Q. What is mumukshatva (ममुक्षत्व)?
A. Mumukshatva (मुमुक्षत्व) means yearning desire for liberation. It is the one desire beyond all desires.
Q. Why is it desire beyond all desires?
A. First and foremost it is not a desire. It is a zeal for liberation. The individual who wants to get liberated or attain absolute freedom will work in a complete different way. In the beginning that individual starts to have a desire for liberation and tries to forego every other desire trying to be with the bare necessities of the body and if so with the bare necessities of the society. As the individual progresses, he/she will try to analyze every situation and reacts accordingly. Then over a period of time, that individual will stop analyzing and just acts in the situation instead of reacting to the situation. Later when the individual is all by himself/herself, he/she will question "why this situation has come?", "what made me to attract such a situation?" He/she will understand that whatever is happening is preordained and since everything is preordained he/she surrenders to the situation and just only acts according to the situation. In fact his/her body will act, being he/she as only an observer of the whole situation. Later the individual will get to a state where, a realization comes that "my mind is my karma", "my thought is my karma." Once this state comes, the individual will not have any attachment towards his/her thoughts and will completely stop trying to control the mind. That individual will only observe the thoughts if they rise and over a period of time does even bother about them. That individual will act as the situation demands and will not have any reaction towards any situation.
When there is no reaction to any thought, there is no desire for anything. Hence that individual will not have any attachment towards thoughts. That individual will become effortless and choiceless. When there is no choice, there is only surrender. When there is no effort, Silence prevails all the time, Stillness is ever present. So mumukshatva (मुमुक्षत्व) makes one effortless and choiceless. Because any choice and effort is attachment towards thought, and any attachment towards thought is bondage and it will bind the individual making that individual to go through the wheel of samsara (संसार) again and again.
Q. Why is that we get attached to our thoughts, and how we create bondage out of them?
A. Let us take an example. Let us say an individual works very hard probably 14 hours a day to make a living and helps in rearing the kids, brings up the family and ensures that everyone is happy. Now that individual will expect that his/her family members should have some gratitude towards him and he/she should be rewarded with some kind of goodness (punyam - पुण्यं) for all the hardwork that he/she has put forth for so many years. This kind of expectancy in us creates a bondage towards our work and forces us to enter into the wheel of samsara again and again to reap those benefits. Remember, good or bad, both are thoughts and both will create bondage. So every thought that we desire for, will eventually happen based upon the strength of attachment that we have towards that thought. More the attachment towards the thought more the bondage, more the identity and more the suffering. In fact we get so much attached to our thoughts, that we start identifying with them and call ourselves with various names based upon the continuation of that thought process. Some call themselves as psychologists, while some call themselves as psychiatrists, doctors, chemists, pharmacists, technicians, engineers, drillers, singers, musicians, composers, programmers, spiritual persons ..... so on and so forth, what not with so many names. Every name is an identification and every identity will become a bondage the moment we get attached to it and every bondage will bind us to the wheel of samsara and will make us to enter into the birth-and-death cycle. So a jnani (झानि) will let go every thought by surrendering to the moment and jumps out of the wheel of samsara. A jnani (झानि) will realize that any expectancy is going to create bondage and he/she will become choiceless. Because expecting anything is also a choice.
Q. So, do you mean to say we all should become choiceless and effortless?
A. In a way yes. But even if we do not become choiceless and effortless, we will be forced by cosmos to become so. It is better if we accept it out of our free will what the fact is. Because, the sooner we accept it, the lesser the suffering. And, the fact is that we have created this body and we only have created the situations. That is why it is all preordained. So, if have to not to create any more situations like this, we have to become choiceless and effortless. Then what ever has to happen in this life with the present body, it will surely happen and since there are no more choices and efforts we are out of the wheel of samsara.
Q. So, do you mean to say we should avoid all sorts of feelings?
A. Most of our feelings are worldly like love (the worldly or conjugal love), hatred, resentment, resilience, etc. Let go all these feelings. Once we enter into Stillness then the true feeling that comes out of that Stillness is pure Love. With that pure Love we can love everything in the cosmos. We will have the same feeling towards our children, our spouse, our friends, animals (a caterpillar, a snake or a scorpion), mountains, rivers, lakes, etc. it does not matter; we will have the same feeling and that feeling is born out of pure Love. so mumukshatva leads us to that pure Love.
