Are we really free ?

A majority of us are deceived about the true concept of freedom. We can’t realise until we know what freedom is.

To put it in simple words, true freedom is accomplished when all of us are free internally and externally. All of us dream about a peaceful society without political or military strife with complete freedom to follow any faith, for speech and choice. However, today this dream has turned out to be a scary reality with many countries driven by ideologies of fear and enforcing dictatorship to the point where they create living prisons for their citizens.

Whatever may be the reasons for this extremism, the fact remains that these kinds of atrocities create a trail of misery and anguish for people living under such a regime. Likewise, the illusion of freedom, absence of moral standards and indiscipline among youngsters too create a devastating trail. Hence, without any standards or guidelines, young people flounder in a sea of directionless insecurity and suffer in the prison of wilderness and despair.

True freedom means balance between the soul that we are and the body that we have acquired to play our role. Till we realise for what role we came to this earth and execute the same, people continue to feel the suffocation like a prison. When the soul knows itself and the difference between itself and the body, it gets the benefit of true identity.

Likewise, when we are aware of the laws of karma and benefits of virtuous actions, then we save ourselves from the negative consequences of our own actions,thereby making our relationships sweet and without any kind of bondage and dependency.This quality of freedom can be achieved through spirituality.

If one thinks that nirvana is true freedom, then think again, because in the state of nirvana or “liberation,” the soul is free from all the bondages, above the limited physical world, but it is not experiencing the fruits of its good karma either. Hence, to be liberated in life means to enjoy the highest levels of human life whilst in the body, ie. to be in a free world along with free people, yet at the same time, be within the boundaries of a perfect society and pure elements of nature.