September 2015
Guruji: So what is the question?
Student: What is freedom?
Guruji: There are three aspects of freedom. Freedom to think, freedom to act and freedom to live. Right? So, which freedom are you speaking of? Freedom to act or think or live?
Student: Are they all inter-related?
Guruji: They are different. You have the freedom to think but you may not have the freedom to act. Because thinking is in your personal space and for acting you enter into a public space.
For example you may feel like shouting at somebody, but you may have the freedom to only think that way, but you cannot shout at the person because it may spoil the relationship. So, freedom to act is not there, but freedom to think is there.
So, then there is a freedom to talk, voice your opinion. There are places where you speak out what you think about a situation and people take it objectively without branding you or creating a problem for you. You have the ability to express your opinion in a public space. In some countries you are not allowed to express your opinions publicly. So, there is no freedom to express, no freedom to talk. But anyways, freedom to think is there. Nobody can stop you from thinking. But whatever you think, you cannot express through writing, or newspaper or media.
So, freedom to think cannot be stopped but freedom to express and freedom to act can be restricted by circumstances. Now what freedom are you asking about?
Student: Even freedom to think also has barriers. Because you have this shackles that you should not think like this…
Guruji: Nobody can stop you from thinking. But your thinking is limited by your own understanding of life, whatever social conditions that you have been through, that can put a limitation on your thought process. For example in a society where gender equanimity is not there, woman or man cannot think of certain things and all those concepts will influence your thinking. But even then, it cannot stop you from thinking. It may limit your ability to think.
So, the ability to think is reduced because of this conditioning. Now what can be done? It is only you who has to see what conditioning you have gone through and see how you can come out of that conditioning if you think that you are not able to think clearly.
Coincidentally, yesterday in the flight I was reading a book on how to think clearly. Our thinking gets corrupted by so many parameters. We are not able to think clearly because of the conditioning. So how to think clearly without a conditioning is an art what you can learn provided you know what are the limitations imposed on the conditioning.
So, one example for how we are not able to think clearly is we always want a reference with respect to something. I will feel that, ‘My job is good’ when I see that you are struggling for 12 hours a day and I am happily working for 8 hours a day and getting much better pay than what you get. But the moment I see somebody else working only 4 hours a day and getting 5 times my salary then my job is bad. So, is it clear thinking or confused thinking? Our mind is getting influenced by so many biases. I don’t ask question whether that 8 hours job is what I need. I always compare with somebody and judge whether my job is good or bad.
So, till you saw that person with 4hrs work a day, you were a very happy person, but after that you have become an unhappy person. So how you think is always influenced by biases. Now who created these biases? It is only you who created them. Now if you say I have the freedom to think, that means you should be able to think free of these biases.
Student: But biases did not come with my choice, they are because of my upbringing, the environment around me etc
Guruji: Ultimately what matters is that you are holding on to them. You upbringing, culture etc everything was there, fine, but you are holding on to it. Why dint you drop it? Now you have choice, you are free person, you can drop whatever is not worth it. Why didn’t you drop them? Who told you not to drop? These are all not external things, they are internal concepts. Why are you holding on to your biases? Who stopped you?
So, the issue is not that somebody is forcing biases on you, or somebody has conditioned you, the issue is that you have not seen you biases. You don’t have clarity about your own biases. It is your own choice, you need to get a clarity on your own biases.
Student: Choice comes after clarity?
Guruji: If there is no clarity there is no choice. In confused state, there is no choice. So who is responsible for your own freedom? You are only responsible. You have to see your biases, your limitations, your conditioning and why you are still holding on to those. Drop those conditioning it’sif they are not worth it. See things clearly and then you will drop them. So you have a freedom to think clearly provided you observe what is going on in your mind and see what are the limitations and the programming in your mind and drop them. Big Deal!
Student: The concepts which are individual based can be dropped, but what about those concepts which are linked with Family or a community? You cannot drop as it affects the others also.
Guruji: Do not mix up things here. The freedom to think is limited by our biases and freedom to act is may be limited by circumstances. But why are you restricting your freedom to think?
Student: Because if I think in a certain way and if I am not able to act in that way, it brings in a conflict or friction.
Guruji: So if you think in certain way, are you free from biases while thinking? If your free from biases while thinking then your thinking will be right thinking and right action will happen. A right thinking and right action nobody can stop.
Student: What if my right thinking may not be right for others?
It is not about right for others or not. People always think in terms of contrast. They compare. So, it is like, “My wife is the most beautiful wife until I see my neighbour’s wife”. So it is always comparison. The question is not about others, question is about if you are able to think clearly or not. What is required for a given situation and act on that and I do not think anybody can stop it. It is only your limitation of clarity that is a problem.
Student: A person may have the clarity in thinking and acting, but does it fall into the ethical category and also, one country may accept it and in another country it may be rejected. So again there will friction
Guruji: There can be friction in the freedom of expression because it will enter into a public space whereas thinking clearly is your private space. First of all, are you able to think clearly? And set your life in order, not set somebody else’s life in order. In your own life, if you want to set things in order, you have to bring clarity in your thinking. So now what is the question of freedom is you are asking for?
Student: Obviously freedom to think, because unless you think clearly, you cannot act and you cannot even choose how to act.
Guruji: So, the freedom to think is your choice. Free from biases, what is the right thing which is required in a given situation is what you have to do. So what is the question about freedom? Now, our own freedom gets restricted because of our own biases, our own programming, right? We need to come out of that programming by looking into each of these programming and each of conditionings very clearly. Then mind will be very clear and no confusion.
Then you will try to do something which is right thing to do and now if you are clear and convinced about right thing to do irrespective of whatever opposition from the society or others you will do it because you have the inner conviction that this is the right thing to do. Now, it is not somebody else who is stopping you, the inner conviction is stopping you. Please understand that nobody is a limitation for you, it is only you who is a limitation for yourself. You put the boundary for yourself; you create the hurdles for yourself. Think through clearly. See things clearly, you will be free.
See, what happens is that the freedom of our inner spirit is the ability to think clearly and now that gets restricted by the fears, hopes, conditionings what we have. So, it is always difficult to sort out that and think clearly and see what is a required for a given situation. An example is given in the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna is a warrior and he gets confused about what is the right thing to do. Krishna brings in the clarity. So our minds get attached to something, it holds on to something.
For example let us say you want to move to another country and your mind says, ‘I do not know what is there’, mind projects fear and says, ‘This country is comfortable and also I do not know what is the risk involved in the other country’ and there is a hope that if continue here something better might come up. That hope after hope will be there, but that is also a dangerous situation. One of the persons I know was suffering from terminal case of cancer and the Doctor said he has a maximum of 3 months to live, do not bother him any further and allow him to die peacefully. But his children were Doctors and they did not want to give up hope. They tried different kinds of treatments and this person went through lot of suffering which was not because of Cancer, but because of the Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy etc and ultimately that person died.
At least she could have avoided that suffering. Even though you are a Doctor, for a patient you will tell very clearly that he will not survive, but when it comes to your own relative, you do not want to give up hope.
Another similar situation happened with one of my relatives. She was 99 years old. She had a Brain haemorrhage and went into coma. Five of her Grand Children were Doctors and they decided to do a Brain Surgery on her, at the age of 99. She was not allowed to at least die peacefully. And it so happened that they did the surgery, but she never came out of coma and the ICU expenses were multiplying day after day and all her children ad grand children together cannot afford to meet those expenses. So, hope also creates a problem for us. And then the fear creates a problem in our thinking. The biases of the Society – ‘I should not thinkin like this, this is right, this is wrong’ etc is told by the society. And then ‘What will somebody think about me’, the fear of losing name or fame, losing money, position, fear of losing relationships. So these are the fears which clutter our thinking, our mind space and out thinking gets corrupted by this.
Are we able to think through this or come out of this and find a clarity for a situation? So then you will get a tremendous force and a inner conviction that this is right thing to do. Then nobody can stop you. Otherwise what happens is the ability of spirit which is force, the power of God within us gets restrained by our cluttering of the mind.
Student: These stories that we read, about Akka Mahadevi, Sant Jnaneshwar etc, is their Spirit different from ours?
Guruji: No, no. Spirit is not of a different calibre, they are able to think through clearly without any biases, without any fear of Society – ‘What will the society say?’. This fear is gone because there is a clarity in the thought. So, ‘I am not the body, mind or intellect, I am the pure spirit and nothing can happen to me’ – This clarity is there and once this clarity emerges nothing can stop you and that becomes the force.
So, the challenge for us is to be able to think very clearly, free from biases, hopes and fear. We will know exactly what is required to be done and it is also driven by the value system. What is that I value what I have to do? Our value system is what drives us, what do I value? If you say, ‘I value my family’ then you will not go to any other country, you will stay only here. If you say, ‘No, I value only money’, then family will be in the second place and money will be in the first place. And then if you say, “No, I value seeing countries’, then travelling will be your first preference. So what you value most will drive you.
And with that value you will be clear about what needs to be done once you become free from the biases. Otherwise, you may have value but you will not be able to take action because mind will be pulled in so many directions. Are you clear about what do you value most in your life? What do you have to act upon, are you clear?
This is what people say is the role of a Guru. He tries to help you de-clutter your mind and once that happens then he need not tell you what to do, you will have the clarity that this is the right thing to do and then nobody can stop you. When you are not clear, no amount of suggestions or guidance from others can help you because you will still be the same.
“The freedom comes from the clarity of thought.”
Freedom comes from the value system you have which creates the desires or thought related to it. For example, if you value family, then your desires are related to family and if you value money then your desires are related to earning money. And if I have a desire, then I have to act, but action will be restricted by various factors like fear, hopes, society etc. Now, without any biases, if you are able to clearly think through these various factors as to what is required and what you really need, you will be able t clearly prioritize your actions and focus on that. Otherwise mind will be very cluttered and pulled in different directions.
There is a story. A dog was sitting in the middle of a Highway and sees a car coming at a very high speed towards him. The dog thinks, ‘Should I sit here, may be the car will go from the other side. Or should I go to the left side of the road or the right side of the road? Which is better?’ And that is the end of the thinking actually, the car went over him before he could do anything. So, we have so many choices, we need to choose one of those which we do not because we are cluttered by our thinking patterns.
Student: My inner most desires influence my choices.
Guruji: Naturally! That is what I call value system. That is your inner most thinking. For example, this being a free country, you have a choice to become a Mayor, but you may not think of that. For you, more valuable thing might be to spend more time with your children. So our thought processes, desires are related to what values we hold on to. Until and unless our thought process is clear, the mind will be cluttered. Spirituality or enlightenment or liberation is a mind which is free from clutter. That is the freedom! The real freedom is freedom from the mind, a biased mind.
By Sri Prabhuji