Satsang with Sri Swamiji

What is moksha?

I do not know what moksha is, but I can tell you what is written about it in the books. I do not even want moksha. I have read that there is no birth or death after moksha. In Srimad Bhagavatam, while bidding farewell to Uddhava, the residents of Gokul say:

We want our every state of mind
And our every resolution to take refuge
Under the lotus feet of Lord Krishna.
Our speech and every part of our body
Should be engaged in His shrine alone.
We say from the core of our heart
That we do not desire liberation in the least.
In whatever form we are born,
According to our karmas
And due to the kindness of God,
We wish to behave well,
Donate gifts and receive this fruit:
That our devotion towards our Lord, Sri Krishna,
Should go on increasing day by day.

Only by being born you can enjoy the fun of joy and sorrow. Unless you are born, how will you utter the name of God? By attaining moksha, how will you be able to remember God? What is your goal? Is it to attain moksha or is it to be a bhakta of God? If you want to stay with God, do not even talk about moksha. That is not your faculty. Your faculty is to live with God. Even that is not possible right now, because for that you require a ticket.

The only possibility now is to live with the name of God. Just remember the name of God, that is more than enough for the moment. Tulsidas has said:

The name of Rama
Is the wish-fulfilling tree.
It is the source of blessings in kali yuga
By remembering the name,
Tulsidas was transformed
From bhang into holy tulsi!

If you can remember God every morning and evening with as much single mindedness as you remember your sick child, your beautiful wife, your old mother, your sister who has gone to her husband’s house or a vanquished enemy, know then that you have reached the goal, that your boat has crossed the river. However, if you want moksha, you will have to go to the one who gives moksha.

The idea of moksha does not appeal to me yet. I do not know what will happen in the future. I have read a lot about moksha. Our shastras are full of this concept. Sometimes I used to give lectures about videhamukti and jivanmukti. But as far as sadhana is concerned, just remember one thing. If you can be aware of God just as you are constantly aware of the pain in a wound, it is called surati. If this awareness comes, you are lucky and blessed. Kabir has said:

With every breath,
remember His name.
Not even one breath should pass in vain.
For no one knows whether that outgoing breath
Will ever return again.

Rikhiapeeth, 23 November 1994, first published in Bhakti Yoga Sagar Vol. 1