moksha and mumukshutvam

[Gregory Goode]

At 09:50 AM 5/18/98 -0230, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:
>mumukshu has been described as one having a burning desire for liberation.

>salvation for that entity. Of course, the mumukshu realizes,
>with enlightenment, that it is not salvation for that body-
>-mind-intellect complex but it is salvation *from* that
>thinking of individuality.

>Why do "I" care what happens to this body-mind-intellect complex ?
>It is just like a snake on the rope.
>
>That is, the so-called "burning desire for liberation" would or should
>wane as the individual jeeva becomes disocciated with this body-mind
>complex and realizes the true Self.

I agree with this.  Sorry I have no shruti citations at hand, but...

A person once asked Nisargadatta Maharaj whether spiritual desires aren't
better than "worldly" desires.  He replied, "No desire is spiritual."  Most
teachers stress mumukshu at the earlier stages of a body/mind/intellect's
sadhana, hoping that the desires for sense and subtle objects will be
transformed into a desire for liberation.  But at the later stages, even
this desire melts away as the association with the sheaths diminishes.  One
teacher, Ramesh Balsekar, stresses that for the individual seeker, an
equanimity as to whether liberation happens in this lifetime is one of the
closest signs to liberation itself.

--Greg Goode