I have heard that a rebel sage (A sage is always a rebel) was thrown into prison for his irrepressible love of freedom. He was going around the country singing songs of freedom. He was a Sufi sage and his captor was a Caliph who was both the religious and temporal head of Mohemmedanism. The sage was put in shackles from his neck downward, but he continued to sing his songs of freedom. One day the Caliph came to see him and inquired if he had any troubles. The sage asked, “What troubles? I am a royal guest, your guest; what troubles can I have? I am utterly happy. I live in a hut and you have put me in a palace. Thank you! ”
The Caliph was amazed. He asked, “Are you joking?” The Sufi said, “I say so because I have turned life itself into a joke.” Then the Caliph came with a down to earth question: “Are the chains on your hands and legs heavy and painful?” The Sufi looked at his chains and said, “These chains are far away from me. There is a great distance between me and these chains. You may be under the illusion that you have imprisoned me, but you can only imprison my body, you cannot imprison my freedom. You cannot turn freedom into prison because I know how to turn prison into freedom.”
It all depends on us, on how we see things. Seeing is foundational. We have to understand what the Sufi told the Caliph, “These chains are far away from me. There is a great distance between me and these chains.” Our life becomes what we are psychologically and spiritually, our death becomes what we are in our mind and spirit. If we are free, our birth our life, our death, everything becomes free. And similarly if we are in bondage, then everything we do or we don’t do binds us. Then action binds, love binds, life binds and even death binds. Then even God binds.
In fact, we are our own makers.
Wishing you good health & happiness,
Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people
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