You Are Not Bound

How to get rid of this concept of ‘I’? There are various ways described in the book of knowledge, in the Upanishads, and sutras also. So everybody says, “I am …” everybody says, “I am so and so, you are so and so, he is so and so, and this is the world.” No one ever questions, “What am I? Where do I come from? Where do I return to? What is the purpose of my coming here? What have I done?” This question is never asked. “Who am I?” is never asked. So you have to question, “Who am I?” And then you have to search for its answer by yourself here and now. And this is going to free you.

And you can do it through yoga also. Just with the count of eight breaths — inhaling, exhaling — just for eight times. How much time does it take? One minute you have sixteen breaths, one minute — just half a minute and you are free. How? During these eight inhalings or exhalings do not associate with any object and you are free. You can do it here and now. Just for eight counts of your inhalings, have no association with any object and you are free. Freedom is here and now, always, everywhere. You have been postponing for millions of years because of vasanas — “I want this, I want that. I am attached to this person, and that person is very much attached to me.” This is called the cycle of birth and death, and this is universe, and this is bondage, suffering. And actually it doesn’t exist — only vasana.

There is no difference between vasana and samsara. Vasana is, “I want this.” That’s all. When you simply don’t give rise to “I want this or that,” then where is samsara; where has it gone? So this vasana is samsara, and this vasana is time, this vasana is mind — which is past. Samsara is past. Mind is past. Vasana is past.

So we have never looked into this present moment, not ever. We have never tried it. We have never been told, no one ever taught us, what is presence.

We speak always of past and future. Everywhere there is a talk of past and future. Who could speak of this presence? And this presence, this present instant is called freedom, enlightenment, wisdom, bliss. And you can do it without any effort, here and now. Without any effort and without starting any thought either. No thinking. It is so simple. And because this simplicity has not been recognized, we have to suffer endlessly.

Even this suffering does not exist. As in a dream where we are attacked by robbers, we are suffering. They are threatening us with revolvers so we want some help but nobody helps. What can anybody do? So there comes a tiger — a roar of the tiger! The robbers run away, fearing their own death. And with the roar of the tiger, this man who was attacked by the robbers wakes up. Now where are the robbers? Where is the fear? Where is the tiger? Where is the suffering? In the dream everything was there. There were robbers, fear, tiger. Everything was only dream visions, illusions, hallucinations — but on waking up, nothing existed.

Likewise, the same is the case here. There is no difference at all. So you are all sleeping, and when we dream we must have previously slept. Before we must have been sleeping, then in the sleep we dream. In the dream we see objects — sleep, dream, objects, you see. So when we see objects we are dreaming. When we are dreaming we are sleeping. So here also, when we see objects we are dreaming and we are sleeping. Wake up! What is this wake-up now? Is the roar of the tiger that made you wake up from the dream, from the sleep, like this thing? When you want to be free, “I want to be free!” is the roar of the tiger.

We are six billion people tonight. How many are there? How many buddhas? How many enlightened people have we produced for quite billions of years now? Because we don’t want freedom we want to enjoy. The desires that are unfulfilled are waiting and will give us the next birth to enjoy the same desires; again not fulfilled. Whose desires are fulfilled? Not even the emperors have fulfilled their desires, not even the kings. Nobody has fulfilled their desires. So each man thinks, “I will fulfill my desires.” and later on no one speaks of freedom at all. Some fear there, perhaps no one wants freedom.

And this is a fact, because he who wants freedom has to be free in the same moment when he wants to be free. Because the wave that rises from the ocean is the ocean, within the ocean — not separate. So when the desire for freedom arises it arises from freedom itself, from Self itself, and is the Self itself, you see. If it is an ocean there has to be a wave not separate from the ocean itself. And in the desert if it arises it’s a mirage. In the desert also there are waves. People run after it to have a soothing bath, swim in it. So that also is a river with waves but it is not real. It was not there in the morning or in the evening, it is only there for some time. So this pleasure is for sometime. Just as in the waking state or in the dream state, anything you enjoy is not abiding, is not permanent, is not eternal peace. After having enjoyed a pleasure and found peace, you want to run after something else. So it’s not peace at all.

Peace — once attained— you are peace itself. So when you run here, there, it is something else; it is sensual pleasure, not peace, not bliss, it is sensual pleasure because it is the nature of the mind. Having enjoyed one thing it wants something else and then something else, and this is called samsara.

So if you desire freedom make up your mind, if not today maybe at the end of this life if not next life. Don’t postpone it. This postponement is called samsara. Samsara means postponement. And if you stand on your toes and decide, “I want to be free.” who can stop it? First of all, decide once and for all: “I have to be free.” Because freedom is within and when you say, “I want to be free.” who speaks? Who is it that wants to be free? From where does it rise? Even this desire — I want to be free — where does it rise from? Where does it stand? Where does it subside to?

You just have to understand this thing: You have not to go anywhere. You have not to desire anything. Only understand that you are not bound. “I am suffering, I am bound,” you have heard that from someone else. It’s not real experience. Now find out yourself. This suffering, this death, these tensions, you have heard from someone else; it’s not your experience. Because when you sleep all what you have heard, all you have read, is not there; and you are happy even in sleep — though this is ignorant state. You are happy because all that you have read or heard, experienced, and tasted, smelled and seen, is not there, and you are happy. So if you free yourself of what you have seen, smelled, heard, tasted or touched, just for one second — maybe half of the second, maybe half of the half will do. That’s how, you see.