Anil Kumar is a Professor of Bioscience at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. He has authored many books on Sathya SaiBaba, he writes articles in Sanathana Sarathi. Anil Kumar gives a spiritual talk every Sunday in Prasanthi Nilayam. Groups from all over India and around the world often request him for extra talks.  Well known as the translator of Sathya SaiBaba’s discourses.

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I met Sathya SaiBaba for the first time 1970. Having seen him I was very much impressed by the org. around him. I was surprised to find many of the devotees worked voluntarily helping and working for his mission. I was also very much impressed by the service activities going on all over the world in His name. Particularly I am very much pleased with His message which is Universal and in a sense it includes all religions. There after I have had a taste of His Divine love that made me hold on to Him and cling on to Him once for all.

Om Sai Ram

    We all like to be free but do we know what freedom means?

Freedom is freedom of mind and to be the Master of one’s own mind, not to do whatever the mind tells you to do. Freedom from Ignorance, attachment, desire, anger, pride, deluded doubt and distorted views is the real freedom.  It is our mental attitude which keeps us free or not free. The basic emotion which keeps us not free is egocentricity and it makes us restless. Man can reach perfect Bliss when his heart becomes free from these enemies. Swami says.

Peace and Freedom will never come through manipulating the ordinary things in the world, and then we will end up despairing. Freedom will come with the capacity to do our very best, be truly relaxed, to be our self and have trust and faith in God.                    

    Who is free? Who is not free?

Freedom is the word which is mostly misunderstood today; some people feel they are free if they are free from foreign or outside roles. Take Indi they got freedom from the foreign roles of the British. Nelson Mandela made Africa free. We might be political free but we are in mental slavery.

We have to be free from the mind which is programmed, the mind which is conditioned. A conditioned mind things in a particularly way a programmed mind is always narrow. To be free from the mind the conditioned and the programmed mind is freedom.  Today with the growing science and technology one has to be free from old aged costumes with are meaningless in the modern society. Break free from believes which maid man blind dogmatic unscientific. That is intellectual freedom. 

We must also have freedom from society, society expect you to lead one standards of life. The society thinks you are respectable if you have money, position, it has its own norms it has its own measure stick. To determine a person to rank a person one has to be free from that. You are what you are with or without money and position. If you live in the society you have to struggle to build up an image in that society you happen to be born in. That is bondage.                                            

Man believe he is  chained by the society, political role and we think we will be free by being free from these roles. No, no, no it is not so. We should be total free. Man is born free. While he is growing older and older, with schooling and studies he get conditioned by the system, the parents, and the teachers. He allows himself to be dominated by others. Society, priest, and philosopher condition you, even parents, friends can condition you. They all want you to follow their advice. True freedom is to be aware in the present moment, guided by wisdom and the inner intuitive voice, the voice which is connected to a higher consciousness.

Another dimension of freedom is to allow the other man to enjoy freedom. I am free and I should let you enjoy your freedom. I cannot force my idea upon you; I cannot force my views upon you. One has to be free and respect others freedom also, allow them to be free. An egoistic, dominating or dictatorial mind is a mind who likes to be free but don’t like others to have the same freedom. This is not at all correct ether from the human mind point of view and much less from the religious point of view.

To try to understand our brothers and sisters from their point of view, forgiveness, and address each with softness and kindness, gives freedom both ways. Freedom means respect for others feeling. 

 Freedom from lower weaknesses; mechanical doing and mechanical thinking and also mechanical routine is great freedom. We should be free from all these habits and blossom independently, that is true freedom.                                            

That is why history has recorded Socrates and Goperdicas who giving their life’s to maintain their freedom. Freedom means the individual, psychological, intellectual levels of freedom. Freedom means to blossom in the way we are meant to grow and use our God given inborn skills and talents.

We want to be free because freedom is natural, Self- existing freedom is not depending on something or somebody else, and it simply takes place. It happens by itself naturally. It is based on enthusiasm as well as knowledge and wisdom. Enthusiasm in the sense that we have trust in what we are doing and freedom comes when we are certain that God is on our side. 

Inside everyone there is a longing and a passion to again find the freedom from within, the freedom we know. If we did not have a taste of it in this life or a soul memory from past life we simply not miss it or we would not try to reunite with the freedom.

An Avatar a Master is the ultimate freedom so if we are drown to His presence we consciously or unconsciously see and feel His Divine freedom. The purpose of our life is to find this freedom. Freedom is inherent in the unified field. Freedom comes from the experiential knowledge of one’s own self, own nature which is joyful, the silent witness, the non-attached, and the immortal spirit. And to have the experience of that silent witness is to just be. Freedom is to be able to enjoy the present moment.

 In deep sleep, you are free from your body, free from you mind and intellect you just enjoy you deep sleep. By the time you get up you are very fresh, why? That is the benefit of freedom. The self is free always, but we get conditioned subsequently.

It is possible to be free because when you have deep conviction the freedom is the ultimate. As Baba puts it, the end of wisdom is freedom. If we have deep convictions for that freedom we are ready to die for that freedom. Because freedom means, self dependents, self reliance, self sacrifice.

If you have tasted freedom you are ready to leave everything, to scarify anything.  I have tasted freedom and the whole world is not worth it if I lose my freedom.

Ø      To be a free man doesn’t always mean that you are doing what you want. A free man is the one who is master of himself his habits and his thoughts

If we do not have deep roots in wisdom and spiritual knowledge we will not be able to grow free. How does roots grow, they grow in different a direction that is freedom; they do not go straight to the ground. Freedom of thought is the roots that spread all over, freedom of life is the tree.

Thought is the root, life is the shout. The flower will come by itself if we take good care of the roots. All religion says. Be watchful of your thoughts, thought is the seed the nature of the dream to follow. When the thought is deep and free that insures life of freedom.

The thought which is in the present, the thought which not a habitual thought, a thought in the present moment not from the past or the future is a divine thought. The biggest freedom is to be aware of the identification with the though and have the ability to see I am not the thought and let it go. 

How do we do that? By being a witness or the observer of our thought. Simple example, I am speaking this point, I am seeing that different thought is there, I know what thoughts is coming in my mind, I also know it is not who I am it is my thought. Once you understand this there will be a wider gap between you and the thought.

The more and more the gap is, is the experience of Samadhi or supreme state of bliss. That is the purpose of meditation. Meditation is nothing but distinction yourself from the thought.

If you are 100% carried away by the thought or emotions do not do anything. Take a few moments of rest, breathe deeply, drink some cold water just let yourself be for some time focus your attention on Swami and the thought will change. Thought are not constant. Remove yourself from the thought, just wait. Don’t act upon any thoughts that have anger, restlessness or other destructive qualities. Delay you’re acting is the immediate thing to be done.

A man filled with love has great peace of mind unaffected by adverse conditions and it gives self-confidence which generates immense internal power and freedom. Baba