Man has been victorious over the gods, he has crossed oceans, measured the limitless skies, searched in the very depths of the seas, identified the elements of nature, propagated religions, overcome sorrows, linked the two banks of life and death with the chain of life itself, recognized divinity, even discovered the supreme support and founding element of eternal life. Everything has been gained, everything has been lost, everything has been experienced. And yet, man is unfulfilled, his life is incomplete, his desires are not satisfied. Death is his final destination and this journey commences with birth.
Death is the destiny of life and life will end in death. Neither religion nor duties, not yoga or science, mantra or tantra – there is nothing at all which can make life complete. Believing the completeness of a life based on trust in the soul and in yoga is akin to saying that the child of a barren woman is wealthy and educated – meaning it does not exist.
The person who has been able to solve this problem has not yet been born. Yogis, ascetics, wise men, great souls and scientists have conceded defeat. This is a secret like the limitlessness of eternity. We are either lost in the search for our individual existence, or defeated in the search for material life, or we have forgotten everything in the blissful state of inner life. Some recognized the soul, others discovered divinity. Some knew god, others wandered around in nature, some went in search of endless creation, some others discovered lost worlds under the ocean and others still explored the vastness of space. Some sought peace, others brought about revolutions. But till today no one has searched through the multi-dimensional phenomenon of the mystery called life.
Progress in life has been only limited to certain spheres. Hindus could not become Muslims, nor Muslims Hindus. Neither did a householder become a sannyasin, nor could a sannyasin become a householder. Some declared that the world was the only truth, others claimed that it was an illusion. Someone said, ‘It is only One,’ someone else said, ‘Many,’ while some others said, ‘There is Nothing.’ As we persevered with our search, the more we were lost. The more knowledge we gained, more and more ignorant we became. Today, despite aeons of searching, despite the venerable traditions of yogis, scientists, learned people and saints, the secrets of life remain unrevealed. But today we have to resolve this complex and intricate issue.
I have understood that life is great, it is not complex rather it is very simple. I have understood that life is sacred; it is neither a stigma nor a curse, but it is a beautiful boon. Yogis, scientists, philosophers, saints, learned men, scriptural scholars and others have attempted to enhance and exalt life. What of it? The essential truth about life has still remained elusive and hidden.
We will remove all these colours that have covered life over ages and ages, we will wash them away – the categories of religions, the ideas of the Vedas and scriptures, the experiences of saints – and we shall see the true form of life for ourselves. Life is easy, simple, sacred and one. It throbs and flows through everything, the great and the small. Life is vast, comprehensive and integral to everything. The veils which shroud its true nature is mere posturing, arrogance and hypocrisy.
Oh, let Life go on as it does, as it wishes to. Leave all your wisdom, your philosophy, your science, your social rules and religions aside. Let my life carry me, like beautiful childhood. I like to soar like the birds. Let me stay ignorant, I do not want your knowledge and your scholarship. I prefer to live in the jungles. Let me run through the rustle of dry leaves. Do not stop me. Let my eyes delight in the glories of nature, in the golden light of the rising sun. Let me live on the leaves of the trees, in waters of the rivers and under the open skies. Keep your culture, keep your greatness, glory and fame. Do not tie me down, let me go wherever I wish. Do not fetter me within the bonds of your social conduct, do not entangle me in your religious beliefs or try to defeat me with your scientific arguments.
I am a free bird of the open skies, I am an eternal spring of nectar,
I am eternally peaceful and content, an illumined star of joy;
Be gone O cries of pain and suffering, the prison of struggles has been destroyed,
The path has been cleared of thorns, my path is now strewn with flowers.
I am a sannyasin! I am a sannyasin!