Roadmap to Moksha

There Is Nowhere to Go

There is no roadmap. Let me explain.

First, we have to define Moksha. All the great saints have not succeeded in defining it. They may have attained it or we might say they attained Moksha but they have not uttered a word about what it actually is.

When you say "roadmap," something like a Google Map has to be somewhere. I am sitting here, and it is there and I want to go there, so I need a map. That is what a roadmap means.

What happens, If we seek Moksha - is it right here? How do we go there? What is the road?

Is it possible to move towards something which is already here? Serious question.

The Supreme Pervades Everything

Let me quote from the Ishavasya Upanishad. It begins beautifully:

isha vasyam idam sarvam yat kincha jagatyam jagat I

tena tyaktena bhunjitha, ma gridhah kasyasvid dhanam II

"isha vasyam idam sarvam" :  this whole world is totally permeated by the Supreme Being. The Supreme pervades everything here. Right here, not where you have to go. 

"yat kincha jagatyam jagat" : it pervades everything that moves.

Jagat means the world. The word itself is derived from Jagatyam, that which moves. So that Supreme Reality which we seek, which we call ‘Moksha’, pervades everything here and everything that moves.

Why is the world called Jagat? Because it is always moving.

Do we need proof? We all know that the Earth is moving, the Solar system is moving. I am moving. You are moving. Everything is moving. There is nothing still. 

The only changeless thing on earth is change.

You Cannot Freeze What Is Meant to Move

We human beings like to freeze what is moving. It's impossible to freeze! Which is why we are so fond of pictures because we want to freeze a moment. We keep memories through photographs because we want to freeze. But nothing stays. Everything moves.

The next line of the Upanishad says: 

“tena tyaktena bhunjitha” - Therefore, let go and rejoice.

You cannot stop this movement. This Jagatyam movement cannot be stopped by anybody - God or humans. Even pralaya comes, the next world comes back again. Even Brahma and Vishnu are gone during Mahapralaya, and then they return. They also cannot stop it.

And here we are, trying to freeze something and say, "I want Moksha." Is this possible?

It's about time we wake up and see the Truth.

If the truth is there and I am here, I have to move. But if it is here itself, where do I move? 

Stop movement. Stop reaching out

The process is entirely upside down - reverse. 

Stop movement. Stop reaching out. Let go and rejoice. 

Which means: stop trying to freeze your ideas, even about Moksha, even the ones you've read in a hundred books.

Is there a special place where Moksha is, or is it everywhere? 

Because you and I, since our minds are moving, we are everywhere. 

When the mind stops moving and we rest in our true essence, that is ‘Moksha’. Because, when you have finally attained the capacity not to be dependent on movement, to be still, that stillness is the beginning of understanding the reality.

You may call it Moksha, Kaivalya, Sankhya, Nirvana. But it can begin to happen only when you are still and stop jumping here to there.

There is nowhere to go. Where you go is also here.

When the Movement of Thought Ends

Sage Patanjali, the great rishi, the founder of the yoga darshana, describes Yoga in four words in yoga sutras:

"yogas chitta vritti nirodha"

Yoga is the stopping of the movement and distractions caused by the movement of the mind.

Now when we say mind, can we conceive of a mind without any thought? Even if I say, "I am in a thoughtless state," I am thinking. Some people come and say, "Sir, I am now matured. I am in a thoughtless state." I ask, "Who is saying this?" "Me." So the thought is already there. There is no thoughtlessness. "I am there" is itself a thought.

So when you say mind, we cannot think of a mind without thought. It is this thought process that wraps us up and ties us in chains. This constant occurrence of thought is bondage. When Patanjali says Chitta Vritti Nirodha, he means the stoppage of this constant movement of thought, the chattering that starts when we become conscious and continues until we die.

If this stillness can somehow be found, and it doesn't require many years, it can happen any minute. The thought should go deep inside: this constant chain of movement has to go. This reaching out has to end and everything can become silent. This is the essence.

When this happens, I cannot explain to you what follows, because it's like the runway has been cleared and you are ready to take off. If I describe what it is to take off, you will imagine taking off based on my description. I don't want to do that.

Rest assured: if anyone has truly taken off from the tarmac, life is completely different.

First, you accept that there are ups and downs in this life, in this world. We also begin to see how we create images and stick to these images, and are not ready to break them.

Neti Neti — Removing What Is Not True

The process of Moksha, traditionally, is a process of Neti Neti "not this, not this", dismantling, not adding. It is  almost like someone carving the image of a God from rock - Krishna, Shiva etc. Does he add anything to the rock, or does he remove what is not required?

The biggest barrier, which cannot be removed easily, is this constant chain of thought. 

You can think one is in Moksha, because my thought is imagining I am in Moksha. If one is in Moksha, there is no one remaining to say, "I am in Moksha." It's gone. 

So we can start by dismantling the images we have about ourselves and about the world. 

Start with yourself. The moment this begins, slowly what is not necessary falls away. This process in Vedanta is called Neti, Neti - not this, not this. And finally, when you cannot eliminate anymore, what is left is the Truth. It is not any imagination. It is not your thought. It is the origin from where thought has come. It's beyond all this.

Then, as the Upanishad says: 

yanmanasa na manute yenahur mano matam |

tadeva brahma tvam viddhi nedam yadidamupasate II

That which the mind cannot conceive, but because of which the mind owes its existence, understand that alone to be the truth. nothing that you worship here.

Surrender Is Not a Joke

One of the shortcuts people look for is to worship the one who is teaching. 

When I was in Rajasthan in the old days with Babaji,  one day, like many people say, I committed the stupid mistake of telling him, "I have surrendered everything to you."

There was an unused well nearby. Babaji said, "Jump."

I said, "What? Why?"

"You just now said you surrendered everything."

Surrender is not a joke. Surrendering is the surrendering of the mind's process which is constantly moving . When you truly understand the mischief of this act of movement of the mind, then it becomes real. Nobody can manufacture that understanding for you.

Nobody Can Lead You There

Do not think that anyone can lead you to Moksha. Each individual's responsibility is to move towards it. As a comfort, you can hold on to the idea that you will be led. But each one has to individually understand the fact and move towards it.

Nobody can lead you. There is nowhere to lead you to.

Where you are going is also here.

Sri M