That is how traditions put it, that the whole purpose of the soul entering the cycles of birth and death is to eventually come out of it! If true, it raises more questions than answers it. If at the end of the earthly drama one returns to the same point as one started from it would be a big absurdity especially because entering the cycles implies entering the fields of suffering and struggle and pain. Why would a soul that is happily resting with the Divine plunge into darkness or be pushed into it if after a long painful passage it has to get back to where it was and quit the play? It would be somewhat like a child sent to the challenges of different schools to learn Medicine, and after he has succeeded, to call him back and sit in the parent’s house and enjoy!
This misconception of individual mukti arises from a subtle illusion of the ego that makes us feel separate from the others and sees the world and God as separate from each other. But Sri Aurobindo brings a more complete truth that the soul’s mukti is the beginning of another great journey, the journey of awakening other kindered souls to freedom from ignorance and, yet further to transform this field of suffering and darkness into a divine garden of Light and Harmony and Beauty and Delight. This after all is the very purpose of creation, – to manifest, to manifest the Divine Beauty and Bliss in terms of Space and Time.
Mukti therefore is not an end, a sudden close of the soul’s journey through lives but the beginning of playing the play consciously and fulfilling the original Divine Purpose of transforming the earthly life into the Life Divine.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
