Kaivalya and Freedom in Christ

What is freedom?

On July 4th, Americans celebrate Independence Day. This national holiday commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence by Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced the separation of the American colonies from British rule. It affirms freedoms such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly. 
But what is freedom and what does it mean to live as a “free” people?

These questions around freedom are not specific to the United States of America, nor are they solely political in nature. In fact these questions are as old as time itself. 

In one of his sermons, modern theologian John Piper says, “(There are) those who define freedom as doing whatever you feel like doing when you feel like doing it. But thoughtful people don’t define freedom or liberation that way.” 

So how do thoughtful people define freedom?

As we seek out answers to these more nuanced questions about freedom, we can find rich discussions and deep wisdom in ancient texts like the Yoga Sutras and the Bible. 

Patanjali’s Path to Freedom

Considered a path to freedom, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a collection of 196 short verses, or aphorisms which provides one of the earliest known definitions of yoga and describes the art and science of classical yoga. 

The objective of classical yoga, as outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, is to balance the qualities of our inner-world (gunas) and to become free of the influence of the material, temporal world (prakriti), so that we might re-establish our identity with our original pure state of being and remember our True Nature (purusha).

According to Patanjali, we have to overcome the obstacles in our minds and free ourselves from the power and dominance of our thoughts, so that we can be reunited with our True Nature. 

In his article, “The Flowering of Freedom: The Yoga Sutras Of Patañjali,” Richard Miller writes, “The Yoga Sutras is an extraordinary text that expounds upon the nature of human psychology, spiritual self-inquiry and practice, and the realization of freedom and embodiment of our highest potential as human beings.” In other words, the wisdom found in the Yoga Sutras can help us live more fully into our potential as human beings.

According to Patanjali, our fullest potential can only be reached when the mind is still, and the student is said to be reunited with their True Nature. In his Sutras, Patanjali outlines an eight-limbed path of yoga which is designed to help the student steady their body, balance the energies of their inner-realm, and sort through their memories and accumulated experiences in order to cultivate stillness in their mind. 

This eight-limbed path is Patanjali’s path to freedom. It is a path leading to kaivalya, the Sanskrit word for liberation.

Kaivalya for Christians

So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36

Freedom is described throughout the Bible as the liberation from the power of sin and death in our lives. This is not something that we can achieve on our own but is offered and found through our union with Jesus Christ. Why do we need Jesus to free us from sin?  The Bible Project describes sin as “to fail” or to “miss the goal” and illustrates what this means for humans in this way: 

“With the word sin, the Biblical authors are offering a robust description of the human condition. It is a failure to be humans who fully love God and others. It’s our inability to judge whether we are succeeding or failing. And it’s the deep selfish impulse that drives much of our behavior.” 

In Christ, we have been restored and freed to live the way that we were created to live: in relationship with God, partaking in God's divine nature, and operating in our God-given spiritual capacities by the power of the Holy Spirit. This kind of freedom enables Christians to love God and others with the same self-giving love that we have so freely received from Jesus. Eugene Peterson explains Christian freedom this way in The Message: 

"It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom." 

Galatians 5:13-14

The path of yoga from a Christian perspective is tempered by the understanding that we alone cannot overcome our own minds. Instead the Spirit gives us the mind of Christ. This is a gift, or a grace, from God!

The Yoga Sutras can be used like a manual for the student who is interested in responding to God’s grace by exploring the human capacity for reflection and for digging deep into the workings of the human mind and heart as we seek freedom and learn to put on the mind of Christ. (To learn more on what it means to “put on the mind of Christ”, read my blog, Walking in Christ’s freedom: Jesus, yoga, & the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)

Living Free

Both the Bible and the Yoga Sutras recognize our deep need for freedom. As we seek answers to thoughtful questions about freedom, the wisdom found in both The Yoga Sutras and The Bible gives us insight into the concept of freedom and what it looks like to live as “free” people. 

Though the vehicles to achieving freedom may differ, these texts can work together, supporting Christians as we “put on the mind of Christ” and break the worldly yokes that bind us in order to walk in the freedom that we have been given through Jesus.

When studying both these sacred texts, it is clear that “thoughtful people” believe True liberation is the freedom to live life from an eternal perspective, free from the pushes and pulls of our own thoughts, desires, and the influences of the world around us and that walking in this Freedom allows us to live our highest potential as human beings.

Featured image by Eneko Uruñuela @nkuutz via Unsplash.