It is wrong to suppose that simple inactivity leads one to mukti (liberation)

Devotee:  It is said that one should give up desire. But there are the needs of the body which are irrepressible. What is to be done?


Ramana Maharishi:  An aspirant must be equipped with three requisites: (1) Ichcha; (2) Bhakti; and (3) Sraddha. Ichcha means satisfaction of bodily wants without attachment to the body (such as hunger and thirst and evacuation). Unless it is done meditation cannot progress. Bhakti and Sraddha are already known.


Devotee:  There are two kinds of desires - the baser and the nobler. Is it our duty to transmute the baser one to the nobler?


Ramana Maharishi:  Yes.


Devotee:  Well, Bhagavan, you said there are three requisites of which ichcha is the satisfaction of natural wants without attachment to the body, etc. I take food three or four times a day and attend to bodily wants so much so that I am oppressed by the body. Is there a state when I shall be disembodied so that I might be free from the scourge of bodily wants?


Ramana Maharishi:  It is the attachments (raga, dwesha) which are injurious. The action is not bad in itself. There is no harm in eating three or four times. But only do not say, “I want this kind of food and not that kind” and so on. Moreover you take those meals in twelve hours of wakeful state whereas you are not eating in the hours of sleep. Does sleep lead you to mukti? It is wrong to suppose that simple inactivity leads one to mukti.