Maya and Freedom

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Now all these various manifestations of religion, in whatever shape

and form they have come to mankind, have this one common central

basis. It is the preaching of freedom, the way out of the world. They

never came to reconcile the world and religion, but to cut the

Gordian knot, to establish religion in its own ideal, and not to

compromise with the world. That is what every religion preaches, and

the duty of the Vedanta is to harmonise all these aspirations, to

make manifest the common ground between all the religions of the

world, the highest as well as the lowest. What we call the most

arrant superstition and the highest philosophy really have a common

aim in that they both try to show the way out of the same difficulty,

and in most cases this way is through the help of someone who is not

himself bound by the laws of nature, in one word, someone who is

free. In spite of all the difficulties and differences of opinion

about the nature of the one free agent, whether he is a Personal God,

or a sentient being like man, whether masculine, feminine, or neuter--

and the discussions have been endless--the fundamental idea is the

same. In spite of the almost hopeless contradictions of the different

systems, we find the golden thread of unity running through them all,

and in this philosophy, this golden thread has been traced, revealed

little by little to our view, and the first step to this revelation

is the common ground that all are advancing towards freedom.

 

One curious fact present in the midst of all our joys and sorrows,

difficulties and struggles, is that we are surely journeying towards

freedom. The question was practically this: " What is this universe?

From what does it arise? Into what does it go? " And the answer

was: " In freedom it rises, in freedom it rests, and into freedom it

melts away. " This idea of freedom you cannot relinquish. Your

actions, your very lives will be lost without it. Every moment nature

is proving us to be slaves and not free. Yet, simultaneously rises

the other idea, that still we are free. At every step we are knocked

down, as it were, by Maya, and shown that we are bound; and yet at

the same moment, together with this blow, together with this feeling

that we are bound, comes the other feeling that we are free. Some

inner voice tells us that we are free. But if we attempt to realise

that freedom, to make it manifest, we find the difficulties almost

insuperable. Yet, in spite of that it insists on asserting itself

inwardly, " I am free, I am free. " And if you study all the various

religions of the world you will find this idea expressed. Not only

religion--you must not take this word in its narrow sense--but the

whole life of society is the assertion of that one principle of

freedom. All movements are the assertion of that one freedom. That

voice has been heard by everyone, whether he knows it or not, that

voice which declares, " Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy

laden. " It may not be in the same language or the same form of

speech, but in some form or other, that voice calling for freedom has

been with us. Yes, we are born here on account of that voice; every

one of our movements is for that. We are all rushing towards freedom,

we are all following that voice, whether we know it or not; as the

children of the village were attracted by the music of the flute-

player, so we are all following the music of the voice without

knowing it.

 

We are ethical when we follow that voice. Not only the human soul,

but all creatures from the lowest to the highest have heard the voice

and are rushing towards it; and in the struggle are either combining

with each other or pushing each other out of the way. Thus come

competition, joys, struggles, life, pleasure, and death, and the

whole universe is nothing but the result of this mad struggle to

reach the voice. This is the manifestation of nature.

 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

.... to be continued