As we celebrate Independence Day in our country today, we should also spend some time understanding the real meaning of independence for us. Many years ago India gained its liberty and became a free country on this day. India was earlier a colony of the British Empire for more than 200 years. Similarly, our soul has been colonised by the coverings of our mind and body. Our soul has been captured in this vicious cycle of life and death from many years now, yearning for freedom.
The illusion of life is that we believe this world is our true home. We feel a part of the world. When we identify with our bodies, we feel at home in the world. But this world is made of matter and so is our body. Reduce our body and the world and we find we are atoms of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and other elements. Like children’s blocks, we are put together in various combinations of the same building blocks. We feel at home here so long as we identify ourselves with the body. In reality, no one here really belongs here.
Each human being comes from another realm. We are, in reality, soul, citizens of the realm of God.
Souls have come to inhabit the physical realm for a short period of time. The soul is on a journey that began with our oneness with God and will be completed when we return to God. For whatever reason God sent the souls into realms of creation, it has been the souls who have delayed their own return. They have become so caught up in the exploration of the many regions that they have forgotten their true nature. We think we belong to the world, but not a single soul belongs to the world. All souls belong to God.
The only truth in the world is the soul and God. The saints know this as truth. They come to teach us how to enshrine the Lord in our minds and hearts. God who is within us knows that we have been blind and deaf to our true spiritual nature. God sends saints to awaken us to who we really are. Without the saints, we continue to cycle again and again to this world, always looking for something to satisfy us but never finding it. The saints tell us that we have been looking in the wrong place. They direct our attention to finding true happiness within ourselves. They come to teach us meditation so that we can find God within and gain real freedom.
Our soul is a citizen of God’s realm and it has been captured in this circle of transmigration from many years. Saints tell us that we can liberate our souls from this vicious circle only by meditating on the inner Light and Sound of God. As we celebrate Independence Day of our country today, let us also strive to achieve our spiritual independence. Today, let us also start working towards the independence of our souls. Let us realise that we are more than a body and mind. We are souls, citizens of God’s realm, stuck in this world and our true nature is bliss, joy, and love.
The author is the head of the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission.