E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

80 Contextualising Gandhian Thought(i)The basic idea that runs through all these differenttradition was that moksha was nothing but liberationfrom sansara (the phenomenal world) and itsentanglements and ultimately from the cyclic order ofbirth, death and rebirth.(ii) The road to the state of moksha goes thoughkarmayoga, Jnanyoga, bhaktiyoga and Dhyanyoga ortheir veritable mixture. The different systemsunderscored pivotal role of one of the paths in keepingwith their religious and philosophical perceptions.(iii) Moksha came to be identified as the parampurusartha – the ultimate goal of human existence.Adi-Sankaracharya on MokshaGandhi called himself as advaitvadi. Hence tounderstand his views on moksha, a brief discussion of the Adi-Sankaracharya view of moksha would be quite in order. Thereal foundation of the advait vedant was that the atman andBrahman were of the same genre. Hence, the discovery of thereal nature of the atman brings moksha at the doorstep of theseeker. As to what stands between the mumukshu (the seeker)and the realisation of moksha is the veil of advidya–(ignorance)which superimposes and covers the real nature of the atman.The most classical illustration is given by a rope being taken asthe snake primarily because of the ignorance. However, the veilof avidya is to be removed? In Adi-Sankaracharya view, rightknowledge is the only effective means to tear off the veil ofavidya and attain moksha. According to him bhakti and karmacould ply only a subsidiary role in mean’s search for moksha,because, they could not lead him to the pristine state ofliberation from the cycle of rebirth. Right knowledge couldlead to real illumination which alone could dissolve the residualeffects of the past karma. How to attain the right knowledge? In