Spiritual Discourses: Inner freedom is the realisation of one’s true nature
By Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati*
Inner freedom is the realisation of one’s true nature, limitlessness. It is possible to follow the values only when we have clarity about what we seek in life. This is viveka, discernment. It is this discernment that one must gain.
The Brahadaranyaka Upanisad [2-4-5] says, atmanastu kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati, it is for the sake of the self alone that all is loved. We must recognize that the things of the world are important to us not for their own sake but because the self is important to us. Everything else appears important only because it makes us feel important. If it is the self that is most important to you, you are the very goal you are seeking. Therefore, looking upon the objects of the world as a source of success or happiness is a false notion; success is to be discovered from within oneself and not anywhere else.
What do we want in life? We want to be unconditionally free of every limitation and bondage. Discover the fact that the desire behind all desires is the desire to be free and limitless. Let there be clarity about what you want in life and how to get it. If limitlessness is what you desire, it cannot be ‘attained’ because every effort and achievement is limited.
There are two kinds of desires: natural and cultivated. Hunger is a natural desire, but the desire for a particular type of food to appease that hunger is cultivated. The desire to be limitless is a natural desire because you find yourself always wanting to be limitless. There is always provision for fulfilling natural desires in this creation. If everything in this world is limited, how can one fulfill the desire to be limitless?
There is a story of two people who boarded a train on a long journey, one with a large amount of cash in his briefcase and the other with the intention of stealing that money. After the train started moving, the wealthy man opened his briefcase and began to count the money in front of the thief. That night, the thief searched everywhere for that money, but could not find it. The same thing happened on the next day of the journey. When they reached their destination, out of sheer frustration, the thief revealed his true identity and asked the wealthy man where his money had been hidden during the journey. The man replied, “Under your pillow.” It had not occurred to the thief to look for the money under his own pillow!
Similarly, we do not look for God within ourselves but fruitlessly search everywhere else. Limitlessness does not lie in gaining name, fame, power or heaven. It is our own nature. All we have to do is to recognise this fact – our own nature. It is not something to be accomplished. It is an awareness of what has already been achieved. There is freedom and surrender in this realisation. Surrender is recognising the reality of what we are seeking. It is not to be sought from outside ourselves but to be discovered within ourselves. We surrender the false notion that what we are seeking is different from ourselves.
Viveka is seeing things for what they are, and Aviveka is seeing what is not. What we desire is to be totally free, perfect, and complete. We are unhappy when we find ourselves to be imperfect and incomplete. We expect to become perfect by using the mind, intellect, and ego. At the level of the mind, we require friends etc. At the level of the intellect, we require all kinds of information and knowledge. At the level of the ego, we require power and recognition. Trying to become limitless by appeasing these needs is like trying to cook rice by the flame of a candle, as in the story of the mullah.
This body-mind-sense complex is limited. Therefore, it will remain limited no matter how hard we try. As long as we equate ourselves to this body and mind, we will not see ourselves as being perfect. Only when we recognize the nature of the self can we see we are indeed that very completeness and perfection. This calls for the ultimate Viveka, the discrimination of the self from the non-self, and the ultimate surrender of all identification with this body-mind complex.
To discover inner freedom, we have to surrender the tendencies that bind us
We have to recognise the fundamental truth that success and happiness are the nature of the self. Thus, we have to own up to ourselves. For this, one must have a mind that enjoys purity, togetherness, and integrity; a mind that is a friend. The Kathopanisad [1-2-20] says:
tamakratuh pasyati vitasoko dhatuprasadanmahimanamatmanah.
The desireless sees that glory of the self through the serenity of the organs (and becomes) free from grief.
One sees the glory of one’s own self when the mind becomes free from likes and dislikes and gains purity, and the personality becomes integrated and favourable. This is atma- kripa. Four progressive kinds of kripa are necessary to gain self-knowledge: Isvara-kripa, the grace of God, guru-kripa, the grace of the teacher, shastra-kripa, the grace of the scriptures, and atma-kripa, the grace of one’s own self. When one enjoys atma-kripa, one is pleased with oneself; one discovers the glories of the self and knows that the self is greater than this mere body-mind-sense complex. That is the ultimate success. The wise person discovers the glory of his own self and becomes free from all grief.
We become free from grief and unhappiness by recognising our own glories. For this, we need a mind that enjoys purity and togetherness and is poised to discover these glories. Retirement is an ideal period of time when we can be comfortable with ourselves. Similarly, solitude can be enjoyed only when we can enjoy being by ourselves. Discovering comfort with ourselves is success. As Lord Krishna says [2-55]:
prajahati yada kamansarvanpartha manogatan,
atmanyevatmana tushtah sthitaprajnastadochyate.
When a person gives up all the desires as they appear in the mind, O Partha, happy in oneself, with oneself alone, that person is said to be one of ascertained knowledge.
In living a life of surrender, such a one has, in the course of time, acquired a mind that is pleased with itself. He has surrendered whatever comes in the way of having that disposition of the mind.
Basically, we are divine, limitless, and of the nature of goodness. That alone is the truth. Yet we do have some negative tendencies. What we call evil is but the product of ignorance. It is superficial and can be removed. By living a life that is in keeping with the basic values, these obstacles can be removed.
One aspect of surrender is graceful acceptance, and the other is the performing of actions in keeping with the basic values. When we follow the values, we feel good about ourselves. We become worthy in our own perception. We become acceptable to ourselves. That is the real success. Our judgment of success typically depends upon the changing fancies and values of the world and the people around us. This perception has to be dropped in favour of the perception of the scriptures. We surrender that which is an obstacle and a source of unhappiness. Otherwise, there will be no freedom in surrender, only loss. We surrender tendencies that bind, for the sake of discovering freedom.
Living a life of dharma is not enough by itself. Dharmic people can also have desires; they may want to go to heaven to enjoy the pleasures available there. They cannot gain liberation or freedom either. Lord Krishna says [Bhagavad Gita, 9-21]:
te tam bhuktvs svargalokam vishalam kshine punye martyalokam vishanti,
evam trayidharmamanuprapanna gatagatam kamakama labhante.
These people, having enjoyed that vast heaven when their punya is exhausted, enter the world of mortals. In this manner, following the rituals in the three Vedas, those who are desirous of various ends gain the condition of coming and going (samsara).
If rituals and various actions are performed to earn punya and gain pleasure, then when the punya is exhausted, one has to start all over again because one is as incomplete as one was earlier. Hence, growing out of desires is the only way to attain liberation. This is Viveka, discrimination, at a more mature level.
It is true that desiring and fulfilling a desire is a privilege. However, do not compromise the means for the end in this process. The Kathopanisad says [2-1-1]:
paranchi khani vyatrunat svayambhustasmatparanpasyati nantaratman.
God has rendered the senses (so) defective that they go outward, and hence man sees the external and not the internal self.
The human being is born extroverted. There is a natural affinity for the objects and pleasures of the world. Therefore, a human being always looks to the world for happiness and security. The mind is directed towards things and pleasures other than the self. This is an obstacle; only when the mind becomes introverted and abiding can we discover the freedom and happiness that is our nature.
…to continue
*Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati has been teaching Vedānta Prasthānatrayī and Prakaraṇagranthas for the last 40 years in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Throughout the year, he conducts daily Vedānta discourses, accompanied by retreats, and Jñāna Yajñas on Vedānta in different cities in India and foreign countries.
