We are all very familiar with our external world. However, there is another completely unknown realm within us: that of Pure Consciousness. The external world being perceptible means everything to us. We get so caught up in it, that we have no relationship with the inner consciousness. How are we so bound to the world that we remain oblivious of the divinity in each one of us?

What Causes Bondage?

Once a big house caught fire. The owner was devastated. As he was lamenting, someone came to him and said, “You don’t need to worry. Just yesterday, your son sold this house.” At once, the owner stopped crying. The house was still burning, but he was not sad any more. What had changed? He now felt, ‘The house is no longer ‘mine’!’ Earlier, he was miserable not because the house was burning, but because ‘his’ house was burning. Now it made no difference to him whether it burnt down or not! Just then, his son came running up to him exclaiming that although the sale agreement was in place, the money had not yet been received, and now that the house was burnt, there was no chance that the buyer would pay. The man began weeping again!

What binds us to the outer world is our feeling of ‘my’ness, the extension of our ego. ‘My’ wife, ‘my’ son, ‘my’ friend, ‘my’ house – wherever there is attachment, there is bondage.

The greater the attachment to the outer world, the stronger is the bondage. Unaware of this, we believe that the more a person can claim as ‘his’, the happier and more successful he is. And conversely, a person who possesses nothing, or has very few things that he can call ‘his’, is considered unhappy, unsuccessful and helpless.

Habit of Attachment

Attachment leads to bondage and this leads to misery. We get attached even in a drama! For instance, in the performance of Ramleela, there is a scene of the abduction of Sitaji. While watching Shri Rama in agony, we get so identified with the story, the characters and the emotions of the play that when Shri Rama is seen pining for Sitaji and asking the trees, “Do you know where my Sita is?” It moves us to tears. We completely forget that it is only a play and that ‘Sita’ is just behind the curtain, probably sipping coffee in the green room!

Let alone a drama, we get deluded even by a film projected on a screen! A movie is only a play of light and shade. It is not real, but we forget this and identify with the scenes. Mere projections delude us. The unreal scenes bring real tears to our eyes. In the same way, we get carried away by what we see in our dreams. Dreams are not real; they are mere projections. A dream of death produces real suffering, increases heart palpitations, when in reality, no one has died!

If we can get caught up even in a drama, a film or a dream, then it is so easy to get caught up in the events of life. We create our own bondage by getting attached to the world we encounter. This habit of attachment is so strong that one may renounce one’s house and retire to the forest or to an ashram, but regardless of where he goes, he will create bondage wherever he goes. In the forest he will develop attachment for a cave, and in the ashram, towards fellow seekers.

You Have Chosen Bondage

Man is very clever! He dumps the responsibility of his bondage and the consequent suffering on others. He creates his own bondage but blames it on others: his wife, his son, his business etc. However, external things are incapable of binding anyone. Bondage is our choice. We are slaves to the external world because we wish to be. Nobody can enslave us if we do not choose it. We choose to remain attached to the outside world and therefore we indulge in it.

Many people come to me and say, “I am very keen to attend the meditation workshops you conduct, but what can I do? My business holds me back. My duties prohibit me from attending them.” And I begin to wonder, ‘Why do we get bound? Why can’t we realise the simple truth that we are the creators of our own bondage? Why do we blame others?’ No one binds anyone, because no one ‘can’ bind another. Only those who like to be in bondage are bound. If you like to be tethered, you will always find a pole to tether you.

Suppose I hang my coat on a peg and then exclaim in annoyance, “This peg has hung my coat!” People will call me insane. They will ask me to remove the coat from the peg, because the peg does not force me to hang the coat on it! It is we who take support of the peg. Similarly, the world does not bind us; we wish to be bound by it. If we detach ourselves from the world, we will be free to turn within! Understand that it is attachment and nothing else that binds us.

Thus, the world binds no one. It is you who bind yourself to the world. You alone are responsible for your bondage! The cause is nowhere else but within you. How can a house imprison you? How can your spouse and children tie you down? You become a slave of your own accord. You desire to be a slave, so you get enslaved and suffer.

Understanding Leads to Liberation

If we become aware of the fact that we are the creators of our bondage, then we will be left with only one question, “If I do not want bondage, why don’t I remove the cause of bondage and free myself?” The mind plays another trick here. When we realise that we are in bondage, we make external changes, but we do not give up the habit of creating bondage. Tired of the ‘busy’ness of business, we volunteer to work for the ashram and attach ourselves there. Thus, the attachment remains intact while the things and beings change. By changing the objects of attachment, we merely delude ourselves into believing that we have transformed ourselves, that we are not attached to anything!

It is essential therefore to clearly understand the nature of bondage and its root cause. If this is understood, you can realise exactly what is to be given up. Carefully observe, comprehend and recognise each bondage and find out when, where and how you bind yourself. Once you understand the reason for its creation, you can be free from it by averting it. With this understanding, it will be easy to sever it and experience your real nature, the Pure Consciousness.

May all beings realise the cause of bondage, embark on the journey within and attain eternal freedom.