In the Sri Vaishnava understanding shaped by Ramanuja, moksha is not a dissolution of the self but the soul’s full restoration to its natural state as an eternal servant of Vishnu in His supreme abode, Vaikuntha. Liberation here means complete freedom from samsara—the cycle of birth and death, karma, ignorance, and all forms of suffering—while the individual soul retains its distinct identity. The liberated soul directly beholds Vishnu in His auspicious qualities and enjoys unbroken bliss through this immediate, personal relationship. Rather than an abstract absorption into an impersonal absolute, moksha is a living, relational state in which the soul’s inherent devotion is brought to perfection.

A central feature of this vision is that moksha is characterized by nitya-kainkarya, eternal and blissful service to Vishnu. The soul does not become identical with God, nor does it lose its individuality; instead, it participates in a life of loving service and fellowship with Vishnu and other liberated souls. This service is not burdensome duty but the highest joy, the soul’s own true nature fully awakened. The liberated state includes participation in the divine play, with complete knowledge of one’s relationship to the Supreme, and a form and existence suited to this unending communion, yet always subordinate to and dependent upon Vishnu.

Attainment of such liberation is understood to be fundamentally grace-centered. Human disciplines such as devotion and surrender—bhakti and prapatti—orient the soul and express its dependence, but the decisive factor is Vishnu’s own compassion and will. Liberation is thus both a release from bondage and a positive entrance into a realm of direct, unmediated experience of Brahman in the form of Vishnu, where love, knowledge, and service converge. In this way, moksha in Sri Vaishnavism stands as the soul’s ultimate fulfillment: everlasting, conscious, blissful existence in Vaikuntha, forever devoted to Vishnu and never again touched by worldly bondage.