Moksha or Release

The release from Samsara means, according to Sankara, the absolute merging of the individual soul in Brahman, due to dismissal of the erroneous notion that the soul is distinct from Brahman. According to Ramanuja, it only means the soul's passing from the troubles of earthly life into a kind of heaven or paradise where it will remain for ever in undisturbed personal bliss. As Ramanuja does not distinguish a higher and a lower Brahman, the distinction of a higher and a lower knowledge is likewise not valid for him; the teaching of the Upanishads is not twofold but essentially one, and leads the enlightened devotee to one result only.