Freedom Beyond the Mind: The End of Desire and Fear.
We are all addicted to chasing something. Money, love, recognition, peace, or the next “big thing” will ultimately make us feel whole. When we’re not chasing, we’re running from rejection, loss, quiet, and ourselves. That is the loop. Desire propels us ahead, while fear drags us back. And somewhere in the middle, we call it life. But Ashtavakra, the ancient sage who couldn’t care less about sugarcoating spirituality, throws a reality bomb that breaks the cycle:
“Freedom isn’t about gaining what you desire or avoiding what you fear. “Freedom is the knowledge that neither truly touches you.”
The king’s Dilemma
One day, King Janaka confessed to Ashtavakra, “Master, I meditate, I pray, I serve my people yet I’m still restless. Every time I achieve something, a new desire appears. Every time I feel safe, a new fear rises. How can I ever be free?” Ashtavakra smiled that calm, mysterious smile that says “You’re about to be humbled, my friend.” “Janaka,” he said, “you are still trying to free the mind, not yourself from the mind.” Janaka frowned. “Aren’t they the same?” “Not at all,” said Ashtavakra. “The mind is a restless servant. Desire and fear are its games. You keep polishing the chains instead of breaking them.” That’s when it hit freedom isn’t about managing your emotions; it’s about seeing through them.
Desires: The Sweet Poison
Let us start with desire. We’ve been educated to believe that desire drives progress, and it does in the real world. But within, it is the ultimate energy trap. Because every want communicates the same message: “You are not enough yet.” And there is where the agony begins. You obtain what you want relief for a moment — and then the next want appears, dressed in different clothes. A new automobile. A new partnership. A new version of “you.” Ashtavakra is not saying, “Don’t want anything.” He is urging, “Don’t be owned by your wanting.” When your inner calm is dependent on what happens around you, you’ve effectively turned over your inner remote control to the cosmos – and it’s not a nice operator. The difficulty is to want something without needing it. To play the game while knowing it’s a game.
Fear: The Shadow Twin.
Fear is desire’s twin. Desire says, “I need this to be happy,” but fear says, “I’ll be miserable if I lose it.” Every attachment includes a built-in panic button. When you love something too much, you begin to fear losing it. That’s why Ashtavakra informs Janaka,
“Let go of the belief that anything can complete you — and you will no longer fear its absence.”
When you stop chasing and clutching, life loses its power to shock you. You become untouchable – not in a cold, distant sense, but in a profoundly serene one.Imagine standing in a tempest with wind, rain, and turmoil, but something inside you remains completely still. That is the freedom he is talking about.
Freedom isn’t control.
We adore control. We adore pretending to be the universe’s CEOs, manifesting outcomes, visualizing goals, and writing destiny. But let’s face it: no one has control over life. The stock market collapses, people depart, health deteriorates, and time flies. Ashtavakra does not instruct you to control your fate. He says, “See through it.”
“You are the witness, not the doer.”
It sounds passive, yet it is not. It is power without tension. It’s action without attachment to the outcome. When you realize you are the consciousness behind all experiences, not the events themselves, control loses meaning. You move, act, speak, and create—but from a position of freedom rather than fear.
Today’s Prison
Let’s get this down to 2025 reality. Today, our minds are overstimulated playgrounds of desire and dread, including doomscrolling, status anxiety, FOMO, and validation addiction. We spend one hour meditating and the next binge watching YouTube. We chase peace as if it were a popular product launch. However, attachment and freedom are incompatible. When your happiness is based on notifications, figures, or other people’s opinions, you’re just a puppet clothed as a “conscious being.” Real spirituality is not about deleting Instagram. It’s about using it, not having it use you. Freedom begins when your mind shouts “I need this” and you quietly whisper, “No, I don’t.”
Janaka Awakening
After a long pause, Janaka finally understood. He looked at Ashtavakra and stated, “Freedom is not something I achieve. It’s what’s left after I stop connecting with my desires and worries.” Ashtavakra grinned. “Exactly. Freedom does not mean the lack of thought. It’s the realization that you’re not your thoughts.” Janaka felt something alter right then. The buzzing in his head did not stop; it simply lost its grip. He still had a kingdom to rule, people to love, and challenges to solve, but they all felt like ripples on the surface of a huge, silent ocean. And the silence, the awareness, was his actual dominion.
Living Beyond the Mind.
So, how do we live this reality in today’s chaotic world? Begin by monitoring your thinking – not criticizing or fixing, simply watching. Look at every desire and worry that develops as if you were watching clouds travel across the sky. The more you observe, the less you are owned. The less you are owned, the more liberated you become. Building walls around your emotions is not the same as being free. It’s about viewing them for what they are: passing visitors to your limitless dwelling. When you stop attempting to avoid pain or pursue pleasure, something miraculous happens: the noise disappears and clarity emerges. That is the doorway Ashtavakra leads to: freedom from the mind that misinterprets the world, not from the world itself.
You cannot buy freedom. You cannot earn it. You can only see it. It’s what remains after the cloud of desire and anxiety lifts – when the mind stops running your life like a terrible CEO. You still work. You still love. You’re still playing the human game. But there’s space inside—endless, tranquil, and brave. In that space, you realize you were never trapped. You were only dreaming you were.
