A: 1. Kaivalya : The desire of the individual soul to completely sever all connections with the elemental world and the realization that the soul is the real self for enjoyment, practices the required austerities to achieve it, the Lord, in response to the individual’s wishes, removes the shackles of karma comprehensively and leads him to the threshold of ‘vaikunt’, which is situated on the other side of the ‘Viraja’ river and leaves the individual soul, free of the elemental body to enjoy himself. This state of enjoyment of the soul as the real self is called kaivalya, but this is a lower state of ‘moksha’.
2. Parama moksha : With the desire of the individual soul to attain the Super-Soul, either practices the means to achieve it or surrenders to the Lord as his soul-refuge, the Lord releases him completely from the shackles of karma and helps him in the attainment of Him. This is called the ‘Parama moksha’ (the happy dwelling) and is the pinnacle.
The Q&A of the day is an excerpt from "Two-fold Vedic Vision", a Sri Vaishnavite handbook based on Sri Sudarsanar’s 1008 Catechisms in Tamil written by Sri. Kidambi Sridharan. The collection contains invaluable information on the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Ithihasas, the lives of Alwars, Acharyas from Sriman Nathamunigal to Sri Manavala Mamuni, the 108 Divya Desams and answers to various other related questions. This book is available for kindle in e-book format for purchase on Amazon.
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