What is Freedom?

Published by Bhavana under on 1:45 PM
During my Satsang last night the facilitator asked the group a very interesting question. What is Freedom to you? It was fascinating listening to other people's ideas of what freedom is. Some people mentioned freedom of choice. Others brought up freedom from judgement, both from others and from oneself. Freedom to some is a very tangible thing. Freedom to be yourself, to choose, to do as you will.

When this question was posed my immediate thoughts went to meditation. That brief moment when you are actually meditating and all thoughts have disappeared. Your soul and atman have been temporarily freed from their container. That also brought me to think of my idea of ultimate freedom: union with Brahman. The one yoga sutra that sticks in my mind particularly well is that 'yoga is the stilling of the thought-waves of the mind.' And this stilling of the mind is freedom for me. Being able to leave psychological time, anxieties, worries, thoughts behind.

I'm curious, what do you all think? What does freedom mean to you?

1 comments:

Anonymous said... @ November 8, 2007 at 12:57 PM

Ohhh...I could learn a lot from you. Fabulous post.
Meditation offers me freedom from my mind rushing ahead to worry about "the everyday stuff"
Although, I'm not that skilled at pushing those thoughts away and just "sitting"....I will get there one day.
Ahhh...nirvana. That's freedom in my definition.

Post a Comment