“The Yearn Quest this year is a mystery – a Whodunnit, Whydunnit, Howdunnit mystery, which you would have to solve while you are on a trek!”

“Wow! I love murder mysteries,” Neeraj cried out.

“My dear, the first quality of a good detective is that he doesn’t jump to conclusions,” remarked Vivek. “A Whodunnit mystery may not be murder. It may prove to be a suicide, or just an accident.”

“Whose death do we have to investigate?” asked Kishore. “And how can one get enlightened by solving a murder mystery?” He seemed a bit lost.

“Oh, I thought you all knew what death you have to investigate!” commented Vivek.

Everyone looked blank.

“Is it the liberation from the self,” asked Ishan, hesitantly “Do you mean to say we have to find out whether the death of this illusory self during the experience of enlightenment is a murder or a suicide or an accident?”

“Yes!” affirmed Vivek with a broad smile. 

Ishan mentally scanned his vast knowledge of the scriptures but could not recall any instance where anyone had examined whether the ‘illusory’ self is murdered, commits suicide, or dies a natural death at the moment of enlightenment. He smiled inwardly at Vivek’s ability to jolt the mind out of its groove.

“What’s the challenge in this? It’s obviously a suicide,” blurted Neeraj. “Every seeker seeks the death of his ‘I.’”

“We’re all dying for enlightenment,” Hannah added with a laugh.

“Exactly! And that’s why it cannot be a suicide,” Vivek observed with a smile. “Just think! If we can kill our ‘I’ anytime we want, then why doesn’t every earnest seeker willingly commit and get enlightened?”

“Well, if it is not suicide, then it has to be murder, as I first mentioned,” Neeraj protested.

“Agreed! But then to prove a murder you need to identify the murderer, provide a motive, and show how the murder was committed. So, if you can prove that the birth of this self, followed by its death, is part of a game plan, then you can say it is a pre-planned murder,” said Vivek.

“I’m sure it is an accident,” averred Prashant, reliving his experience of the morning. “The moment of enlightenment comes by accident – and that accidental moment is the moment of grace,” he added, looking towards the AoOa mantra shimmering on the glass door.

CC recollected the image of the infected grasshopper that had drowned itself. “Can it be some mind-controlling parasite that releases chemicals to manipulate our brain to give up worldliness and seek its own death?” he suggested.

“An abetment to suicide by a mind-controlling parasite!” exclaimed Matt. “It seems you have been reading too much of Sci-Fi rather than detective stories,” he commented with a laugh.

“When the small self, the individual atman housed in the body merges in the bigger Self, the cosmic Brahman, then the Atman becomes Brahman and the enlightened being can say Aham Brahmasmi,” pronounced Varsha. “It’s a part merging with the whole. There is no death, no murder-mystery,” she beamed.

“There are no two to begin with,” corrected Vivek gently.

“Yes, there are no two. It is written in the scriptures. The self is a ripple or a wave on the sea of consciousness. The dying of the self is like the dying of the wave that merges with the ocean to realize that it always was the ocean. Can we say that the wave is murdered, or it commits suicide when it merges back into the ocean?” Varsha insisted. “We come out of the ocean and once again merge with it. Is this the definitive answer that Nachiketa received from the Lord of Death?”

“These analogies sound lofty, but are mere PPP,” said Nutsy, winking at CC.

“Oh no, they are not Piggal’s Profound Pronouncements. These are ancient analogies, passed on to us through generations,” protested Varsha. She could not comprehend that though the steam meeting the ocean is an illusion, the Truth is the water-vapour which is both the stream and the ocean and the cloudburst that gives strength to the steam to rush to the ocean.

“Can we say a shadow is murdered when the light gets turned on and one gets enlightened? Is a dream murdered when the mind awakens, and you become the awakened one?” Neeraj enquired, looking towards Nutsy and Aruna.

“Or the caterpillar that dies to be transformed into a butterfly – does it commit suicide?” Neeraj posed.

“It’s called Metamorphosis! It’s neither murder, nor suicide.”  CC seemed a bit miffed.

“Is the ‘illusory self’ a dream, or a hypnotic trance, or a shadow or a wave or whatever? These analogies are just analogies. What we need to know is how this dream or trance arises. Only then we can get rid of it,” observed Matt.

“Vivek talked of liberation from AIMS. That does not mean that attachment is murdered, or insecurity commits suicide or memory is lost accidently. Once you learn how they are born, you can know how you can be liberated from them,” explained Nutsy. “So, once we know who gave birth to this self that needs to die for the experience of enlightenment…”

“That’s a biiiig hint you are dropping,” Aruna chided Nutsy.

“I’m merely reminding them that Cosmology determines soteriology,” Nutsy said with a laugh.

“So Vivek wants to know first of all why the wave arose from the ocean, and why it merges back, and how does it merge, and finally why this experience of merging appears so fulfilling.” CC seemed excited now, as he grasped the hint.

“Well, if you want more help, I’ll request Aruna to give you one more hint,” Vivek offered with a gentle smile.

“Well, my hint is that you should ponder over why the death of the self is experienced as a state of completion, bliss and immortality? Why is this experience accompanied by a feeling of mission accomplished, and why CeLiberation is such a heady intoxicating celebration that a drink would lower one’s intoxication rather than adding to it!” she added with a laugh, leaving the listeners foxed.

“Well, the objective of the challenge is to make you experience this intoxication, for only the one who gets intoxicated gets the reward. You can apply your minds to solve this challenge, but you need to progress from mind to no-mind,” cautioned Vivek.

The Buddies felt they still needed some more help. The guests were thinking of quitting the challenge.

“OK, one last hint. The answer to this year’s Yearn question and the answer to the 4 previous Yearn questions is the same,” Vivek announced, pointing to the display board where the poem On Seeking had been replaced by information about previous Yearn Quests.

What are the qualities of That?
Why are we Here?
Why is there Something instead of Nothing?
How is Enlightenment our Birth-right? Is the Death of the Self a Murder or a Suicide?

“And remember, before you jump to solutions, try to formulate the right question. Try integrating the previous questions into the present one,” Vivek said. “When the Truth that we seek, is one, then all questions will lead to the same answer!”

“Now what can be common between these questions?” wondered Andrew, as he read through the questions.

“You first need to construct a clear map – a clear picture of the Truth, and then everything will snap into place,” advised Vivek. “But for now, look at this map,” he said, changing the display on the screen to show the whole of the Haasilabh Ur’Akht ranges. “These are the Seven-Sisters,” he pointed to 7 peaks that were arranged in almost a perfect circle. The Seven-Sister mountains stood holding hands, their flared-out skirts rolling down to the foothills, enclosing the green vadi-e-khumari.  Through the valley squirmed a dark serpentine question mark shaped furrow – the daria-e-Daru – as it weaved its way like a drunkard stumbling over boulders and falling down the steep cliffs, to exit the circle between Mount RingaRinga and Mount Keshava, under the DeD river bridge.

“I’ll now show you the trekking route,” Vivek continued, as he zoomed into the map and picked up his laser pointer.