Freedom

FREEDOM

I would like to share a few thoughts this morning on freedom. This country is going to celebrate its 59th Independence Day tomorrow. Every country religiously observes it own independence day. As a nation observes its independence day, speeches are given everywhere, there are many festivities and banquets, plus declarations and promises are made by people carried away by the spirit of the moment. But I would like to talk about independence in the spiritual sense. I am neither a politician, nor am I interested politics, but the very thought of freedom appeals to me very much from the spiritual perspective.

FREEDOM FOR EVERYONE

What I am going to say about freedom is applicable to every one of us, irrespective of our country of origin, our age or our profession.

It is possible, after great sacrifice by many people, to achieve political freedom. Political freedom is a mass movement; but the freedom that I am speaking about is an independent and individual journey to freedom. Mass political freedom, once attained, will last forever and will stay with us, whereas this individual freedom is something that must be maintained, something that must be contemplated upon, and something which most is precious. We have to treasure it.

Allow me now to present some of the aspects relating to this important subject of spiritual freedom.

FREEDOM FROM THE DOUBLE STANDARDS OF LIFE

First, we must understand how we are leading a life of double standards. That is a fact. Why? The ideology of a system speaks of one thing and the reality of life is a different thing. Religions, traditions, and ideologies are based on a particular pattern of life; but, in reality, we are different.

No religion speaks up for violence. All religions emphasise the principle of love; but religious people have taken to violence. Every religion upholds truth and gives primary importance to the adherence to truth; but we find many people who follow religion by speaking blatant lies. So my friends, our life is hypocritical; our life is spent maintaining double standards. The system we vouch safe, the pattern we belong to, the religion that we follow, is one thing, and our actual lives lived demonstrate just the opposite.

On further scrutiny and observation, we feel bad about our hypocrisy. We rely on verbal, textual exercise rather than on the practical reality of life. We speak, we hear, we read, but we do not implement and follow. Most of our religious life is confined to words, to vocabulary. Most of religion is related to the holy texts, but not to our practical everyday life.

So first we must free ourselves of these double standards in our lives, of declaring one thing but doing another. We must free ourselves of this disharmony, this disunity, this conflict between our thoughts, words and deeds. We must free ourselves from duality, from diplomacy and from hypocrisy so that we will be totally free, absolutely free, with perfect harmony of thought, word and deed. With this perfect unity of thought, word and deed, we will be peaceful, we will be blissful. We are not appeased because of our own internal disharmony.

So my friends, freedom from the hypocrisy and double standards of our lives is the first point that we must address on the journey toward spiritual freedom.

FREEDOM FROM MECHANICAL LIVING

This brings us to the second point. The world has progressed. If we go through history, we find we have made amazing progress. From the bullock carts, we have advanced to the era of jet planes. No one travels in bullock carts today; we speak in terms of flights. No one calculates, because everyone has a calculator. No one wants to remember things because the computer does the job much better than we do. Technologically and scientifically, there has been rapid progress, but psychologically we remain impoverished. Psychologically we are bankrupt. Psychologically we are weak.

Therefore, the second point that I want to draw your attention is this: Freedom from a mechanised life, freedom from a conditioned life, freedom from a programmed life, is necessary so that we can become psychologically free, physiologically blissful and physiologically peaceful.

We have to work for this freedom individually. This is not a freedom attained by masses of people working together. I must work for it. I must work for my own freedom from a conditioned and programmed life so that I will be mentally free and physiologically peaceful and blissful.

KNOWN, UNKNOWN AND UNKNOWABLE

Let’s move to the third point. There are ‘3’ everywhere in the world, and the third point has three components.

1. the known

2. the unknown

3. the unknowable.

I know this is a book (pointing to a book). I do not know what is behind that curtain. So there is that which is known and that which is not known.

Let us just ask this question: Who is the one that knows? Who is the one that knows not?

I know that this is a book. Who is it that knows this? The one who knows and the one who does not know are one and the same. ‘I know this’ and ‘I don’t know that’, but who am I?

I know that this is a book. I also know that I do not know what is there behind that curtain. Then who am I?

I am the Knower. The Knower knows that this is knowledge. The Knower also knows that this is ignorance. All that I know comes under ‘knowledge’; all that I do not know comes under ‘ignorance’. I, who has the knowledge of knowing and not knowing (ignorance), am the unknowable.

So my friends, all matter can be known. The entire world can be known. Similarly, parts of the world may not be known to us. We do not know everything in this world. We know some things and we do not know others; but this knowing and not knowing is the mind’s job. I know you because my mind has registered you from before. I do not know you because I have never met you before. My mind tells me it has no memory or picture of you and your personality.

So my friends, the knower and the known are facets of the mind. It is the mind that says, ‘I know.’ In other words, knowledge and ignorance are within the field of, within the realm of the mind. But the third subject, the Knower, the I, is unknowable.

GOD IS AN UNKNOWABLE REALITY

The mind’s capacity is limited.  It is restricted to the known and the unknown.

The ‘That’ that I am, the Knower, is unknowable. Why do I say unknowable? Because comprehension of the unknowable is beyond the reach of the mind. Anything that comes under the aegis of the mind can be branded as knowledge (that which is known) or ignorance (that which is unknown).

But beyond the mind, when the mind says, ‘I do not know,’ that is unknowable. God is an unknowable reality. The reason is this: Any attempt I make to know Him through the mind will be an utter flop. If I want to understand Him with this poor equipment of mind, I will fail.

FEAR IS DUE TO KNOWN AND UNKNOWN

Then questions arise, which is quite natural for everybody. We are afraid both of the known and the unknown.

I am afraid of the known. Why? A few years back I met with an accident, and now I am afraid that it may happen again. I am afraid it may reoccur. So we have fear that the past will reoccur or repeat itself. So fear is created due to the known. We are afraid of all the things we know that have hurt us in the past. I was bitten by a scorpion, so now I am afraid of it. That known experience from the past is the cause for this fear now. Sometime back one fellow kicked me and hit me. That knowledge and memory of the pain of the blows has created fear in me that exists now. So known things can create fear.

Pleasant things can create fear too. I had a nice relationship with my friends, yet the same intensity of friendship may not continue in the future. My honeymoon was nice, but all of life is not a honeymoon. There is neither honey nor a moon there. A honeymoon is a matter of pleasure. Everyone enjoys it, but that known thing is still the cause for fear as we know that life will not always be just a honeymoon.

I had a good dinner. Yes, I know the taste of it; but the repetition of it is boring. During grama seva, our boys distribute ladoos (sweets). They distribute them to everybody.  Now they don’t feel like eating a ladoo in this lifetime, or in their next lifetime either (Laughter), because the repetition of pleasure is boredom. Let us not think that pleasure always gives pleasure. Repetition of pleasure will certainly cause pain, its opposite. Therefore my friends, all the known is a cause for fear. Similarly, the unknown is also a cause for fear.

FREEDOM FROM FEAR

Someone asked me if I am afraid of death. I said there is still time, so don’t be afraid of it (Laughter). Some friend asked me what was going to happen after death. I said, “Do you know all that has happened in this life? When you do not know all that is happening in this life, why are you bothered about the life after death?  Don’t worry about it.”

He asked me whether I am going to paradise or to hell. I said, “You don’t have to go! They are very much here (Laughter)!  We don’t have to go anywhere.”

Therefore my friends, the unknown also creates a sense of fear. ‘What is going to happen to me? If I am bedridden, after 10 years, will my savings today come to my rescue or not?’

Some people ask me, “Suppose I have some problem in life. Will the money I have be sufficient or not?”

I said, “Why do you think that you will fall sick? Why do you think that? Why do you think that you will have such a disease, the treatment of which will require all of your savings and that your savings may not be sufficient? Why are you thinking so negatively?”

Someone asked me, “Of my children, who is going to take care of me in my old age?”

My answer to him was, “Please tell your children to take care of themselves. We can take care of ourselves (Laughter).”

The old, the senior citizens, need not be worried about who will take care of them. No. Nobody can take care of anybody. It’s only God who will take care of everybody.

My point here is that the unknown future is frightening to us. Suppose our blood pressure rises, increases. This man may worry that his high blood pressure may lead to diabetes or sugar problems. It may lead to hypertension. It may end up in a heart attack.

“What am I to do?”

“We’ll worry when you get the heart attack in the hospital, not now.”

Allow yourself to pass beyond all these stages. My friends, fear is because of two things: That which is known and that which is not known. We pray to Bhagavan to make us free from fear. Let there not be no fear at all.

GIVE UP FEAR TO PROCEED SPIRITUALLY

Bhagavan said, “Unless you give up this fear, unless you are fearless, you cannot proceed along the spiritual path.”

You may not understand the statement. Bhagavan then said, “If you still doubt it, I give you My assurance that I will take care of you. Why fear when I am here?” So spiritually we can be fearless because Bhagavan Himself has declared this: ”Why fear when I am here?”

Therefore my friends, we want to free ourselves from our thoughts about the known and the unknown because both have generated a sense of fear in me. To be fearless, I must have freedom from the known and the unknown.

Then what is the reality? If I am free from the known and the unknown, what is reality then? Reality is the Knower, whether it is the one who knows or the unknowable, the one who is beyond the understanding of the mind and the expression by words. This is God.

GOD IS UNKNOWABLE

You can simply say ‘God,’ but you can also say ‘The Unknowable’. You can even declare the identity of the Knower himself. I know, I do not know. That ‘I’ is Divine, that I is unknowable, that I is Atma, that I is God, and that I-ness is beyond all expression, beyond the capabilities of the mind.

Baba gave an example. Suppose you want one sweet from the North Indian canteen, which is famous for sweets. (Of course, for your information, I don’t get commission from them (Laughter), nor am I their famous public relations officer.)

So, the North Indian canteen is known for sweets.

“What did you eat this afternoon?”

“I had a very good sweet in the North Indian canteen.”

“Is that so? Good. How sweet was it?”

“Very sweet.”

“How sweet was it?”

“Very sweet.”

Very sweet, that’s all. You cannot measure the depth of sweetness. You cannot measure sweetness. Sweetness cannot be measured in terms of kilos or degrees. No. This is what Baba has said. I am not saying this just to entertain you. Fortunately for us, Anil Kumar does not know more than what Baba Himself has said. (Laughter)

I say ‘fortunately’ because I was sufficiently confused before coming to Swami. I don’t want history to be repeated by my confusing you now! Bhagavan Baba mercifully has given us His straight, frank and direct message, which leaves no room for confusion or ambiguity. When I have this golden treasure with me, I don’t have to be a beggar and run after knowledge somewhere else. It’s not necessary.

Therefore my friends, we need freedom from the known and the unknown. That I is the unknowable, which is neither known nor unknown, but rather experienced. So the unknowable is experienced, not given to expression.

(Just one or two sentences about it, my friends. I am so glad that Baba has blessed me with such good devotees and aspirants with whom I can share these serious, spiritual messages based on Bhagavan Baba’s Divine discourses. I am so grateful to Baba for having brought you here.)

FREEDOM FROM EXPRESSION

Baba clearly said that if you express anything, it is under the jurisdiction of, under the limitations of, under the control of the mind only. You can express whatever the mind experiences. If you cannot express something, it means that that experience is beyond the mind.

All scriptures say that God is beyond the mind. Therefore nothing can be expressed about Reality. When something cannot be expressed, what am I to do? “Experience it,” is what Baba says. So reality is to be experienced, not expressed.

So let us have freedom from expression. Let us have freedom from the limitations of the mind, through an experience that is beyond the mind.

KNOW YOURSELF AND YOU KNOW EVERYTHING

The third point about freedom which I want to draw your attention to is this: Some of us are mature, while some of us are immature. Baba said at one time, “You know about everybody else. You know everything about everyone else; but you do not know your Self. You do not know about your Self.”

Then another question was put to Swami: “Swami, what is the harm if I do not know my Self? If I know everybody else, why should I know my Self?”

Baba immediately said, “If you know your Self, it means you know the whole universe. You will know everything in this world, everything in this cosmos, only if you know your Self. The universe is the reflection or the manifestation of Reality, of Atman, of the Self. If the Self is known, then everything is known. If everything else is known without knowing the Self, it is useless.”

Therefore my friends, mature people are those who try to know their own Self, their own reality. Immature people are those who want to know about everything else. Therefore let us pray to Swami that we can have freedom from the knowledge of everything else, so that we have the awakening, a deeper interest and an inner drive to know the Self. With freedom from non-Self, which is nonsense, let us go to understanding the Self. That is maturity.

FREEDOM FROM SEEKING

The next point I would like to draw your attention is this: In life we want everything. I seek a job. I seek knowledge. I seek positions of authority. These so-called valuable things are sought after, are run after. We struggle hard to attain them. We want to seek them. I want to seek God. My friends, here we are wrong, because ‘seeking’ is a word applicable to the world, not to Reality.

You can seek a chair which is located here. You can seek a TV set which is there. Things are sought if they are located in certain places. All things have time and space. They are located in a certain place. You can seek and find them.

But when God is everywhere, where do you seek for Him? He is everywhere, not at a particular location. God is not an object; God is not a person.

For example, I may ask you, “Where is that gentleman?”

“Sir, he is in North building 9, D3.” I may go there, seek him and find him.

If I say, “Where is there pizza available?”

“It is available at the western canteen at 6 pm on Wednesdays.” Okay, I can seek and find it.

But ‘I am seeking God’ is meaningless because the Self in you is God. “You are God,” just as Baba says. The Holy Bible says that ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is within you’. Therefore, we pray for freedom from seeking and seeking God.

HAPPINESS LIES IN EXPERIENCING, NOT IN SEEKING

People still go on always seeking. Somebody said, “Mr. Anil Kumar, we are flying to the Himalayas.”

“Very good.”

Somebody said, “We have been to that ashram, to that guru.”

“Very good.” 

What is the purpose of going to these places?

Here is a simple example. A lady brought a small pet, a small dog. As Baba was giving darshan, this lady said, “Swami, this little dog followed me wherever I went. I visited all pilgrimage centres. I have been to many gurus. As You bless me, I want You to bless my dog too.”

Baba said, “It has not changed and neither have you.”

What does that mean? It only means that by seeking, by running after, by shifting, by changing, by going all around, we get tired and end up, ultimately, empty.

A life spent seeking is empty. Seeking makes life empty because happiness lies in experiencing, not in seeking. Seeking is only an expression; experience is the ultimate. Therefore my friends, we ask for freedom from seeking, so that we will experience Reality. For this, my friends, we need a totally different kind of approach.

SELF-INQUIRY: SWAMI’S APPROACH TO FREEDOM

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has given us a beautiful approach. I often say that our God belongs to the computer age! He has given one direct path. I am sure that for the past couple of years you must have noticed Swami speaking on non-dualism and on the path of inquiry. There are fewer and fewer stories and anecdotes, and the emphasis is now on non-dualism.

Therefore my friends, we need a totally new approach today, a change in our psychology. A peaceful revolution should take place today. We cannot follow the same old procedures because we cannot obtain anything using those methods.

Even religious rituals have become mechanical.

“I worship.”

“Why?”

“I do not know. My father wanted me to do it. Therefore I do it. It has been my family tradition. Therefore I do it.”

“Why do you meditate?”

“I saw some people meditating, therefore I meditate.”

He says, ‘I saw some people meditate’, but he should say ‘I imitate,’ because there is no point in saying ‘I meditate’, as he has no idea of what meditation is at all.

Therefore a spiritual revolution, a mutation of our psychology, is necessary today. For this Baba has suggested that the path of inquiry is the only solution for our liberation. So, let us make a prayer for freedom from standardisation, from uniformity, from conformity, and let us choose and progress towards attainment on the path of inquiry into the Self.

CHANGE ONESELF TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE IN THE WORLD

This is the next aspect of freedom to which I want to draw your attention. We believe that all of us should change. We also think all of us should advance. We often think no one is good enough. We complain that people are backward. We also complain that the world is selfish. What is the solution?

Spirituality is based on individual effort, on individual inquiry into the Self. It is not a mass movement. But Bhagavan said, “If you change yourself as an individual, you can bring about a change in the whole world.”

Baba alone is bringing about a change in the universe today. It was Jesus Christ alone, just a shepherd, a villager, who brought about a total reformation by his glorification and his awareness of the Self. If I experience the Self, the whole world around me will also change. There is no point in complaining.

BE NON-VIOLENT

Baba said, “You can change if you are non-violent.” Be non-violent. That is the first requirement. Lead a peaceful life. If you are peaceful, if you are non-violent, then you are not competitive, you are not comparing everything to everything else. Finally, if you have no enmity, you can change the world.

Four points are required:

1. I should be non-violent.

2. I should not foster enmity.

3. I should not be comparative, ambitious and competitive.

4. I should be peaceful within myself.

Here is a simple example to illustrate the same. Sometime back, there was lot of violence outside here. Somebody asked Swami why this was happening.

Baba said, “Watch the violence within you. What is happening?”

I am violent. Am I free from violence? No, because I am violent in my words, with my searching looks, and in my evil thoughts. People say they are vegetarians because they eat vegetables. No. You may be a vegetarian by diet and a non-vegetarian by thought, word and deed.

Therefore, we should be truly non-violent and then we can bring about a change in the world around us. Bhagavan gave one example to explain this. Swami explained how one individual can change the whole world through the following example.

INDIVIDUAL CAN TRANSFORM THE WORLD

It seems a father purchased a beautiful world map and gave it to his son. This little boy started examining the map and was very happy. But being quite young and naughty, he tore the map into four pieces.

The father saw this and said, “I bought this map of the world so that you would benefit. I did not buy it that it might be torn like this. Useless fellow, what have you done?” The father hit the boy quite hard and the boy ran off.

Within ten minutes, the boy returned.  “Daddy, here is the world map. Is it okay?” 

The father asked him, “Are you a magician? You tore it into four pieces. How can you bring back the whole map now?“ 

The boy said, “Daddy, on the other side of the map, there is a picture of a man. I checked the first part, where the head is; I checked the second part, where the shoulders are; I checked the third part, where the stomach is; and I checked the fourth part, where the legs are. As I put these pieces together to make the picture of man whole, the world map was also made whole again. “

The whole world can be transformed if the individual is changed.  That is what Bhagavan said. For the world to change and be reformed, we should know that the transformation must take place within ourselves.

‘RELIGIOUS MIND’ AND THE MIND THAT BELIEVES IN RELIGION

A religious mind is different from the mind that believes in religion. I am not a professor of English. I cannot claim to be a man of letters, nor can I create clever gimmicks with my vocabulary. No. I repeat that a religious mind is different from a mind that believes in religion.

How?  Why? The mind that believes in religion always lives in fear. “What will happen to me if Swami observes this? What will happen to me if I don’t follow His command? What will happen to me if I am not there during darshan? If I don’t follow His teachings, what will happen to me? Yes, I have followed His teachings, but will I get liberation?”  So, constant fear haunts you if you have a mind that just believes in religion. The mind that believes in religion is traditional, mechanical, and dogmatic, if not fanatical. We want freedom from the mind that believes in religion, so that we can develop a ‘religious mind’.

A religious mind is not after belief. A religious mind will never take into account anything based on belief because today you may have a belief, but tomorrow it will become disbelief. Belief is changeable, but the religious mind has no fear.  It has no belief whatsoever. The religious mind will never seek or search. A religious mind is after awareness; it is after experience; it is after realisation. A mind that believes in religion is after analysis. It wants to analyse, whereas a religious mind wants to realise.

Also, a mind that believes in religion is always noisy. We find people shouting.  We find people chanting some mantra they know, even when they are alone. I feel like giving them a microphone if they want. A mind that believes in religion is always after sound, is always after noise; but a religious mind is after silence. Silence is a feature, a quality, the state of a religious mind.

We may wonder, ‘Are we not silent now?’

No. Simply not talking does not mean that we can claim ourselves to be silent. I may not talk, but there is an inner dialogue going on. ‘I will meet him at 10 o’clock’; ‘I will give him a mouthful’; ‘I am going to meet him at 10 o’clock and finish him off’; ‘I will meet him at 3 o’clock.’ ‘I will not say Sai Ram to him because he didn’t say Sai Ram to me yesterday.’

This kind of inner talk is constantly going on within us even though we are externally silent. This is imposed silence. When a seva dal says, ‘Shhh,’ they force you to be silent. They pressure you to be silent. Noise comes from the mind that believes in religion, whereas a religious mind is always in the depth of silence.

What do I mean by silence? Silence means a thought-free or thoughtless state. No thoughts. The mind is at total rest. The mind is equanimous or equal-minded. It is non-judgmental. It is blemishless. It is unconditional. That is a religious mind. So my friends, let us have freedom from a mind that believes in religion, so that we may acquire a truly religious mind.

WHAT DO YOU GET BY THIS FREEDOM

The next point that I want to draw your to attention is this: What do you get from this freedom? What do you get? I want to be free from the bondage of my senses. I want to be free from the clutches of my mind. I want to set my intellect free from the chains that bind it. I want freedom. Why? If my senses dominate, I will be sensual. If my mind dominates, I will be worldly or full of desires. If my intellect becomes a dictator, I will become a man of logic.

But if I am free from all these three, from body, mind and intellect, what happens? I believe that this freedom leads to choiceless awareness. True freedom is choiceless awareness. The body is sensual; the mind is a bundle of desires; the intellect is after logic. But once you get freedom from the intellect, you move from logic to love. You move from magical to mystic. Magical experience is different from mystical experience.

All the experiences of the mind are magical, but awareness of the Self is mystical. Therefore we want this sort of freedom, just as Baba tells us. Why? We want it because when you function from the centre of your life, when you operate from the very being of the Self, you are energetic.

FREEDOM FROM DISSIPATION OF ENERGY

You and I believe in energy drawn from food, and therefore we want to eat at least once every three hours. We get energy from food; but Baba does not get energy from food.

Once a question was put to Him, “Swami, You do not eat even two full spoons of rice. You don’t eat. We eat and eat and overeat. We eat and we still feel weak. Swami, You don’t eat, but You are energetic. Why?”

Baba said, “You get energy, but I am the energy. I am the energy,” Baba said.

How could He, being the very source of energy, not be full of energy?! Why don’t we have the same energy? Baba says, “You are also God.” Then what happened to our energy? I should also have that energy.

People often ask Baba, “Baba, are You God?”

When He faces a question like this, He says, “I am God and you are also God.”

So Baba, being God, is full of energy. I am also God, but I am totally weak. What happened to me, to this God? That God is fine; but what about this God?

Baba said, “You too have your energy. You too have your energy because without energy you cannot act. Without energy, you cannot think. But your energy is lost in thinking too much. Your energy is lost in over indulgence. Your energy is dissipated by unnecessary gossip, by unnecessary looks, by unnecessary hearing.”

Your energy is dissipated. Your energy is diluted. But in the case of Swami, He is full of energy because He stands at the centre of energy. That centre of energy is your own Self. That centre of energy, in worldly parlance, can be called Love. Love is energy. At the centre of our being, of our Self, we are that energy. If we treasure it, we can continue to be energetic. We should not allow it to be dissipated or polluted. Therefore, let us pray for freedom from the dissipation of energy, freedom from dilution of our energy, so that we can have the concentration of energy in the Self, by the Self, of the Self, in the form of Love.

WE ARE MORE SPIRITUAL TODAY THAN EVER BEFORE

The next point is this. Bhagavan said, “Let us have freedom from all authority.” We have freedom from political authority; but do we really have real freedom in the strict sense of the term? Bhagavan said, “Freedom from your own authority.” Are you free from your own sense of authority? What do I mean by that?

Someone asked me, “Sir, Swami comes in a wheelchair today, but what will happen in the future?”

I said, “My boy, I am not an astrologer or a palmist, but I can tell you one thing. Today you may see Baba in a wheelchair, or you may see Him travelling in a car. But take it from me, more miracles are happening today, more experiences are happening today than ever before. Please take it from me. Today we are also thinking more of Swami than ever before.”

When Swami was actively moving amongst us, we were very anxious about the possibility of getting an interview. When we saw Swami moving amongst us, we were in constant worry about whether He had noticed us or not, but today everybody is thinking of Swami more than ever before. In other words, I can say we are more spiritual than ever before.

Baba has got a message to convey. You may judge what is happening in any way, depending upon your whims and fancies; but the fact is that we are more spiritual than before. The truth of truths is that Baba’s global, experiential, existential miracles are occurring in greater numbers now than ever before.

FREEDOM FROM OUR OWN THOUGHTS AND IMAGINATION

What does freedom from our own thoughts and imagination mean? You think, ‘I feel God should act like this. I want God to behave like this. I cannot accept anyone as God if He is not acting according to my own design. I will give a time-table to God, which He has to follow. I will give a program to God, which He has to necessarily follow.’ This means that you are bound by your own considerations, limitations and thoughts.

A person is controlled by his thoughts, which form his scheme or design of how things should be. If anything goes against that design, then he is perturbed and disturbed and confused. Therefore my friends, let us have freedom from our thoughts. Let us have freedom from the mind. Let us have freedom from our design, from our own imagination, so that we remain what we are. I am what I am. That’s all. I don’t judge myself from your point of view. I am what I am, good and bad, evil and good, success and failure. This sort of acceptance is possible if I gain freedom from my own thoughts. People say this man is good because of his qualities. If I just judge myself by of such standards, I cannot accept myself. So friends, let us not judge ourselves in terms of others.

FREEDOM FROM BLAMING OTHERS

Here is a person who meditates for six hours. I don’t do so, so I am bad. Here is a person who goes to temple every day. I don’t do so, so I am evil. Why do we say that? My friends, let us have the freedom to accept. Let everyone accept everything as it is. I am what I am, not what I should be and not what I was, not what I possibly could be. I am what I am right now! That is the real freedom which we have to live. We have another habit: “He pushed me way behind. I was in the first row; but he pushed me, so I had to go into the fourth row.” We are constantly blaming somebody else.

“I could not be a leader because my parents never encouraged me.” “I could not get a promotion because my friends acted against me.” Let us have freedom from this blaming. I am not going to blame anybody because blame is self-pity. Blame is self-pity, meaning I could not get what I wanted, so I pity myself and blame you. When you blame others, it only means there is Himalayan-sized self-pity within you. So let us have independence from this self-pity, from this blame game. Let us learn to accept what we are right now, good or bad. Let us not judge good and bad. Being non-judgmental is the quality of a religious mind. A religious mind never condemns. A religious mind never avoids. A religious mind neither discriminates nor judges.

OBSERVER AND THE OBSERVED ARE ONE

I would also like to draw your attention to two more points before I conclude, because they are equally important in this morning’s talk on freedom. This bit requires your serious attention. There are two things here: The observer and the observed. I observe this microphone. This is observed. I am the observer.

There is an interval. There is a gap between the observer and the observed. The microphone is the observed and I am the observer. There is a distance between the two. This distance between the observer and the observed creates friction and leads to a loss of energy.

Here is a simple example. Bhagavan looks at every one of us as no different from Him. How does Bhagavan observe you? You are not the observed and Baba is not the observer. The observer is the observed. There is no gap between the observer and the observed. That is why He calls us the ‘Embodiments of the Divine Self’. He addresses us as ‘Embodiments of Divine Love’. He does not say ‘Brothers and sisters.’ He never says ‘Members of this august assembly’. No. He says, “Embodiments of the Divine Atman,”’ “Embodiments of the Self.” What does this mean?

Baba sees Himself within you, meaning that the observer and the observed are not separate. There is no friction between the observer and the observed. There is no time interval between the observer and the observed. Therefore, He is full of energy. If I see God in everybody, you are no different from me. I am not separate from you because God is in me and in you. Therefore, there is no duality, no plurality, no multiplicity. There is only unity.

Therefore, let us have freedom from multiplicity, dualism and plurality, so that we maintain unity. Let us have freedom from friction between the observer and the observed, so that the observer and the observed are one.

Thank you very much for your attention and great patience. (Applause) May Bhagavan bless you! Sai Ram.