By "earthy joys", I meant those that humans desire and want in their lives, such as leading the life of a householder, becoming a parent, nurturing your children, and above all, serving the Gods.

If not so, then there is a clear "winner" and a "loser", even if both of them eventually attain Moksha. The winner being the one who led an extremely joyous and happy life and still attained Moksha, and the "loser" being the one who suffered throughout his/her life, but eventually attained moksha. In the case of the latter (loser), the person will never get to experience a human life again, and therefore, would fail to experience those joys of life.


First of all, each Jiva has lived an innumerable number of lives, so even if you lived an unhappy life and got moksha, doesn't mean you've never lived a happy life before. Since each Jiva has lived an infinite amount of lives before, we can presume that it has lived at least one happy human life before:

Bhagavad Gita 2.12 - There never was a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor any of these kings of men.

2.13 - Just as the soul inhabiting a body (you) passes through childhood, youth and old age, so too after death it passes into another body.

Secondly, every human life has suffering. Some humans suffer more than others according to their karma, but that is just one human life. Moreovoer, Earth is a karma-bhumi (a place of works) and not a place of enjoyment. Here, we have to work 8 hours a day, pay taxes, do chores, etc. Enjoyment is limited and hard earned. Swarga, Gandharva loka, etc. on the other hand, are places of actual material enjoyment:

Vedavya's Yoga Bhashya (Vedavyasa's commentary on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras) - The inhabitants of the Mahendra (Maha Indra's loka, aka Swarga) are the six divine beings...all these have an irresistible will and are endued with the eight siddhis [mystic powers] such as being lighter than air [levitation, flying, etc.] and the rest. Their life span extends to a kalpa. They rejoice in sexuality and are endowed with bodies born without sexual intercourse. They have loving Apsaras for their wives.

Thirdly, it doesn't matter, because all these pleasures are temporary and the person falls back to Earth:

Chhandogya Upanishad - And as here on earth, whatever has been acquired by exertion, perishes, so perishes whatever is acquired for the next world by sacrifices and other good actions performed on earth.

But to answer your question, the answer is yes, after moksha, you experience all human joys:

Chhandogya Upanishad - But those who depart from here [those who get moksha], after having discovered the Self and those true desires [who reached Brahman], for them there is freedom in all the worlds.

What is that freedom? It is described next:

Thus... 'And he who desires the world of song and music, by his mere will song and music come to him, and having obtained the world of song and music, he is happy. 'And he who desires the world of women, by his mere will women come to receive him, and having obtained the world of women, he is happy.'Whatever object he is attached to, whatever object he desires, by his mere will it comes to him, and having obtained it, he is happy.

But this is all trivial, because in the state of moksha, you experience brahmAnanda:

(Taitt. Up. II, 1, 1) - He reaches all objects of desire, together with the all-knowing Brahman.

  • Thank you very much. But the joys of human life that you have mentioned are experienced by one after reaching Swarga and the Gandharva Loka, and not after attaining Moksha? – Rahul Jan 23 at 3:46
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    @Durgacharan They are experienced in the state of moksha too. In the state of moksha, you experience everything Brahman experiences. And Brahman experiences whatever everyone experiences. So your consciousness expands infinitely and you perceive everyone's experiences from their point of view. – Ikshvaku Jan 23 at 4:03
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    @Durgacharan And the upanishad also says you have "free movement in all words" (can go to all worlds). – Ikshvaku Jan 23 at 4:05

Going by your notion of "winner" and "loser", you seem to be selectively judging the quality of one's life by their last birth before mokSha whereas a jIva has gone through an unknown/infinite number of births.

So this is similar to saying that a person who had a perfect fulfilling life living upto an age of 100 years and ultimately going through 1 minute of severe pain suffering a fatal heart attack is a "loser" in that last 1 minute of his life.

and therefore, would fail to experience those joys of life.

Joy and Sorrow are pespectives. We like one and dislike the other. Lord Krishna says in the Gita 2.14 that they are both impermanent and periodic that one should learn to 'tolerate' them without being disturbed by them. The gratification from pleasure and suffering from pain are both equally deluded.

Everyone is suffering even if they appear from outside to have been a "winner" in the lottery of life. This is evident from looking at the world where you can find plenty of examples (from stories as well as real life) that (1) people are suffering in spite of having the best worldly comforts and achievements in life, and (2) people are happy in the worst circumstances of life.

and therefore, would fail to experience those joys of life.

There is no 'win' or 'lose' here as the ideal state of mind is one that is achieved by cultivating equanimity. One cannot achieve equanimity by selectively choosing to indulge in pleasure.

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