Gita Bhashya (Sri Ramanujacharya) 5.23
Gita Bhashya (Sri Ramanujacharya) 5.23 · 5 · Verse 23
Sanskrit Original
।।5.23।।शरीरविमोक्षणात् प्राग् इह एव साधनानुष्ठानदशायाम् एव आत्मानुभवप्रीत्या कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं सोढुं निरोद्धुं यः शक्नोति स युक्तः आत्मानुभवाय अर्हः। शरीरमोक्षणोत्तरकालम् आत्मानुभवसुखः संपत्स्यते।
5.23 When a man is able to withstand, i.e., to control the impulses of emotions like desire and anger by his longing for the experience of self, he is released 'here itself from the body,' i.e., even during the state when he is practising the means for release, he gains the capacity for experiencing the self. But he becomes blessed by the experience and gets immersed in the bliss of the self only after the fall of the body (at the end of his Prarabdha or operative Karma). [The implication is that in this system there is no Jivan-Mukti or complete liberation even when the body is alive. Only the state of Sthita-prajna or of 'one of steady wisdom' can be attained by an embodied Jiva.]