Freedom's Just Another Name for Nothing Left to Lose
The title above really says it all, but it recently popped into my head,
and I rememer singing this song (Me and My Bobby McGee) and that wonderful
line - "Freedom's just another name for nothing left to lose." These days,
however, most people think of freedom as nothing more to gain - in other
words, that freedom comes through getting more and not losing everything.
Freedom (Enlightenment) comes not by gaining, but by losing everything that
is personal, or rather the personal identification with it.
There's a wonderful story in Yoga Vasistha where a king goes to the forest
to renounce everything. He becomes more and more austere, giving up his
hut, his clothes, eating less and less (all the suggestion of his teacher)
who keeps saying "Renounce more, renounce more". Finally he can think of
nothing else to renounce. The teacher says to him, "You have failed to
renounce the one thing that really needs to be renounced - your mind."
You see, it is the mind which is the obstacle. When you have renounced your
attachment and identification to the mind's collection of beliefs, you have
lost all that obscures What IS. You have lost the shackles...you have
nothing more to lose. Lose the beliefs, and you have nothing more to lose.
And then, 'Living life is easy!'
and I rememer singing this song (Me and My Bobby McGee) and that wonderful
line - "Freedom's just another name for nothing left to lose." These days,
however, most people think of freedom as nothing more to gain - in other
words, that freedom comes through getting more and not losing everything.
Freedom (Enlightenment) comes not by gaining, but by losing everything that
is personal, or rather the personal identification with it.
There's a wonderful story in Yoga Vasistha where a king goes to the forest
to renounce everything. He becomes more and more austere, giving up his
hut, his clothes, eating less and less (all the suggestion of his teacher)
who keeps saying "Renounce more, renounce more". Finally he can think of
nothing else to renounce. The teacher says to him, "You have failed to
renounce the one thing that really needs to be renounced - your mind."
You see, it is the mind which is the obstacle. When you have renounced your
attachment and identification to the mind's collection of beliefs, you have
lost all that obscures What IS. You have lost the shackles...you have
nothing more to lose. Lose the beliefs, and you have nothing more to lose.
And then, 'Living life is easy!'