[Advaita-l] [advaitin] An Allegory for the Self's Freedom

[khaaksaar]

Pranaams Michael ji,

Thanks for sharing these wonderful excerpts.

Kindly please advise if the draft translation of the book, Universally
Accepted Teachings of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, is available.

Dhanyavaad!

satinder🙏

On Sun, Jun 1, 2025 at 10:55 AM Michael Chandra Cohen <
michaelchandra108 at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Though this very Self is Brahman, we mistakenly consider ourselves
> bound—much like a wealthy man imagining himself to be a pauper. Though ever
> free, we struggle to attain liberation. Consider the story of a thief
> repeatedly imprisoned, who once managed to escape by outwitting the guards.
> When a friend asked, “Which gate was the hardest to escape from?” he
> answered, “The one that was open!”
>
> That gate opened outward, but the prisoner had exhausted himself pulling
> it inward. Finally, dejected, he leaned back against it—and the door swung
> open by itself! The illusion was that the door was locked, when in truth it
> was not. Similarly, we are already free, but due to a mistaken sense of
> bondage, we labor in vain, seeking a liberation that need not be acquired.
>
> All our efforts made in the fog of ignorance often deepen our
> entanglement. Like the thief, when we finally cease striving in the wrong
> way and fall back in surrender, the door of Truth opens—by the unseen grace
> born of past merits.
>
> These are the Universally Accepted Teachings of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya
> -from the book of the same name by Sri Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati,
> draft translation
>
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