While talking about the soul journey and ultimate purpose of a human
life, The scriptures of Jainism and Buddhism abound with the mention of
the word-“Nirvana” and on the other hand the Vedic wisdom emphasise
on striving to attain “Moksha”. The discussion on the two is not
something that can be written and concised on a piece of paper, as this
encompasses a huge section of knowledge within the big domains of
different religious sects. I am fortunate to have found my answers in a
mind blowing book by Dr. Vipin Gupta- What is self-awareness. The
narratives presented in context of the two similar looking but widely
different concepts, is something we should all know and understand as
an integral part of our learning during the journey of our souls on this
Earth.
Dr. Gupta have categorically differentiated the two terms on a very
simple yet significant ground- Let’s understand this-
We all are the children of Mother Nature, some of us become the
leaders, the Gurus and some become their Followers. The Leader or A
Guru is one which is looked upon and idolised by the followers to bless
them with what they desire. The Guru profits more than the followers by
trading the energies of his followers. Mother Nature has the power to gift
every child of hers with gifts that they desire. When Mother Nature
grants the wishes of a Guru then they behave as “deities, finding
“absolute joy” (Moksha, 1600) from servicing “transient joy” (Nirvana, 123)
to devotees.” The servicing and trading of the energies continue until the
dependency of the followers on the leaders or Gurus, cease to persist.
And that is where we find the ‘Moksha’ or the absolute joy where one
realises that we are one with the “param deity (Shiva “…., 7) “ and the cycle of
deaths and rebirths ceases to exist for them.
Simply put let’s see it this way. There is a child and his parents have
given him a magic box filled with never-ending supply of art and craft
material which he can use to make anything that he wants to create.
Oblivious of this, he idolises and is devoted to a friend of his who
provides him with some material of art and craft, though knowing that the
child has enough with himself, (just like a Guru). The child happily
makes his dream craft and finds (“Nirvana, 123). But this is a transient

joy and he again wishes for something else of his dreams to fulfil. After
being a Yo-Yo for a long time, he eventually stumbles on his own
treasure in his attic and is overjoyed to realise that he doesn’t need to
ask anyone for anything, he himself is equipped with all resources that
he needs. His dependency on any friend vanishes into thin air and thus
he finds his “absolute Joy”, here we call that (Moksha, 1600). He
realises he never actually needed a Guru or a Leader to grant him his
wishes, it was always with him, but he compromised on being content
with the transient rather than the permanent joys of his life.
The related aspect to this story is how long the child can take to find his
absolute joy, or what if he never finds one. This one needs to
understand in a beautiful context Dr. Gupta provides. They say- “Mother
Nature gives us life with a deadline for mastering the technique to
be free from the limitations of the divine element. If we do not
devote sufficient time and effort to that, then time becomes our
master and forces us to reincarnate. Entangled by our child
consciousness, we seek to be free from the limitations of the
deadline. Without worrying about the deadline, we can all enjoy the
transient joys, the nirvana, that comes with the changing seasons.
We can complain that no para deity lets us be the deity for enjoying
the absolute joy, the moksha.” The crux is that we all have limited time
to chase our dreams and joys and the quicker we try to raise our
consciousness and self-awareness levels, the faster we will be close to
attain “Moksha”, and in this journey one finds the pleasures of transient
joys or “Nirvana”, which eventually owing to our efforts leads us to the
absolute joy or ‘Moksha”.

We oftentimes see a herd of followers on social media, as Influencers
and in real life as Gurus. What they actually do is play with the
discordant consciousness of people seeking solace in their guidance, for
solving real-life problems. The followers happily follow them as the giver
of their transient joys. When a self-aware and conscious follower gets to
the core of the divine significance of the stuff these Leaders or Gurus
provide, he eventually frees himself from the shackles of the followership
and becomes either a Guru himself for some new followers or he
eventually finds his absolute joy in knowing that he himself is the “Param
Shiva” and he doesn’t need anyone to fulfil his desires for him. This
realisation unifies his soul with the Param Shiva after he departs from
his body, and his cycle of rebirth and death ceases permanently.
Dr.Gupta very clearly explains this-

Dr.Gupta says- “Due to our ignorance, we presume innocence and
attribute goodwill to each entity. Gurus may try to be and do good
by making others dependent on them so that the guru enjoys the
leadership and the devotees enjoy the followership. However, this
does not solve the purpose of life. In the next birth, one may follow
another guru, guided by the inherited followership mind-set.
Eventually, some of the gurus will not be well-intentioned and
contribute to the absolute entropy of the person. Therefore, each
person must set their horizon beyond temporary joy, i.e., nirvana.
Even a guru enjoying “absolute joy” (Moksha, 1600), due to the
devotion from a universe of devotees, experiences the loss of joy
when those devotees become entangled with the discordant
energies of the evil-minded leaders.”
And how does one become one with the Absolute?
This happens naturally when the Guru and the followers in their
illusionary worlds of kingship and followership, they conceive the
“absolute soul” (Paramatma, 1600)” as being their twin entity, devoted
to their conscious well-being. And thus, “Through oneness with the
absolute soul, one realizes the freedom from the present effect,
known as moksha, and becomes a part of the “absolute
consciousness” (Paramatma, 1600) after sacrificing the body”
Concluding on a positive thought, I would love to quote Dr. Gupta, they
say-
“We have the power to be the makers of the desired present
consciousness instead of the takers of the present consciousness
(i.e., Paramatma) gifted by our gurus. We do not need to reproduce
the reality of any guru. We can develop our original reality. That’s
the true path to fulfilling our life’s purpose as a unique child of
Mother Nature.”

This is the essence of our life and its meaning and I am so grateful I
came across it so beautifully. Grab your copies of the book now and I
promise it would be a life changing Read.

-Ranjula Jain

26 October 2021

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