Free from the Concept of Freedom - 28th Sept. 2015

I get many messages actually which ask, 'Ananta, can you tell me when I will be free?' mostly from those who've not been in touch, they're distressed and they came across a video or something like that. And what to tell them? When will we be free from the concept of freedom? It seems like this has now become the favorite concept for many of us. We say, 'I don't want nothing else. Relationship I don't want, I don't care about the body, the freedom I want.' And in the same way that we realized that the other concepts have no meaning in truth, in reality, same we will realize that the concept of freedom is meaningless for the truth. Because we would all be in big trouble if the truth could become bound. Who can bind God? Who has put God in prison? And if something can put God in prison, then we better pray to that one because that must be the all-powerful.

And then the question can come, 'But you are talking about God and I am talking about me.' This is the root of separation. There is no such thing as God and me. This separation never happened. Then what happened? You say, 'But this is what I think and I think it happened in my case' or 'This is what I feel, it still feels like I am separate, I am not Ram.' And I say as long as we will rely on this indirect evidence, on thinking and feeling, then we cannot see the truth. How can the voice which is the idea of separation itself, how can that voice speak about oneness? Therefore, to expect that the mind will confirm my freedom is a very big trap because even when it does, it is only to set this trap so that tomorrow it can say, 'But you were free yesterday, not today.' And just look and see how many of us are still waiting for this mental confirmation.

I sit here every day, every day I sit and say you are free right now, you are free right now. The mind says, 'No, no, not yet. Now something has to happen.' Even it says, 'I have to become like him, something, then I will call myself free.' Now I'm saying that there is no difference, there is no distance, there is no separation, and there is no need to call yourself free in the first place. Just this now, here is what it is. The mind says it is the one who has the story which is here now, but I do not see that one. If you want freedom for a non-existent entity, no power in the world can give it to you. And if you want the truth bound, no power in the world can do it.

Therefore, the Advaita question 'Who am I?' cuts through all of this and directly right now you find I am here. It's okay to say 'I don't know' as one, but that I exist now, this cannot be denied. This 'I' which exists in spite of the movement of time, in spite of every cell in this body changing many times over. Not a single atom of this body is the same as it was when the body was born. What has stayed? What has remained constant? You already know that this is your body. Who is this one that is the owner of this body? Even keep it simple like this and leave the insight that the entire universe is your body, leave it fully, keep it for now. We say 'my body.' Now every cell has changed, so who is the 'I' that I remain? It's like a ship. This part is docked in the shipyard and one by one every part is being changed. Now every part has been changed one by one. This change happening, is it the old ship or is it a new boat?

Who hears the sounds of the world? Who experiences the sensations of this body? Who perceives time? What we accept when I wake up? What goes to sleep? Every day this happens. There is something that wakes up and something that was dreaming or living experience. Is it an anubhuti of our investigation? 'I was asleep' or 'I am awake.' What changed? Every single experience belongs to who? Stop believing the interpretations. This moment you are free, independent of what thoughts might be coming, of sensations might be experienced, independent of an actual situation, work situation, a relationship situation. Right now you just are. You are present.