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Namah The yearning for freedom

the body is healed too. operative even during sleep.

So, to release the entire nature, this methodology Our pathway to freedom should be one of
concentrates on the body itself. I find the joy. The path is difficult enough without
body to be a perfect channel for this work. moving around with a sad face. Really, it is
Channels need to be uncomplicated and the such a difficult game that only a small child
body can certainly claim this simple virtue. can perform it. Children have such an in-
I use the body to read the promptings of built spontaneity and trust that gives them
the soul. Every conceivable distortion and solutions to the most complex of problems.
obstacle appears there. The body is an ideal They always win at games. Discover the inner
barometer of all our inner states. What a gift child and one recaptures the joy of existence
it is! Really, for me, it is much more than just and the easiest way to freedom.
a gateway to freedom: it is the vehicle for
transformation because whatever we see there References
can be transformed with true consciousness.
Everything blocking our freedom can be 1. The Mother Collected Works of the Mother, Volume
demolished with permanent and immediate 14. 2 ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
nd
effect. It is simply a matter of aligning the Press; 2004, p. 188.
consciousness with the Truth. I say ‘simply’,
but large doses of sincerity are required for 2. Sri. Aurobindo. Birth Centenary Library, Volume
this task. When one aspires to live truly, the 20. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust;
alchemy will surely start to unfold and the 1970, p. 88
necessary procedures will inevitably come.
3. The Mother. Collected Works, Volume 4, p. 90.
I try to observe through this lens. It is observ-
ation in detail and when something is noticed it 4. Ibid.
automatically becomes free. The consciousness
is the key: my tortured psychology becomes a 5. Sri Aurobindo. SABCL, Volume 20, pp. 88-9.
baby in its hands. But this work cannot really
be conducted part-time. If one aspires for 6. Ibid., p. 89
total freedom, this observing consciousness,
deeply rooted in the Truth, needs to be kept 7. The Mother. Collected Works, Volume 9; 2003,
on always to become truly effective. The pp. 176-7.
practice needs to be built up over time. It
needs to be brought into the province of 8. The Mother. Collected Works, Volume 5; 2003,
our daily activities. Its antennae need to be p. 86.

James Anderson is a member of SAIIIHR and coordinating editor of NAMAH.

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