A jivanmukta, literally meaning liberated while living, is a person who, in the Vedanta philosophy, has gained complete self-knowledge and self-realisation and attained kaivalya or moksha (enlightenment and liberation), thus is liberated while living and not yet died
The state is the aim of moksha in Vedanta, Yoga and other schools of Hinduism, and it is referred to as jivanmukti (Liberation or Enlightenment)
Jivanmuktas are also called atma-jnani (self-realized) because they are knowers of their true self (atman) and the universal self, hence also called Brahma-Jnani
At the end of their lives, jivanmuktas destroy remaining karmas and attains Paramukti (final liberation) and becomes Paramukta
When a jivanmukta gives his insight to others and teach them about his realisation of the true nature of the ultimate reality (Brahman) and self (Atman) and takes the role of a guru to show the path of Moksha to others, then that jivanmukta is called an avadhuta and some avadhutas also achieve the title of Paramhamsa
When a rishi (seer sage) becomes a jivanmukta then that rishi is called Brahmarshi
Some examples of jivanmuktas are Mahavira, Buddha, Adi Shankaracharya, Saint Dnyaneshwar, Kabirdas, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Ramana Maharshi, Vishwamitra, Vedantha Desikar, Brandon Barrington, and Swaminarayan
They realized Self (atman) i
e
God within their lifetime by travelling the path of pure Spirituality
They reached the stage of Enlightenment, Self-Realization, God-Realization, jivanmukti, Atma-jnana (all words are synonyms)
They have negated the karma to zero, to reach the state of Jivan-Mukta
After gaining enlightenment, they retained their body, to disseminate the Jnana to masses
After leaving the body, they attained the Paramukti