Self-realization · 7 of 11
Bondage and liberation
Six enemies within, eight fetters around: this is what binds. And freedom has two meanings, only one of them final.
On each page the marked passages are the words of Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, from the books. The lines between them are ours and only lead from one passage to the next.
Six enemies and eight fetters
The force that draws a mind toward the crude has a name, Avidyámáyá, and it works in two ways.
Avidyámáyá is the creator of the śad́ripu (six enemies) and the aśt́apásha (eight fetters). Káma (longing for earthly objects), krodha (anger), lobha (avarice), moha (attraction), mada (vanity) and mátsarya (envy) are the six enemies, while bhaya (fear), lajjá (shame), ghrńá (hatred), shauṋká (doubt), kula (high descent), shiila (complex of culture), mána (vanity) and jugupsá (backbiting) are the eight fetters.
Why they are called enemies, and fetters
An enemy attacks from within; a fetter holds from outside. Both do the same harm: they stop the movement.
These six faculties in human beings are termed as enemies, as they absorb the mind in crudeness and stop its march towards the subtle. The supreme rank for unit consciousness is subtle, and anything which holds it back from reaching the supreme rank, is its enemy.
Aśt́apásha means the eight fetters. Anyone bound by fetters will lose his or her capacity of movement.
The fetters do not stay private
What binds one mind binds a society too. This side of the fetters belongs to the third part of the philosophy, the welfare of all.
These eight fetters supply the vital energy to ism or superstition. Isms, such as nationalism, casteism, provincialism, communalism, etc., create despair and compromise human integrity.
The real bondage
Hunger is ended for a while by food, a question by its answer. Such freedoms are temporary. One bondage lies under them all.
What is spiritual bondage? Spiritual bondage is: You are one with the Supreme Entity. The Supreme Entity is always with you, and you are always with Him. You should have this realization permanently, but you lack this realization. Your lacking in this realization is your spiritual bondage.
The human beings, after knowing the Supreme Entity, attain liberation from all fetters (páshas).
Mukti and mokśa
Freedom, too, is of two kinds. To merge in the Cosmic Mind is liberation, mukti. But the Cosmic Mind is still within creation, and the aim lies beyond it.
We can take as an example a drop of water which, on mixing with a similar larger body of water in a tumbler, completely loses its identity as an individual drop and becomes one with the water in the tumbler. Similarly, an individual, like the drop, completely loses his or her individual identity on merging with the infinite Supreme Entity.
Hence the aim of human beings is not to merge with the Qualified Supreme Entity and obtain mukti. It is higher than that. The aim is the achievement of the supreme rank, that is, obtaining mokśa or kaevalya mukti.