“The one who knows Brahman becomes Brahman, and is liberated even while living in the body.”
— Adi ShankaraDoctrine of jivanmukti (liberation while living) in Shankara's commentaries, standard formulation; not a verbatim line
Commentary
This statement expresses the doctrine of jivanmukti, liberation in this life, which holds that the realised person remains embodied but no longer identifies with the body or its attachments. The knower of Brahman is said to attain Brahman, a formulation drawn from the Mundaka Upanishad and developed in Shankara's commentaries. Eliot Deutsch explains that jivanmukti follows from the non-dual ontology, since the realisation of identity with Brahman does not require the cessation of bodily life. Sengaku Mayeda shows that Shankara's treatment of liberation in life is closely tied to his account of the cessation of ignorance rather than to any change in the empirical world. Richard King notes that the doctrine was debated with rival schools, which held that liberation occurs only after death. Paul Hacker's study emphasises that the teaching preserves a tension between the embodied life of the sage and his inward freedom. The statement is a standard formulation of a doctrine that Shankara develops at length and is well attested in his writings.
Commentary
This statement expresses the doctrine of jivanmukti, liberation in this life, which holds that the realised person remains embodied but no longer identifies with the body or its attachments. The knower of Brahman is said to attain Brahman, a formulation drawn from the Mundaka Upanishad and developed in Shankara's commentaries. Eliot Deutsch explains that jivanmukti follows from the non-dual ontology, since the realisation of identity with Brahman does not require the cessation of bodily life. Sengaku Mayeda shows that Shankara's treatment of liberation in life is closely tied to his account of the cessation of ignorance rather than to any change in the empirical world. Richard King notes that the doctrine was debated with rival schools, which held that liberation occurs only after death. Paul Hacker's study emphasises that the teaching preserves a tension between the embodied life of the sage and his inward freedom. The statement is a standard formulation of a doctrine that Shankara develops at length and is well attested in his writings.