Swami Vivekananda once stated that "There is something in us which is free and permanent...but it is not the body; neither is it the mind. The body is dying every minute. The mind is constantly changing. The body is a combination, and so is the mind, and as such can never reach a state beyond all change. But beyond this momentary sheathing of gross matter, beyond even the finer covering of the mind is the Atman, the true Self of man, the permanent, the free. It is his freedom that is percolating through layers of though and matter, and in spite of the colourings of name and form, is ever asserting its unshackled existence. It is his deathlessness, his bliss, his peace, his divinity that shines out and makes itself felt in spite of the thickest layers of ignorance. He is the real man, the fearless one, the deathless one, the free."
My encounters with the Vedanta philosophy began at the age of 14, when while writing a script for a play on the life of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda's words brushed lightly upon my soul. It could have been a chance encounter, but after spending late nights pondering over his words, and reading and re-reading his life and works, I could not help but fall into a deep slumber. A sleep not of the body, but of the ego. His words have inspired many no doubt. The attraction of the philosophy to me, was unquestionably the answers to my questions on the aim and direction of human life. Religion was never enough to free a soul from the shackles of human birth, condition, and the illusory veil that is life. Vedanta is the true freedom.
| Freedom & Vedanta | Freedom & Swami Vivekananda |
