Upanishads · Mahā 5.91
॥
Devanāgarī
मोक्षायैषा न बन्धाय जीवन्मुक्तस्य विद्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
mokṣāyaiṣā na bandhāya jīvanmuktasya vidyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मोक्षाय एषा न बन्धायmokṣāya eṣā na bandhāyait is for liberation, not for bondage; it serves deliverance, not the fetters
जीवन्मुक्तस्य विद्यतेjīvanmuktasya vidyateit is found in one liberated in life; it belongs to the free-while-alive
Translation
“It makes for liberation, not for bondage; it is found in one liberated while living.”
Version
d1accc336f0f · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A half-verse, and it settles the question of both higher selfhoods.
They are mokṣāya, “for liberation”, not bandhāya, “for bondage”.
And it is said in whom they are found: in the jīvanmukta, the one liberated in life.
That is, the sense of “I” does not vanish in the liberated man. He has it — and it does not bind him.
This is the most important correction to all talk of the annihilation of the person. The liberated man is not faceless; he knows who he is, and that knowledge is true.
Recall 5.7: the “portion of I-ness” is broken, not the whole man.
The Vaiṣṇava tradition reads this without any strain: the eternal soul exists eternally, and its self-awareness is no defect but its nature. The defect is in what it takes itself to be.