Today, as India celebrates its 80th Independence Day, we celebrate freedom from external rule. But there is a deeper freedom that every human being must discover, the freedom from our own inner bondage. The body, mind and ego create the walls of this prison. We remain bound by the triple sufferings of life, the fifteen monsters of fear, stress, anxiety, worry, anger, hatred, greed, jealousy, revenge and other forms of negativity, as well as karma and the cycle of birth and death.
So, what does true freedom look like? First, it is Sat-Chit-Ananda. A liberated person is established in peace, love and bliss. Second, there is freedom from the fifteen monsters that disturb the mind. Third, there is freedom from karma and, ultimately, freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Fourth, one becomes established in consciousness and is no longer a prisoner of the mind.
This is where MIND offers a powerful insight: Remove Ignorance, Negativity and Desire. When ignorance, negativity and desire are removed, what remains is M, M for Mukti. Freedom begins when the mind stops controlling us and consciousness begins guiding us.
A truly free person is a Jivan Mukta—liberated while still living. Such a person experiences Advaita, the realization that there is no fundamental separation between the individual and the Divine. Maya is understood as Maya, and Leela is experienced as Leela. There is no need to escape the world; there is freedom from attachment to the world. People, pleasures and possessions may remain, but their power to bind us disappears.
The greatest sign of this freedom is simple: See SIP in all. Love SIP in all. Serve SIP in all. When surrender becomes complete, the separate “I” dissolves. Like a river merging into the ocean, the individual loses its separate identity and realizes its true nature. There is no longer a “someone” trying to become somebody. There is simply SIP.
Special credit to Blico and Achla for their major contributions to this call. As AiR says, both of them hit the sixers in this discussion, bringing powerful insights that helped shape our understanding of True Freedom.
True Freedom is the ultimate journey, from someone to nobody, from mind to consciousness, from bondage to liberation, from Bhoga to Yoga, and from ignorance to enlightenment.