A jivanmukta (living liberated one) is a person who has succeeded in escaping from the cycle of birth and rebirth but remains alive. Most Shaivite traditions, and the VEDANTA of SHANKARA, accept the possibility of jivanmukti (living liberation). Other Hindu traditions, such as VAISHNAVISM, do not accept the concept; they insist that full libera-tion occurs only at death. Neither Jains nor Sikhs believe in jivanmukti.
Historically, many of the earlier philosophies of India, such as SAMKHYA, had no place for the idea. A strict reading of YOGA SUTRA would not allow for it either.
Further reading: Andrew O. Fort, Jivanmukti in Transfor-mation: Embodied Liberation in advaita and Neo-Vedanta (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998).
Encyclopedia of Hinduism. A. Jones and James D. Ryan. 2007.