Moksha-Liberation from the Cycle of Birth and Death
Life itself is Moksha. Material life, life in a material body is not life, it’s death.
The end station in the material world is one of suffering, for the simple reason that everything ends in old age, disease and death. Real life begins with moksha -liberation from birth and death. Real pleasure lies in the soul. The pleasure of the body is insignificant and insubstantial in comparison. A life that ends in death will always be a disappointment. Real life is eternal.
The only way to escape the fundamental suffering of living in a material body, is to cultivate spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge begins with knowing the difference between matter and spirit – the difference between the body /mind and the self.
Krishna says:
My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence. (Bg. 9.1)
Only by knowing oneself as an eternal particle of consciousness, can one gain real happiness. Real happiness is a constant fact. Real happiness is not constantly interrupted by misery.
People in the modern world are not educated in real happiness. In fact, they confuse bodily and mental pleasures with happiness.
In the modern Consumer civilization people are indoctrinated into believing that sense-enjoyment will create happiness for them. Indeed, bodily and mental enjoyment is the only type of happiness people know of. But sense-enjoyment is merely a temporary pause in the suffering of the body and mind.
And that’s how it is with most of the enjoyment we seek and experience. Eating, sleeping, mating, and defending are the four activities humans have in common with all other living entities. In the modern world, however, it has become the foremost goal to fulfill and satisfy these four needs.
They have been made the standard of happiness and enjoyment in life. What do we do together with our loved ones, with our family and friends? We eat, we sleep, we mate, and we defend. The entire civilization revolves around these four activities. That’s an animal civilization. Humans are expected to have a higher goal in life than merely satisfying basic, bodily and mental urges.
Millions of tons of iron are extracted from the earth to make pots, knives and forks. Whole forests are cut down to make serviettes and napkins. Add to that the industry to manufacture cups and glasses etc. And for sleeping – beds, mattresses, pillows, quilts, covers, the list goes on and on. A massive enterprise – all of it, just to eat and sleep. What to speak of the meat-industry, the second largest industry in the world, only topped by the defense industry.
So the global culture is basically one giant industrial setup to fulfill basic bodily needs.
The fact is that the Western civilization is over-consuming nature’s resources. It is an exploitative civilization that rapes and plunders nature, and puts her inhabitants through untold suffering. And it’s proudly called the industrialized, developed world.
Anyway, the happiness that can be obtained by surrendering to Krishna’s enjoyment is so far superior to the happiness that can be squeezed out of matter, that sex with the most beautiful women become like broken glass in comparison.
Krishna says:
This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.(Bg. 9.2)
