Sarvamukti: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s Aporetic Metaphysics of Collective Salvation

This essay critically examines Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s doctrine of collective salvation (sarvamukti) by focusing on its complex metaphysical underpinnings. According to Radhakrishnan, liberated individuals retain their individuality in order to help others achieve liberation. Once everyone attains liberation, the universe—along with all the liberated souls and the personal God Himself—lapses into the nondual Absolute. I argue that there are a number of ambiguities and tensions in Radhakrishnan’s sarvamukti doctrine that stem from its aporetic metaphysical foundations.