Release from the whole round of bondage — the fourth and final aim of life, beyond pleasure, wealth, and duty.
Common misconception
Moksha is not a heavenly reward earned later; most schools say it is realizing what was always already true.
The question it leaves you holding
If liberation is freedom from all wanting, can you want it without defeating the very purpose?
Schools that center this concept
Advaita Vedanta — Shankara's non-dualism: only Brahman is real; the individual self is that one Self, mistaking itself as many.
Yoga — Patanjali's discipline: still the mind's movements and the Self rests in its own nature, free of nature's play.
Debates this concept decides
Freedom Now, or Only After Death? — Can you be liberated while still alive and walking around — jivanmukti — or does release come only when the body falls?
Act for the Duty, or for the Fruit? — The Gita says you have a right to action but never to its fruits. Can you truly act with full effort and zero attachment?
