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Freedom is available only to those who want it not merely more than anything else,
but to the exclusion of everything else. ~ H. W. L. Poonja ji1
If this earnest thirst is not there, my teacher cautioned, you will never get the right teacher. This
is the law.
This is the Divine Law: One gets the teacher that one deserves. If one is looking for spiritual
entertainment, one will get a spiritual entertainer as a guru.
When one’s search reaches a certain intensity and one longs to know one’s true svarupa, the
Divinity makes sure that a true teacher crosses path with such student.
When the Lord Yama offered Naciketā all the attractions of the world--wealth, pleasures, fame
etc.—and Naciketā rejected them all, one by one.
At that time, Yama said, Naciketā, I take that you are after the real knowledge. You have the
earnest thirst for real jñāna, Self-knowledge. Based on this qualification alone, Yama taught
Naciketā the knowledge of the Self:
भविदचाभिणभपप्सिनन भविदचाभरर्थिनन नभचकके तप्सिन त्विचामहन मन्यके [Shankara' commentary on Kaṭhopaniṣad 1.2.4.]
1 Poonjaji would say, ‘You are running towards the river with your clothes on fire. You have only one goal: to get to
the water as quickly as possible. If you meet a friend on the way who invites you in for a coffee, do you accept his
invitation, or do you keep on running?’
thirst, try whatever one may, the Divinity will not grace the seeker with the true teacher. So, by
all thy getting, get the longing.
Qualifications to realize Brahman:
The mantra 1-2-23 from Kaṭha Upaniṣad (also Muṇḍaka Up. 3.2.3) reiterates the same fact as
follows:
नचायमचात्मचा प्रवचननेन लभ्यय न मनेधयय न बहहनय शशतनेन।
यमकेविवैष विवणतण के तकेन लभ्यय तस्यवैष आत्मय भविविवणतण के तनन स्विचाम॥म २३॥
2 Translation adapted from Gambhirananda, Eight Upanisads, p. 157, and V. Panoli, trans., Prasthanathraya
Volume-II, p. 212.
could come in and be interviewed for the job of being the next ruler. No one would be prohibited
from coming in.
The next morning crowds of people assembled at the gate, each of them hoping that he or she
would be the next ruler. They were greeted by the guards and the courtiers.
One of the courtiers announced, ‘You are about to meet the king and be received by him. You
must look good when this happens. Look at you all! Some of you are just dressed in rags. We
will clean you all up, give you a nice bath, feed you and give you some nice new clothes, and
then you will be presentable to the king. Come with us.’
Everyone was taken into the palace and offered all the facilities that the king enjoyed. For this
one day all the visitors had the run of the palace, which meant that they could take and consume
whatever they wanted. Those who were interested in perfumes collected bottles of perfume;
those who were interested in clothes collected many items of clothing. Other people luxuriated in
the king’s baths, ate his food, and watched his dancers and singers perform. This went on all day
and everyone forgot what he or she had come to the palace for.
The king waited in his throne room, but no one went there to see him because all the candidates
were too preoccupied with enjoying themselves with the king’s luxuries. At the end of the day, at
6 p.m., when no one had shown up to claim the throne and the kingdom, the king withdrew his
offer and asked everyone to return home.
This story is full of great implications for the spiritual seekers. If anyone had gone to the king
immediately, without getting sidetracked, all these treasures would have been his or hers
permanently, not just for a few hours. But everyone forgot the purpose for which he or she had
come to the palace. The throne of the kingdom of liberation is waiting for anyone who wants to
walk in and claim it, but these jivās all get sidetracked into enjoying pleasures and accumulating
possessions. In this instant look at your own Self. Reject transient pleasures and run inside to
meet your inner king. Once you have done that, the whole kingdom will be yours.3
Be thirsty. Be hungry!
3 Excerpted from David Godman, Mostly about Books: Recording the Lives and Teachings of India’s Gurus, 50-53.
E-book retrieved August 24, 2016: http://davidgodman.org/interviews/mostly-about-books.version-2-b.pdf