Persons are more interested in questioning; they do not attempt to put the solutions into practice. They have not started pondering over, ‘What is desire? How do I let go of desire?’  The day you start practising the solutions that the Mahaans have given you, there will be no more questions; there will be no use for questions.

          Middle class persons find it difficult to discard even a used toothbrush. They preserve it for cleaning combs. When will you be able to discard desires and rise above re-births and deaths? If you retain such items that should be thrown in the trashcan, when will you get rid of the garbage of thoughts clouding your mind? To start with, get rid of trivial desires, those that are unnecessary. Resolve to shun all evil.

          Why do you yield in to temptations of smoking and drinking, knowing that they are injurious to health? On 04th of Feb 1984, I quit smoking. Since then, I have never had the craving to smoke. Even earlier, I refrained from smoking when I was observing the rituals for undertaking Sabarimala yatra. Persons used to ask me, ‘You have so much will power, why do you smoke after you return from the yatra?’ and I used to answer them, ‘I have faith in my will power and I can quit smoking when I want to.’ One day I had a vision of Anjaneya asking me to quit smoking so that He can dwell on my tongue and I immediately quit smoking.

          Why do you fritter away your life in drinks and women and land up wasting your money on medicines and treatment? Discard everything that is bad. Most of your desires will automatically vanish. Retain, for now, all that is good. And slowly try to transcend that too. Then you will attain salvation.

          You will find it difficult to hold Rs.10000 in the denomination of one rupee. Exchange this for a bundle of Rs.100 notes. You will feel lighter. If you exchange that for a demand draft, you will feel that much safer. The day you don’t require this too, tear it away, like how Ramana Maharishi tore the receipt for pawning his earrings (he had pawned them for meeting the cost of his travel to Thiruvannamalai, the Abode of Lord Arunachala). Travel light, travel easy.

            Similarly, drop one by one the numerous desires that blur your way forward. Gradually, you will hold on to just one ‘demand draft’: the desire for God. Finally, when you do not need to have this desire anymore, since you have risen above petty desires, you will attain salvation.

          Is this easy? Yes, it is. It takes just one matchstick to set ablaze bales of cotton. Hold on to the Fire called God. All your desires will burn away. It takes just one pebble to drive away several crows. Your desires, like crows, are disturbing you with their babbling noise. Hold on to the stone called God, it may be in any form. Then all your desires will be driven away. So, dispense away with your desires with focussed longing for God. At one stage, you will attain a state of no-desires.

          Is it possible to live in the world without any want? Take my life as an example. I have conquered all my wants. But observe how God takes care of me. I do not want anything, but       I do not lack any comforts. The day you trust that God will take absolute care of you, from that day onwards He will. Man’s ignorance leads him to believe that it is his worldly boss who tends to his worldly needs. Will not God, who has provided food for all birds, animals and even toads in rocks, take care of your needs too? It is human ignorance that nurtures desires assuming that these are for necessities. And, therefore, man tosses about in this ocean of illusion called life. The day you firmly start holding on to God, not caring the least for anything else, He will start providing for you much more than what He is doing at present. The faster you let go of your petty desires, the faster will you attain God. You must cultivate a state of no-thoughts, with your thoughts focussed on God alone. Then you will comprehend that you yourself are God. You will realize that there is no necessity for seeing God externally. When you reach this state, you will have freed yourself from the cycle of re-births and deaths.

          This is possible, and I am illustrating it with my life. Siva Shankar Baba is already liberated. He has detached his soul from his body by conquering all wants. So I am free from the cycle of births and deaths. This is why I declare so boldly that this is possible for you too.

          What does one gain from this? When you attain a desireless state, you are equipped with the power to unshackle the fetters of those who are caught in this unpleasant situation. Only a person who is able to free himself from the bondage of birth and death will be able to free others. If you are bound, how will you free others? Siva Shankar Baba has freed himself, so he can guide you to freedom. That way, you have come to the right place, to the right person.

            I am liberated because I have renounced the world from within. And I can guide you in the process of liberation. I dress reasonably well, I mingle jovially with everyone, but I have no attachments. I am totally liberated. It is very easy for me to convince you that I have renounced this world, if I wear saffron robes. But ‘thannanjarivadhu poyyarka’ , I know myself. There is no need for me to convince you. I do as I like. And this, by itself, must reveal to you that I am a liberated person.

          Liberation is releasing yourself from fears, from desires, from selfishness, from anger, from envy and freeing yourself from all the emotions of this world. There is no exemption. Divinity is totally divine. Even a drop of poison damages milk by making it all poison; similarly even a single negative trait will hamper your progress. There is no compromise on this.

          The day you refrain from asking questions, and start practising the solutions provided, will you be liberated from the vicious cycle of birth and death.

(Baba's reply for other questions continues next week....)

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