How do I balance personal freedom with commitment to something larger than myself?

This was Mirabai's central tension, and she didn't resolve it neatly—she lived it. She was devoted to God and free from social rules. She loved completely and refused to disappear. These aren't opposites; they're the same movement. Real devotion doesn't diminish you. If your commitment is making you smaller, quieter, less honest—that's not devotion, that's compliance. Mirabai's devotion gave her permission to speak, dance, grieve publicly, to refuse a life that didn't fit. Her freedom came *through* her devotion, not against it. Start by noticing what you're actually devoted to. A relationship? A craft? A cause? Then ask: Does this expand my capacity to love, create, think, feel? Or does it demand I shrink? The examined heart knows the difference. You might find that real commitment asks for vulnerability and presence, not obedience. That you can be devoted *and* true to yourself. That your freedom and your devotion aren't in competition—they're dancing together, the way Mirabai danced. The work isn't choosing one. It's staying awake enough to notice when either one starts eating the other.