Visitor.

We know that the pleasures of this world are useless

and even painful, yet we long for them. What is the way
of ending that longing?
Bhagavan. Think of God and attachments will gradually drop
from you. If you wait till all desires disappear to start
your devotion and prayer, you will have to wait a very,
very long time indeed.
By satsanga (association with the wise).
Satsangatve nissangatvam, nissangatve nirmohatvam, nirmohatve
nischalatatvam, nischalatatve jivanmuktih.
Satsanga means sanga (association) with sat. Sat is only the Self
(I am alone; none is mine; of none else am I, I see none whose I am, none who is mine).

M.: This sloka occurs in different scriptures, holy books, e.g.,
Bhagavata, Maha Bharata, etc.
D.: Sri Ramakrishna says that nirvikalpa samadhi cannot last longer
than twenty-one days. If persisted in, the person dies. Is it so?
M.: When the prarabdha is exhausted the ego is completely dissolved
without leaving any trace behind. This is final liberation. Unless
prarabdha is completely exhausted the ego will be rising up in
its pure form even in jivanmuktas. I still doubt the statement of
the maximum duration of twenty-one days. It is said that people
cannot live if they fast thirty or forty days. But there are those who
have fasted longer, say a hundred days. It means that there is still
prarabdha for them.