Bondage, freedom and fear of death || Acharya Prashant, on Yogavasishtha (2016)

आज्ञाभयसंशयात्मगुणसङ्कल्पो बन्धः ।

ājñābhayasaṁśayātmaguṇasaṅkalpō bandhaḥ

Bondage is to imagine that Ātman has qualities like doubts, fear, etc.

~ Niralamba Upanishad, Verse 25

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Acharya Prashant (AP): “Bondage is to imagine that Ātman has qualities like doubts or fear etc. Bondage is to imagine that Ātman has doubt or fear.”

We live in doubt, we live in fear, right? And when we live in doubt and when we live in fear, we say, “I am in doubt,” or, “I am fearful.” We feel certain that the state of doubt or fear is really our own internal state. We do not think of doubt, fear, and all mental states as external superpositions; we proudly, and with great certainty, internalize them. We do not even say, “Doubt is coming to me”; we do not even say, “I am experiencing fear.” We simply say, “I am afraid.”