Mokshopaya


The Mokṣopāya or Mokṣopāyaśāstra is a Sanskrit philosophical text on salvation for non-ascetics, written on the Pradyumna hill in Śrīnagar in the 10th century AD. It has the form of a public sermon and claims human authorship and contains about 30,000 śloka's. The main part of the text forms a dialogue between Vasiṣṭha and Rāma, interchanged with numerous short stories and anecdotes to illustrate the content. This text was later expanded and vedanticized, which resulted in the Yogavāsiṣṭha.

Philosophy

The text of the Mokṣopāya shows that a unique philosophy has been created by the author. It taught a monism that is different from Advaita Vedanta. It makes use of other Darśanas in an inclusive way. The text teaches that the recognition that cognitive objects are non-existent, leads to ultimate detachment, which causes an attitude of "dispassion and non-involvement with worldly things and matters", though still fulfilling one's daily duties and activities. This liberation is available for everyone, no matter their sex, caste or education, as long as one uses reason and maintains an active life in this world. To reach this liberation, one has to go through three stages: rational thinking and discernment, true understanding and detachment.
It is only by one's own effort that one can be liberated from the bonds of existence. For one who knows the reality, "fate" does not mean anything, something like "fate" does not exist and has, accordingly, no consequences at all.

Mokṣopāya Project

The Mokṣopāya Project supervised by professor Walter Slaje at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Germany is currently working on a critical edition of the Mokṣopāya. The project is embedded in the Centre for Research in the Historiography and Intellectual Culture of Kashmir. A commentary by Bhāskarakaṇṭha and more than thirty manuscripts in Nāgarī, Śāradā, Grantha, and Telugu scripts are being used.
The critical edition of the complete Sanskrit text is expected to be finalized by the end of 2018. It will be accompanied by a German translation, a philological commentary and a dictionary of its Sanskrit vocabulary.

Edition