Inner freedom brings calmness to a stressed life
The term inner freedom will be unfamiliar to many. It is a state of 'being' that is not controlled by your outer life, a quiet and peaceful inner awareness revealed through the continued practice of meditation, prayer and contemplation.
In life's daily activities many individuals function through no deeper level of consciousness than the functions of the physical mind. But in the application of these functions many individuals suffer from mind's negative emotions some of which are unhappiness, depression, frustration or stress. If you are finding that you are one of these individuals and are searching for a more content and peaceful life then the following should be of interest.
Our outer life is that part of the physical body that interacts with the world. On a daily basis we work and play with it as a normal unconscious activity. We use it to converse with individuals in an effort to achieve, be understood and socialise. Our outer existence is full of emotions, ego, moods, desires and needs. We are subject to its fluctuations having little control over how it presents itself to us, so are affected by its changing moods. We are born into it, suffer from its negativities and are free of it at death. It is limited and impermanent.
Conversely our inner existence is a tranquil state unaffected by our outer environments, fluctuations and moods. It is that part of our being which is our true essential, vast and sky-like nature. Infinite in existence and not bound by the limitations of the physical body it is free, eternal and silent. At its highest and purest reality we can merge with its divine consciousness through the peace and silence of our soul.
Through daily service, meditation, prayer and contemplation, a sincere seeker and his searching and aspiring heart longs for the absolute union with his soul. In his daily aspirations he strives to be free of the encumbrances of karma and the limited reality of the physical body. The very nature of this aspiration carries the sincere seeker to the realms of inner freedom. Here through continued meditation practice the seeker reaches higher levels of consciousness gradually carrying him/her closer to that state of complete inner freedom, the permanent union with their God-like nature, self-realisation.
Inner freedom manifests the spiritual heart's contentment, equality, clarity, intuitiveness, sincerity and peace. These inner virtues convey themselves to the physical body of the seeker, lifting its normally limited human consciousness into higher levels of divine consciousness bringing calmness, wisdom, happiness and poise to the often stressed and distracted physical mind.
And so the outer transformation of the limited reality of the physical mind brought about by the soul's inner freedom brings fulfilling and lasting changes to the individual. Sri Chinmoy the meditation teacher says, (1) "Now, the paramount question is whether or not my inner freedom and my outer freedom can run abreast. Certainly they can. Certainly they must. My inner freedom knows what it has and what it is: realisation. My outer freedom must know what it wants and what it needs: transformation. When the freedom of my life without is soulfully and unreservedly transformed, it immediately becomes the mightiest might and the highest pride of the freedom of my life within."
- Sri Chinmoy Library ref: http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/eastern-light-western-mind/32.html
Biography - Sahayak Plowman by nature is a positive and happy person. He attributes this to the growing experiences gained through his own meditation practice with the guidance given by his meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy. He is a writer on spiritual topics, also the compiler of a published book of poetry, Sri Chinmoy's Heart-Garden and web master for Sri Chinmoy Books.com