Freedom

Today is Independence Day and so thoughts naturally gravitate towards the idea of freedom. In the past couple of years, and more so after becoming a lawyer, I realized the ease with which our freedoms can be taken away. Demonetization saw a restriction on our freedom to spend our own money. The continued use of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in India shows that the powers that be, can even use illegal provisions to curtail free speech. The Covid-19 pandemic saw the most drastic restrictions, especially on our ability to work and to move freely (albeit legitimately). I am not suggesting that all restrictions by the State are unreasonable, arbitrary, and not in accordance with law. These are matters for the courts to decide. I want to point out that independence from a foreign imperialist power does not necessarily imply that we are now absolutely free. The State (and the Corporates) exercise much control over us, sometimes justified, sometimes not, sometimes we realise and sometimes we don’t. In fact, one could even argue that States today exercise much greater control over their people vis-à-vis 100 years ago. It is all very Animal Farm-ish.

Now before I start sounding like an anarchist, let me clarify that I am not a votary of jungle rule. I believe that for there to be order in the world, restrictions are necessary. The nature of these restrictions varies in cultures, communities, and regions. Adherence to these restrictions is ensured by creating a punishment for their non-compliance. The restrictions are also characterized as duties. The question – “Why must I do my duty?” is answered in terms of morality and/or religion and/or ‘you ought to’ (or their variations), depending on the culture, community and/or region. At the cost of sounding cliché, the jungle freedoms are compromised/ceded in favour of restrictions to ensure order in society. Therefore, in society (whether governed by a foreign imperialist power or not), there will never be full freedom.

The natural question from the above is – “Can we ever be free?”. Death is not freedom. Those who believe that body is all that there is, for them, after death, nothing exists. In non-existence, there is no concept of bondage or freedom. For those who believe in a soul or some sort of other world, there is again no freedom, for you simply transmigrate into another world or time; to be bound by the rules of that world or time. 

Vedanta, on the other hand, gives the promise of freedom from all bondage (liberation or Moksha). Vedanta promises freedom from fruits of action (कर्मबंध) and repeated births and deaths (जन्मबंध). The promise is also not made for a future time or place, but that liberation can be found here and now, in this birth itself. All that needs to be done is the removal of the error that I am this combination of body, mind, and intellect. Once this error is removed, the Truth will shine forth i.e.: I am Brahman, I am All. In that state, there is endless bliss. That liberation is true liberation.

I would like to end with one of my favourite verses from the Bhaja Govindam:

पुनरपि जननं पुनरपि मरणं

पुनरपि जननीजठरे शयनम् ।

इह संसारे बहुदुस्तारे

कृपयाऽपारे पाहि मुरारे ॥ २१॥

Again birth, again death and again lying in mother’s womb – this samsara process is very hard to cross over. Save me, Murari (O destroyer of Mura) through Thy infinite kindness.

[Translation by Swami Chinmayanada]

On this Independence Day, I am going to begin an online Vedanta course. I hope that today you too would take one step towards the ultimate independence.

Hari Om Tat Sat

[2015, Law Faculty, Delhi University, I-day celebrations]