Real Freedom

 Real Freedom by Swami Shivaprakashananda Saraswati 

Transcript of public talk at Sri Gayatri Parishat and Sri Varasiddhi Vinayaka Temple, Bengaluru, 19 December 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0MCKGfY7RU&t=2548s

Freedom. Moksha literally means freedom.

Everyone in the world wants freedom. Everyone in the world seeks freedom.

That is why freedom is a puruṣārtha. Puruṣārtha means: what we seek. If we seek anything, it is puruṣārtha: Puruṣeiḥ arthyate iti puruṣārthaḥ.

That which is sought after by human beings is called puruṣārtha. Since everyone in the world seeks freedom, freedom is a Puruṣārtha. Perhaps nobody in the world will say “I don't want freedom”. That is why there was a freedom movement. We fought and got freedom. Freedom for the whole country. And the same is true at the individual level also. Even at the individual level, we are the seekers of freedom. We seek freedom.

And one more thing can be observed regarding freedom. We seek freedom above anything else. Even at the cost of other things we seek freedom.

Suppose someone is told: “You are given all comforts, all pleasure, under one condition: you should not leave your house.” Perhaps that is what lockdown was – all comforts were given but you can't move out of your house: no freedom, freedom is contained. This is not acceptable to us. We are ready to forgo our comforts and pleasure for freedom. Comfort and pleasure without freedom is like being in a golden cage.

We choose freedom above other things. Freedom is much more preferable than anything else. That is why freedom is parama puruṣārtha. 

The greatest mokṣa is known as the parama puruṣārtha. It is the top priority of an individual, knowingly or unknowingly. Some are aware of it, some are not aware of it: What we want is freedom. Our greatest, our ultimate goal, is freedom. All of us want freedom. All of us are seekers of freedom. 

When we seek something, we should also know how to specify what we see. If you are seeking something and you don't know how to specify what kind of car. He just says “I want a car” and he has his own criteria: It should be very small, very compact. It should not consume much parking space. A compact car. He should be able to park in a small space and it should not consume much fuel. Running cost should be minimum and it should not demand much maintenance. The maintenance cost should be minimum and it should not make noise. It should not cause pollution. All these are his specifications, and hearing his specifications, someone brought a toy car. This toy car fulfills all his specifications.

He doesn't know how to specify properly instead of getting a toy car.

Therefore, we should be clear regarding what we are seeking. What kind of freedom do we want? What kind of freedom are we looking for?

We can seek two types of freedom. The first type of freedom is the freedom to pursue our desires. That is what most of the people say: “I should have the freedom to pursue my desires. I should have the freedom to do what I like and I should have the freedom of not doing what I dislike. Freedom to pursue my likes and dislikes.”

This is a popular variety of freedom prima facie. It looks nice, ‘I should have the freedom to dress as I like. I should have the freedom to eat what I like. I should have the freedom to speak what I like, the way I like, and I should have the freedom to do what I like’. The vast majority of people are pursuing this freedom because it is very attractive. It looks so nice. And the upaniṣad calls it preyaḥ. 

Preyaḥ means it is superficially attractive. As long as one does not analyse, as long as one does not inquire, it is attractive.

But if we start inquiring, if we start analysing, we find how disastrous it is.

When I want the freedom to do what I like, when I want the freedom to pursue what I like, it means I cherish my desires. I entertain my likes and dislikes, cherishing my desires. I become a slave of my desires.

Therefore, pursuing the freedom, I end up being a slave. Pursuing freedom, I end up losing all freedom. I get caught up in the snares of desires. 

In the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa refers to desires as one's greatest enemy. 

श्री भगवानुवाच काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भ‍वः । महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणम् ॥ ३७ ॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca: kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ 

mahāśano mahā-pāpmā viddhyenamiha vairiṇam [BG 3.37]

It is a vairi; desire, kāma is a vairi, an enemy. 

इन्द्रियस्येन्द्रियस्यार्थे रागद्वेषौ व्यवस्थितौ । तयोर्न वशमागच्छेत्तौ ह्यस्य परिपन्थिनौ ॥ ३४ ॥

indriyasyendriyasyārthe rāga-dveṣau vyavasthitau 

tayorna vaśam āgacchet tau hyasya paripanthinau [BG 3.34]

More than once, at least three times, Kṛṣṇa refers to desire as an enemy:

… जहि शत्रुं महाबाहो कामरूपं दुरासदम् ॥ ४३ ॥

… jahi śatruṁ mahā-bāho kāma-rūpaṁ durāsadam [BG 3.43]

Answering Arjuna's question “why does a human being end up doing pāpa? What makes a human being end up compromising the values, compromising dharma?” 

अर्जुन उवाच अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरति पूरुषः । अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः ॥ ३६ ॥

arjuna uvāca: atha kena prayukto’yaṁ pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ

anicchannapi vārṣṇeya balādiva niyojitaḥ

Arjuna asks this question in chapter three of the Bhagavad Gītā. And then Bhagavān says: it is kāma. It is desire, kāma eṣaḥ, which makes an individual forgo dharma, violate dharma.

Therefore desires are an enemy and therefore the freedom to pursue one's desire is not healthy in nature. It leads us diametrically opposite. Instead of getting freedom, one gets caught up in samsāra. The pursuit of freedom culminates in bondage.

Desires cannot keep us happy in this life. The desires are binding in this very life. As we pursue our desires, we are bound. The desires make us struggle. Kāma gives rise to karma: You keep pursuing one desire after another desire, restlessly. Entangled in a series of struggles. Therefore, desire doesn’t allow one to be happy in this life. 

Bhartṛhari says 

…स तु भवति दरिद्रो यस्य तृष्णा विशाला ।

…sa tu bhavati daridro yasya tṛṣṇā viśālā.

One who has many desires, is a poor man. To Bhartṛhari, poverty is not the amount of money you have. The amount of money does not determine poverty. What determines poverty? It is the number of desires. One who has many desires, one who has a high number of unfulfilled desires, is a poor man. Despite having plenty of money, he will be complaining: “I don't have this, I don't have that”, and so on and so on.

Therefore, the desires don't allow us to be happy in this life. Likewise, they cannot allow us to be happy in the next life also. They bind us even in the next life. The desires keep chasing a person even to the next life. Mundaka Upaniṣad says

 

कामान् यः कामयते मन्यमानः स कामभिर्जायते तत्र तत्र ।…

kāmān yaḥ kāmayte manyamānaḥ sa kāmabhirjayate tatra tatra … [mund.up.3.2.2]

One who entertains his desires, he will be reborn in another janma, with the same group of desires, same set of desires, he is reborn. Sa kāmabhirjayate tatra tatra.

Therefore, the first type of freedom, freedom to pursue one's desires, does not lead one to freedom. Instead, it leads to bondage.

Therefore, freedom to pursue one's desires, freedom to cherish one's desires, freedom to feed one's desires cannot be the true freedom, cannot be the real freedom.

Then what is real freedom? 

The topic of today's talk is real freedom. Discovering real freedom. What is real freedom? Real freedom is freedom from desires themselves.

The real meaning of mokṣha is to be free from desires themselves.

That is what the upanishads call a mukta, a jnāni, paryāptakāmaḥ; he is paryāptakāma, free from all desires. 

श्रीभगवानुवाच प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् ।

आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ॥ ५५ ॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca: prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān

ātmanyevātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthita-prajñaḥ tadocyate [BG 2.55]

One who is free from all desires. He is a truly free person, and that is the true meaning of mokṣa. And it is called śreyaḥ.

According to Kaṭhopaniṣad, a wise man chooses this type of freedom, freedom from desires.

And not the first type of freedom, freedom to pursue one's desires.

How to be free from desires? 

Freedom from desires is the characteristic of mokṣa. Mokṣa is freedom from desires. The Bhagavad Gītā is clear about it. The upaniṣads are clear about it. How to be free from desires?

To understand this, we should know the mechanism of desires. What causes desire?

It is the sense of incompleteness. When I think I am incomplete, I have a sense of incompleteness. That is what we all experience: “I am lacking in this, I am lacking in that…”, the sense of lacking is a sense of incompleteness. The sense of incompleteness generates the desire to be complete. We seek completeness: “I am incomplete… I am lacking… I have to be complete!”

Seeking completeness is what we call desire. Desire is nothing but seeking completeness.

Therefore, as long as there is a sense of incompleteness, we have desires. We seek completeness.

Therefore, to be free from desires, we have to find completeness. Attaining completeness. That is the only way to be free from desires. One can try all alternative methods. They can only stop the desire for a while. Without finding completeness, they cannot put a permanent end to desires. Therefore, to be free from desires, one has to find completeness. 

Now, where should I find completeness? 

We have two options. Either I can seek it inside, within myself, or I can seek completeness outside myself.

Most often people seek it outside because our senses and mind are oriented towards the outside:

पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत्स्वयम्भूः …

parāñci khāni vyatṛṇatsvayambhūḥ …

The mind and senses are oriented towards the outside world. They open towards the external world. Therefore, by nature I see completeness outside myself.

But unfortunately anything outside me cannot give me completeness. Anything external to me cannot make me complete.

The simple reason why an external object cannot make me complete: It is not me. Anything other than me cannot give me completeness. It cannot make me complete. Any amount of decoration or any amount of ornament on a donkey will not make it a horse or anything. It will remain a donkey. You can try painting it. You can try putting various ornaments, various decorations, yet it remains a donkey. Similarly, any amount of external add-ons, will not add anything to me or to my completeness.

Therefore, seeking completeness outside is a waste of time and effort. Therefore I have only one option left: I have to seek it within me. I have to seek completeness within. It is the only way. Within means: my own nature, my true self. That is where I have to see completeness. That is where I have to find completeness.

Then vedānta, the Bhagavad Gītā and the upaniṣads come to my help. They tell me: You are already complete. Your true nature, your true self, is already complete.

Ayamātma Brahma – This ātma, the self of yours, the nature of yours, is Brahma. Brahma is complete. Brahma is pūrṇa, infinite. The very word brahma means infinite, and that is completeness. Therefore, completeness is your nature. You don't have to get it.

If completeness is my nature, then why am I not aware of it? Why do I miss it? 

It is because of self-ignorance. Ātma-ajñāna, ignorance of my true self has veiled my completeness. That is why I seek it everywhere.

Therefore the solution is to discover my completeness which is already my nature, by removing the self ignorance.

And that is ātma-jñāna, self-knowledge, knowledge of one's true nature.

Self-knowledge is the way to discover one’s completeness and thereby to discover the true freedom, discover the real freedom, which is called mokṣa.

Finding the real freedom is possible only through ātma-jñāna. Only through self-knowledge.

There is no other means. Any other means is not possible. It is the only way to find one's true self.

And when one finds one's true self, one's completeness, one finds satisfaction within oneself. One finds fulfillment within oneself: आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः (ātmanyevātmanā tuṣṭaḥ) [BG 2.55] – A man of self-knowledge is satisfied within himself.

As long as there is ignorance, one is dependent on external sources of happiness and external means of happiness. You need both, external sources of happiness and external means of happiness.

We can distinguish between the two, source of happiness and means of happiness:

If I am seeking happiness from a sweet, say rasgulla, it is a source of happiness. But to get rasgulla, to eat rasgulla, I should have certain means. And the means are of various types. There are external means as well as internal means. External means: the money to buy rasgulla and other things, or the equipment to cook rasgulla. Then, internal means: My own tongue is an internal means. If I don't have a tongue, any amount of rasgulla or any amount of gulab jamun is a waste. And I should have good health, I should not be a sugar patient. So, internal means: despite having the source of happiness I may be lacking in the means of happiness. The sweet is in front of me, but I don't have the means to enjoy. Therefore, an ignorant one is dependent on external sources as well as external means of happiness.

Whereas once you discover yourself, you are free from the requirement, free from the dependence on both external source and external means of happiness.

Ātmanyevātmanā tuṣṭaḥ means he is not dependent on an external source of happiness. Ātmā is his source of happiness. And ātmana eva tuṣṭaḥ - he is not dependent on the external means of happiness. Ātmā is his means of happiness. Implying he doesn't depend on any other source for his satisfaction. He doesn't depend on anything other than the Self for his satisfaction, because he has discovered the completeness within himself, and then he is free from all desires, prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān…

He is free from all desires that are present in the mind. That is the true freedom, the real freedom.

And how to find it? How to Get ātma-jñāna? 

One has to go to a guru: tadvijñānārthaṁ sa gurumevābhigacchet , approach a guru with the proper attitude, with shraddhā, with bhakti and listen to upadeśa:

…उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः ॥ ३४ ॥

…upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

One has to approach a guru and pursue the adhyātma-vidyā.

But then to pursue the adhyātma-vidyā, one should have some readiness. One should be prepared. Otherwise the knowledge does not take place in the mind.

How to prepare oneself for ātma-vidyā?

To prepare oneself for ātma-vidyā, first of all one should eschew the first type of freedom. Again we are coming to the two types of freedom. “I want to have freedom to follow all my likes and dislikes.” If this is my attitude, I cannot get ready. I cannot qualify for ātma-jñāna.

If I give free reign to my desires, if I follow my likes and dislikes without any discipline, without any restraint, I will never qualify for ātma-jñāna.

Therefore, Bhagawan says, one has to restrain one's likes and dislikes. Indriyasyendriyasyārthe rāga-dveṣau vyavasthitau … [BG 3.34], our natural tendency is to follow the likes and dislikes, rāga-dveṣa.

Tayor na vaśam āgacchet – do not be a slave of your rāga-dveṣa. Do not be a slave of your likes and dislikes.

Most often our likes and dislikes determine our actions. Our actions are solely decided by what we like and what we dislike. But then Kṛṣṇa says: do not allow your likes and dislikes to determine your actions. Instead, let the understanding of dharma, the understanding of right and wrong, determine your actions:

तस्माच्छास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्याकार्यव्यवस्थितौ ।

ज्ञात्वा शास्त्रविधानोक्तं कर्म कर्तुमिहार्हसि ॥ २४ ॥

tasmāt śāstraṁ pramāṇaṁ te kāryākārya-vyavasthitau

jñātvā śāstra-vidhānoktaṁ karma kartum ihārhasi  [BG 16.24]

The Veda, śruti and smṛti, have laid down certain values. What is right for an individual and what is not right for an individual. Kārya and akārya, dharma and adharma. Both are given by the śāstra. And Kṛṣṇa says: Let dharma determine your actions, not your likes and dislikes. 

Make your likes and dislikes subservient to the understanding of right and wrong.

Make your likes and dislikes subservient to the values, the values of righteousness.

Therefore, to accomplish the real freedom, one has to be ready to forgo. One has to be ready to give up the first type of ‘freedom’, freedom to pursue one's desires.

When you sacrifice the freedom to pursue your desires, you culminate in freedom from desires themselves, which is the true freedom, the real freedom.

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।

पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

हरिः ॐ श्री गुरुभ्यो नमः हरिः ॐ ॥

Oṁ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇatpūrṇamudacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate

oṁ śantiḥ śantiḥ śantiḥ

hariḥ oṁ śrī gurubhyo namaḥ hariḥ oṁ