We like to be free, but our liking to be free is part of our bondage. Our bondage and inner prison are built through our likes and dislikes, and this very material called ‘like’ tries to be free by ‘wanting’ to be free. Can anyone truly be free by wanting to be free? Not ‘freedom from’ or ‘freedom for’, just being free.
As long as one is not in the core of one’s being, the need for dependency will persist. Unless one truly knows oneself as pure freedom, the need to depend will remain. When you are alone, you feel lonely, and when you are with others, you feel suffocated.
One remains trapped in this vicious cycle. When you are alone, you feel lonely because love is not there. Love is a caring energy. When you are with others, you feel your aloneness is lost, as love can seem suffocating and binding.
One must bring love and freedom together in wise harmony. This is a complex issue. Please observe and examine yourself deeply. Most people choose love over freedom, while monks, by renouncing the world, choose freedom over love.
A person who has blended love and freedom is an awakened one. This blend is possible if you can see the difference between ‘freedom of the self’ and ‘freedom from the self’. We confuse freedom by wanting freedom of the self. This is looseness. Freedom from the self, from the ego, is true freedom. When the ego exists, you are in bondage. Freedom of the self is the ego wanting to be free. Freedom from the ego is true renunciation.
So, find out for yourself what it means to love, what it means to be dependent, and what it means to be free. Observe and examine, and don’t continue living mechanically. We must discover ourselves, and then you will see how love and freedom go together. You will understand why one is dependent.
Join Swami Sukhabodhananda’s three-day residential retreat; Existential Laboratory (E-Lab) along with the Mahabaleshwar Yatra on February 6,7 and 8 in 2025.
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