WHAT IS BONDAGE? WHAT IS LIBERATION?

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

21. WHAT IS BONDAGE? WHAT IS LIBERATION?
The goal of all religious life is said to be salvation, liberation, illumination, which means
that until that is attained people are still not enlightened. They are unenlightened; their life is not
illumined. Their life is still being lived in darkness. The very fact that the objective of religious life
is to attain enlightenment or bodhi, the very fact that religions are said to help people to attain
illumination, emancipation and liberation, automatically implies that in their present state they are
in a state of bondage, not liberation, not emancipation. Until he is emancipated, a slave is in

bondage. Until a person is enlightened, he is in a state of slumber, of darkness, of
non-enlightenment.
What is this enlightenment? What is this state of darkness that seems to be binding all
human beings and that needs to be removed so that they may attain awakening? Unless you
diagnose the disease, how can you prescribe a cure?
St. Francis of Assisi ends his world-famous prayer with the words: “And it is in dying to the
little self that we are born to eternal life.” Another mystic said: “Then shall I be free, when ‘I’ shall
cease to be.” So, the essence of darkness, of bondage, of ignorance, of slumber, would seem to be
the feeling that one is a certain specific individual with a name and form, a date of birth, a height and
weight, with a certain personality and an ego. And, they say, until that is got rid of, emancipation,
liberation is a far cry.
Guru Maharaj himself said: “Kill this little ‘I’. Die to live. Lead the divine life. Within you
is hidden God; within you is Immortal Soul; within you is ocean of bliss; within you is fountain of
joy.” All this we are not able to perceive. Hidden God we are not able to perceive. Immortal Soul we
are not aware of. Bliss and joy is far off; we are always morose, dejected, depressed—all sorts of
moods are there, but not joy and bliss. Why?
Gurudev says that you are not experiencing the hidden God, the Immortal Soul, the fountain
of joy, the ocean of bliss because you are so much preoccupied with this little “I”, so much
involved, completely entangled, overpowered, overwhelmed, and obscured by and wrapped up
with this little “I”. It is like a fire that is completely obscured by thick, black smoke. The shining fire
within cannot be seen; we only see the smoke, the darkness.
Thus Gurudev says that due to so much preoccupation with the little “I”, you are not able to
see the bliss, the joy, the hidden God. So, what is the way? “Kill this little ‘I’.” How to kill this little
“I”? Lead the divine life. So, in a nutshell, both the problem and the solution have been given by
Gurudev. You are not able to see the ever-present Reality because of this little “I”. Therefore, to see
and experience the ever-present Reality and be full of bliss, you have to remove the little “I”. And
the way of killing the little “I” is to lead the divine life.
And the great sage Veda Vyasa who dominates the entire scene of ancient Indian religious
and spiritual history like a great colossus said: “I will tell you in brief the heart of the spiritual
problem of the individual soul. I will tell you the secret. Two words imply bondage and two words
imply liberation. The two words that imply bondage are ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ And the two words that
imply liberation are ‘not-I’ and ‘not-mine.’”
“Is deh ko maim manna yah sabse bada pap hai. Sab pap iske putra haim. Sab pap ka yah
bap hai (Thinking the body as ‘I’ is the greatest sin, and all other sins are its children. It is the father
of all other sins).” As long as our nature—our mind, thoughts, inner consciousness, our awareness
of ourselves—is characterised by this “I”, dominated by this “I”, especially if the “I” happens to be
tamasic and rajasic—self-assertive, aggressive, violent, exploitive, harbouring likes and dislikes
and having guile, deceit, crookedness, dishonesty, falsehood, and a scheming nature—then such a
life is spiritual death.

That is why the ancients said: “From such a death, O Lord, take us unto Immortality.
Mrityor ma amritam gamaya (From mortality lead us to Immortality).” This could not be with
reference to the body, because the body is not going to be immortal. No scripture ever says that this
body has anything to do with immortality. Rather: “Dust thou art and to dust thou returnest.”
Therefore, immortality has never been affirmed in relation to the body.
What then is the mortality that is being referred to? It is from the mortality of the ego-ridden
life, which actually constitutes spiritual death. When there is no awareness of God, when the ego
dominates and rules the inner consciousness, the antahkarana, then we are in a state of spiritual
death. We are not living. Even though the body may be functioning, the mind may be active and
biologically we may be declared to be very much alive, in perfect health, nevertheless, we are
spiritually dead.
“Remembrance of God is life. Forgetfulness of God is death.” In the same way, awareness
of our immortal spiritual nature is life, non-awareness or forgetfulness of our divine nature is verily
spiritual death. And it is from such a death that the ancient Vedic prayer goes up to the Divine:
“From such spiritual death, lead us unto Immortality, the immortality of Divine-consciousness,
God-experience, God-consciouness.”
That, therefore, is the great prayer. The inner content of this prayer is to liberate us from this
ego and selfishness. Because where there is ego there is selfishness, self-centred living,
self-assertiveness, a tendency to have scant respect for other people’s feelings and sentiments, other
people’s self-respect. These things are natural corollaries of ego, selfishness, a self-centred life, a
self-seeking life. This is the trap. This is maya; this is samsara; this is prapancha; this is the
bondage in which we are caught. And so, liberation commences with this clear perception, with this
very clear realisation, recognition.
Therefore, at this moment, in this stage, what is death and what is immortality? What is
bondage and what is liberation? What is asat and what is sat? What is passing unreality and what is
truth? The passing unreality is regarding ourselves to be little, ego-characterised human
personalities. That is unreality. And to rise up from this to the Reality is to be aware of ourselves as
part and parcel of the Cosmic Soul, divine in nature, beginningless, beyond time and space, without
name and form, birth or death.
This awareness is truth. This is the reality. This awareness is light; it is immortality; it is
liberation, salvation, enlightenment. It is the supreme state of kaivalya samrajya. And, that which
holds us back is the present state of ego-bound, selfishness-ridden consciousness and life, where
everything else comes second and “I” am primary. That is the antithesis of a true spiritual seeker’s
consciousness, because he or she thinks: “I am not only secondary, I am a nothing, I am a cipher.
Everything else is more important.” Why? Because everything else is an expression of God. This is
the true vision, the true attitude of the real spiritual seeker to life, to others and to all things.