Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!
'Moksha Patam' means ‘the board/lesson of liberation’.
It refers to a children’s game invented by Sant Dnyaneshwara, and it serves as the precursor of the modern children’s game we call ‘Snakes and Ladders’.
Different versions of the game existed within Hindu, Jain and Sikh traditions, with variations in their symbolism and teachings.
When the British invaded India and found this game in its Vedic, Jain, and Sikh variations, they gave it the name ‘Snakes and Ladders’ and promoted it as the simple children’s game that we know it as today.
However, Sant Dnyaneshwara had a deeper purpose for introducing this game to children, as he used it to introduce key Vedic/Dharmic concepts to children at an early age while also allowing them to have fun.
The idea was to teach children about ‘punya’, or ‘good karma’ (i.e., good actions, speech, and thoughts), and ‘paap’, or ‘bad karma’ (i.e., sinful actions, speech, and thoughts).
yathākārī yathācārī tathā bhavati sādhukārī sādhurbhavati pāpakārī pāpo bhavati puṇyaḥ puṇyena karmaṇā bhavati, pāpaḥ pāpena
Translation:
“As it does and acts, so it becomes; by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes evil—it becomes virtuous through good acts and vicious through evil acts.” - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.5
The aim of the game is to reach the final square, which represents the aim of the Vedic culture – moksha – liberation from the cycle of birth and death and the laws of karma.
The ladders represent good karma that elevates the individual and creates conditions favourable for spiritual advancement.
The snakes represent bad karma, that create further karmic bondage and can cause one to descend from one's present spiritual position, regardless of one’s progress.
Thus, the board illustrates the precarious nature of existence within samsara (i.e., the cycle of reincarnation).
yastvavijñānavānbhavatyamanaskaḥ sadā'śuciḥ na sa tatpadamāpnoti sam̐sāraṃ cādhigacchati yastu vijñānavānbhavati samanaskaḥ sadā śuciḥ sa tu tatpadamāpnoti yasmādbhūyo na jāyate
Translation:
But he, whose intellect has no discrimination and whose mind is not under control and who is always unclean, does not reach that goal and falls into Samsara. But he, who knows, who has his mind always under control and who is clean, reaches that goal from which he is not born again.” - Katha Upanishad 1.3.7–8
The player can ascend with the ladders and descend through the snakes, and even if the player is on the very last stage, if they land on a snake, it can undo all their progress.
Similarly, a person may rise through virtuous actions and descend through sinful ones, and even when one has made considerable progress, one can still become subject to the consequences of one's actions.
The player wins the game by reaching the end of this long-winded maze by using the ladders and avoiding the snakes to be free of this system of snakes and ladders.
Similarly, the aim of spiritual practice is not simply to maximise punya but to limit bad karma and cultivate good karma to transcend the system of karma entirely, without attachment to the fruits of our actions.
This is why Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita:
karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stv akarmaṇi
Translation:
“You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.” - Bhagavad Gita 2.47
Hare Krishna
