freedom without illusion

In Western spirituality there is a strong idea that freedom comes from following our feelings and doing what feels light, natural and good. Many people believe that a free life should flow intuitively, spontaneously and with inner ease. These qualities can be valuable and beautiful parts of the path. But it is easy to fall into the illusion that comfort is a sign of the right direction, and that discomfort is always a warning.

Because of this, many people in the West think that freedom means “I can do what I want, when I want.” In the Indian wisdom traditions the view is opposite. They say that “real freedom comes from being free from desires.“

Understanding this difference is important, because the Western idea of freedom also has a shadow that is rarely talked about.

Very often this longing for freedom becomes a subtle way of escaping. It can be an escape from responsibility, from daily life, from structure and from the things that help us grow. This can be seen in the lives of many spiritual people. For example, someone may feel the need to withdraw from commitments and duties and call that freedom. But in the wisdom traditions of India this is not freedom, it is another form of attachment. If life is guided only by what feels pleasant, a person is not free but driven by their desires.

The view of yoga and the sacred texts of India is very different. They teach that true freedom begins when desires no longer lead us. Great masters have said that freedom is not following our desires but being free from their power. Freedom does not come from choosing what feels pleasant. It comes from choosing what is right. This is called dharma. Dharma means the action that is right and true, the action that life and the heart call us to do, even when it is not easy or comfortable. It is the inner duty of the soul, the direction that keeps the mind clear and the heart steady.

In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most sacred and loved scriptures of India, this question appears right at the beginning. Arjuna wants to escape. He wants to leave his duty, walk away from his responsibility and go to the forest to meditate. He wants to be spiritual without the world. But Krishna tells him something that breaks the foundation of Western spirituality. Escaping does not free anyone. Escaping is also an action and it binds just as much as attachment.

True freedom begins when a person meets their task and no longer moves away from it. They do not act from desire or fear, but because it is right.

In the Bhakti tradition, love is not a feeling that holds us only when life is pleasant. Love is acting even when we do not feel anything. Love is loyalty, commitment, service and carrying daily life. It is doing the right action and offering it to God, even when the mind wants something else. This understanding changes everything. Life no longer builds itself around feelings but around truth.

My own understanding has grown slowly. For many years I believed that freedom meant living exactly as I wanted, whenever I wanted. I followed the flow and chose what felt good and authentic. I believed intuition was always the soft direction that leads to lightness and pleasant feelings. Now I understand that true intuition is not a feeling but the voice of truth. It does not always lead to something pleasant but to what is right. This year has brought me face to face with this truth and has made me more humble than ever. I have had to look at myself and my life very directly, without any protection or explanations. In that humility something true has begun to open.

Now I feel that this insight has moved from my mind into my life. I can see clearly that what I once called freedom was actually escape. Real freedom opened only when I understood that I do not have to follow my desires. I am not free when I do what I want. I am free when my desires no longer lead me.

This insight has deepened during this year in a way I could not have imagined. The silence of Hämeenkyrö, the closeness of nature and the time I lived alone have been a deep initiation. I have seen myself without any protection and understood what I have been attached to and what I have avoided. Many old layers have fallen away, not as punishment but as liberation. The peace of Hämeenkyrö has been like a cradle where the old version of me could fall apart and die, so that something more real could be born. Now I feel that this process has come to an end.

Because of this inner change I am now moving to Helsinki. Not because I want to. Not because it feels easy or pleasant. Actually, the opposite is true. It would be much more comfortable to stay in the quiet beauty of Hämeenkyrö. But the inner direction is clear and I follow the call of my dharma. It is time to take action and bring into life everything I have learned here. It is time to stabilise my finances, build the foundations of my life, commit to work, prepare for my future theology studies and live close to the temple and my Guru. This is the direction life is asking from me now.

Now I see that love for God is not choosing what is always peaceful and soft. Love is doing what is right, even when it is difficult. It is standing in front of my life and not moving away from it. This is the moment when freedom begins, when I no longer run from what is in front of me.

Freedom is not a feeling but an inner steadiness. It does not come from outer situations but from not letting desires or fears lead. Freedom is the ability to do the right action without following preferences, stories or escape routes.

Freedom grows from truth, not comfort. Not from what feels easy, but from what is right. When a person turns toward their dharma and acts according to what the heart knows to be true, life begins to support them. In that moment, real freedom opens. In that moment, freedom is present without illusion.