Avimukta

Avimukta is the most sacred name of the eternal kṣetra (holy field) of Kāśī, also called Vārāṇasī. The name means “the never-forsaken” or “the one never let go”, because Śiva never leaves this place, not even at the time of the great dissolution of the universe.

According to the Kāśī Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa, Śiva created Avimukta even before the universe came into being, as his first place of joyful play and the seat of his Śakti (his divine power and consort). Every being who dies within the Avimukta-kṣetra receives the tāraka-brahma, the mantra “that carries across”, which Śiva whispers into their right ear, and so reaches mokṣa (liberation).

Meaning of the Name

Different Purāṇas explain the name Avimukta in different ways, but all point to the same central truth:

  • Kāśī Khaṇḍa: It is called “Avimukta” because Śiva and Śakti never leave (na vimucyate) this holy place, even at the time of the great dissolution. The kṣetra itself is the seat of Śiva’s eternal play.
  • Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 112): Śiva tells Pārvatī: “I shall never leave this kṣetra, and for this very reason it bears the name Avimukta.”
  • Nārada Purāṇa (Uttarārdha, Chapter 48): The Avimukta-kṣetra “has never been and shall never be released.”
  • Nārada Purāṇa, a story: Rākṣasas once seized a Śiva-liṅga and were carrying it away. As they passed through this place, a rooster crowed at dawn, and they ran away in fear. Śiva had willed that he would not be separated from the Avimukta-kṣetra. The devatās named him “Avimukta”, and this name alone is said to give mokṣa to all who hear it.
  • Jābāla Upaniṣad (quoted in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5): “The river Asī is the Iḍā nāḍī; the river Varaṇā is the Piṅgalā nāḍī; in between these two is Avimukta, the Suṣumnā.” Nāḍīs are the subtle channels of the body in yoga. So Avimukta is also a yogic picture: the holy city is itself the central channel of awareness, the path by which prāṇa (life-energy) rises toward freedom.

Origin Before Creation (Kāśī Khaṇḍa)

According to the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Avimukta existed even before the universe was created.

Before earth, sky or water existed, in the first darkness after the last pralaya (dissolution), only the Supreme Absolute existed. When it willed to become manifest, Brahman without form took on a form: Śiva with a personal form. At the same time, Śiva brought forth Śakti (Pārvatī) from himself as his inseparable companion. At that same moment, Śiva created the holy kṣetra of Avimukta. At first he named it Ānandavana (the Forest of Bliss), because it was the cause of pure ānanda (bliss). This kṣetra stretches for five krośas (about 15 km). It was made from the soles of Śiva’s and Śakti’s own feet, and it is bliss in form. All the liṅgas in the Ānandakānana (the Forest of Bliss) are shoots growing from this root of bliss.

Boundaries

The Avimukta-kṣetra has clear boundaries:

  • East to west: about 2.5 yojanas according to the Nārada Purāṇa, or 2 yojanas according to the Agni Purāṇa (a yojana is an old measure of distance)
  • North to south: about half a yojana
  • Northern boundary: the river Varaṇā (the Piṅgalā nāḍī in the yogic reading)
  • Southern boundary: the river Asī (the Iḍā nāḍī in the yogic reading)
  • Centre: the Viśveśvara-liṅga (the Suṣumnā nāḍī)

The name Vārāṇasī comes from these two boundary rivers: Varaṇā + Asī = Vārāṇasī.

The Tāraka-Brahma at Death

The highest teaching of the Avimukta-kṣetra is the tāraka-brahma whispered at the moment of death. Several Purāṇas confirm it:

Kāśī Khaṇḍa (quoting the Jābāla Upaniṣad): “At the time of death, Hara expounds the Tāraka Brahman (Praṇava) into the right ears of all creatures. Thereby they become Brahman themselves. At the time of death here, Prabhu Śiva, through the instruction in the Tāraka Mantra, undoubtedly liberates the creatures that reside in Avimukta.” (Praṇava is the sacred syllable Oṃ.)

Nārada Purāṇa: At the moment of death, Śrī Rāmacandra himself, the antaryāmin (the one who dwells within) and the soul of Avimukta, whispers the tāraka-mantra into the right ear of the dying person.

Kūrma Purāṇa and Vāmana Purāṇa: The deathless Parameśvara whispers the tāraka-brahma at the exact moment of death within this kṣetra.

No being who dies in the Avimukta-kṣetra goes to naraka. All receive Śiva’s anugraha (grace) and reach mokṣa-pada, the state of freedom, whatever their past karma.

Spiritual Power Within the Kṣetra

Every act of dharma done within the Avimukta-kṣetra gives akṣaya-phala (fruit that never runs out):

  • Even pāpa (wrongdoing) done within the kṣetra is turned into puṇya (merit)
  • The dust of Avimukta, carried by the wind, purifies even the worst pāpī (wrongdoer) it touches
  • One who lives in Avimukta eating only once a day for a month gains the same merit as the Mahāpāśupata-vrata (a great vow of Śiva devotion)
  • Avimukta is higher than Prayāga for gaining freedom, because here freedom comes without effort and needs no tapas (Nārada Purāṇa)
  • No other liṅga equals the Viśvanātha-liṅga at Avimukta, and no other city in the three worlds equals Kāśī (Kāśī Khaṇḍa)

The Avimukteśvara Liṅga

The Nārada Purāṇa tells how one particular liṅga within the kṣetra, the Avimukteśvara liṅga, got its name. Rākṣasas once seized a Śiva-liṅga and were carrying it away. As they passed through the Avimukta-kṣetra, a rooster crowed at dawn. In fear, the rākṣasas ran away and left the liṅga behind. Śiva himself had willed that he would not be separated from the Avimukta-kṣetra. The devatās then named him Avimukteśvara, and even hearing this name gives mokṣa.

Avimukta at the Time of Pralaya

The Kāśī Khaṇḍa gives a special teaching, also mentioned in Agastya’s lament in Chapter 5. Kāśī is held up on the tip of Śiva’s triśūla (trident) even during pralaya, when all of creation is drawn back in. The city does not sink. It stands on the earth, but it is not of the earth. It is not an earthly place: Śiva’s will holds it on a higher plane. At pralaya, while everything else dissolves, Kāśī alone remains as a point of awareness where freedom is still possible.

“Avimukta should not be abandoned at all by those who yearn for liberation.” (Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5)

The Matsya Purāṇa Account (Chapters 179–184)

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa gives a long Avimukta Māhātmya (glorification of Avimukta), spread over six chapters and told through several conversations:

Śiva to Pārvatī (Chapter 179): Harikeśa Yakṣa, son of Pūrṇabhadra, receives from Śiva the roles of Gaṇeśvara (leader of Śiva’s attendants), anna-dātā (giver of food) and kṣetrapāla (guardian of the kṣetra), under the name Piṅgala. Śiva then describes Avimukta: it measures two and a half yojanas by half a yojana, the Gaṅgā flows through it, and Śiva never leaves it.

Nandikeśvara to Sanatkumāra (Chapter 180): Avimukta is where Śiva dwells in sthāṇu-rūpa (his still, pillar-like form). At the moment of death within the kṣetra, Śiva whispers the tāraka-brahma into the dying person’s right ear and gives mokṣa, whatever their past karma.

Skanda to Sanaka and the other kumāras (Chapter 181): Within Avimukta, both yoga-mārga (the path of yoga) and jñāna-mārga (the path of knowledge) lead to mokṣa. Its boundaries are the Varaṇā to the north and the Asī to the south, which give the name Vārāṇasī.

The story of Brahmā’s fifth head (Chapter 182): Śiva explains to Devī why only Avimukta can remove brahmahatyā (the pāpa of killing a brāhmaṇa). He tells the story: Brahmā grew a fifth head turned toward Śatarūpā, and Śiva cut it off. The skull stuck to Śiva’s hand. He wandered through all the tīrthas (holy places) of the earth of seven continents, but no tīrtha could remove the brahmahatyā. At Avimukta, when he bathed at Maṇikarṇikā, the skull fell away. Śiva declared that this kṣetra alone removes brahmahatyā. So Avimukta is the brahmahatyā-nivāraka kṣetra, the place that removes this pāpa. (This version stands on its own and adds to the versions in the Varāha Purāṇa and the Kāśī Khaṇḍa.)

Vyāsa’s story (Chapter 183): Vyāsa went to beg for bhikṣā (alms of food) in Vārāṇasī, but no one gave him anything. He decided to curse the city. Śiva then appeared as an ordinary householder and fed him. Vyāsa recognised the divine presence.

The five essential tīrthas (Chapter 184): The full Avimukta pilgrimage means visiting these places in order:

  1. Viśveśa liṅga
  2. Daśāśvamedha tīrtha
  3. Lolārka
  4. Bindu-Mādhava
  5. Maṇikarṇikā

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapters 5 and 26
  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 112
  • Kūrma Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 31
  • Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 48
  • Jābāla Upaniṣad
  • Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 179–184