We recently concluded a deeply inspiring retreat on Swami Veda Bharati’s book­­—­­­’Bondage or Freedom’ with Rabindra Sahu at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama ashram in Rishikesh from 3 – 8 November 2024.

Bondage or Freedom Group Photo

Bondage or Freedom book answers the eternal question as to how we bind ourselves into the complexities of life and our own personalities. The answer to this eternal question is the essence of this book. Our beloved Swami Ji with his experiential wisdom and profound knowledge guides us through the efficacious ways to free ourselves from the bondages created by our own self.

The retreat was organised on request from our Hungarian family and some of the participants shared their experiences and self-reflections –

“The Bondage or Freedom retreat was truly inspirational. Rabindra Sahu covered such a depth of knowledge and shared a lot of wisdom. He showed us how we get stuck in our unhelpful patterns, how our likes and dislikes, and unhelpful attachments cause our suffering. He explained that difficulties will always arise, but suffering is a choice.

We learned the importance of not dwelling on our past mistakes as they cannot be changed. Instead, we need to focus on our thoughts, actions, and speech today as that is what we can control. To choose to be a loving person without attachments and expectations. Always aspire to learn and grow and that true success is always internal. Everything in the external world can be taken away from us instantly. Money, fame, and success can never provide true happiness. It lies within us and once it is found it stays with us.”

“From the inspirational lectures, we learned how we bound ourselves and how we can keep ourselves free. We are all very grateful for the personal examples from the teacher’s life, through which he pointed out how we can go beyond the body, what self-conquest means, and how we can expand our hearts.”

“Rabindra is an excellent teacher, and he has the ability to grab the attention of his audience. He went through Swami Veda’s book “Bondage or Freedom” and explained how and why we are bound, and how we falsely identify ourselves with our body instead of realizing that we are not the body that will dissolve eventually anyway. We cause our suffering by identifying with the body. We cause our suffering by attaching ourselves to the external world thinking that only the outside world can cause our happiness instead of going inside and exploring what is there. We heard about the importance of having a set meditation time and going back to our place of meditation every day at the same time, even if only for 5 minutes and keeping our personal mantra in mind as much as we can as it will help us on the way. We are all capable of doing what the great masters did before us, but we must believe that we can do it, and we must be persistent in our practices. The retreat was an eye-opener, and I am very grateful for the Masters and the Himalayan Tradition that I was able to participate.”

Editor’s Note:

Please write to hyptbooks@gmail.com for a physical copy of Swami Veda Bharati’s book ‘Bondage or Freedom’. For Kindle edition, click on Bondage or Freedom.

For more information on events and programs at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama, kindly email us at ahymsin@gmail.com