JĪVANMUKTI. The Sanskrit term jīvanmukti means "liberation as a living being." A person who has attained liberation in his lifetime is called jīvanmukta. Although these precise terms seem to have been popularized only by followers of Śaṅkara, late in the first millennium CE, the concept of a liberated person had become a commonplace of Indian religious thought many centuries earlier. This article will concentrate on the concept.

The final goal of every Hindu is to attain release (mukti) from saṃsāra, the endless cycle of death and rebirth that all living beings—gods, human beings, animals, and lower spirits—undergo. The cause of rebirth is karman, or intentional action. All intentional action originates from "passion" (rāga), or emotional involvement with the world. As mukti is release from saṃsāra, it is thus release from karman...