Mind, intellect and ego look for independence too and, in doing so, one often gets stuck in the ego and becomes more miserable. Most people are not aware of their dependence. When they become aware of their limitations and dependence, the desire for independence arises. On one level, dependence is a harsh reality, on another, an illusion because there is nothing else but the self. It’s only when one doesn’t feel oneness and belongingness that one wants independence.
The self is non-dual, so there is no question of dependence or independence. When the sense of belongingness is not well founded, there is a volatile state in the life of a seeker. Then, the ego finds some excuse to revert to smallness. It is not yet totally soaked in the totality of knowledge. As it is not used to it, the mind finds every little excuse to revert to the ego and be aloof, independent and separate. It finds any small fault and blows it out of proportion. People who want to have independence are also frustrated. When you were a baby, were you not dependent? As a baby, parents took care of you, and, in your old age, your children or someone else will take care of you. So life, in the beginning and in the end is dependence.
Whether in the form of parents or as children or as friends, the help you get from anywhere is coming from only one source, divinity. It is only the divine who took care of you as your parents, and it is only the divine who will take care of you as your nurse or neighbour or friends or anybody else. Someone will always come and take care of you; you don’t have to worry at all. If your attention is on divinity, you will not feel the burden of dependence, or the frustration to have independence. Both will disappear.
In fact, the word ‘independent’ is obsolete. Independence cannot be achieved unless you start moving from within. When you move within, you discover that you are interdependent. Every wise person knows that everything is interdependent and that there is nothing like independence. We have one nature, one ocean, one air, one earth and everyone is dependent on it. We are interdependent. From tailor to farmer, from teacher to doctor — we depend on all for some purpose or another.
When you have this deep realisation that you are not the roles you play, but something beyond, then that is freedom; that is independence.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji,
