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Nirvāṇa (Sanskrit: निर्वाण; Pali: निब्बान nibbāna ; Prakrit: णिव्वाण) literally means "blown out", as in a candle.[2] It is most commonly associated with Buddhism.[web 1][3] In Indian religions, the attainment of nirvana is moksha,[note 1] liberation from the repeating cycle of birth, life and death (reincarnation).[5][6][note 2]
In the Buddhist context nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished.[2] In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the divine ground of existence Brahman (Supreme Being) and the experience of blissful egolessness.[7]
The word nirvāṇa is from the verbal root √vā 'blow' in the form of past participle vāna 'blown'; prefixed with the preverb nis which means 'out'. Hence the original meaning of the word is 'blown out, extinguished'. Sandhi changes the spelling: the v of vāna causes nis to become nir, and then the r of nir causes retroflexion of the following n: nis+vāna > nirvāṇa It is used in the sense of 'dead' in the Mahābhārata (i.e. life extinguished). [Monier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary sv nirvāṇa]
Nirvāṇa is a composed of three phones ni and va and na:
Vana is forest in/of the forest/forests; composed of flowers and other items of the forest.,[9] but vana has both phones van and va. Van has both an auspicious and ominous aspect:
However note that though Prabhupada associates the two vana 'forest' derives from a different root than vāna 'blown' and the two words are not cognate.
The abhidharma-mahāvibhāsa-sāstra, a sarvastivādin commentary, 3rd century BCE and later, describes[11] the possible etymological interpretations of the word nirvana. [note 3][note 4]
Each of the five aggregates is called a skandha, which means "tree trunk." All five skandha serve to inform the study of experience, or else missing their causal relations leads away from the path to nirvana. Skandha also means "heap" or "pile" or "mass," which is the nature of their interdependence, like an endless knot's path, or a forest.
Nirvāṇa is a term used in Hinduism,[13][14] Jainism,[15] Buddhism,[14][16] and Sikhism.[17] It leads to moksha, liberation from samsara, or release from a state of suffering, after an often lengthy period of bhāvanā[note 5] or sādhanā.
The idea of moksha is connected to the Vedic culture, which had notion of amrtam, "immortality",[21][22] and also a notion of a timeless, an "unborn", "the still point of the turning world of time".[21] It was also its timeless structure, the whole underlying "the spokes of the invariable but incessant wheel of time".[21][note 6] The hope for life after death started with notions of going to the worlds of the Fathers or Ancestors and/or the world of the Gods or Heaven.[21][note 7] The continuation of life after death came to be seen as dependent on sacrificial action, karma,[23] These ideas further developed into the notion of insight into the real nature of the timeless Brahman and the paramatman.[24] This basic scheme underlies Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, where "the ultimate aim is the timeless state of moksa, or, as the Buddhists first seem to have called it, nirvana."[25]
Although the term occurs in the literatures of a number of ancient Indian traditions, the concept is most commonly associated with Buddhism.[web 1] It was later adopted in the Bhagavad Gita of the Mahabharata.[3]
The terms moksa and nirvana are often used interchangeably in the Jain texts.[26][27] In Jainism, moksha (liberation) follows nirvāṇa. Nirvana means final release from the karmic bondage. An arhat becomes a siddha ("one who is accomplished") after nirvāṇa. When an enlightened human, such as an arihant or a Tirthankara, extinguishes his remaining aghatiya karmas and thus ends his worldly existence, it is called nirvāṇa. Jains celebrate Diwali as the day of nirvāṇa of Mahavira.[note 8] Uttaradhyana Sutra provides an account of Gautama explaining the meaning of nirvāṇa to Kesi, a disciple of Parshva.[29]
There is a safe place in view of all, but difficult of approach, where there is no old age nor death, no pain nor disease. It is what is called nirvāṇa, or freedom from pain, or perfection, which is in view of all; it is the safe, happy, and quiet place which the great sages reach. That is the eternal place, in view of all, but difficult of approach. Those sages who reach it are free from sorrows, they have put an end to the stream of existence. (81-4)
In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is described as the extinguishing of the fires that cause suffering.[30] These fires are typically identified as the fires of attachment (raga), aversion (dvesha) and ignorance (moha or avidya). When the fires are extinguished, suffering (dukkha) comes to an end. The cessation of suffering is described as complete peace.[31][32]
Bhikkhu Bodhi states:[33]
According to Zaehner and "many commentators",[3] nirvana is a Buddhist term rather than a Hindu term.[3] The term nirvana was not used in Hinduism prior to its use in the Bhagavad Gita,[3] though according to van Buitenen the use of the term was not confined to Buddhism at the time the Bhagavad Gita was written.[3] According to Johnson the use of the term nirvana is borrowed from the Buddhists to link the Buddhist state of liberation with Brahman, the supreme or absolute principle of the Upanishads and the Vedic tradition.[3]
In Hinduism, moksha is the liberation from the cycle of birth and death and one's worldly conception of self. According to Hindson & Caner, when a person achieves moksha, they have reached nirvana;[35] while according to Flood, "The attainment of nirvana is thus moksa."[5]
Moksha is derived from the root mu(n)c (Sanskrit: मुच्), which means free, let go, release, liberate.[36][37] In Vedas and early Upanishads, the word mucyate (Sanskrit: मुच्यते)[36] appears, which means to be set free or release - such as of a horse from its harness.
According to Aurobindo, the last bondage is the passion for liberation itself, which must be renounced before the soul can be perfectly free, and the last knowledge is the realisation that there is none bound, none desirous of freedom, but the soul is for ever and perfectly free, that bondage is an illusion and the liberation from bondage is an illusion too.[38]
Brahma nirvana (nirvana in Brahman) is the state of release or liberation; the union with the divine ground of existence (Brahman) and the experience of blissful ego-lessness.[7] The term brahmanirvana is used 5 times in the Bhagavad Gita:
According to Helena Blavatsky, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains that Brahma nirvana can be attained by one who is capable of cognizing the essence of Brahman; by getting rid of vices, becoming free from duality, free from the worldly attractions and anger, dedicated to spiritual pursuits, having subdued thoughts and cognized Atman, and dedicating oneself to the good of all.[39][40]
According to Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu and Buddhist understanding of nirvana are different:
The nirvana of the Buddhists is shunyata, emptiness, but the nirvana of the Gita means peace and that is why it is described as brahma-nirvana [oneness with Brahman].[41]
According to Gavin Flood,
...in the Bhagavad-gītā it seems to be contrasted deliberately with the Buddhist understanding, because it is described as the attainment of Brahman ('He who forsakes all objects of desire and goes about without cravings, desires or self-centredness attains serene peace.... Staying in this state, even in his last hour, he attains brahmanirvāṇa', 2. 71 f.), and the yogin is described not (as in Buddhism) as a candle blown out, but as 'a candle flame away from a draught which does not flicker' (6, 19) The attainment of nirvana is thus mokṣa.[5]
nirvana is a compound of the prefix ni[r]- (ni, nis, nih) which means "out, away from, without", and the root vâ[na] (P. vâti) which can be translated as "blowing" as in "blowing of the wind", but also as "smelling, etc"
The nirvana of the Buddhists is shunyata, emptiness, but the nirvana of the Gita means peace and that is why it is described as brahma-nirvana [oneness with Brahman]
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