Bondage and Freedom

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

Page 11

Each place has its own atmosphere--and a jail is no exception to it. A jail has its own peculiar atmosphere which is naturally very different from the atmosphere of a hospital or a wedding party. ... . .
The first thought that struck me as I entered the gates of this jail was—“Are we not all in some way prisoners, like the prisoners inside this jail:" .
Some are prisoners behind prison bars, others are prisoners of their own passions. The prison of passions is much more formidable than the one made of stone walls and iron bars. For these will some day be liberated, sooner or later, but the others, those who are fettered by their own passions, who are slaves to their lust, find it extremely difficult to break the chains that bind them.
The chains are not formidable only for the common man who leads a normal life; they are equally strong for the saintly who subject themselves to an austere penance in order to renounce all worldly pleasures and comforts. Wise men have said that the greatest bondage in the world is not that of a prisonhouse but it is of one's own thoughts and cravings.
And who, after all, was it that sent you to this prison: It was your own uncontrolled passions.
When a man fails to exercise control over his desires and his emotions, they break the bonds of all restraint and overwhelm him. He finds himself helplessly tossed about by them; he indulges in many