Sincerity, Humility, Courage, Responsibility, Love and
Freedom may be considered as the six core values. They are progressive in
nature. Sincerity leads to humility; Courage leads to responsibility, and true
love shall lead to freedom. One value leading us to the other, making our life holistic
and integrated with attitudes and behaviors taking us through goals,
accomplishments, and finally, a state of being.
These three pairs of values are also a transformational
set – sincerity leading to humility, courage leading to responsibility, and
love leading to freedom. It is a simple formula to cultivate humility,
responsibility and freedom – a sort of proxy to Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga
and Gnana Yoga, in that respective
order. It feels like a big jump, but careful thinking would make this parallel
clear. We have a similar formula introduced by Daaji; for
example, through refined and expanded consciousness, existence becomes bliss.
We also identify the evolution of consciousness in the
progressive transformation of its four aspects, viz, mind (Manas), deeper consciousness (Chit), cognition (Budhi), and
ego (Ahankar), where Manas or the mind, an instrument of thinking, becomes an
instrument of feeling; where Chit or deeper consciousness, an instrument of intuition
and awareness, becomes an instrument of wisdom and understanding; where Budhi
or cognition, an instrument of reason, becomes an instrument of direct
perception of the transcendental truth or knowledge; and the Ahankar, or Ego, which
gives power to evolve, embraces humility and creates restlessness towards Self-realization
or a state of bliss and whatever comes beyond. Thus, through evolution of consciousness
existence becomes a state of pure being, free of all possible holds to a lower
level of existence.
Thus,
in this progression, the goal or final state of fulfillment is Freedom. So,
what is freedom?
Why is it so valuable? And, what is it we are free to
do?
Normally when we think of freedom, we think of freedom
from wants, freedom from desires and freedom from suffering.
One may wonder if it is all really possible. One may
ask “Why not freedom from disease?” Disease of the body is outside of our
mental sphere. While a stronger mind can mitigate the suffering of the body,
what is inevitable can only be postponed at best. A physical, mechanical thing
is subject to strict physical laws. Hence, expecting freedom from the
operations of physical laws is futile.
Freedom of the mind is to think and worship as one
chooses. This is quite a freedom. Yet, what we choose may not make us evolve
towards a happy state of being. So, this freedom is also limited. On the one hand,
mind is a habit-forming machine, and it is possible that we become slaves of
our negative habits, and suffer. On the other hand, if we are born into a good
family or circumstances and, most importantly, acquire the right knowledge or
support, we could form good habits, and these then shape our destiny positively.
Freedom of the spirit is the ultimate freedom we should
aim to achieve. A person who is able to experience and enjoy this freedom is the
person who is truly living. So, the real freedom is the freedom of the spirit.
Hence we call people ‘free-spirited.’ There is a sense of innocence, nobility
and beauty in free-spirited people. They are positive people, too. They can be
called free-spirited saints living on earth. They are real beings of bliss and
beyond. As Babuji
says, freedom from freedom is real freedom: freedom from the preoccupations of
the body and the mind and achieve the freedom the spirit yearns for.
This state of being is achieved after acquisition of an
inner wisdom, which we call gnana or real knowledge. In the post “The Choices We Make” I wrote, “Freedom presupposes knowledge.” To be free, one
needs to have the right, or real, knowledge. Such a real knowledge leads one to
real and lasting freedom of the soul. This knowledge is acquired while pursuing
a practice of meditation for achieving such a goal. In the process of achieving
such a goal, we experience inner transformation and expansion of consciousness.
So, let us fly away in that freedom! Let us be free at
last.
