Mokshopaya

The text of the Mokṣopāya shows that a unique philosophy has been created by the author. It taught a monism ('advaita') that is different from Advaita Vedanta. It makes use of other Darśanas in an inclusive way. The text teaches that the recognition that cognitive objects are non-existent, leads to ultimate detachment, which causes an attitude of "dispassion and non-involvement with worldly things and matters", though still fulfilling one's daily duties and activities.[4] This liberation is available for everyone, no matter their sex, caste or education, as long as one uses reason and maintains an active life in this world. To reach this liberation, one has to go through three stages: rational thinking and discernment (vicāra), true understanding (jñāna) and detachment (vairāgya).[7]

It is only by one's own effort (pauruṣa) that one can be liberated from the bonds of existence. For one who knows the reality, "fate" (daiva) does not mean anything, something like "fate" does not exist and has, accordingly, no consequences at all.[8][9]

Sample of the critical edition of the Utpattiprakaraṇa Moksopaya

The Mokṣopāya Project supervised by professor Walter Slaje at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Germany is currently working on a critical edition of the Mokṣopāya.[10] The project is embedded in the Centre for Research in the Historiography and Intellectual Culture of Kashmir (under the Patronage of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz). A commentary by Bhāskarakaṇṭha ("Mokṣopāya-ṭīkā"; late 17th century AD)[11] and more than thirty manuscripts in Nāgarī, Śāradā, Grantha, and Telugu scripts are being used.[12]

The goal of the project is a critical edition of the complete Sanskrit text, accompanied by a German translation, a philological commentary and a dictionary of its Sanskrit vocabulary.

• Buddhism and Hinduism in Kashmir
• Yogavāsiṣṭha

• Chapple, Christopher (1984). "Introduction". The Concise Yoga Vāsiṣṭha. Translated by Venkatesananda, Swami. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-87395-955-8. OCLC 11044869.
• Hanneder, Jürgen (2006). Studies on the Mokṣopāya. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 3-447-05422-0.
• Leslie, Julia (2003). Authority and meaning in Indian religions: Hinduism and the case of Vālmīki. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0-7546-3431-0.

• Chapple, Christopher Key; Chakrabarti, Arindam (2015). Engaged Emancipation: Mind, Morals, and Make-Believe in the Moksopaya (Yogavasistha). State University of New York Press, Albany. ISBN 1438458681.
• Hanneder, Jürgen (2005). The Mokṣopāya, Yogavāsiṣṭha and related texts. (Geisteskultur Indiens 7). Aachen, Shaker. ISBN 978-3-8322-4265-7.
• Hanneder, Jürgen (2006). Studies on the Mokṣopāya. (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 58). Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-05422-5.
• Hanneder, Jürgen (2012). Mokṣopāya - Weg zur Erlösung. P. Kirchheim Verlag, München. ISBN 9783874101431.
• Slaje, Walter (1994). Vom Mokṣopāya-Śāstra zum Yogavāsiṣṭha-Mahārāmāyaṇa. Philologische Untersuchungen zur Entwicklungs- und Überlieferunsgeschichte eines indischen Lehrwerks mit Anspruch auf Heilsrelevanz. Wien, Verl. d. Österreich. Akad. d. Wiss. ISBN 978-3-7001-2133-6.
• Slaje, Walter (2005). Locating the Mokṣopāya. In: The Mokṣopāya, Yogavāsiṣṭha and Related Texts. Ed. Jürgen Hanneder. (Geisteskultur Indiens. Texte und Studien 7. [Indologica Halensis]). Aachen 2005: 21–35.
• Slaje, Walter (2020). Vasiṣṭha the Void: Inquiries into the Authorship of the Mokṣopāya. ZIS 37 (2020): 168–204.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Moksopaya.

• Website of the Mokṣopāya Project (includes introduction, bibliography and gallery)
• Manuscript of the Mokṣopāya from the collection of Makhan Lal Kokilu, Śrīnagar, scanned by eGangotri.