Questioner (Q): How we get the real definition of freedom?
Acharya Prashant (AP): We have to first start with- what is slavery? Freedom is not something that comes from outside. Freedom is our basic nature. What comes from outside, is slavery. So, when slavery is understood and gotten rid of, what remains is your free nature.
Words like freedom, love, joy, awareness, do not try to go into them in a positive way. Do not seek their positive definitions. Seek their negative definitions – what they are not. Just try to understand what are the enemies of freedom are. Try to understand – what covers up freedom. Try to understand – what is not freedom. And get rid of that. And then what remains is freedom. Are you getting it?
You see, you can bring that from outside, which you are not. Can I bring ‘myself’ from outside? I can only bring external entity from outside, right?
I cannot bring my own real nature from somewhere else. And freedom is ‘my own real nature’.
And that is why governments all around the world, when they want to punish, they take away your freedom. That is what prisons are for. They realize that the biggest punishment that can be given to someone is – to take away his freedom. Because your very nature is freedom, and you suffer every moment when your freedom is taken away. Do you see this?
So, just realize that what is not freedom. I can see that some of you are deeply attentive here. A few of you are not here. Now, it is quite possible, that those who are not attentive, they will take these words unconsciously, and that will create an imprint on their mind. That will not be freedom.
Whenever, you take in something, without understanding, that is not freedom. Alright? So, what is freedom then? Nothing. Just simple, quiet listening, which is your nature. That is freedom. You don’t have to do anything in freedom. Additionally, you don’t have to really acquire it. You only have to get rid of its enemies.
You acquire something only when you have lost it. You can never lose freedom, but your freedom can remain covered with dirt and dust. All you can do is get rid of the dirt and dust, which are the enemies of freedom. Just get rid of the dirt and dust. They are not real, they are all mental. They are like vampires. You throw some light on them, and they will evaporate.
They flourish only in darkness.
After getting rid of all the dirt and dust, you will shine in freedom.
The debate around nudity and movements like “Free the Nipple” miss a deeper issue: true freedom is not about clothing, but freedom from psychological conditioning and body-based identity. Clothes themselves neither oppress nor liberate. A truly free society is one where the body becomes ordinary and irrelevant, not a source of obsession, shame, validation, or social control.
You look at Iran, at revolutions, and ask: can systems really bring freedom? Revolutions keep replacing one system with another, yet the chaos remains. The real question is rarely asked: what within us creates these systems? Real freedom is not political or social; it is inward. Without inner change, every revolution only rotates power, never resolves suffering.
Often, in the name of financial pressure, what we are really kneeling down to is something else. But because that something else is not nice enough to be named, what we quote is financial pressure. Nothing is ever forced in a tangible way. The way is kept gentle in appearance. But there is something else at work inwardly. What is that thing? That is what you have to uncover. You have to be honest towards yourself, very honest.
