For example, AFAIK, all the warriors in the Mahabharata war only went to Swarga. If a Kshatriya renounced war, took Sannyasa and obtained Moksha, I am not looking for that. I am looking for Kshatriyas who remained Kshatriyas till death.
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Raja Khatvangan of Ikshvaku vamsha - told by Devas he had only 1.5 muhurtas remaining to live. delegated his personal and professional belongings, meditated on Bhagavan and attained Moksha. In Mahabharat, Bhurishravas realizes he is about to be killed, so he goes into yoga to try and leave the body through pranayama so he can attain moksha instead of veera swarga (aka heaven or valhalla or jannat in other religions), but satyaki kills him with sword and prevents him from getting it. Bhisma pitamah left body through yogic pranayama, but returned to vasu loka, since he was one of 8 vasus.– marJul 29 at 22:36
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most kshatriyas in mahabharat do not attain moksha simply because they came down from svarga to play a role (avatara), once their job is done, their karma is not done, so they return to their homes. by definition, if anyone has any karma left, then they have to take birth again. the only way to be a kshatriya and still get moksha is to mentally renounce the fruits of all actions like Rajarishi Janaka - at which point, they are more of brahmin than most brahmins. so they're namesake kshatriyas.– marJul 29 at 22:37
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@mar most Kshatriyas In the war get moksha simply by seeing Bhagavan as the charioteer of Partha.– AdiyarkkuJul 30 at 2:38
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@Adiyarkku - no. even pandavas don't go to moksha. it's an avatara - a special appearance from their day-to-day job of running the world. they return to their duties since their time of rule is not over yet. if they go moksha, bhagavan would have to replace their vacant positions– marAug 7 at 6:02
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@mar that’s the thing, they’re not avataras. Consider this, some say Devaki was an avatara of Aditi. Aditi’s earrings were stolen. Bhagavan goes to heaven to return them to Aditi. He then goes back to Dvaraka and is greeted by Devaki and co. It shows us Devaki is not an avatara of Aditi. She’s a separate devotee. The only person we can consider as per what you are saying is Vidura (Yama). It has been clearly mentioned that in the absence of Yama, Aryama was handling death.– AdiyarkkuAug 7 at 10:00
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There are indeed instances of Kshatriyas achieving Moksha without renouncing their warrior duties. I'd like to highlight two such examples.
The first instance is King Padma, the husband of Queen Lila. King Padma ruled his kingdom until his death, and he achieved living liberation (Jivanmukta). This achievement was due to the wisdom imparted to him by ma Saraswathi. Subsequently, after their deaths, King Padma and his consorts achieved Videhamukti, the state of liberation after death.
The king, who was fraught with the wisdom imparted to him by the goddess; continued to rule over his kingdom for thousands of years, in company with his consorts. They reigned on earth, in their state of living liberation for myriads of years; and then receiving the perfect knowledge of the holy Siddhas, they became wholly liberated after their deaths. The happy pair having reigned jointly, over their delightful realm of ever increasing population, and which was graced by learned men and righteous people, knowing their own rights and duties of doing good to all mankind, became freed from the burden of their state affairs for ever.
Another example is Hemachuda, the husband of Hemalekha. Hemachuda too led the life of a Kshatriya, engaging in warfare, studying and teaching scriptures, and ruling his kingdom. He was a Jivanmukta.
At the end of her speech, Hemachuda's confusion was cleared up, so that he gradually became well established in the perfect Self bereft of any distinction of within and without. Being always equable, he led a very happy life with Hemalekha and others, reigned over his kingdom and made it prosperous, engaged his enemies in war and conquered them, studied the scriptures and taught them to others, filled his treasury, performed the sacrifices pertaining to royalty and lived twenty-thousand years, emancipated while yet alive (Jivanmukta).
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@SK Thanks. Yeah, kings of Janaka lineage are also known to be living liberated.– hanugmJul 30 at 13:29