"If you give up all desires what remains is only moksha"

[Guest guest]

"Once, a lady devotee, with great eagerness in her face and without hesitation,

approached the sofa of Bhagavan and asked:

"Swami, I have only one desire. May I tell you what it is?"

"Yes", said Bhagavan, "what do you want?"

"I want moksha (deliverance)," she said.

"Oh, is that so?" remarked Bhagavan.

"Yes, Swamiji! I do not want anything else. It is enough if you give me moksha."

She was bold enough to add:

"It will not do if you say that you will give it some time later. You must give

it to me

here and now."

Bhagavan smiled.

She said: "I must be going. Will you give it now?"

Bhagavan nodded.

As soon as she left the Hall, Bhagavan burst out laughing.

 

Subbalakshmamma in the Hall took up the thread and said:

"We have also come here only for moksha. We do not want anything.

It is enough if you will give us moksha."

 

On the subject of moksha Bhagavan would typically say:

"What is moksha? Who attains it? Unless there is bondage, how can there be

moksha?

Who has that bondage? Who really are you?"

But on that occasion Bhagavan said serenely:

"If you give up all the desires that you have, what remains is only moksha.

What is there for others to give you?

Is not craving for moksha itself a desire?

Give up that too. It is always there with you.

What is is only That."

 

(V. Ganesan: Purushottama Ramana, p. (42)