Paradox of Liberation

Liberation is believed to be the epitome of achievement of the human form. ‘Desire’ for liberation is contradictory in itself, because liberation is absence of all desires. Sage Ashtavakra said that liberation is merely a blink away. It need not involve any form of penance, effort or endeavour. The identity of self is totally a creation of the self and a figment of imagination. The name and the form, are merely projections of the mind. Liberation is instantaneously becoming aware of the absence of the subject-object dichotomy. Ashtavakra was a realised soul and his discourse to King Janaka forms the contents of AshavakraGita predates the Bhagavat Gita. The philosophy as enunciated by Ashtavakra and restated by Sri Ramana Maharshi challenges the basic premise that one has to make any effort to seek liberation – even ashtanga yoga as propounded by Patanjali. The true nature of the Self is beyond all identity and ego. It is plain consciousness. The ego is adulteration of this consciousness by total conviction in this fleeting illusory identity. And then the game of seeking begins, like the dog chasing its own tail. Holding on to the illusion of identity, one goes about seeking. The form can never ever seeking the formless consciousness of which it is a manifestation. It can only merge and this merger can happen only when the form realises the futility of all efforts to be become formless.

(Deepak M. Ranade – Taken from Sri Ramana Jyothi, November 2010)