The word ‘freedom’ has a philosophical spiritual significance. Alternate words used are Mokṣa – Mukti – Nirvāṇa – Kaivalya. In some literature, it means attaining Brahmanhood. Of course, the concept of union with God is also a way to free oneself from material life. The central idea seems to become free of something. We seem to be bound in our life. We don't seem to be free. What is it that binds us? Well, in a way it is ourselves. No outside agency can really hold a ‘Gandhi’ in bondage. Iron bars do not make a prison. As Milton has said, “Mind in its own place can make a hell of heaven or a heaven of hell”.
So, in a nutshell, you have to be free from your own self, from your own mind. We have tied down ourselves to lots of emotional habits, too many opinions. We cannot take a fresh look at anything. We are really slaves of our habits – a cigarette, a peg of a drink, a cup of black tea or any such indulgence.
How do we come out of this? Well, the very purpose of Yoga is to bring back our freedom. There are eight steps. The Yamas and Niyama free us from our emotional relationships. The Āsana free us from our physical inflexibility. Prāṇāyama frees us from the fixed pathways of our nervous energy. Pratyāhāra frees us from the senses. Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna frees us from the subconscious compulsion. Samādhi frees us from the sense of ‘I’ and the material bondage.