Upanishads · Bhāvanā p45
॥
Devanāgarī
एवं मुहूर्तत्रयं भावनापरो जीवन्मुक्तो भवति स एव शिवयोगीति गद्यते
Transliteration (IAST)
evaṃ muhūrtatrayaṃ bhāvanāparo jīvanmukto bhavati sa eva śivayogīti gadyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एवं मुहूर्त-त्रयंevaṃ muhūrta-trayaṃthus, for the span of three muhūrtas
भावना-परः जीवन्-मुक्तः भवतिbhāvanā-paraḥ jīvan-muktaḥ bhavatione devoted to representation becomes liberated while living
सः एव शिव-योगी इति गद्यतेsaḥ eva śiva-yogī iti gadyatehe indeed is called a yogī of Śiva
Translation
Thus, for the span of three muhūrtas, one devoted to representation becomes liberated while living; he indeed is called a yogī of Śiva.
Version
341d12ea85de · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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A jīvan-mukta, "one liberated while living," is promised, and a precise term is named: three muhūrtas, that is, about two and a half hours (in variant readings, two muhūrtas or one). It is worth saying plainly about this term. The promise to liberate a person in two hours of concentration is an unfulfillable promise, and there is nothing to argue about here: in such a time not even a habit changes, let alone a person.
This must apparently be read differently: not that in three muhūrtas a person will become permanently free, but that during these hours he abides in the state of one free. This is how commentators understand it too; and understood this way, the promise becomes modest and plausible. The very concept of jīvan-mukti, "liberation while living," is one of the chief subjects of dispute between the schools, and it is worth saying where the divergence lies. Advaita affirms it: the knower is already free now, and the body lives out its span by the force of former deeds. Vaiṣṇava teachers — especially Madhva and Baladeva — object: as long as there is a body, there is bondage too, and full freedom comes only upon leaving the body; what occurs during life is not freedom but a foretaste.
This dispute looks abstract, but has a practical and important consequence. One who considers himself already liberated stops being careful; and in the history of all these teachings, most falls have happened precisely to those who thought they could no longer fall.