"The Greatest Gift"

Have we ever wondered as to what could be the greatest gift for us? Something by receiving it , all other gifts pale into insignificance? Perhaps the following story, as told by my Guruji (slightly modified by me) would answer the question. There was a prison housing a large number of prisoners, who were being punished for different crimes, varying from murder, robbery, and other criminal offences. None of them liked the place and longed to get out. Doubtless many of them had tried to escape but were unsuccessful in their attempts. A kind hearted person felt sorry for them and brought fruits and good home cooked food to make the prisoners happy. All the prisoners loved the food and thanked him profusely. However, once they ate all the food they were back to square one and their transient happiness came to an end very soon. The kind hearted person felt that he should, perhaps do a little more for them and brought some nice clothes this time. Again the prisoners felt very happy in their new outfits and their happiness continued for quite some time but when the new clothes lost their sheen, gradually their happiness too faded. There was an old worker in the prison, who had been there for quite some time, had keenly observed the prisoners and felt that their conduct had been good and that they had been punished enough. He felt that there was no need for them to remain in prison any longer. He, therefore, managed to procure the keys to their cells and one fine day opened all the locks and set the prisoners free. The prisoners ultimately found the freedom they had all been waiting for. Our lives are very similar. Our soul/atma is deep down inside us and covered by layers and layers of our physical bodies and the mind, both of which have been suffocating it, not allowing it the freedom of getting out and merging with Paramatama. Our minds and our egos have conditioned us to align ourselves with our worldly surroundings , making us believe that this world is our true life( just like a frog living in a small pond believes that there is nothing beyond). They have made us crave for transient material things, happiness, unending desires, all of which lead us nowhere. Our mind has enmeshed us in this vicious cycle of birth and death, making us go round and round and keeping us ‘earthbound”. We have become prisoners of time and space, from which, we have made umpteen attempts to free ourselves (from very deep inside us, time and again, we have had the stirrings to be free , which has led us to search for this elusive freedom outside us, in forests and hills, ‘renouncing’ our families and homes, travelling to various places), little realizing that the key to freedom lies inside us and connecting to our atma is what will lead us to Paramatama and unite us with Sadhguru. It is the realized guru who is forever seeking to free us from this bondage and has the power to give us our greatest gift ….but we need to sincerely yearn for it and the gift becomes ours’. It is by following the realized guru’s teachings and travelling on the path ordained by him that this gift can become a reality. May we all get the blessings of a true guru and claim this invaluable gift which has been waiting for us for eons.