Seeing the virtue of freedom, I recalled my experience receiving
shaktipat the very first time I chanted the mantra
Om Namah Shivaya.
Suddenly, as I was chanting, I felt my entire being expand into a dimension without space and time—a dimension of complete and perfect presence and freedom. Limitations of thought, emotions, and bodily sensations had disappeared. I became a witness to the essence of my own existence: I am a vibrant form of Consciousness and absolute freedom!
Even after many years, that experience is alive in me; its memory nourishes my
sadhana and my yearning for spiritual evolution.
Contemplating this virtue today, I formulated an intention: to bring freedom into my breath during meditation and to pause between inhalation and exhalation to allow freedom to arise within me and affect the environment around me.
Macerata, Italy
Today’s virtue is freedom, a quality I associate with Gurumayi’s incandescent joy and Baba’s infectious laughter.
This morning I went to the supermarket to buy flowers and emerged with my arms full of blooming plants. Walking toward the curb, I saw a woman with a young child in a stroller who was trying to capture three birthday balloons that had escaped and were blowing toward me and the cars. Without hesitating, I began chasing the balloons and shooing them back toward the mother and child. Because my arms were full of plants, I gently kicked the balloons, virtually dancing on the sidewalk.
My antics must have presented a funny sight because the mother began to laugh and laugh, and so did I. Eventually all the balloons were safely retrieved and when I looked up, I saw that the drivers in their cars all had warm smiles on their faces. In that moment, I felt we were all one and in a state of pure joy.
Contemplating this experience as I drove home, I realized I had just experienced the state of freedom, whose nature is bliss and joy.
Georgia, United States
To be free is my quest. My daily prayer is to be freed from the inner enemies of anger, envy, desire, and pride. “A golden mind” and a golden heart, rooted in pure and steadfast devotion and compassion—that is what true freedom would be for me.
Recently, I treated myself to a wonderful support: a painting called “Footprints in the Sand,” representing Gurumayi walking lightly on the golden sand of a beach by the ocean. Water, sand, sky, and air—everything is tinged with an enveloping pink. Everything in this universe exudes joy and freedom. No attachment, but only light all around and straight ahead. Every morning, verses 63 and 64 of
Shri Guru Gita bring me back to this image. And offering
arati is sublime: the flame of the candle is reflected on the glass covering the painting, and dances all around this inspiring form of my Guru, who walks barefoot on this earth, leaving behind her the traces of a liberated being, out of love for us all.
Quebec, Canada
In my experience, freedom goes beyond the external world. For me, real freedom is found in my inner world, when I embrace my Self.
Mexico City, Mexico
When I open my eyes each morning during this month, I think about the virtue of the day. Although I can mostly remember all the virtues from the previous few years, I still visit the Siddha Yoga path website to check my memory. Today’s virtue was freedom. I asked myself, “What does freedom mean to me?”
I wrote down the answer that came to me in my journal. For me, freedom means to remain free from the influence of my mind, ego, and senses, to be completely free from the control of the inner enemies, and to keep my thoughts, speech, and actions under my full control.
This is my initial insight on freedom. I will continue to contemplate this with the help of the teachings of Gurumayi and Baba.
Thane, India
Ever since I was a small child, I have been interested in the topic of freedom. Although I had ideas about what freedom was, I realized over time that it does not involve ignoring the rules of society.
On the Siddha Yoga path, I have come to understand that freedom is an inner state. As a consequence, today I live a life in which I am able to experience freedom in the midst of civilization’s rules and regulations.
I am grateful to have learned that I can experience inner freedom anywhere, at any time, and under any circumstances.
Unterlangenegg, Switzerland
What comes to mind with the virtue of freedom is Muktananda, the bliss of freedom. By giving me the gift of
shaktipat-diksha, Gurumayi has awakened in me the power which can make me free from the bondage of birth and death. In my daily life, I cultivate freedom by meditating to access the bliss within.
Dombivli, India
The mantra
Om Namah Shivaya is always surpassing the concepts I have of it. It is supremely free. It gives me the light and support to meditate. For me, the mantra
Om Namah Shivaya is the highway to freedom. I experience it as a form of Gurumayi’s grace poured over me.
Madrid, Spain
Every day I look forward to connecting with the virtue that is posted on the Siddha Yoga path website in the
Sadguna Vaibhava gallery. I prepare myself to receive it by renewing my physical and internal posture. After reading the virtue, I imagine that, with each breath, the virtue is entering into my being and permeating my awareness. I invoke the presence of the virtue in my heart and settle it into my awareness. This process enables me to then carry the virtue with me throughout the day.
The virtue reveals wisdom while I perform actions, it whispers in my heart what to say or refrain from saying, and it observes my thoughts and feelings. I find that this fills me with joy and freedom. I feel I can move throughout the day from one moment of freedom to another moment of freedom, in each moment making beneficial choices.
I am deeply grateful for this life-transforming gift of
Sadguna Vaibhava.
Pune, India
When I meditate using the mantra
Om Namah Shivaya, I experience freedom and feel connected with my beloved Gurumayi.
Solapur, India