How to Become Free?

विधाता – कर्मणां तत्फलानां च कर्ता विधाता

He puts action in place and also decides the results of action and puts them also in place.

He only sets forth action. Action comes out of maya.

You go for a tour to Switzerland. It is an action.

Think about. Why do you have to go to Switzerland? Because you can’t see Switzerland from where you are sitting. Because a limitation has been imposed on your vision, that it can’t see beyond a distance of say 1 mile or five miles.

You can’t enjoy the weather of Switzerland, sitting where you are. This is another limitation. Your skin can sense only what is there in its immediate neighbourhood.

At the same time, someone tells you Switzerland is a great place, to see, to enjoy.

These limitations imposed on the indriyas / faculties is called maya.

Maya is not exactly illusion, maya is a limitation, incompleteness.

So what happens when maya is imposed? It prompts you into action.

You have to undertake that action because your vision is limited. Sitting where you are you can’t see Switzerland. So your desire to go and enjoy makes you do so many things. Work, earn, save, borrow, buy dress, book tickets, pack, travel. Behind all this is maya. The fact that you can not see Switzerland sitting where you are.

By imposing maya, Shri Hari makes beings to engage in karma and then gives their results.

Shri Hari is the one who has put these restrictions. He is the one who has created this maya.

It’s a total play. A game you see.

In the chess game, when the black and white pieces are neatly lined up on both sides, there is no action. Then you make a few moves, the other player makes a few moves, then the action begins. And as the game progresses, the action also becomes more and more complex.

In chess, there is killing, there is overpowering, there is siege, there is compromise, there are casualties. It is a battle game. As the game progresses the complexity increases. After some time, a newcomer to the scenario will not understand where it all started. He wouldn’t know that both players had their pieces neatly lined up, still without doing anything at first.

Then slowly they started moving one by one. And now the board looks very complex and complicated. Only an expert would know that all this has happened, where it all started, what all must have happened. Layman would be puzzled to see how the players are aggressively killing each other. He would think that they are real enemies, fighting each other for real. If he has never seen a game before, this is what he would think.

Someone who walks into a shooting location of a movie, scene of a riot is being shot, he doesn’t know that there are cameras and they are all actors.

He would think that a real riot is happening, will get worried, will get involved in it or run away.

Now the chess game is a small game.

Life has trillions of such games going on parallely. It looks trillions of times more complicated. But who made the first move – Shri Hari. He put maya in place and all the trillions of games started. For him they are all games, his leela, his entertainment.

The moment the atma is placed inside a body — I am calling it atma not strictly from a technical point of view — ok let’s call it soul, so that Vedantis don’t take objection.

So don’t confuse this soul with jeevatma or paramatma or whatever. What I mean to talk about is that something that comes and occupies a new body. Let’s call it soul.

When soul is placed inside a frame with so many restrictions, the game begins.

Consider yourself to be a farmer living in a farmhouse in the middle of a ten-acre farm. Suddenly you are forced to live in a 10 ft by 10 ft cubicle in a foreign land. You can’t get adjusted to it. You are not used to such small places. So slowly you will make a small extension to your cubicle, try to plant saplings to see if anybody is objecting. After five years you would have made a small house for yourself and encroached into some land around it. In 10 years you will be living in a mansion with at least the original 10 acres of land around it. In 20 years you would have become a landlord.

When soul occupies a small body with limitations on vision, hearing, everything, it wants to grow, expand.

So we invented telescope. Soul-atma is not happy with how far it can see. So we invented telescope to see farther. Soul is not happy with how much it can hear. So we invented loudspeakers, ultrasound.

Soul is not happy with moving about on the surface of earth. So we invented ships, we invented aeroplanes, we invented space shuttle.

Soul is not happy with the speed this body can achieve. So we invented bullet trains, the supersonic, rocket.

I am trying to tell you why all this ambition, why all this urge to expand, grow, even at the expense of one’s own peace. Because this is built into you. Because you are a caged bird and you want to be free. Ambition, growth is the only way you know to become free.

The limited way. You are not aware of any other way by which you can become free.

This is not just in humans. Animals, plants, creepers, even disease-causing virus and bacteria — they all have this in them to expand, grow.

Our sages realized there is still a limit to how much you can grow with this strategy. This ambition, this physical growth is not at all a countermeasure for the great power of maya. To break your shackles, to come out of your cage and become a free bird.

They came out with much better ways, much more efficient ways, surer ways to become free.

And the simplest among them —

Chant Vishnu Sahasranama.

There are some more meanings to Vidhata.

We saw that Shri Hari is called धाता because he places Brahma as a pregnancy in Prakriti’s womb.

तं गर्भं परिणमय्य आविर्भावयति — the pregnancy that he places upon Prakriti’s womb grew into the universe, which is he himself. Hence he is Vidhata.

विधाता – यो ब्रह्माणं विदधाति पूर्वम् – he has delegated the task of creation to Brahma. Hence Vidhata.

वि: means Garuda — वि: गरुडो धाता यस्य – whose mount is Garuda. Garuda carries him. Hence Vidhata.

वि धाता – विशिष्टानां धाता – who are vishishtas? The liberated souls. Their support – धाता. He is the support of the liberated. When they had the desire to get liberated, it is with his support that they became liberated. Hence विशिष्टानां धाता, Vidhata.

• Why is the Lord called Vidhata if I am the one acting?

  • Because he sets the stage and grants the results while you choose clean effort. Offer the work up; accept the outcome without drama.

• If maya is a limitation, is ambition wrong?

  • No. Ambition is natural but not final. Use it to serve, not to dominate. Freedom grows when desire is guided by dharma.

• How do I work hard without anxiety over results?

  • Fix a process, timebox it, do name-japa before and after, and hand the result upward. Calm effort beats restless effort.

• What turns work into worship?

  • Right intention, honest methods, fair pricing, and sharing gains. The same task feels lighter when it is offered.

• If life feels like a chess game, how do I stop feeling like a pawn?

  • Learn the rules (dharma), improve your moves (practice), and trust the player (the Lord). Choose clean moves even under pressure.

• What is a daily set for ‘freedom while acting’?

  • Morning light, one round of name, two focused work blocks with a 5-minute breath break, dusk gratitude, and a short walk.

• How can bhakti help my body without getting mystical?

  • Slow nasal breathing, regular mealtimes, simple seasonal food, and 10–15 minutes of walking after meals. A calmer body holds steadier attention.

• How does devotion change family fights about money and status?

  • Speak low, state facts, avoid blame, and set a budget as an offering. Add one silent kindness daily for the person you disagree with.

• If results are the Lord’s gift, why plan at all?

  • Planning is stewardship. It reduces waste and temptations while keeping you available for grace.

• How do I know I’m not using devotion to avoid responsibility?

  • You keep deadlines, tell the truth, fix mistakes fast, and apologize sooner. Escapism and bhakti feel very different.

• How should I enjoy travel and comfort without getting trapped?

  • Pay what you owe, avoid debt-ego mixes, thank the giver, and serve someone on the way. Pleasure becomes clean when it is grateful.

• What does ‘support of the liberated’ mean for me today?

  • He lifts anyone who truly wants freedom. Start with one non-negotiable habit: daily name or honest accounts. Consistency invites help.

• How do I keep charity from feeding my ego?

  • Give quietly, respect the receiver’s dignity, and never seek applause. If advice is asked, keep it short and kind.

• How do I handle envy when others surge ahead?

  • Offer their success upward, refine your process, and serve where you stand. Joy for another loosens your chains.

• Where does technology fit under the Lord’s play?

  • As extended senses. Use it for learning and service, not vanity. Switch off at night to protect sleep and sanity.

• What do I teach children about success and grace?

  • Try hard, share credit, help one person daily, and say a short thanks at meals. Skill plus gratitude builds character.

• How do I act when waiting months for results?

  • Stay useful: learn, mentor, tidy finances, and help at home. Patience is not idle; it is steady.

• What short prayer steadies choices?

  • ‘Guide my action, own the result.’ Then take the next honest step.

• How do I measure growing freedom in daily life?

  • Less panic over outcomes, kinder speech during stress, cleaner money habits, and deeper sleep. These are signs of support at work.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi