Between 2nd and 5th centuries CE Acharya Umaswami, a great Jaini muni/saint wrote Tattvārthasūtra, in Sanskrit, which gave the word “Moksha” an elevated, sublime meaning, quite different from its kin “mukti”.
According to the Jain tradition, the word “moksha”, as elucidated in Tattvārthasūtra, is an amalgamation of two words Moha (मोह) + kshaya (क्षय) meaning cessation of allurements. The Jain tradition prescribes its own etymology of the two words मोह + क्षय. The word Moha (मोह), according to Jain tradition, is derived from its Sanskrit verbal root muh (मुह्) meaning “delusion” or “yearning” (for something or somebody). Moh leads to craving, craving incites attachment and this very attachment is the root cause of all our sufferings. Likewise, the word kshay (क्षय) is derived from its verbal root क्षि (kṣi) meaning “to decay, gradual death or to perish”. Thus, the composite meaning of मोह + क्षय would be ‘cessation of attachment/yearnings or delusion’.
This new connotation of the word “moksha” was slowly but steadily picked up by the mainline Hindu scriptures and was given the same metaphysical connotation that the Jaini scripture Tattvārthasūtra had assigned it. This surprise change is most noticeable in Bhagawadagita chapter 18 which carries the word twice though its all earlier 17 chapters didn’t even mention the word even once, relying mostly on word “mukti” and its derivatives.
In Bhagawadagita chapter 18, verse 30 the word “moksha” seems to have been lifted straightaway from the Jain lexicon to precisely denote and connote the same meaning as prescribed in the Jain tradition.
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये ।
बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥
Indulgence & abstinence, karma & akarma, fear & fearlessness, (बन्धं) bondage & (मोक्षं) salvation,
O Partha (Arjuna), the intellect that truly understands the difference between them, is said to be sattvic (pure/chaste).
A little later, in verse 66 of the same chapter Krishna tells Arjun to shed all dharmas and “come unto me, I shall shield you from all the ill effects of your karmas (misdeeds).”
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज |
अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुच: ।।
What is most noticeable is that the word Moksha (मोक्ष) has just been used twice in the entire 700-verse Bhagawadagita — chapter 18, the last chapter – while variants of the word “mukti” have been used a number of times in most of the chapters.
My gut feeling is that this peculiar usage of the word moksh, introduction of the concept of “Naishkarma Siddhi”* and some other indicators, suggest that the chapter 18 of Bhagawadagita was “integrated” subsequently, as the be-all and end-all of the sacred scripture. My hunch is that it could be a post Tattvārthasūtra integration because the crux of the concept of ‘moksha’ as propounded in Tattvārthasūtra is exactly what is advocated in “Naishkarma Siddhi”.
Next: Changing concept of Moksha