the next level.

Answer 9

you din't get that.........its a cycle of births that we have to take , and everyone wants to attain moksha (salvation).

One is consious of it but He is out of this world, He has nothing to do with life and death, sorrow or happiness and there it no point of reincarnation cuz, he has attain salvation which means no birth, no death.

This is a philosophy , i mean you may or may not have to digest.

Its one's own belief. And being a Hindu, I believe it.

Answer 10

people believe that you would like to achieve moksha(spiritual liberation) so you go to ur other life and live again from the beginning almost like immortality