Think before you ask for Freedom!
No animal feels the anguish; all animals are utterly satisfied as they are! Man is the only animal who is intrinsically discontented; hence, the feeling of shame because he knows, ‘I can be free’.
A man, a great man, a fighter for freedom was traveling in the mountains. He stayed in a caravanserai for the night. He was amazed that in the caravanserai there was a beautiful parrot in a golden cage, continually repeating, ‘Freedom! Freedom!’ which would go echoing in the valleys, in the mountains.
The man thought: I have seen many parrots, and I have thought they must want to be free from the cages…. but I have never seen such a parrot whose whole day, from the morning to the evening is spent in calling out for freedom. He had an idea. In the middle of the night, he got up and opened the door of the cage. The owner was fast asleep, and he said to the parrot ‘Now get out’.
But he was very surprised that the parrot was clinging to the bars of the cage. He said to him again and again, “Have you forgotten your freedom? Just get out! You fly into the sky; the whole sky is yours!”
But the parrot was clinging too tightly to the cage, man was clueless about what was happening. He tried to take the parrot out with his hands, but the parrot started pecking at him and at the same time he was shouting ‘Freedom! Freedom!’. The man pulled the parrot out and threw him in the sky and he was satisfied thinking he had made a soul free. He went to sleep.
In the morning as the man woke up, he heard the parrot shouting ‘Freedom! Freedom!’. He thought perhaps the parrot must be sitting on a tree or a rock. But he saw the parrot inside the cage with the door open.
This story stuck so hard on Freedom. We all seek freedom, but the cage has some sort of security and safety. The parrot didn’t have to worry about food, enemies, or anything else. It is cozy and golden!
Our power, prestige, and riches are all the cages. Our soul wants to be free, but Freedom is dangerous. It has no security and safety.
Freedom comes with responsibility. It comes with danger, fighting our way, challenging into the unknown. Sometimes it is hot sometimes it is cold. In the cage the owner was responsible. When it is cold, he used to cover the cage with a blanket, when it is hot, he used to put a fan close by.
The cost of freedom is a tremendous responsibility.
You are on your own and alone!
Rabindranath Tagore is right: Freedom is all I want, but to hope for it, I feel ashamed: because it is not a question of hope; it is a question of taking a risk!
This is an excerpt from Osho’s work on Freedom – The Courage to Be Yourself!
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