Why Does One Desire Liberation while the Other does not?
Questioner: Why is there a difference of intensity and love for mukti (liberation) between different human beings?
Acharya Prashant: The differences that you are talking of all relate to time; therefore, they all will be resolved in due course of time. Time gave rise to all those differences, and those differences will not survive the test of time. Therefore, if one is inclined towards mukti today, the other one will be inclined towards mukti tomorrow. Time is not going to spare anybody.
Liberation is almost like death. What death is to the physical body, liberation is to the inner body—unavoidable.
Questioner: But even the intensity with which one wants liberation varies, right?
Acharya Prashant: That intensity is time. Time gives you experiences, right? Somebody’s body has had different experiences; somebody has had different experiences in education, in society, in growing up, so he will probably have a more pronounced desire for liberation. And somebody has had a different time, somebody has lived differently. Somebody’s biological code is a little different, which also comes from time; he might show a little less pronounced inclination towards liberation. But just as this difference in attitude came over time, similarly time will level the whole thing out. The differences will be gone.
Liberation is destiny. Each one has to reach it.
Questioner: But for some, liberation doesn’t come in this lifetime as such. But it will not be the same person who will be born again, right?
Acharya Prashant: That’s true. But the person never sought liberation in the first place. The body is what meets death. Is the body seeking liberation? So, this lifetime is immaterial. This lifetime pertains only to the body; it is the body that has a definite lifetime. The one who is seeking liberation stays on. He does not have to die with the body; he does not carry the identity of the body.
Questioner: What about those who feel that “It’s my one life and it’s going fine. Why should I get into spirituality?”
Acharya Prashant: The thing is, even if they require fineness, all fineness requires depth. You cannot have pleasure, even pleasure on the surface; even if you want real pleasure, it has to go deep. And you cannot go deep if in your depth resides darkness.
When somebody says, “I do not need spirituality, my life is going pretty fine,” it means he resides on the surface of life. He says, “I am residing on the surface of life, and my life is going pretty fine.” Even that fineness is going to be only skin-deep, because that is where he is residing—only on the skin, only on the surface, which means that even his fineness has no weight to it; there is no real enjoyment.
So, the method might be to just encourage the fellow to seek deeper pleasures. Even if you want to have deeper pleasures, you will have to go deeper into the mind. And going deeper into the mind is what the spiritual process is all about. If the fellow is the lover of the good things in life, let us say a complete hedonist, then encourage him to have deeper pleasures, and he will find that he cannot have deeper pleasures unless he is spiritual.
Spirituality is the art of depth. Spirituality gives you deep troubles; it also gives you deep joy. And sometimes in deep trouble lies deep joy.
So, there are people who indeed say, “No, everything is fine with us.” They are not lying. It’s just that their fineness is superficial. Yes, there is fineness in their life, but that fineness is just skin-deep. Scratch the surface and the fineness evaporates. A little tragedy hits you, and you are all gone. See how quickly you slip into depression. If your fineness had any weight, any substance, any depth, would you be so vulnerable to mental disorders? And it is exactly this class that says, “All is fine with me. I do not need spirituality.” This class is the most prone to all kinds of neurosis, psychosis, depression, anxiety, this, and that. Ask the psychiatrist, and they will tell you.
Better than having superficial pleasures is to have deep troubles; at least you have something deep. And anything deep will ultimately lead to Truth, liberation, joy. They are another name for great depth.
