Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - Ignorance is the cause of bondage. And why there is ignorance? There is no answer to that. Why has the Divine first created this ignorance and then the means to get out of it? That is why it is called Leela (a game or play of the Divine).
It is like asking, 'Why do we have a football match? Why are there two courts with some coaches and some players on one side, and some on the other side, pushing the ball from this side to that side? Why do they not have their own balls and stay in their own courts?' Then there is no play!
So because of ignorance there is a play, there is the game. That is why the whole world is called the Leela of the Parampurusha (the Supreme Divinity).
Bondage is not anywhere outside - it is in the mind, in the consciousness.
Memory makes you miserable or wise. Memories of events and experiences of the changing finite world bind you but memory of your nature liberates you. Memories of ever changing relative - however good or bad - bring bondage. Memory of the non-changing self elevates awareness.
There is freedom when you realize that you are just a witness to all that is happening. If you could just see that all the states of the mind are temporary.
Every action when it's done, as a doer it will have some karma. If action is a spontaneous happening and you are just a witness to that action then it will not bring any karma.
Life is like a river, everchanging. Events are like the ripples, that don't cease to exist. Wisdom is like the undercurrent, silent yet strong. Self is like the basin, a witness to all.
The day we say, 'I want nothing. I'm happy,' that day a shift has already happened. Desires are our bondage & contentment is freedom.
Our consciousness is like a mirror. Different images come onto it, and they all move away. Know this, and be free. When we get attached to any of those images, that is bondage. So, wake up and see - the mind is a mirror.
