---
type: Concept
bundle: upanishadic-core
bundle_version: "0.6.0"
id: videhamukti
title: "Videhamukti"
iast: "Videhamukti"
devanagari: "विदेहमुक्ति"
description: "Liberation upon the dissolution of the body — the state of the Jīvanmukta after Prārabdha Karma is exhausted and the physical body is relinquished; not death in the conventional sense, not heaven or an afterlife realm, not a superior liberation to Jīvanmukti — the same liberation minus the Prārabdha vehicle"
darshana:
  - Advaita Vedānta
  - Vedānta
school_scope: "Accepted across Vedāntic schools; Dvaita Vedānta positions Videhamukti as the only valid Mukti; Advaita treats Videhamukti as Jīvanmukti minus the Prārabdha body — the knowledge is identical, the vehicle is gone"
text_source: "Brahmasūtra 4.1.12–19; Vivekacūḍāmaṇi vv. 564–580; Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.6"
tags: [videhamukti, jivanmukti, mukti, moksha, advaita, prarabdha, liberation, brahman]
not:
  - term: "death in the conventional sense"
    why: "Conventional death involves the cessation of one individual and — within the Saṃsāric framework — the continuation of the Jīva in another body or realm based on Karma. Videhamukti is not this: the Jīvanmukta has already dissolved Sañcita and Āgāmin Karma through Jñāna; there is no Karma remaining to drive rebirth. The body dissolves with the exhaustion of Prārabdha — but there is no Jīva remaining to take another body. What was the Jīvanmukta merges in Brahman — not as a soul entering a divine realm, but as a wave completing its motion and becoming the ocean again."
    instead: "Read Videhamukti as the dissolution of the last Upādhi (the Prārabdha body) after Jīvanmukti — not death as a transition to somewhere else but as the final dropping of the Prārabdha vehicle"
  - term: "heaven, mokṣa-loka, or an afterlife realm"
    why: "Some Vedāntic and Purāṇic traditions describe Mokṣa as going to Vaikuṇṭha (Viṣṇu's realm) or Kailāsa (Śiva's realm) or Brahmaloka (Brahmā's realm) — locations of bliss from which there is no return. Advaita's Videhamukti is not location-based: Brahman is not a place. The Jīvanmukta does not go anywhere after body-drop. The Brahman-recognition that was the Jīvanmukta's constant reality simply continues — without the Prārabdha vehicle that was producing the appearance of a located, embodied individual."
  - term: "a superior or more complete liberation than Jīvanmukti"
    why: "The Jīvanmukti and Videhamukti distinction is not a hierarchy of liberation. The Jīvanmukta is already completely liberated — the Brahma-jñāna is complete, the bondage dissolved. Videhamukti is the same liberation minus the Prārabdha body that continued after Jñāna arose. Adding 'Videha' (bodyless) does not add to the liberation; it describes the absence of the Prārabdha vehicle."
related:
  - /concepts/jivanmukti.md
  - /concepts/upadhi.md
  - /concepts/brahmabhavana.md
  - /concepts/turiya.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Videhamukti — विदेहमुक्ति

**Not:** conventional death, heaven or afterlife realm, superior liberation to Jīvanmukti

## Etymology

Videha (विदेह) = without body (vi = without + deha = body); Mukti (मुक्ति) = liberation. Videhamukti = bodyless liberation — the liberation in which there is no longer any body serving as Prārabdha vehicle.

## The Relationship to Jīvanmukti

Advaita presents Jīvanmukti and Videhamukti not as two different liberations but as the same liberation in two phases:

| Aspect | Jīvanmukti | Videhamukti |
|--------|------------|-------------|
| Jñāna (knowledge) | Complete | Complete |
| Sañcita Karma | Destroyed | Destroyed |
| Āgāmin Karma | Stopped | Stopped |
| Prārabdha Karma | Running out | Exhausted |
| Body | Present (Prārabdha vehicle) | Dissolved |
| Location of Ātman | Brahman | Brahman |

The only difference is the presence or absence of the Prārabdha body. The Brahma-jñāna is complete and identical in both cases.

## The Brahmasūtra Treatment

Brahmasūtras 4.1.12–19 address the question: if Jñāna has arisen and the Jīva knows itself to be Brahman, why does the body continue? The answer given (and elaborated by Śaṅkara in the Bhāṣya) is Prārabdha: Karma already in motion producing this body cannot be reversed by Jñāna. The Jīvanmukta experiences the world through the Prārabdha body without being bound — the fire continues to give light and heat even after the wood that fed it is fully consumed and no more wood is added.

When the Prārabdha exhausts itself, the body is relinquished. This is Videhamukti.

## What Happens at Videhamukti

The Bṛhadāraṇyaka (4.4.6) states: *brahmaiva san brahmāpyeti* — "being Brahman alone, one merges into Brahman." The Jīvanmukta who was already Brahman (in recognition) now has the Prārabdha vehicle dissolved. There is no Jīva remaining. There is no "going" because there is no separate entity to travel. The wave-metaphor: the wave that was the Jīvanmukta completes its motion and the water (which was always the ocean) is simply the ocean without the wave-form.

## The Question of Post-Videhamukti Awareness

A subtle question: is there awareness after Videhamukti? Advaita's answer is careful: individual awareness (which requires the Upādhi of a Sūkṣma Śarīra to function) does not persist. But Brahman's Cit (pure consciousness) is not created or destroyed by any individual's liberation — it is eternal. The Jīvanmukta's apparent individual awareness was always Brahman's Cit appearing through an Upādhi. At Videhamukti, the Upādhi dissolves; Brahman's Cit remains as it always was.

This is why Advaita does not describe Videhamukti as "annihilation" (a common misreading): the Jīva that appeared to exist dissolves as an appearance — Brahman, which it always was, continues.

## Traditions That Accept Only Videhamukti

Dvaita Vedānta (Madhva) does not accept Jīvanmukti: liberation requires the soul to reach Vaikuṇṭha (Viṣṇu's abode), which cannot occur while embodied. For Dvaita, Mokṣa is inherently post-mortem and location-specific. This reflects the fundamental ontological difference: Dvaita maintains the eternal distinction between the individual Jīva and Brahman (Viṣṇu), so liberation is a relationship between two distinct realities in a transcendent realm — not a recognition of identity.

## Audience Metaphor

A river runs from the mountains to the sea. While flowing, the river has its own name, its own banks, its own character — Jīvanmukti is when the river recognizes it is water and has always been water, not "river-substance." Videhamukti is when the river reaches the sea and the banks (Prārabdha) dissolve. The water that was the river is now the ocean. The river-name ceases; the water does not cease. Neither the flowing (Jīvanmukti) nor the sea-entry (Videhamukti) is "more water" — the water was complete at every point.

## Citations

1. Brahmasūtra 4.1.12–19 with Śaṅkara Bhāṣya — Prārabdha and the continuation of the body post-Jñāna; see [references/brahmasutra-bhashya.md]
2. Vivekacūḍāmaṇi vv. 564–580 (Śaṅkarācārya) — the Jīvanmukta and what remains at Videhamukti; see [references/vivekachudamani.md]
3. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.6 — "brahmaiva san brahmāpyeti"; see [references/brhadaranyaka-upanishad.md]
4. Jīvanmuktiviveka (Vidyāraṇya) — the full treatment of both Jīvanmukti and Videhamukti; see [references/jivanmuktiviveka.md]
