Swami Vivekananda - Sister Christine : 69

IMPRISONMENT IN FLESH

Up and down, up and down ceaselessly. "He (Swamiji) is restless, so restless," some would say. But it was not the restlessness of the man who does not know what is urging him on, what it is he wants. Only too well did he understand what was actuating him. He could have explained it lucidly, logically. A great free soul, conscious of the reality of his being, of his divinity, felt himself imprisoned in a cage of flesh. The bondage of the body was torture. The lion brought from the jungle, where he roamed at will, never forgets the glory of freedom. Restlessly he paces the short distance allowed by his bars. Here was a mighty free soul caged in flesh. The imprisoned glory struggled to escape. True, we are all caught in this bondage, but there is hardly a human being who knows it. We cling to our captivity. We would not give it up. Few even understand that "shades of the prison house begin to close upon the growing Boy".

But here before our eyes we saw one who was fully conscious, who realized the Great Freedom beyond, to whom the bondage was torture, who was ceaselessly struggling to break through. For us who witnessed this struggle, no words were necessary. Without any teaching whatever, our eyes were opened. "I am not the body, I am not the mind." "So that is what it means," we thought "I am beyond the body with its disabilities, beyond the mind with its limitations, for I am That, I am That."

To be continued.... (Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda by Sister Christine)