Acquisition of the Higher Knowledge alone can fulfil the main purpose of human life. Such knowledge makes one aware that one is not the inert, non-sentient body etc., but that one is really the consciousness itself manifesting as the embodiment of ‘Being-Awareness-Bliss’ (Sat-Cit-ananda). When this truth dawns and is experienced, one is liberated; one is freed from the fog of ignorance (Ajnana) even while life endures till its term ends. One becomes a a person liberated even while alive (Jivanmukta). (Sutra Vahini, p. 2)
The God-realised person, the Jivanmukta, no longer has any identification whatsoever with the body. He is one in whom only the divine vision is active. He pays no attention to the body, and it wastes away and dries up. He does not bother with food and water. They do not even come to mind. As a result, 21 days is the time that life can remain in the body under these circumstances. He has lost all body identification and neither eats nor drinks except as force-fed. The 21 days may vary a little due to the condition of the person. King Janaka retired to the forest and became a Jivanmukta. Life remained in his body for 19 days. The person of the divine vision is known as a raja yogi. He retains some body identification and thus continues to live with the body. King Janaka reigned for many years as a raja yogi. Jivanmukti is permanent God-realisation. It is merging with God. There can be a temporary God-realisation for a few hours or a day or so in deep meditation, or at various levels of Samadhi, but that is not permanent. It is not merging. (CWBSSB, pp. 128-129)
Seeking to reach the Paramatma, the source and core of the universe, the individual or jiva who has entangled himself in the elements has to overcome by discrimination and steady practice of detachment, the bonds one by one; such a person is a sadhaka; he who wins in this struggle is the Jivanmukta, ‘liberated even while alive’. (UV, p. 2)
The Jivanmukta has burnt out his vasanas. Even pure desires are a bond. But they are not hindrances, however many they may be. (DhyV, p. 56)
The jivanmuktas, the realised souls, are as the lighthouses that point out the way to ships caught in blinding darkness in mid-ocean. The spiritual light-houses show the way to those who struggle helplessly in the thick night of ignorance. (DhyV, p. 50)
Desire is the enemy number one of Liberation. The flame of desire cannot be put without the conquest of the mind. The mind is the seed, desire is the tree. Atma jnana alone can uproot that tree. The jiva Mukta is established firmly in the knowledge of the Atman. He knows that wealth; worldly joy and pleasure are all worthless and even poisonous. The Jivanmukta has no trace of the ‘will to live’ he is ever ready to drop into the lap of death. (JV, pp. 6-7)
‘Realise Me, the Primal Cause, that Primal Cause, that is indeed Moksha. He is the Jivanmukta (liberated even when alive) who attains that Moksha’. (JV, p. 169)