Difference between Baddha and Mukta
The baddha is of the world, tied down to its pleasures and pains, whereas the mukta is free of them, and God is the only reality for him. Saints completely dissociate themselves from the body; people ask, not about their progenitors, but about the guru, the upasana. They are, for all practical purposes unaware of the body; its awareness, ego, is all merged in God. The baddha takes far more interest in the pleasures, the happenings, and condition of the body and material existence; a lessening of such interest indicates progress in the direction of absolvement; this becomes complete when God becomes the sole reality.
We are baddha today because we take ourselves to be so; we identify ourselves with this body, whereas we are, in fact, a part of the Basic Reality. Consequently, the pleasures and pains of the body persecute us, and are felt by us as real. The soul, actually, is unaffected, detached. We take the soul and body both as 'ourselves', although we say 'my' arm is aching or 'my' stomach is upset. Tacitly, therefore, we admit that we are not the organs or their assemblage which we call the body, and the 'owner' or the 'soul' is different from, independent, of the body.
Our mind takes joy in sensual pleasures, so we have a soft corner for them. But these pleasures being transitory, the joy, too, lasts only a short while. Discontent also arises from dependence on other persons or things. We should, therefore, never forget the true nature of our' selves'.
This detachedness can only come from true devotion to God. An obstruction to this comes from the 'body-am-I' conviction, which must first be ousted from the mind. So let us ever carry the feeling that we belong to God, and that whatever happens is by God's will; this will gradually erode the 'body-am-I' belief. This does not call for penance, sacrifices, and such other austerities, nor for relinquishing family life and retiring to the forest, or any such other cumbersome and strenuous performance. Abandon all doership, say you belong to God, and be happy and contented; this will gradually attenuate the ego. Just as the 'body-am-I' conviction consolidated itself into identity with the body, we shall recover our true identity with the Ultimate Reality by repeating that we come from God.
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