This is a thought on freedom by Swami Ranganathananda (15 December 1908 – 25 April 2005) - Swamiji served as the 13th president of Ramakrishna Mission.
There is an element of freedom in every man. We are a bundle of bondage and freedom. Body is the product of food, and so also is mind. They are controlled and bound by nature. But there is a focus of light inside us, though glimmering in our present state, which is the true focus of freedom. That is the atman, the divine spark, which is beyond nature.
There is an element of freedom in every man. We are a bundle of bondage and freedom. Body is the product of food, and so also is mind. They are controlled and bound by nature. But there is a focus of light inside us, though glimmering in our present state, which is the true focus of freedom. That is the atman, the divine spark, which is beyond nature.
The little semblances of freedom we all experience in our day-to-day life is due to the light of atman, which percolates through the intellect, mind, senses, and the body. It makes all these faculties energized and vital.
In a physical existence, where the light of atman seems submerged in the psycho-sensory mire, we are totally in bondage. Most of us do not even realize that we are bound. We remain satisfied. But when this great blessing of ‘the desire to be free’ enters into our lives, it marks a turning point. Then begins our march towards freedom — first, by searching for the true focus of freedom in our psychophysical experiences and, then, having discovered the true focus, by a mighty penetration into its real nature. Our whole being then responds to the Divine stimulus coming from the atman.