When we inquire into the tragedy of life, the very first of all causes is this separation from freedom. This tragedy can be seen in all kinds of people. From rich to poor, from the most illiterate to the most educated, every one has this grudge. Maybe one confesses it while another does not, but the grudge is in everybody's mind just the same: that he has entered this objective world. For this entry seems to be the cause of all the tragedy of life, the tragedy that man's spirit cannot be satisfied; it cannot have lasting happiness, as long as he stays in it.

But if you ask someone you meet what the cause of his life's tragedy is, he may say, "O, that I long to have more money; I am very poor, and without resources I am so unhappy." Another person may say, "O, I have everything I want, but my relatives are quarrelsome and very unkind to me." Another says, "I have everything I want but good health." A fourth says, "I have everything, but I long to have a certain peace." Another, "I long to accomplish this art; that big purpose in life; not having done so makes me unhappy.'

And if you were to supply to each his life's need, giving money to the poor man, harmony to the man without harmony, position to the man who has not got it, a beautiful palace to the one who longs for that, health to him who has it not, then see how long he would remain happy! It would be only for that moment when his desire was fulfilled, and then he would again feel the hunger for he knows not what. He asks his mind, "What more do I want?" and his mind says, "You feel so unhappy." And as soon as he asks, "For what?" his mind answers that he cannot have that which he seeks.

It is in this way that all through his life a man runs after things which are not the real desire of his soul. Sometimes he thinks it is his bodily appetites and passions which demand satisfaction, sometimes that it is his intellectual powers; but even if they were satisfied he would still find himself unhappy. "Perhaps", he thinks, "it is wealth, position, or honors that are lacking." Or he thinks, "It is not that I have not got the things I need, but I have not enough of them." If he has a motor-car, he is unhappy because he has no chauffeur.

His mind, his reason, always puts forward some other cause for his unhappiness rather than the real one, in order that he may be kept in illusion all his life; in order that all his life he should run after things which are not the real aim of his soul. Throughout his whole life he seeks after things, trying first this, then that. One day he buys this, another that, and after getting these things he still thinks, "O, there is still something else, that is why I am unhappy"; and as long as he has not got it, he considers that is the cause.

If he has ten things he wants twenty; if he acquires twenty he seeks thirty; if he has thirty he desires fifty; and so on. Indeed if he had thousands and billions, he would want a kingdom; after that a whole universe; and if the whole universe were given him, his heart would not be satisfied, because the demand of his soul has still not been understood. He goes through life mourning and sorrowing for things he cannot get, not understanding in what lies true gain and true loss.

Therefore, when a seer or one who has realized life looks at this world, he sees that however old a person may be -- aged, young, middle-aged --- he is still like a child. Children become very unhappy because they have not got, or cannot get a toy, a toy to which grown-ups would not attach any importance. To the seer, the desires of ordinary grown-up people are also like toys. The things that matter to the world do not matter to him. This is the sign that he has realized the aim of his soul.

For the aim of his soul is freedom. Freedom is the soul's true nature. It is a captive in mind and in body. The whole tragedy of the soul is its captivity. Words such as Nirvana, or Mukti, salvation, or liberation -- all these names are those of the one aim or ideal of the soul throughout our whole life; yet hardly anyone knows what it is he aims at. All that he does know is that there is such a longing, that there is this hope constantly there.

Everyone wakes in the morning as if he were expecting something. Everyone goes to bed with the thought, "Perhaps tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I shall obtain my heart's desire." With some the desire is for a position, or a friend; with others it is a hope. Everyone is looking out as if waiting for that something to come.

There is a familiar saying, "Wait till my ship comes home." Every soul is waiting for his ship to come, not knowing what that ship will bring, or what sort of ship it is. Still, every soul is looking for "my ship"; every soul is unconsciously waiting for the coming of "my ship." One person thinks it is the prospering of trade, another of business, another thinks it is the coming of power or position, but everyone believes the ship will come!

The ship is different according to whether it is pictured by the mind or the body or the soul. The ship of the soul is its freedom. Indeed, freedom is the real object in all aspects of life; if the desire is for wealth, that is nothing but a desire for freedom from poverty; if the desire is for power, that is nothing but a desire for freedom to act as one wishes; the ideal of every soul is freedom, freedom to work, freedom to act, freedom to think, freedom in every direction.

Not knowing that this is the heart's real desire, from the first day of his creation till today, man has always neglected the true freedom, because of his pursuit of freedom in the external life. That has been his mistake. In spite of the little freedom he has thus gained he finds himself captive still; he has still failed to gain that complete joy and peace which his soul longs for.

Freedom for the body would be the freedom of walking in gardens, of moving about wherever it wished. But that would not be freedom for the mind. The mind would still be captive. Suppose the mind has freedom, freedom of thought, of understanding, of imagination, of actions, even then the soul would still be captive. But if the soul is free the mind is free, and the body also is free.