New Seeker

Mahaprabu: Tell me.
Seeker: I don’t want to take another birth. I have had enough.
Mahaprabu: Why?
Seeker: The seeker responded for some time.
Mahaprabu: How long have you had this yearning?
Seeker: For over 10 years now.

What is freedom?

We should have the freedom to take another birth if we want, or not take it if we don’t want. This freedom we already have, but we have lost it. Freedom is not something that anyone gives us. We are the ones who give up our freedom. Or in other words, we become subordinate to someone or something. So this freedom has always been with us, but we have somehow lost it. Regaining our freedom is the struggle. Once we attain that freedom, what is the benefit? Like you said if you don’t want another birth you can do it. Or if you want a specific type of birth you can do that too. This freedom is called Moksha, Mukthi, Liberation, etc. These are all names given to it. To this freedom of being able to take birth or not.

What is birth?

Only when we know what birth is, and what death is, only then we can go beyond it. Right? So what is born? Seeing with our eyes we can tell that the Body is born. No doubt in that? But the question is: Are we that body> Let’s go deeper. This body of yours is a certain age and a certain size. At one point it was in the uterus. Was there a thought that ‘I am in the uterus’? NO. There might have been thoughts but no conceptualization that I am this, I am female etc. Right? Now go even further back. The very first day you entered the womb as a microscopic entity. No head or limbs. A speck. A drop. Call it Y. That was the initial stage of this body that will at a later date be called ‘Manu’ (name of seeker). The day before that speck or that drop entered the womb, where was this entity you call Manu. Nowhere. Manu wasn’t half in the father and half in the mother. But this entity that is you, came from somewhere. Before the consummation of the male and female parents, it is possible there was something, which at a specific point took a body Y. Let’s call that X. Before Y, there was X. It is as though X takes on Y in this life. Y grows. Y dies. X remains as is. So all this birth and death is for whom? Y. Not X. Because X is eternal.

A false assumption

Therefore should our understanding should be about Y or about X? We should move our attention from the temporary Y, to that X which has been, which is, and which will be. So far no school or university has taught us how to learn about X. Only now you are entering a new phase, where you want to learn about that X. After the birth of Y, you were told by all that you were a female, a human, etc. But if all had said you were male, you would have grown up with that image. The false can always be changed. But the Truth cannot be altered. Like this we have so many false assumptions about ourselves.
But we don’t ask ‘What is it that tells me I am aware of this body?’ It is that X.
Our focus should be on that changeless entity X.

When you go to bed daily, you put away things like shoes, glasses, etc., and put the body on the bed. Just like you put the glasses on the table, you are putting the body on the bed. When you wake up, just like you pickup the glasses from the table, you are picking up your body from the bed. But you automatically say ‘I am waking up’. You have mixed up X with Y. At that point, observe this mix-up, where you say ‘I woke up’; Did you create the body? No. So how can you take ownership of it? You don’t say I am the room, I am the glasses, I am the bed. The body is also seen by you just like these objects. Anything that is ‘seen’, ‘observed’ do you call it I? No. So, the body Y is also seen, and felt. Isn’t it wrong to say I am the body? I am Y? That is where the mistake is. Since we start with this misunderstanding that we are the body, we suffer. This is not a mistake that happened this morning. Several Janmas it has been there. So it is very hard to disassociate. For e.g. Does the body say I am female, or do you see the body and say I am female. The body does not. In the next birth the body still won’t say anything. But you will be saying I am male. So then which is true? Male or Female? Just based on the outfit, the dress, you are identifying yourself one way or another. As death nears you panic because you have identified the death of the body (Y) with the death of you (X). Also there is a total boredom here. How many more times will you keep coming back in a circle of birth, growth, marriage, fear, suffering, death? After a point it becomes stale. Hence your question or comment ‘I don’t want another birth’.

Rectifying it

So to know who you really are, you need to shift the attention from Y and focus on X. Y came and will go soon. X alone will remain. But to experience X, the best time is when there is Y. Not before Y or after Y. Because to experience something it is easier to see it in relation to something else. For E.g. A is short, makes sense only in relation to B who is tall, and vice versa. So this is the best time to experience yourself. That’s why the human birth is so important.

Now this (aridhal, arivu, unardhal) Knowing, understanding: Is it related to the physical body Y or to X? It is related to X. So all we need is this understanding and knowing that I am X. There will be Y1, Y2, Y3 etc. Yn. But X is only one. So forget about Y. You are not Y1… Yn. You are X. You as X take on Y1, Y2, etc. So understanding and experiencing X is the only way to attain freedom from association with Y1, Y2, etc. Knowing X is Jnanam. Jnanam is just another word for Arivu, Intelligence, Knowing. It is possible in a human body. That’s why a human birth is so important. But sadly all our efforts are towards knowing and satisfying what? Y. Not X. Tell me one thing you have done towards knowing X. Also we don’t know how long Y will last. Therefore if you work really really hard in the time available to know X, to know yourself, it is possible.

The step to making this happen is the ‘Guru-Disciple Relationship’. Know that Father, Mother, Wife, Husband are all relations merely tied to the body. As they think they are the body, they relate you to themselves as a body. But it is not a true relationship. These are mere assumptions. The Same X in you, is the X in your husband, your daughter, etc. X is the same. But we see each as different because we are looking at Y. This is Maya. Seeing the same thing everywhere but mistaking it to be different things is Maya. If you are stuck in it, suffering is guaranteed. If you free yourself from Maya, then happiness is guaranteed. This freeing yourself from Maya is Atma Jnanam, Liberation.

Each one of us has the capability to free ourselves from Maya. But only some even have the thought or desire to free themselves. Only those who have matured over so many lives and have done many good deeds, only they get this thought, and finally they come in front of a Guru. This is the final relationship to destroy this identification of You with the Body and come out of this Maya. Guru is a new relationship. The final one. The one that sees you not as a body (Y) but as Atma (X). Surrendering everything to the Guru, living with him, and serving him should be how you spend the rest of your life. He knows where you are, where he needs to bring you, and what the steps are.

It comes down to your decision alone. Ask me what all you need to ask. But once you take a decision, stick to it strongly. I must find out who I am. That vairagyam you should have and be willing to grow. I am waiting. Very happy to speak with you. Nandri. Nandri. Nandri. Gurudeva.

Mahaprabu later said: These moments when a yearning soul comes to me with sincere desire to come out of its suffering, these moments are the ones I live for. I will take how many ever Janmas it takes, to free them. Even if I have to keep coming back till the last person is freed. As new disciples come you will also be impacted. Just as when a mother of teenage children gives birth to a new child, the teenage children will now see the woman as a mother now. With the coming of the child, they will become soft, just as the mother shows her softness to the child!