You resist slavery because you already know freedom || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Speaker : If you are deeply enslaved, then freedom will not appeal to you. And that is what happens to most of us.
We have so little taste of freedom, that slavery has become a habit for us. A very deep habit. We have grown accustomed to it. So accustomed, that freedom actually scares us, like a bird that has been kept in the cage for very long, very-very long. Now you open the door of the cage, it refuses to fly away. It says, ‘What is wrong with being here?’ It is because it never had the taste of open, unlimited sky. It says, ‘I am alright here. I am very well protected. No cat that can pounce upon me and my master feeds me nicely twice a day, he gives me meals and that is all life is, having two good meals a day and feeling safe and protected. Why go to the sky and risk my life. What is the fun in that?’ You will realize the fun only when you start flying. If you have never stretched your wings all your life, it is very difficult to tell it to you, very difficult.
I started on a note that you are feeling bad on being forced to do something. That is the note on which we started. Now examine that deeply. You can feel bad about being forced to do something, only if you have at least a little idea of what free-will is. All of us have some taste of freedom, otherwise you we cannot feel bad on loss of freedom. Are you getting this? Are you with me on this?
Listeners: Yes Sir.
Speaker: If you are feeling bad in going to a certain place against your interest, then there is some hope left. It is a good sign. It is a good omen. It means that you are not completely dead. It means that you understand what freedom is, at least a little understanding is there.
In the morning, had you said that we are working all the time against our will and we are so happy about it, we have no problems, then may be I would have not spoken to you at all. I would have said, ‘Done. Finish. I cannot talk to dead people. I cannot talk to machines.’
I started off with you only because I saw some promise. The fact that you resent something which is against your interest is a positive sign. That is alright. That shows that there is some life left. Are you getting it? So, what is the track that we have taken from there?
The track we have taken is- it is wonderful to resist slavery, but then realize slavery in its fullness, in completion. Slavery is not just about forcibly doing something. Slavery is much more about being deeply conditioned, being habituated of doing things under external influences. In fact, it is even deeper slavery.
Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.
