Another day dawned. The streak of silvery sunlight through the small slit high above, close to the roof of the room, penetrating in and hitting him straight on his eyes. Slowly getting from his deep slumber, stretching his limbs, scratching his bearded face he got up muttering something inaudible. He had been in this small room of 10 x 10 for the past so many years, that he lost count of it by now. His room mate, old, his soft white beard flowing, was already up and sitting, doing his morning exercises of stretching, hoping to keep fit so that when he got an opportunity to get out, he would still be able to lead a decent life. Cobwebs hanging from the corners, blocking the little light that was coming in to the room. An occasional rat screeching out of the dark corners and running through the room. He was very envious of the rat. It used to go in and out at will, while all he could do was just watch it and yearn sadly at the thought of its freedom. The small toilet in the room, adding to the stench, was the gateway for the rat. It was a sewer rat.
The sound of the morning roll call bell penetrating the dense silence, as the doors of the cells were opened for the prisoners to fall in line. He and his room mates, were by now so used to that routine, that even if they didn’t hear the bell, the body would automatically prepare for the ritual. After the roll call, they were given a 30 minute time to walk around the open grounds, which didn’t have much of tree cover, except for an old tamarind tree which stood in the corner of the ground, an old one, as old as the prison itself was. The two always remained together, talking less, but being used to the company, it was difficult for them to stay away.
Slowly they walked towards the tree an aimless walk, and the number of years they had done this together, had etched the path, the tree, its gnarled roots and branches, the bark, all so well in their minds that they could describe it exactly with their eyes closed. The sentry from high up was observing every single move the prisoners made, but these two were in no mood for mischief.
“Did you have a good sleep?” he asked
“yeah” replied his neighbour followed by a long silence, which was broken by the cawing of the crows , as they had their ritual of their morning meeting high up in the branches before they left for the day, only to return in the evening.
“Wish I was like them” he said
“At least I can fly at will” he followed.
“Very funny” replied his friend.
“You get your meal on time, but they have to go hunting for it, you are sheltered from the vagaries of nature while they stand exposed and you say you envy them?”
“Yes, to me to be free is the only important thing at this point of time”
“Were you ever free?” asked his room mate
“Hmmmm.” He replied with a grin “I was before I got locked down in this prison”
“I know that you have a family, a wife, kids, parents, and your kids didn’t do well, your wife had some relationships, you weren’t doing well in your job, and you were depressed which pushed you to some actions, resulting in you coming here finally” went on the neighbour.
“Very true”
“ OK tell me one thing, why do you think you are not free now?”
“You must be mad, I can’t go out, its as simple as that”
“But you can still be confined being outside isn’t it?”
A small stone next to him of a black color, as he held it between his fingers, turning it around, looking to his right and left, seeing nothing, as he slowly tossed it he replied
“ I Don’t know”
“Remember you don’t have a death sentence, all that you have left is another 3 months, and after that you are free, but going out do you think you will be free?” continued the room mate
“let me tell you something mate” continued the neighbour, his hands gleefully fondling his soft white beard
“If you relate freedom to an object then you will be a slave for life”
The turning of the stone in his fingers was slowing down,
“I didn’t understand you quite well” he said
“OK how do you relate to freedom?” asked he
“It’s a question of my liberty, being unrestricted……… that’s all I guess”
“Don’t you think that is very basic, elementary stuff you are talking about” asked the bearded man
The sun by now slowly climbing and the meeting at the top of the tree was coming to a close as the birds started to fly out, and the sound upstairs was lessening.
“Again I repeat your liberty and being unrestricted is with reference to something. It is dependent on a given object. And as long as your freedom is dependent on your object, it is limited, limited by time, space, whatever. Its like saying if you are given a cell which is five times bigger than our current cell, your freedom is better, you only have better mobility to stretch more maybe, but the confines are still there to haunt you” the old man said.
He put the stone away and turned squarely to face him
“So what are you saying, is it never possible for me to be free?”
“On the contrary you don’t need to seek freedom at all, being in this cell you are free. Is there a way you can move this tree out of this place? Remember everything is given. Life with all its vagaries, children, wife, job, sensations, emotions, etc: are all given. Seen as they are you remain free, but once you impute your attributes from your past to what you see, then you have sorrow and binding and hence no freedom. A mind which is untethered, free from the past, is a free mind, and that is not dependent on anything for its freedom, because it is freedom inherently. You cannot do away with the past, but you can watch it and enjoy it, but being occupied with it, and in the process becoming the past, leaves you with no freedom. You may have a change of scenario from one to another, but still you remain bound. The only stumbling block to your freedom is your resistance, when you desperately stick to what went by. There is a sense of self pity in it, which makes the ego thrive on your own sympathy, a trick of the mind, but an observance of this trick would result in a condition of release, a total release. A freedom which is unfathomable by any standards. Remember past is a contaminant, and any product of the past, which can be your conditioning psychologically with its innumerable appendages which you call emotions, pulls you down the vortex from the brink of freedom. That’s why I said, you don’t need to seek freedom, do away with all this and what is left of you is freedom. Its like using the words, pot space, room space etc: without realizing that space is space and the limitations like the clay or the wall are of our making, space was before and is and will be , with, without and in spite of these boundaries, so is your freedom my friend. You consider yourself not free due to dependence on these, dependence on people for your security of all forms, because out of this dependence arises attachment and the consequent problems of that you have to deal with ……..its endless that way.”
“Why do you make it sound so simple?” he asked
“I am not making it sound simple, am only telling you that you have complicated something which is not, just let go of your mental acquisitions…………….let me tell you a story for a change.” And he continued again……..
There was this man who was born and brought up in the mountains, never had he seen a sea in life. Once his friend from the plains went to meet him and described the sea. This hill guy got interested and came down to the plains with his friend to see the sea. The plains guy, took him to the beach and left him standing and told him to watch the sea. After sometime, the hill guy asks the plains guy to show him the sea.
“Now my friend you tell me, you are as the hill guy, because he knew the word water and thought sea was something else, little realizing that the basic nature of sea is water as much as that of a rain drop. So are you, an eternally free person, who due to misconceptions, has built a prison around yourself restricting your freedom so much that you have forgotten what you are.”
“It is never freedom from something to achieve, you are free as ever, just forget the status of being a prisoner”
The break came to an end with the bells clanging, ironically reminding them to get back to the confines of the room, but the bearded guy was still free being inside, while there are still many outside but yet remain prisoners.
The sound of the morning roll call bell penetrating the dense silence, as the doors of the cells were opened for the prisoners to fall in line. He and his room mates, were by now so used to that routine, that even if they didn’t hear the bell, the body would automatically prepare for the ritual. After the roll call, they were given a 30 minute time to walk around the open grounds, which didn’t have much of tree cover, except for an old tamarind tree which stood in the corner of the ground, an old one, as old as the prison itself was. The two always remained together, talking less, but being used to the company, it was difficult for them to stay away.
Slowly they walked towards the tree an aimless walk, and the number of years they had done this together, had etched the path, the tree, its gnarled roots and branches, the bark, all so well in their minds that they could describe it exactly with their eyes closed. The sentry from high up was observing every single move the prisoners made, but these two were in no mood for mischief.
“Did you have a good sleep?” he asked
“yeah” replied his neighbour followed by a long silence, which was broken by the cawing of the crows , as they had their ritual of their morning meeting high up in the branches before they left for the day, only to return in the evening.
“Wish I was like them” he said
“At least I can fly at will” he followed.
“Very funny” replied his friend.
“You get your meal on time, but they have to go hunting for it, you are sheltered from the vagaries of nature while they stand exposed and you say you envy them?”
“Yes, to me to be free is the only important thing at this point of time”
“Were you ever free?” asked his room mate
“Hmmmm.” He replied with a grin “I was before I got locked down in this prison”
“I know that you have a family, a wife, kids, parents, and your kids didn’t do well, your wife had some relationships, you weren’t doing well in your job, and you were depressed which pushed you to some actions, resulting in you coming here finally” went on the neighbour.
“Very true”
“ OK tell me one thing, why do you think you are not free now?”
“You must be mad, I can’t go out, its as simple as that”
“But you can still be confined being outside isn’t it?”
A small stone next to him of a black color, as he held it between his fingers, turning it around, looking to his right and left, seeing nothing, as he slowly tossed it he replied
“ I Don’t know”
“Remember you don’t have a death sentence, all that you have left is another 3 months, and after that you are free, but going out do you think you will be free?” continued the room mate
“let me tell you something mate” continued the neighbour, his hands gleefully fondling his soft white beard
“If you relate freedom to an object then you will be a slave for life”
The turning of the stone in his fingers was slowing down,
“I didn’t understand you quite well” he said
“OK how do you relate to freedom?” asked he
“It’s a question of my liberty, being unrestricted……… that’s all I guess”
“Don’t you think that is very basic, elementary stuff you are talking about” asked the bearded man
The sun by now slowly climbing and the meeting at the top of the tree was coming to a close as the birds started to fly out, and the sound upstairs was lessening.
“Again I repeat your liberty and being unrestricted is with reference to something. It is dependent on a given object. And as long as your freedom is dependent on your object, it is limited, limited by time, space, whatever. Its like saying if you are given a cell which is five times bigger than our current cell, your freedom is better, you only have better mobility to stretch more maybe, but the confines are still there to haunt you” the old man said.
He put the stone away and turned squarely to face him
“So what are you saying, is it never possible for me to be free?”
“On the contrary you don’t need to seek freedom at all, being in this cell you are free. Is there a way you can move this tree out of this place? Remember everything is given. Life with all its vagaries, children, wife, job, sensations, emotions, etc: are all given. Seen as they are you remain free, but once you impute your attributes from your past to what you see, then you have sorrow and binding and hence no freedom. A mind which is untethered, free from the past, is a free mind, and that is not dependent on anything for its freedom, because it is freedom inherently. You cannot do away with the past, but you can watch it and enjoy it, but being occupied with it, and in the process becoming the past, leaves you with no freedom. You may have a change of scenario from one to another, but still you remain bound. The only stumbling block to your freedom is your resistance, when you desperately stick to what went by. There is a sense of self pity in it, which makes the ego thrive on your own sympathy, a trick of the mind, but an observance of this trick would result in a condition of release, a total release. A freedom which is unfathomable by any standards. Remember past is a contaminant, and any product of the past, which can be your conditioning psychologically with its innumerable appendages which you call emotions, pulls you down the vortex from the brink of freedom. That’s why I said, you don’t need to seek freedom, do away with all this and what is left of you is freedom. Its like using the words, pot space, room space etc: without realizing that space is space and the limitations like the clay or the wall are of our making, space was before and is and will be , with, without and in spite of these boundaries, so is your freedom my friend. You consider yourself not free due to dependence on these, dependence on people for your security of all forms, because out of this dependence arises attachment and the consequent problems of that you have to deal with ……..its endless that way.”
“Why do you make it sound so simple?” he asked
“I am not making it sound simple, am only telling you that you have complicated something which is not, just let go of your mental acquisitions…………….let me tell you a story for a change.” And he continued again……..
There was this man who was born and brought up in the mountains, never had he seen a sea in life. Once his friend from the plains went to meet him and described the sea. This hill guy got interested and came down to the plains with his friend to see the sea. The plains guy, took him to the beach and left him standing and told him to watch the sea. After sometime, the hill guy asks the plains guy to show him the sea.
“Now my friend you tell me, you are as the hill guy, because he knew the word water and thought sea was something else, little realizing that the basic nature of sea is water as much as that of a rain drop. So are you, an eternally free person, who due to misconceptions, has built a prison around yourself restricting your freedom so much that you have forgotten what you are.”
“It is never freedom from something to achieve, you are free as ever, just forget the status of being a prisoner”
The break came to an end with the bells clanging, ironically reminding them to get back to the confines of the room, but the bearded guy was still free being inside, while there are still many outside but yet remain prisoners.
