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Freedom from choices - the highest freedom || Acharya Prashant, Advait Mahotsav (2021)
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4 years ago
Choicelessness
Freedom
J. Krishnamurti
The Chooser
Desire
Realization
Contentment
Truth
Description

Acharya Prashant responds to a question about a statement by J. Krishnamurti: "When you have choices, you are not free." He affirms that there is great joy in being choiceless, as it frees one from struggle, being torn, and brooding over various options, making life easy. When one is choiceless, one sees only the one thing that is Truth, which is related to one's identity of being truthful. This state makes life so easy because one is not pulled by a thousand different things. The liberation comes from not having the pull of a thousand choices acting upon you. Conversely, when you have many choices, everything in the world becomes an opportunity, yet nothing suffices. This leads to a state of wandering in frustration and angst, as no choice is good enough to be the final one. The problem is not that the choice was wrong, but that the choice existed at all. The real thing affords no competition; it is the one way known through realization, not habit. When you know the real thing, you don't even see other options because they no longer appeal to you. The choices that appear to you are a reflection of your inner state. If you are fragmented with a thousand desires, you will see a thousand choices outside. Each choice corresponds to a particular desire within you, none of which may be for the Truth. Acharya Prashant distinguishes between two types of choicelessness: one born of ignorance, like a frog in a well, and spiritual choicelessness, which comes from total realization and finality. The liberated person does many things, but not to satiate himself; he does everything while already being satiated. He is not seeking contentment but acts from a state of contentment. This allows him to play the game of life with joy, agility, and freedom, unafraid of loss because he is already a winner before the game even starts. In contrast, one who is desperate for success is frozen by the fear of failure and spends all their energy on arrangements, never getting to enjoy the party. The tragedy is not that we lose so much, but that we cannot even play. The advice is to care for the chooser, not the choices. When you, the chooser, change, the choices visible to you will also change. The way of life is to continuously reject what is lowest about you, which creates a vacancy for better things to arise.