That Which Liberates

Srimati Karuna
Speaks on "That Which Liberates"
Sunday, June 3, 2018 at 11:00am

There is a verse in the Vishnu Purana that includes the Sanskrit phrase: "Sa vidya ya vimuktaye”. It means: “knowledge is that which liberates.”

The Vishnu Purana opens as a conversation between the sage Maitreya and his guru, Parashara. The sage asks the question, “What is the nature of this universe and everything that is in it?” 

Consider another ancient philosophical text, the Dialogues of Plato, in which Plato presents philosophical discourses on a range of subjects (many through the voice of his teacher, Socrates). 

In both cases, we encounter the question of the origin of the universe and the soul. The path of self-realization or self-liberation (moksha) involves a knowledge that liberates. But this knowledge is not merely an understanding of life around us, rather it is a knowledge of the source of life within us.