Guruji, human beings don’t remember anything that happened in their previous births. The Ishwara Sankalpa that made this universe can create re-birth even after the atma (soul) merges with the Paramatma (Supreme Soul). Then why did the learned aspire to cross the ocean of birth and death?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen it is very natural. You have taken a deep breath in and it is only natural for you to want to breathe out. If you are holding your fist tight, you have a natural tendency to want to open it. When your hands are open, you have a natural tendency to tighten it again.
So wanting liberation is as natural as wanting to breathe out. Suppose you are engaging in any one of the sensory actions, like wanting to eat. At some point you say, ‘I don’t want any more’, and you stop.
Similarly if you are constantly looking at something, at some point you say, ‘I want to close my eyes.’
Suppose you are forced to listen to music for ten hours, in the eleventh hour you will say, ‘no, let me shut that down. I would like to have some quietness.’ You start enjoying silence. Have you noticed this?
However nice the music has been, at some point you want to stop it.
Similarly, you enjoy the sense of touch but for how long. Sometimes you say, ‘I want to be by myself.’
So whether it is sense of touch, taste, smell, sight or sound, at some point you want to get away from it. You can’t be engaged in it forever. You want to go on the other side and rest!
If you are constantly active, at some point you say, ‘I want to rest.’
This is exactly what mosksha is.
Moksha means freedom from engaging in the world, freedom from activity, freedom from enjoyment and from sensory pleasures. Freedom from everything, this is what is so natural to you. It is inborn in everyone. At some point or another you want to retrieve. And meditation gives you that freedom; the most wanted freedom.
So wanting liberation is as natural as wanting to breathe out. Suppose you are engaging in any one of the sensory actions, like wanting to eat. At some point you say, ‘I don’t want any more’, and you stop.
Similarly if you are constantly looking at something, at some point you say, ‘I want to close my eyes.’
Suppose you are forced to listen to music for ten hours, in the eleventh hour you will say, ‘no, let me shut that down. I would like to have some quietness.’ You start enjoying silence. Have you noticed this?
However nice the music has been, at some point you want to stop it.
Similarly, you enjoy the sense of touch but for how long. Sometimes you say, ‘I want to be by myself.’
So whether it is sense of touch, taste, smell, sight or sound, at some point you want to get away from it. You can’t be engaged in it forever. You want to go on the other side and rest!
If you are constantly active, at some point you say, ‘I want to rest.’
This is exactly what mosksha is.
Moksha means freedom from engaging in the world, freedom from activity, freedom from enjoyment and from sensory pleasures. Freedom from everything, this is what is so natural to you. It is inborn in everyone. At some point or another you want to retrieve. And meditation gives you that freedom; the most wanted freedom.