Why does one desire liberation, while the other does not?

The following excerpt is from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question (Q): Why is there a difference in the intensity and and in the love for Mukti (Liberation) between different human beings?

Acharya Prashant (AP): 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.

Q: So even the intensity with which one wants Liberation…

AP: 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 from time, similarly time will level the whole thing out. The differences will be gone.

Liberation is destiny.

Each one has to reach it.

Q: For some, the time may not be in this lifetime as such. But it will not be the same ‘person’ who will be born again.

AP: That’s right. 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 with the body.

Q: So those who feel that — “It’s one life, why should I get into Spirituality? My life is going fine,” what about them?

AP: 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 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 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 there 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, 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.

Watch the full video here.

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