तेषां ज्ञानैकनिष्ठानामात्मज्ञानविचारिणाम् । सा जीवन्मुक्ततोदेति विदेहान्मुक्ततैव या ॥ २ ॥
tēṣāṁ jñānaikaniṣṭhānāmātmajñānavicāriṇām | sā jīvanmuktatōdēti vidēhānmuktataiva yā || 2 ||
Translation
In them, devoted to knowledge alone and inquiring into the knowledge of the Self, there arises that freedom while living which, once they are without a body, is freedom itself.
Word by word
- tēṣāṁ
- in them
- jñānaika
- (jñāna-eka) to knowledge alone
- niṣṭhānām
- devoted
- ātma
- of the Self
- jñāna
- the knowledge
- vicāriṇām
- inquiring into
- sā
- that
- jīvan
- while living
- muktatā
- freedom
- udēti
- arises
- vidēhān
- (videhāt) once without a body
- muktataiva
- (muktatā eva) freedom itself
- yā
- which
Meaning
Two names for one freedom. Jīvanmukti, freedom while living, is not a lesser liberation waiting for death to complete it: the commentary says it is the very freedom that, when the body falls away, is pure liberation and nothing else. The body's end changes nothing in what is known; it only removes the last appearance of a body. The means is named exactly: devotion to knowledge alone (jñāna-niṣṭhā), and inquiry (vicāra) into the knowledge of the Self. The commentary glosses "knowledge alone" as the means of knowledge, hearing and reflecting, on which their whole attention rests.