“Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.”
– Ray Bradbury
Kabir – The couplet
जो तू चाहे मुक्ति को, छोड़ दे सबकी आस ।
मुक्त ही जैसा हो रहे, सब कुछ तेरे पास ||
Transliterated:
Jo Tu Chaahe Mukti Ko, Chhod De Sabki Aas |
Mukt Hi Jaisa Ho Rahe, Sab Kuch Tere Paas||
Translation:
If it is liberation you desire, then first liberate yourself from desire |
Once you find liberation, you will find that all is with you ||
My understanding:
Was desire born first, or was it born from the desire for freedom?
As long as we are bound by desire, are we really free? For our desires bind our every action and limit thought to a narrow space targeted to fulfilling the desire. And every step generates new desire, until it is desire that is driving every thought, action and breath, not free will.
When the thought of free will floats to the top, desire cloaks the thought in itself, and slowly but surely bends the self to its will, rather than allow the self to emerge, free of desire, if only for a moment.
Look at our daily life, and this is borne out in our every moment. How often do you wake up because you want to? We wake up because it is time to get to do the next planned activity. That activity is planned because it will step us a little more towards a desired goal. That goal could be our job, work in the house, preparing breakfast or working out in the gym.
We do our job, not because the job needs doing, but because we want the salary the job pays. And the desire deludes us into believing that we are really doing the job because that is what we want to do. We work out, more often than not, to impress others with the results, not because the body needs to exercise. We cook to get the accolades, not because it is the right food to feed.
All of our actions are driven by a desired result, not by the purity of the action itself. Until we break out of the result-driven desire, we will not be able to open our eyes to the full potential of the action.
Realizing this is but the first step. The next few are the difficult ones – to catch the drive of desire, and overcome the drive so the thought and action flower naturally. Once we achieve that state, then we have to discipline the self to carefully nurture the newfound freedom, water and feed it and allow it to fully blossom.