Free India

‘Freedom is a delicate flower, an invaluable diamond and a sharp-edged sword!’ Fifty years of time in the history of our country is a very short period, considering the vastness of land and the indelible influence of centuries of slavery on the minds of its countless people.

Ours is a land of integrated diversifications! With innumerable castes, creeds and religions, our unity, over these fifty years, is always at stake. Social customs (evils), petty quarrels, parochial differences, caste-ridden conflicts, political ill motives and linguistic barricades are playing their devastating part on the body politic of our society.

Every human being ought to have freedom as a ‘birth right’. Right! But in India ‘man is born free only to be in chains ­everywhere!’ When callousness and lawlessness are on the rampage, liberty loses its real sense. Liberty sans law is ‘fire on the floor!’ For people, ignorant of responsive and responsible governance, is liberty of any use?

Ethical values, once the talismans of this country are at the lowest ebb. Go to any holy place, go to any centre of learning, go to any (inhospitable) hospital, go to any office - government or private - you find that place to be a rendezvous of bribery, nepotism, immoral conduct, undue reservations and a marked suppression of merit. ‘Adharma’, which ‘disintegrates society’ (according to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan) has become the sum and substance of Indian spirit of wit and wisdom. We witness only a shadow of the great land endowed with rich cultural heritage. Here, in this country, ‘some men are more equal’ - thanks mainly to impure and immature politicians!

Bankruptcy, in physical, mental and spiritual standards, is the hallmark of this once-upon-a-time great country. Lack of talent, in all walks of life, is present with absolute solemnity! Centuries of slavery has driven us into a state of darkness, creating chaos and pandemonium. No debate can ever make us regain the paradise we have lost! The Muslim invasions and the Western rule are, to a major extent, the causes for frustration and degeneration. But, according to Aurobindo, Indian culture possesses the inherent potentialities to overcome any debacle. We are the children of such a mother! Oft quoted are the lines of Sri Rama - ‘The mother and the motherland are better than the paradise!’ (Jananee Janma Bhumischa Swargadapi gareeyasee!)

Swamy Vivekanada’s inspiring words, still linger in our minds:

“Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist; When Rome was not thought of; when the very fathers of modem Europeans lived in forests and painted themselves blue” We cannot go far off from the eternal bliss of heavenly gift (viz) freedom! Can India be freed from the above mentioned shackles? If that is achieved, our national flag will fly aloft in the comity of nations.

Let the ancient Indian culture be the ever-flowing water; the never-constant civilisation be the fresh air; the strong and the independent muscles be the glowing fire; the liberal out look of the Indian versatile genii be the voluminous space; and the power-packed patriotic nerves be the enlightened earth; and the body of our nation will have been constituted with these ‘Panchabhootas’.

Let Dharma, which kept our society intact from times immemorial, be our security guard against evil spirits of different kinds! (“Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah!”). Let the narrow domestic walls of caste, region and religion be knocked down paving a national highway towards limitless openmindedness! Let noble thoughts come to us from every side! (“Aano Bhadrah Kratavo Yantu Viswatah!”).

Let the noble teachers of our nation, through their thoughts of immortal value, inspire the present generation of teachers, thus helping “the citizens of tomorrow” prosper and blossom to their full magnitude and find the right direction to rebuild India (i.e.) Bharat! Let righteousness and good character be the essential credentials for any job or pest!

Let the people of our land understand that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty! On the auspicious eve of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Independent India, let us, no amino, recite the following sloka ­

“Yasyah Sarvoscha Seershe lasati Hmagiri pransu sringam kireetam Yasyah kashmira bhoomih sphuta nitala tate ramya kashmira rekha Yasyah kanthecha haro Vimala sura nadee Gaptami hema kanchee Yasyah padopa Jeevi Jalanidhi ratulaa Sa jayet bharatambaa!”