Topics, in depth

ਮੁਕਤੀMukti

Liberation while living

Is freedom something after death, or something now?

Editorial introductionDrafted with AI assistance for this site. Not Gurbani and not Babaji’s words.Awaiting review by a learned reader.

Discover

Many religious traditions place liberation after death or at the end of long withdrawal from the world. Guru Arjan Dev Ji places it somewhere unexpected.

ਨਾਨਕ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਭੇਟਿਐ ਪੂਰੀ ਹੋਵੈ ਜੁਗਤਿ ॥ਹਸੰਦਿਆ ਖੇਲੰਦਿਆ ਪੈਨੰਦਿਆ ਖਾਵੰਦਿਆ ਵਿਚੇ ਹੋਵੈ ਮੁਕਤਿ ॥

Transliteration Nānak satigur bheṭiai pūrī hovai jugat. Hasandiā khelandiā painandiā khāvandiā viche hovai mukat.

Translation, editorial Nanak, meeting the True Guru, one finds the complete way of living. Laughing, playing, dressing and eating, one is liberated in the midst of it all.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Ang 522. Gujri ki Var, Salok. Guru Arjan Dev Ji. Checked against BaniDB Read Ang 522 in full

Babaji’s katha of this Ang

Mukti (ਮੁਕਤੀ) is freedom: from haumai, from the grip of the five thieves, from the cycle of coming and going. Gurbani's distinctive emphasis is jīvan mukti, freedom while living, here, in the middle of ordinary life: laughing, playing, dressing and eating.

Editorial introductionDrafted with AI assistance for this site. Not Gurbani and not Babaji’s words.

Understand

Freedom in the midst of life. The line does not say freedom comes despite ordinary life, or after it. It comes within it (viche). The precondition is meeting the True Guru, through whom ‘the complete way’ (pūrī jugat) is found. Mukti is not an escape route; it is a way of living.

How do we become free? That is the question in the title of one of Babaji's recent divans: ‘ਮੁਕਤ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਹੋਈਏ’, set beside ‘ਨਾਮ ਦਾ ਭਰੋਸਾ’ (trust in Naam). In Gurmat the path runs through Naam, the Shabad, seva and the dissolving of haumai, and is completed by grace. Gurbani also speaks of the devotee who asks for neither kingdom nor mukti, only love for the Divine; for such a person, love is the freedom.

Sahaj. Gurbani often names the liberated state sahaj: natural poise, ease, equanimity. It is not trance or withdrawal. Babaji's recent title ‘ਭਜਨ ਅਤੇ ਭੋਜਨ ਸਹਿਜ ਨਾਲ’ (worship and eating, both with ease) catches its flavour: sahaj is how the free person does ordinary things.

Comparative noteMoksha in Vedanta and in Patanjali's yogaSource: Vedanta Darshan, Vichar Sagar, Yoga SutrasEditorial, with Gurmat as the frame. Awaiting review.

Babaji's katha includes talks titled Moksh and Samadhi in his Patanjali series, and long katha on Vedanta texts. In Advaita Vedanta, moksha is the realisation that the self was never other than Brahman; in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras the goal is kaivalya, the isolation of pure consciousness from the fluctuations of nature. Gurbani shares the longing for release from the cycle of birth and death. It differs in three ways: freedom comes through Naam and grace more than through knowledge or technique; it is lived in society rather than in withdrawal; and it keeps the relationship of love with the Divine rather than dissolving it. Different Sikh commentators weigh these differences differently, and the comparison here is an editorial summary, not a doctrinal ruling.

Babaji’s kathaLinked by the titles of the recordings and videos.

Explore Babaji’s katha

Katha of the Gurbani quoted here

Videos

ਸਮੇਂ ਦੀ ਉਡੀਕ। ਭਜਨ ਅਤੇ ਭੋਜਨ ਸਹਿਜ ਨਾਲ। ਫੁਰਨੇ ਖਤਮ ਕਰਨੇ। ਗੁਰੂ ਧਾਰਨ ਕਰਨਾ। ਇਕਾਂਤ ਦੇ ਲਾਭ। ਆਪਣਾ ਕੌਣ ਹੈ ?

20 Oct 2026 Open on YouTube

ਨਾਮ ਦਾ ਭਰੋਸਾ l ਬਾਣੀ ਦੀ ਵਿਚਾਰ l ਮੁਕਤ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਹੋਈਏ l ਪੂਜਾ ਕਿਸ ਦੀ ਕਰੀਏ। ਸੰਤ ਬਾਬਾ ਜਗਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਹਰਖੋਵਾਲ

12 Oct 2026 Open on YouTube

ਜਨਮ ਮਰਨ ਦਾ ਡਰ। ਮਨ ਦੀਆਂ ਵਾਸ਼ਨਾਵਾਂ। ਪਰਖ । Anmol Bachan Sant Baba Jagjit Singh Ji Harkhowal ll

14 Sep 2026 Open on YouTube

ਮੁਕਤੀ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਪ੍ਰਾਪਤ ਕਰੀਏ ? ਹਠ ਯੋਗ ਸਹਿਜ ਯੋਗ ਗਿਆਨ ਯੋਗ ਦੇ ਉਪਦੇਸ। Sant Baba Jagjit Singh Ji Harkhowal ll

1 Aug 2026 Open on YouTube

ਇਤਿਹਾਸ ਚਾਲੀ ਮੁਕਤੇ ਸਿੰਘ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਜੀ ਦਾ। ਮਾਘ ਮਹੀਨੇ ਦੀ ਸੰਗਰਾਂਦ। Sant Baba Jagjit Singh Ji Harkhowal ll

15 Jan 2026 Open on YouTube

ਪੰਥਕ ਏਕਤਾ. ਝਗੜੇ ਤੋਂ ਮੁਕਤੀ. Takhat Sri Kesgarh Sahib Ji. Sant Baba Jagjit Singh Ji Harkhowal .

17 Feb 2025 Open on YouTube

All 9 videos on this theme

Recordings with this in their title

Editorial introductionDrafted with AI assistance for this site. Not Gurbani and not Babaji’s words.

How this connects

ਨਾਮ Naam
In Gurmat, freedom comes through Naam and is completed by grace; the closing Salok of Japji speaks of those who meditated on Naam freeing many along with them.
ਮਾਇਆ Maya and Vairag
Maya binds by making us forget; mukti is freedom from that forgetting while still living in the world. Ang 522
Where they pull apart. Renunciation traditions treat leaving the world as the way out of Maya; Gurbani places freedom within household life.
ਰਹਿਣੀ Rahini: living it
Gurbani's freedom is lived ‘while laughing, playing, dressing and eating’; conduct in ordinary life is where it is seen. Ang 522

Questions for reflectionEditorial, offered for your own enquiry.

Reflect

What are you most afraid of losing? That fear may show you what still binds you.
Have you known moments of sahaj, of being at ease and fully present? What made them possible?
If freedom is possible while laughing and eating, what is the obstacle in your own laughing and eating?

A practice for this week

Choose one ordinary daily act, eating a meal, walking somewhere, washing up, and do it for a week with full attention and quiet remembrance. Do not try to make it spiritual. Simply be wholly there, and remember the Giver.

Primary sourcesGurbani, and the texts Babaji has given katha on.

Go deeper

Gurbani on this page

Ang 522Gujri ki Var, Salok

Texts Babaji has taught on this theme

ਅਸ਼ਟਾਵਕ੍ਰ ਗੀਤਾ Ashtavakra Gita11 recordings
ਪਾਤੰਜਲ ਯੋਗ Patanjali Yog Shastar6 recordings
ਵੇਦਾਂਤ ਦਰਸ਼ਨ Vedanta Darshan15 recordings
ਯੋਗ ਦਰਸ਼ਨ Yoga Sutras (Yog Darshan)21 recordings

Found something mistaken or missing? Write to satnam@harkhowal.com.