Some days ago I saw a group of ants and this is what I observed. One of the ants was hauling a huge load and feeling the burden of this load greatly.
It was struggling to move ahead with the weight it was carrying. Life did not seem easy for the ant and after a while it seemed to have lost the ability to haul its ‘affluence’ any further. It could not let it go nor move ahead. The ant sadly died but the others in the group seemed to be moving along quite happily as they were carrying much lighter loads. They had much smaller heaps of their materialistic provisions and were thus liberated!
What does liberation mean to you? It surely spells freedom for most of us, and rightly so. Just in case you have not contemplated being liberated as yet, then you could simply be doing yourself an injustice.
This is mainly because as hum-ans we have the right to experience as well as enjoy liberation. Even the sheer thought of liberation, frees our soul and releases it from all the bindings and impediments that life brings forth.
When I think about ‘liberation’, I see a picture of a bird flying high in the azure skies and unreservedly winging in to the horizon! The bird is liberated from every boundary and limitation.
Need to be liberated
We, as humans need to break free and liberate our physical, mental and spiritual entities and then and only then will we be able to soar high in the sky like the bird in my vision.
How rightly this has been put into words by Marianne Williamson,: “As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence actually liberates others.”
While we need to liberate ourselves from the clutches and restraints of our own formed limitations, this is easier said than done. Actually this inadequacy arises from the basic emotion of insecurity, which somehow nestles comfortably at the back of our minds.
So, does this mean that we are slaves? Yes, in a sense we are virtual slaves of our own circumstances and limitations. We are subjugated and ruled over by our own self-imposed qualms, our egos, pessimisms and so on. And this is what makes liberation very difficult for most of us.
Breaking free
It becomes ea-sier to become liberated when you feel the need and have the understanding of the factual connotation of being liberated! It is when you are able to realise that whatever the life you are living today is essentially not you. You are only a spectator who is experiencing life’s drama. You are not the person, the body or the mind.
You are only the liberated soul who is simply having a human experience. Whatever it is that is happening out there in your world, you are free from it.
On the contrary, the more you try to indulge yourself, the more this would leave you captive and vulnerable. Thus, each one of us needs to make our individual choices of self-liberation! And it is only from the core of unconditional freedom, that your soul emerges to a glorious radiance of liberation.
Once that you are liberated and detached from all limitations and bindings, you become boundless and infinite. You are liberated even from the restraints of both life as well as death. When you value being liberated, you also tend to discover enlightenment.
The secret of enjoyment
When you truly feel that you are liberated, you are able to enjoy every moment of life without being attached and without being remorseful. Imagine watching a movie, which is of a more serious kind. You have this understanding throughout the show, that you are only the spectator and not part of that movie.
Thus you can enjoy watching even a poignant movie. On the other hand, if you are even remotely allied with the characters or events portrayed in the movie, you could never enjoy it. In fact, it would turn out to be an enduring experience for you.
This is also true of the life that we lead. We can only feel liberated when we are able to practice disconnection and simply observe the world around us. And, as observers, we need to bring in awareness as well as detachment to whatever happens both inside as well as outside our being.
Once we do this within our individual realm, whatever the commotion in the world around us, we will be able to be balanced, unbiased and objective. And this is how we will discover our wings of freedom and feel liberated in the true sense.