The mind is the cause of bondage as well as of liberation.

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The Amritabindu upanishad says:

“The mind is the cause of bondage as well as of liberation of human beings.

When the mind is engrossed in worldly objects it causes bondage. The same mind

leads to liberation from bondage when it is free from attachment to worldly

objectsâ€.

When a person thinks that some particular object will give him happiness, he

becomes desirous of acquiring that object for himself. This is what is called

‘kaama’. Then he puts in efforts to acquire that object. This is karma. The

karma results in punya or paapa for him, depending on whether it is a good act

or an evil act. All actions performed leave their results. When the person dies

he will thus have a store of punya and paapa left. In order to experience their

results he has to be born again. In the next birth also he has desires and he

performs actions to fulfill the desires and earns further punya and paapa. Thus

the cycle – kama, karma, janma--- goes on endlessly. Thus the mind in which

desires arise is the root cause of repeated births and deaths.

One can become free from this continuous cycle of births and deaths only by

making the mind free from desires. When there is no desire for any personal

benefit or enjoyment, the actions performed by such a person will be self-less

and they become karma yoga. Such actions do not produce any punya pr paapa. The

mind, being free from desires, becomes absolutely pure. Only in such a pure mind

the knowledge of the Self can arise. Thus the mind becomes the means for

liberation from bondage.

S.N.Sastri