By: Dr. Jayadeba Sahoo
India is all set proudly to celebrate its 78th Independence Day on August 15, 2024, marking 77 years of freedom from the hundreds of years of anarchic, humiliating British colonial rule, the spirit of patriotism and unity fills the air. For children and students, this day offers a wonderful opportunity to learn about India’s history, its struggle for freedom, and the significance of this momentous occasion. The main theme for this year is “Nation First, Always First,” as part of the larger “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” Celebration. In 2024, PM Modi also introduced the “HAR GHAR TRINGA”- “Every Home, a Tricolor” Campaign, encouraging the public to elatedly hoist the tricolour flag on Independence Day.
Thanks to the invaluable contributions of innumerable freedom fighters of our great nation, India became an Independent country on this day. And the reason why we can breathe today in independent Bharat is because of those famous and unsung real heroes and heroines of Mother India who sacrificed their lives to give us freedom. Hailing from different parts of the country, they applied different methods but had one aim, i.e. to liberate Mother India from British rule. Undoubtedly the names of all these martyrs will forever be written in the golden letters in the history of Indian Independence.
Related Posts:
Independence, it was hoped, would bring a new era of peace and prosperity. Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s freedom movement, spoke of establishing Ram Rajya in India. He described Ram Rajya as the “sovereignty of the people based on moral authority.” According to him, it would be “the land of dharma and a realm of peace, harmony and happiness for young and old, high and low, all creatures and the Earth itself, In recognition of a shared universal consciousness.”
However, Gandhi’s dream remains a distant goal more than seven decades later. Gandhi himself foresaw this prospect when he wrote a few months before independence that “there can be no Ram Rajya in the present state of iniquitous inequalities in which a few roll in riches and the masses do not get even enough to eat.”
One thing that is admitted by all the leaders and common men is that the country has not been able to “wipe every tear from every eye” as Bapu Gandhi had deeply aspired; nor ‘has it been able to achieve the ‘Swaraj’ (sovereignty) as he had envisioned. Everyone realizes the harsh reality that the country has failed to provide effective social and economic justice to the backward and the poor classes and that almost half of its population does not feel any worthwhile benefit of Independence.
The inequality Gandhi wrote about, not only persists but has grown over the years. The latest Oxfam report 2022 on global inequality has reiterated, once again, that the rich are getting richer and the poor are lagging behind. According to the report, India’s wealthiest 10 per cent of the population now holds 77 per cent of the country’s wealth. The wealth of this elite group increased by over Rs 20.9 lakh crore during the period of the study, while 67 crore Indians, comprising the country’s poorest half saw their wealth rise by just 1 per cent. This phenomenon is not just unique to India. According to the report, there are now 2.043 dollar billionaires worldwide. The wealth of this group increased by S762 billion in just 12 months, while the bottom half of the global population got less than 1 per cent of the total wealth in 2016-2017.
For India to become free from slavery to vices, each person in this country will have to become free first. Is that possible?
Gandhi’s dream for India remains unfulfilled because while the country attained political Independence in 1947, it did not become free.
Earlier, it was a colonial power that drained the country of its resources and curbed the freedoms of its people, but now the people are slaves to vices, which have corroded every aspect of life and are at the root of the ills plaguing India. Inequality is the result of greed and selfishness, which also give rise to corruption. India ranks a poor improved 85th among 180 countries in the global Corruption Perceptions Index. Crime and violence, including terrorism, also stem from vices, including lust, anger and hatred.
These vices enslave not only the minds of people but also imprison many of them physically by landing them behind bars for crimes committed under the influence of evil tendencies. The condition of such ‘enslaved’ persons is similar to that of the Kaurava prince Duryodhana in the Mahabharat. When told by Lord Krishna that the way he was treating the Pandavas was morally wrong, Duryodhana replied, “I know what is right, but I am not able to practise it. I know what is wrong and I am not able to keep away from it.”
This happens when the soul is weak and does not have the power to stop negative thoughts and refrain from acting on them. This is the condition, in varying degrees, of most people in the world today.
The way to end this slavery is to know the self, and the soul and empower it so that it can choose good and positive thoughts over those which are negative and wasteful. Empowerment occurs when the soul connects mentally with the Supreme Soul (RAJYOGA Meditation). Remembrance of God (RAJYOGA Meditation) brings His powers and virtues into the soul and removes the influence of vices. Regularly making this connection gradually enables the soul to become self-sovereign, when it becomes free of all external influence.
For India to become free from slavery to vices, each person in this country will have to become free first. Is that possible?
Things have come to the present pass because of the ravages of time. All souls are originally pure, and peace, love, truth, power and bliss are their natural qualities. But as souls take successive births in this world, playing various roles in the drama that we call life, they lose their power and are influenced by matter and other souls. This process of decline ultimately leaves them depleted, and unable to resist negative influences.
No community or country can hope to be rid of vices by itself. It is only when all souls attain salvation that the world is freed from this slavery. The Gita tells us that when unrighteousness reaches extreme proportions, God incarnates Himself to destroy evil, salvage humanity, and establish a righteous new world order.
The presence of these very vices has resulted in the degradation of the character of man which is quite evident from the ever-rising crimes against women and various forms of exploitation of women and children. It is the time of Doomsday about which it has been mentioned in the holy Quran that at such a juncture God comes from His Supreme Abode to liberate our souls from the graveyard. It is the same time now when the Supreme Father (Param Pita) of all fathers has descended from His Supreme Abode to liberate us from the real foreigner, i.e. ‘Ravana (Vices)’, who is our real enemy. It is this Ravana i.e. our vices or weaknesses who has made the erstwhile Golden Sparrow Bharat into a country that is morally and spiritually bankrupt.
To re-create the Rama Rajya, the world Bapu, the Supreme Father, the Supreme Soul-LIGHT Divine, God Shiva (Jytir Lingam), has come down to earth and has been teaching RajYoga through the corporeal medium of Brahma Baba since 1936-37. He has been teaching about the Soul, the Supreme Soul; the beginning, middle and end of the world cycle, and Karma Philosophy through the Corporeal Medium of Dada Lekhraj who was later renamed by God Shiva as Prajapita Brahma. He has formed a completely non-violent army of Shiv Shaktis and Pandavas (i.e. those women and men) who practise Raj Yoga in their daily lives in letter and spirit. He is enabling us to become completely vice-less, i.e. pure and self-sovereign. His main teaching to us is to be soul-conscious and to remember Him only. This is when the world is freed from the clutches of vices, and true independence dawns.
If today we Indians realised our true identity and treated the human world in a soul-conscious manner, many of the vices and evils and sins would evaporate in no time and our country, our society, our towns and villages and our families would become no less than the gardens of happiness, joy and bliss. The need of the time is to ponder on this Independence Day whether we are the sons and daughters of one God, Parampita Parmatma – the Supreme Soul, and thereby all are brothers and sisters. On this auspicious occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Let’s take a moment for deep spiritual introspection and free ourselves from the bondage of greed, the lust for power and a slave of promiscuity and make God our eternal companion for true peace, happiness and prosperity. Let us pledge to bring this change at the earliest and transform India into Heaven (Swarnim Bharat) in the true spirit of the word.
!!!!!!Om Shanti!!!!!
“Happy Independence Day to All”
(The author is the Faculty, Brahma Kumaris & Professor (Ex-Dean & HoD), Faculty of Education, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar. He can be reached at 91- 8837245051, 9436042658, or jayadeba.sahoo@rgu.ac.in, drjayadeb12@gmail.com)
