E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

78 Contextualising Gandhian ThoughtIt goes without saying that the concept of moksha wasnot a new discovery of Mahatma, it has always been a basicidea covering the entire panorama of religious andphilosophical tradition of India. It was not just one of the fourpurusarthas (dharma, kama artha and moksha) rather it wastaken to be the ultimate purusartha, the culminating point of allother purusarthas. We, therefore, propose to take a bird’s-eyeview ‘of the concept of moksha’ in the Indian tradition, beforetaking up the Gandhian contribution to it for consideration.Moksha in the Indian Tradition:In plain language, moksha or mukti stands for therelease or being freed. As a religious term, it symbolises therelease from the bondage of the law of karma. In more tangibleand practical terms, it symbolises release from the ceaselesstransmigration of birth, death and rebirth. In short, it means thefreedom from the avagaman. However, moksha was never astatic concept, it went on getting embellished in the course ofthe Indian religions and philosophical history. For instance, inthe vedic age, it was not that all-pervading human goal. It wasprimarily bhukti and not mukti which remained as the primaryconcern of the people of the vedic age. Presumably, it wasduring the Upanishadic age that moksha came to be taken asthe basic aspiration of the people. It was during this period thatthe two key concepts of Atman and Brahaman came to occupythe pivotal position in religious and philosophical thinking.Subsequently, moksha became the most sought-after goal ofhuman existence in the entire Indian tradition including Jainand Buddhist religious thinking. In fact, it came to be identifiedas the param purusartha – the ultimate goal of humanexistence. And that is why elaborate references were made tomoksha in some of the major scriptures like the Mahabharata,the Ramayana, the Manusmriti the Brahmasutra, theUpanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. In the subsequent period,moksha became a dominant theme in all six philosophical