You have already obtained a human birth, which is quite rare. It is that mould in which the supreme self fills itself. In it, you will find that mirror that reflects the supreme brahman, the supreme self.
That which is beyond the limitations of action, the limitations of consumption (bhoga), to comprehend such a secret, such a principle of the Vedas is rare even for a human. This understanding is the genesis of mumukshaa, the desire for liberation.
But what is happenning? Even after attaining such a rare birth, our life is spent in action and in matters of consumption. The end result of all this is sorrow, yet we do not develop any inclination for renouncing them! We are interested in numbing ourselves, in fighting with others and in feeding our ego. We are increasing our faith in the unreal. How then will we imbibe the real?
One whose intellect is deluded, is stuck. A monkey put his fist in a narrow-top vessel in order to grab some peanuts. But he could not pull his fist out since it was full of peanuts and would not fit! He is caught. O foolish mind! You seek one thing in the world and get yourself into so many entanglements! Such slavery! Bodily pleasure, financial pleasure, family pleasure, all this is slavery. For someone who does not get bothered by slavery, how will he strive for gaining that most supreme freedom? Mumukshaa will not arise in such a person.
You toil day and night for something. Is it real or is it a mirage? Can you say that those billions of people who have slogged since time immemorial for that object, consumed it, become its master, did they get happiness and peace? They did not! It is as if everyone is inebriated! It is the intoxication of action and consumption! That which steals happiness and peace is called nashaa or intoxication. You are ever pure, filled with knowledge and free. But you think of yourself as perishable, sinner-saint, a slave instead of a master, bound instead of free, this is intoxication.
The Vedas say: "If you know the truth in this life, then it is ok, otherwise it is a great disaster" (Kena Upanishad 2.5). Your intellect was created for merging with the supreme self, that did not happen. Your desire was created to merge with the supreme bliss, which you also did not get.
This life was given so that you can become immortal, but you did not get an immortal life! This is as if a suicide has been committed. You yourself do not know who you are. Not knowing your true identity is a kind of suicide in itself. You are killing your own self, not anyone else, because you are holding on to the unreal, or you can say that the unreal has caught you and you are not able to free yourself from it!
What is not, you think that it "is", what is not your own, you consider it "yours" and vice versa; what is pain you consider it pleasure and vice versa! What could be more foolish than this?
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