The concept of liberation presupposes someone's state of bondage and anticipates the possibility of his or her release into a state of freedom. From the philosophical perspective bondage marks the human predicament of leading a precarious existence in an unstable world. In Indian philosophy the state of bondage is termed saṁsāra (global flow) and understood as a beginningless process of life of beings who are born, die, and are constantly reborn. This process is governed by the eternal law called in mainstream Hinduism sanātana dharma. This expression is multivalent, having several layers of meaning; Indian thinkers regard it as a matrix encompassing reality in its totality. In Buddhism dharma occurs without the attribute "everlasting," but is understood as being beyond time.

The multivalency of sanātana dharma gives it at least three meanings. First, as the eternal law it...