Having established the identity of Brahmanand Atman in the third chapter, Sanka-racharya discusses in the fourth chapter the topic of Jivan Mukti or Jivan Mukta.
The scriptures say that by the strength of his knowledge of the Self a wise person is no longer bound by the results of accumulated past actions (sanchita karma) and is also not subject to results of future actions (agami karma). Self-knowledge, however, does not destroy the outstanding results of actions which have given rise to the current birth (prarabdha karma).
Nature of Right Knowledge
Though the operation of prarabdha karma does not in any way affect the liberated Jnani, as he has dissociated himself from the notion of doership (ahankara orkarta) and has learnt to dismiss it as part of the unreal non-Self (mithya anatma), the treatment of prarabdha by our scriptures is somewhat peculiar and needs some explanation. The author, therefore, devotes this small chapter with only five verses entitled Tattva Jnana Svabhava Prakaranam (Nature of Right Knowledge) for a technical enquiry into this topic.
2. At the outset, it needs to be seen that in the event prarabdha karma is also extinguished at the time of the advent of Self-knowledge, the Jnani himself will cease to exist and the lifestyle of a Jivan Mukta, well recognised and dealt with in our scriptures, will become irrelevant.
The other consequence will be that there will be a break in the very teaching lineage (guru parampara) with the result that this sacred teaching will not be available for future generations and there will be no role models to follow for posterity.
3. In the first verse, the author makes a general assertion that the fire of Self-knowledge burns all karmas, without making any distinction, such as sanchita, agami or prarabdha. The point is made in this verse that ahankara (identification with
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