Mokṣa

Thursday is a day of the week where according to The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success as taught by Deepak Chopra it is suitable to set our desires.

In Upanishads it is said that "You are what your deepest desire is. As is your desire so is your will, as is your will so is your deed, as is your deed so is your destiny."

Usually religions such as Christianity go against desire which most Christians when they enter the path to salvation perceive as passions. Fortunately Vedanta is not against desire. In fact it goes on with desire as being life affirmative. Exploring one's desire can be pursued with reflective inquiry: What do I want ? What do I really, really want ? What is my deepest desire ?

In the conditioned state of existence desires are linked with the objects of desire. The desire is for this or that, where this can be an experience that would fulfill a perceived lack and bring pleasure or happiness or bliss.

Between that which is desired and Now which is what we live in the present moment there is a perceived 'gap'. Not as a gap between two thoughts or two sensations but as a gap in time which conditioned states of existence perceive as moving from one desire to another. In the conditioned state of existence desires for material things are sought as a source of pleasure, desires for relations or more elaborate human constructs such as work or relationships as a source of happiness and wisdom as a source of bliss. The thing is desiring from a place of lack doesn't bring fulfillment as ultimately that lack would reassert itself. Also in the realm of mind each experience brings the opposite, pleasure if chosen over and over brings pain, happiness as in resisting to change brings unhappiness and bliss as in pursuing one's own and closing down to people suffering brings misery.

The seers of the Upanishads looking into this deeply have found the aims of humans existence or Purushatras. The 4th aim added later on is Mokṣa. Originally wasn't added because people were more in tune with existence and following the other 3 aims of human existence: Kama, Artha, Dharma would reach Mokṣa as a natural unfolding. But later on due to moving to Kali Yuga which requires more elaborate explanations in order for the people not to think that's nothing other than the other 3 and neglect the pursuing with diligence of the 3 and miss out on the 4th, the 4th that is Mokṣa was explicitly added.

Mokṣa is to not be identified with the object of desire but rather be the essence of desire which is pure awareness. Disidentifying with the objects of desire means moving from cyclic existence caused by repetitive cycles of action-memory-desire to essence identity, from object referral which is caused by identification with object consciousness which perceives the world of objects (which are sensations, images, feelings, thoughts) as being split from the experiencer and thus having a separate identity which is perceived as 'the world out there' or 'the others' which causes reactivity and further experience of the cyclic nature of conditioned human existence, that is action-memory-desires, what the seers called Maya, to Self referral, from seeking love to Being love. Object referral comes with clinging to the objects of desire and resistance to change which causes attachment. Self referral is Being at ease with what is. Being Here and Now.

Liberation, that is Mokṣa or as The Buddha named it Nirvaṇa is to not cling to that which is not real, that is to form (which is sensations, images, feelings, thoughts) that arise in consciousness, are experienced in consciousness and subside in consciousness, but to that which gives rise to form. The insight that The Buddha attained under the Bodhi tree is that not clinging to a particular desire but instead dwell in the innate goodness of human nature gives rise to freedom. The story of Buddha's enlightenment as told by Krishna Das is that while The Buddha was meditating under the Bodhi tree he remembered when he was a child with his father in the field and that he was happy, the insight that The Buddha attained is that the good feeling was not by coming into contact of the senses with something that causes pleasure and it wasn't either by removing something unpleasant from the senses. Thus the feeling good is innate.

This feeling good is the ground of existence, pure awareness, the gap between two thoughts, the field of infinite possibilities. A desire that arises from pure awareness has infinite organizing power.

The Buddhists meditating on that have come up with such a desire that paves the way to liberation, that is Bodhicitta.

An intention to cultivate Bodhicitta that I learned from Dalai Lama:

To fulfill the interest of oneSelf and others I generate the mind for awakening.

A thought blessed by Dalay Lama and Desmond Tutu that I learned from Nawang Khechog to cultivate metta, that is friendliness, is:

May all be kind to each other.