Moksha Meaning: What Moksha Is in Hinduism and How It Is Attained

What does moksha mean?

Moksha (मोक्ष, also mukti) is Sanskrit for liberation or release. In Hinduism it is the ultimate purpose and goal of religious and spiritual practice: freedom from samsara, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Samsara is the cycle of birth and rebirth (reincarnation), and it is governed by karma: the consequences of our actions carry us into new lives. Moksha is liberation from that cycle.

How is moksha attained?

Moksha comes through Self-realization (atma-jnana): realizing one's true, divine nature, the atman. Spiritual ignorance makes us identify completely with the body and mind; moksha is waking up from that. There is no fixed number of prayers or rituals that guarantees it, and no one is condemned for too little prayer; progress toward moksha is proportional to spiritual effort.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches several paths (yogas) toward it, which most people combine:

Path	What it means	Example practice
Karma yoga	The path of selfless action	Doing your duty without clinging to the results
Bhakti yoga	The path of devotion	Prayer, chanting, love of God
Jnana yoga	The path of knowledge	Study and inquiry into the true self
Dhyana (raja) yoga	The path of meditation	Quieting the mind

Read more: Karma meaning and What is japa?.

What does moksha feel like?

Hindu teachers describe moksha as the overcoming of spiritual ignorance, the end of material desires and attachments, the ability to live fully in the present in absolute peace, and above all the awakening of pure compassion toward all. Someone may attain moksha during their lifetime or at the death of the body.

Moksha among the four goals of life

Hinduism names four goals of human life (purusharthas):

Goal	Meaning
Dharma	Right living, duty, ethics
Artha	Wealth and security, earned rightly
Kama	Pleasure, love and beauty, enjoyed rightly
Moksha	Liberation, the final goal

The first three are good and necessary; moksha is the goal they serve. See the meaning of dharma.

What the Bhagavad Gita says about liberation

In the Gita, Krishna's last teaching to Arjuna is a promise of freedom to anyone who takes refuge in God:

Sanskrit and transliteration	English
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज। अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः॥ sarvadharmānparityajya māmekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja | ahaṃ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ ||	Abandoning all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone. I will free you from all wrongdoing; do not grieve.

And he describes the peace of the one who is free:

Sanskrit and transliteration	English
विहाय कामान्यः सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति निःस्पृहः। निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः स शान्तिमधिगच्छति॥ vihāya kāmānyaḥ sarvānpumāṃścarati niḥspṛhaḥ | nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ sa śāntimadhigacchati ||	That person who lives devoid of longing, abandoning all desires, without the sense of 'I' and 'mine,' he attains to peace.

Sanskrit and transliteration	English
एषा ब्राह्मी स्थितिः पार्थ नैनां प्राप्य विमुह्यति। स्थित्वास्यामन्तकालेऽपि ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृच्छति॥ eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha naināṃ prāpya vimuhyati | sthitvāsyāmantakāle’pi brahmanirvāṇamṛcchati ||	This is to have one's being in Brahman, O son of Pritha. None, attaining to this, becomes deluded. Being established therein, even at the end of life, a person attains to oneness with Brahman.

Moksha, karma and the self

Moksha only makes sense together with three other ideas: the atman, the true self that is reborn; karma, the law of action and consequence that drives rebirth; and samsara, the cycle itself. See Hinduism's core beliefs for how they fit together.

Diya lets you read a verse of the Bhagavad Gita each day, with its meaning in plain English. Diya is available for iPhone. See the Diya app.

Related reading

• Atman meaning
• Hinduism's core beliefs
• Karma meaning
• Bhagavad Gita chapter guide