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What is my vision of freedom? Is freedom the licence to do whatever we want?
My vision of freedom is to be yourself. It is not a question of getting freedom from something. That naive understanding of freedom is not freedom at all, because ‘freedom from something’ is still given to you; there is a cause to it. If you think that you are finally free from something, you’re wrong. Because, whatever it is, Even if it’s not in your path now, it is always in your trail. You are still obliged to it. Without it, you would not have been free.
“The freedom to do anything you want is not freedom either, because wanting, desiring to do something, arises out of the mind — and mind is your bondage“. Freedom from things are dependent on the outer world. Freedom to do something is also dependent on the outside. Freedom to be ultimately pure is not dependent on anything outside you…. “But the freedom I have been talking about is simply the way you are — in utter silence, serenity, beauty, bliss”.
But in the name of freedom, we fight against anything that tries to control us. Control is a dirty word. Freedom, and when I say freedom – I don’t mean license or release. When I say freedom, I’m aware that most of you will understand it is a license because you believe freedom is a release or a rescue from something. A controlled mind, whenever it hears about freedom immediately understands it as a license or being released. License is the opposite pole of control. Freedom is just in between, just exactly in the middle, where there is no need to control and no need for a license. It is all about being just there.
“Freedom has its own discipline, but it is not forced by any authority. It comes out of your Awareness, out of Authenticity. Not Authority.”
Awareness brings freedom. In freedom, there is no need for control, because there is no possibility of a license. “It is because of license that you have been forced to control, and if you remain licentious the society will go on controlling you in millions of ways”. It is because of your licentiousness, that the policeman exists and the judge and the politician and the courts, and they go on forcing you to control yourself. And in controlling yourself, you miss the whole point of being alive – you miss celebration. How can you ever celebrate life if you’re not alive? And how can you ever be alive, if you are controlled – either by others or by yourself?
Freedom has to be understood. It is a very delicate matter, a very subtle matter, one of the most profound, because freedom is equivalent to godliness….“Fundamentally, there are three kinds or three type of understanding freedom – First, there is a kind of freedom that you are acquainted with: that is freedom from. For example, A child wants to be free of the parents. The slave wants to be free from the master, from the boss. This is freedom from; it is a reaction, it is the ego asserting itself. And I am not saying there is anything wrong in it; you just have to watch the different colors of freedom. When you are seeking freedom from, sooner or later you will fall into another trap — because it is a reaction and not an understanding. That’s what happened in all the revolutions in the past.
The second kind of freedom, one wants to be free to do something. For example, you want to be free of your family because you are in love with music or sports. You are not really against the family. But you are, for music, and the family creates a hindrance, so you escape from the family. You are not against the family, against the parents, but they want you to become something else, say an engineer and you want to become a musician. The second type of freedom revolves around what you want to do, basically. It starts with you thinking, “It is good to be a musician even if you have to suffer for it. It is better to be a musician if you really want to be a musician, if you have a passion for it, than to be a successful engineer, rich, comfortable, safe….“. This is the second kind of freedom: freedom for.
The third freedom is the absolute, the transcendental freedom. What is that? It is neither from nor for; it is simply freedom. It is just freedom. That is moksha: just freedom. Neither against anybody — it is not a reaction; nor to create some future — there is no goal. One simply enjoys being oneself, for its own sake; it is an end unto itself.
Freedom is something inner; it is of the consciousness. You can be free anywhere — chained, in a jail, you can be free — and you can be unfree outside the jail, in your own home, visibly absolutely free, but you will be a prisoner if your consciousness is not free…. “As far as the outside is concerned you can never be absolutely free — let it be clear once and forever. As far as outside is concerned you are not alone, so how can you be absolutely free? There are millions of people around you. On the outside, life has to be a compromise. If you were alone on the earth you would have been absolutely free, but you are not alone.
But, it is very important to remember – one man’s freedom should not become other people’s problem. You are free to be yourself, but you should not be an interference in other people’s lives. A man of understanding will respect his freedom as much as he will respect others’ freedom, because if nobody respects your freedom, your freedom will be destroyed. It is a mutual understanding: ‘I respect your freedom, you respect my freedom, then we both can be free.’ But it is a compromise. I have not to interfere with your being, I am not free to trespass on you. On the outside we are interdependent. Nobody can be absolutely independent. Life is an interdependence. Not only with people are you interdependent, you are interdependent with everything…. Everything in existence is interdependent, so you cannot be absolutely free on the outside — and there is no need either. Enjoy this interdependence. Don’t call it bondage. It is not dependence, it is interdependence. You are dependent on others, others are dependent on you. It is a brotherhood, it is relatedness. Even the smallest grass leaf is related to the greatest star. But in the inner world, in the inner kingdom, you can be absolutely free.
But How can I discover freedom?
Sit down and watch, witness the whole process of your thoughts. And slowly, slowly you will see you are neither angry nor greedy, neither a Hindu nor a Mohammedan nor a Christian, neither a Catholic nor a communist. If your awareness grows deeper, Slowly, slowly you will be aware that you are not any thought - you are not mind at all. You are just a pure witness, not your body. Not your mind. Not your thoughts. Not your emotions. The experience of pure witnessing is the experience of total freedom, but it is an inward phenomenon. And a man who is inwardly absolutely free has no yearning to be outwardly free. He is capable of accepting nature as it is.
Thanks!