Niyamasāra presents the path to liberation as a disciplined realization of the soul’s own pure nature, rather than the acquisition of something new. Liberation is described as the complete removal of karmic bondage that obscures the intrinsic qualities of the soul—its knowing and seeing capacity, bliss, and freedom. Bondage arises from ignorance and mistaken identification with body, mind, and passions, so the path is framed as a process of inner clarification and disentanglement. The text thus treats ethical and ascetic disciplines as means to restore what is already inherent, not to construct a new state.

Central to this path are the three jewels: Right Faith, Right Knowledge, and Right Conduct. Right Faith is the firm conviction in the reality of the soul as distinct from all non-soul entities, and in the validity of the Jain teachings that reveal this distinction. Right Knowledge is accurate, undeluded understanding of substances, their attributes and modes, especially the difference between soul and non-soul and the workings of karma and bondage. Right Conduct is ultimately defined not merely as external observance, but as the soul’s own natural, detached functioning, grounded in non-attachment and inward purity.

Niyamasāra repeatedly emphasizes the priority of inner disposition over external action. It distinguishes between external conduct—such as physical non-violence and ascetic practices—and internal conduct, which consists in purity of intention, awareness as the witness, and freedom from passion. From this perspective, vows, restraints, and austerities are meaningful only insofar as they support the cultivation of equanimity and non-attachment. The text also employs the contrast between the conventional standpoint, which speaks in terms of observable ethical practices, and the absolute standpoint, which recognizes the soul as ever pure and regards true discipline as abiding in that purity.

Within this framework, the familiar vows and disciplines of Jainism retain their importance. The great vows for ascetics—non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy, and non-possession—together with restraints, carefulness, and austerities, function as tools to weaken passions and limit karmic influx. Through such practices, deluding karma is reduced, passions like anger, pride, deceit, and greed are weakened, and both the influx of new karma and the stock of old karma are progressively diminished. As karmic obstructions fall away and equanimity and non-attachment become stable, the soul’s natural clarity and bliss manifest fully, which is described as the state of liberation beyond the cycle of birth and death.