Jīvan-mukti

saṅgaṁ na kuryād asatāṁ śiśnodara-tṛpāṁ kvacit

saṅgaṁ na kuryād asatāṁ śiśnodara-tṛpāṁ kvacit |
tasyānugas tamasy andhe pataty andhānugāndha-vat ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.26.3; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.300)

“One should never engage in saṅga with the asat, gratifiers of the genitals and belly. A follower of him [i.e., even one of the asat], like a blind person following a [i.e., another] blind person, falls into blinding darkness [i.e., Naraka].”

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rajobhiḥ sama-saṅkhyātāḥ pārthivair iha jantavaḥ

rajobhiḥ sama-saṅkhyātāḥ pārthivair iha jantavaḥ |
teṣāṁ ye kecanehante śreyo vai manujādayaḥ ||
prāyo mumukṣavas teṣāṁ kecanaiva dvijottama |
mumukṣūṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścin mucyeta sidhyati ||
muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ |
sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahāmune ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.14.3–5; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.189; Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.186, 2.2.207, 2.5.178; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 106; Bhakti Sandarbha: 134, 186, 273; Prīti Sandarbha: 35, 100; Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.151)

“Living beings here [i.e., in the material world] are similar in enumeration to the particles of dust on the earth [i.e., they are innumerable]. Among them, there are certainly some human beings and so forth who strive for virtue (śreyas) [i.e., who follow dharma and take up other means to attain otherworldly happiness]. O best of the twice born, among them, some very few are even seekers of mukti, and among thousands of seekers of mukti, someone may become liberated and [someone among thousands of such liberated persons may] succeed [i.e., attain siddhi]. O great sage, even among crores of even muktas and siddhas, someone of completely peaceful mind whose complete shelter is Nārāyaṇa is extremely rare to find.”

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munaya ūcuḥ

munaya ūcuḥ—
kathaṁ bhaktir bhavet premnā jīvan-muktasya nārada |
jīvan-mukta-śarīrāṇāṁ cit-sattā-niḥspṛhā yataḥ |
virakteḥ kāraṇaṁ bhaktiḥ sā tu muktes tu sādhanam ||
nārada uvāca—
bhadram uktaṁ bhavadbhiś ca muktis turyā parāparā |
nirahaṁ yatra cit-sattā turyā sā muktir ucyate ||
pūrṇāhantāmayī bhaktis turyātītā nigadyate ||
kṛṣṇa-dhāma-mayaṁ brahma kvacit kutrāpi bhāsate ||
nirbījendriyagaṁ tat tu ātmasthaṁ kevalaṁ sukham |
kṛṣṇas tu paripūrṇātmā sarvatra sukha-rūpakaḥ |
bhakti-vṛtti-kṛtābhyāsāt tat-kṣaṇād gocarīkṛtaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Gautamīya Tantra; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 32)

“The sages said, ‘O Nārada, how can a jīvan-mukta have bhakti [endowed] with prema, since embodied jīvan-muktas have a conscious existence free from desire [i.e., they have no absorption, inclination, or desire related to the body or things of the world even though they are still embodied and situated within the world]. Bhakti is but a means of detachment (virakti), and that [i.e., detachment] is but a means of mukti.’
“Nārada replied: ‘You all have spoken well. Mukti is the fourth (turyā) [state of consciousness] and superior to the others [i.e., to the other three states of consciousness known as wakefulness, dreaming, and deep sleep]. That wherein there is conscious existence (cit-sattā) devoid of ‘I’ is called the fourth, mukti. Bhakti constituted of complete ‘I’-ness [i.e., the ultimate form of self-identification] is said to be beyond the fourth [i.e., greater than even mukti]. Brahman, constituted of Kṛṣṇa’s luster, sometimes manifests somewhere [i.e., Brahman is manifest only beyond the realm of prakṛti and in inside the realm of Vaikuṇṭha]. It [i.e., Brahman] is self-situated bliss alone known [only] with the seedless sense [i.e., with the potential for perception inherent in the jīva, which is not a faculty constituted of the guṇas of prakṛti, be it an bahiḥkaraṇa or antaḥkaraṇa]. Kṛṣṇa, however, is the fully complete Self (Ātmā) and embodiment of bliss [present] everywhere [i.e., pervasively present throughout the realm of prakṛti and the realm of Vaikiṇṭha who is] brought into one’s range [of perception] immediately as a result of executing repeated performance of the practice of bhakti.’”

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evaṁ dīkṣāṁ cared yas tu puruṣo vīta-kalmaṣaḥ

evaṁ dīkṣāṁ cared yas tu puruṣo vīta-kalmaṣaḥ |
sa loke vartamāno’pi jīvan-mukta pramodate ||
uditākṛtir ānandaḥ sarvatra sama-darśakaḥ |
pūrṇāhantāmayī sākṣād bhaktiḥ syāt prema-lakṣaṇā ||
(Bṛhad Gautamīya Tantra; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 32)

“A person freed from sin who shall abide by [the] dīkṣā [they have received] rejoices as a jīvan-mukta [i.e., as one who is liberated while living] even while present in the world, being endowed with a manifested form [i.e., a siddha-deha] and bliss, and seeing equally in regard to everything. Direct bhakti possessed of prema and constituted of complete ‘I’-ness [i.e., the ultimate form of self-identification] shall come about [in that person].”

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