Can a man really have FREEDOM ? How to attain Perfect FREEDOM?

These days people world over claims to be the worshipper of FREEDOM. People of so called developed nations or those  , who blindly follow such people, in other countries profess to be working towards attainment of Perfect FREEDOM in this world. Generally the word FREEDOM is taken in the sense of the freedom to do whatever one wants to do or to live the way one wants to live. However, it can well be imagined what chaos will prevail in the world if people really start living like this.

Let us take a simple example – a student wants to study for his examinations while another in the next room wants to play music in full volume of sound. Now , if this boy is permitted to play music  like this, it is obvious that the student will not be able to study. Let us take another example – if everybody is allowed to drive his vehicle freely on the road, can anybody expect to reach his destination safely.  From these  examples, it is clear that people will have to abide by some rules or laws which obviously limit their freedom. Hence, it is evident that people can have but limited and regulated freedom when it comes to live in a society .This means every now and then everyone feels a check on his freedom to act. It is clear that beyond a certain limit , people can not have freedom in this world. Besides, everyone is always subject to some sort of  fear , pressure to perform , anxiety to attain some position or fear to lose what one has already attained in life. This further restricts the sense of freedom one can have in this world.

Now, if we further investigate this and try to understand why one needs freedom, we find that not only human beings but all kinds of living beings are dependent on one another and deriving their life energy from the sun in our solar system. We find that the planets revolve round the sun and derive energy for its sustenance. Likewise , on earth , one form of life lives around another form of life and derive life energy. Even one human being derives his power of sustenance from some other human being.  All these clearly show that people have a very wrong notion of freedom in the world.

Now let us investigate this question more in depth and try to understand the nature of  a man or his actions. Whatever action one performs , causes an impression on the mind of that man which starts shaping his further course of action. A man who has not tasted sugar can not have any notion of sweetness of a fruit like a mango or a banana or an apple . If this man is given a mango to eat, obviously the taste of this fruit alongwith his liking will have a definite impression on his mind. Next time, when he just listens about the word ‘mango’, immediately its taste impressions will arise from within his mind and force him to get this fruit. More and more this experience of acquiring this taste increases, more of this sort of force will come out of his mind and make him act accordingly. This means, in this process, every next action taken is guided and dictated by the related past action, thereby limiting his next action and freedom of choice. This further proves that it is possible to have, but a limited freedom of action.

Now the question arises whether a man can really have freedom to act. What is freedom? Freedom is the ability to live happily in an environment conducive to our nature. A fish when kept out of water , gets eager to go back into it and feels relieved only when it is sent back in water. This means a fish can have more freedom in water than on the earth. Hence, it can safely be deduced that a living entity can have or enjoy freedom only in a condition conducive to his innate nature.

Every man ,nay every living being, appears to be comprised of three things namely – Matter , Mind and Spirit . It further appears that everything has a reservoir in this creation.For example, we see a drop and its reservoir in an ocean. Likewise, every matter has its reservoir from where  it has come into existence. .Hence it can be deduced that a similar reservoir  must exist for the mind and the spirit entity. Just as the fish can have its freedom only in water and not on the earth, similarly a man can have real freedom only when its spirit force , i.e. its Aatman, gets rid of these two covers of the body (matter) and the mind. And attains its reservoir of the spirit force. It is only then that a man can act the way it likes and live the way it wants to live. In the terminology of the religion , this attainment of the reservoir of the spirit force is known as ‘Salvation’ or ‘Moksha’ or ‘God-Realisation’. 

The very fact that every man aspires to have freedom only indicates his desire to achieve this ultimate state of salvation. Although he tries to attain it from wrong methods for NO WORLDLY PURSUIT WILL EVER ENABLE A MAN TO ATTAIN THIS STATE OF FREEDOM. However, the most merciful and compassionate Supreme Father and Lord has also sent his incarnations and spiritual personalities from time to time in different countries to teach humanity method to attain this state of freedom. Just as a man learns any branch of  knowledge from a teacher in this world, similarly this method ,popularly known as ‘Yoga’ (i.e. Union of the Spirit Force with its Reservoir ,i.e., Supreme God) can also be learnt from a competent spiritual teacher. It is only after practicing this spiritual exercise under the able guidance of this perfect teacher, it is possible to attain this state of perfect freedom . Till such state is reached, all talks of freedom , happiness  or peace in this world are merely bubbles on the plane of mental and physical existence , is ephemeral in nature and only causes more bondages and thereby only limits the freedom of the spirit force in this world.

One may argue that this spiritual practice may take a very long time to enable a man attain this ‘Yoga’ or the state of perfect freedom. It is true that a man may need a very long time to attain this state but one must understand and remember that the benefits  and merits acquired is much more and ever lasting. However, there is a way to reduce this long wait. One should increase his yearning in his mind to attain this state in a shorter time period.

Suratiya

10.12.04

12:10 AM