Way to Immortality: Renounce Desires
यदा सर्वे प्रमुच्यन्ते कामा येऽस्य हृदि श्रिताः ।
अथ मर्त्योऽमृतो भवत्यत्र ब्रह्म समश्नुते ॥ १४॥
yadā sarve pramucyante kāmā ye’sya hṛdi śritāḥ .
atha martyo’mṛto bhavatyatra brahma samaśnute .. 14..
When all the desires that dwell in the heart fall away, then the mortal becomes immortal and here attains Brahman.
Commentary:
When all your desires are gone, you realise Brahman at once. How many days will you take to realise Brahman? So many days as you will take for eliminating all your desires. You have to make a list of all the desires that you have got, even if they are a hundred. Every day eliminate one of them—one, two, three, four. Finally, one or two or three or four may be remaining. They have to be handled like arch enemies, with proper equipment of confrontation, with great effort, perseverance, and love of God. When all the desires are plucked out from the heart, the mortal becomes immortal instantaneously. Waking up into God-consciousness does not take days and nights or months and years. It is an instantaneous illumination that takes place, as waking takes place when sleep ceases. Though the sleep may have been a very long darkness, the waking up is an instantaneous occurrence, and it is timeless. Waking does not take time at all.
Atra brahma samaśnute: Where do you realise Brahman? Do you go from here to a distant place? Atra: Here itself you realise Brahman, in this very place, at this very spot where you are sitting. In this very hall you realise Brahman, because it is not any distant place. The consciousness of the elimination of all desires connected with this body and relations with the world has to be the precondition for your acceptance of God as the only reality.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
When all the desires that trouble the heart cease, then the mortal becomes immortal, and here one attains Brahman.[Source]
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
MUKHERJI: “Hari5 became simply speechless at what you said yesterday. He said to me: ‘Such wisdom can be found only in the philosophical systems of Samkhya, Yoga, and Vedanta. He is no ordinary person.'”
MASTER: “But I have never studied Samkhya or Vedanta.
“Perfect jnana and perfect bhakti are one and the same thing. A man reasons, saying, ‘Not this, not this’; he rejects the unreal. When his reasoning comes to an end, he attains the Knowledge of Brahman. Then he accepts what he rejected before. A man carefully climbs to the roof, rejecting the steps one by one. After reaching the roof he realises that the steps are made of the same materials as the roof, namely, brick, lime, and brick-dust.
“He who is aware of the high is also aware of the low. After the attainment of Knowledge one looks alike on high and low.
“While Prahlada dwelt on the plane of the Supreme Reality, he maintained the attitude of ‘I am He’; but when he climbed down to the physical plane, he would look on himself as the servant of God.
“Hanuman also sometimes said, ‘I am He’, sometimes, ‘I am the servant of God’, sometimes, ‘I am a part of God.’
“Why should a man cherish love of God in his heart? How else will he live? How else will he spend his days?
“To be sure, the ego does not disappear altogether. As long as the pot of ‘I’ (Body-consciousness.) persists, one cannot realise ‘I am He.’ In samadhi the ego totally disappears; then what is remains. Ramprasad says: ‘O Mother, when I shall attain Knowledge, then You alone will know whether I am good or You are good.’
“As long as ‘I-consciousness’ exists, one should have the attitude of a bhakta; one should rot say, ‘I am God.’ A man aware of his body should feel that he is not Krishna Himself, but His devotee. But if God draws the devotee to Himself, then it is different. It is like the master saying to his beloved servant: ‘Come, take your seat near me. You are the same as I.’
“The waves are part of the Ganges, but the Ganges is not part of the waves. (BG 9.4)
“Siva experiences two states of mind. When He is completely absorbed in His own Self, He feels, ‘I am He.’ In that union neither body nor mind functions. But when He is conscious of His separate ego, He dances, exclaiming, ‘Rama! Rama!’
“That which is unmoving also moves. Just now you are still, but a few moments later the same you will be engaged in action.
“Jnana and bhakti are one and the same thing. The difference is like this: one man says ‘water’, and another, ‘a block of ice’. (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)