“India, the conquered will conquer her conquerors”

Bhagavad Gita ~ page 246, Vol I, Chap II

When we are in deep sleep, we are actually totally free. And that is because, we are, in deep state of sleep, free from our senses and mind. Our mind and senses are in total sleep state in ‘deep sleep’. India, 15 Aug, 1947 the Nation’s Independence. We are but, in deep sleep, thinking we are independent. Are we really? As per Vedanta, the true Independence comes from ‘Freedom’ from all oppression and importantly, we are in deep sleep about this freedom . This ‘Freedom’ is from our own senses, from mental greed, desire, hatred, jealousy, smallness of mind, weaknesses of not knowing, ‘who we really are’? This freedom guides us towards our ‘life time’s goal’. For most, the Independence, though we received through great sacrifices made by our forefathers and freedom fighters. But today, we are not in the task of sacrifice. On the other, we are always thinking of and focused towards our own selfish interests. Let us share with our own selves and our children, “What are those things, I could do for my country and not what my country, my elected political leaders, have done for me?”
Let us say, you are sitting in a room, all by yourself. And now one more person walks in to my room and sits down. Notice, how, we start feeling, ‘being watched’. We do not feel free anymore. In other words, “To be free, we need to all by ourselves”. Because then only we are free, because, then we are all by ourselves and connected to ourselves alone? When we sacrifice, and take away our self- interest, find the other person, or a group of persons or the country or the world to be more important than, ‘I, me and myself’.  We are truly free then and enjoy true Freedom.

India will be celebrating her 74th  Independence Day this year. It is a national holiday in India commemorating the nation’s independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, the day when the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947, as passed by the United Kingdom Parliament, which transferred legislative sovereignty to the Indian Constituent Assembly, came into effect. ‘Bharat’- ‘Bha’ derives from ‘Bhramajyoti’ meaning light and knowledge; ‘Rat’ derives from ‘Rata’ meaning the devotion towards the light and knowledge of the universe. India is celebrated as a great nation with all the outstanding qualities that make India an  exception. No pandemic like the coronavirus outbreak can change the immense joy and pride in celebrating the independence of our Sovereign Secular Socialist Democratic Republic India. It is a blessing to be born as an Indian.

The Indian National Flag which is a horizontal tricolour of saffron, white and green, represents the hopes and aspirations of the people of India. It is the symbol of our national pride that got approved on 22 nd July 1947. Over the decades, several people including members of Armed Forces have ungrudgingly laid down their lives to keep the tricolour flying in its full glory. The wheel in the centre is a representation of the Dharma Chakra with 24 strokes symbolising 24 qualities of a person, which appears on the abacus of Ashoka’s pillar leading to ‘Satyameva Jayate’ – the path of truth. The colour saffron represents courage, sacrifice and renunciation while white represents truth, peace and purity. The green stands for life, faith and fertility of an auspicious land. The wheel symbolises unceasing motion, success and progress.

Let us focus differently on freedom this time. We, the independent India have everything in our nation, for a fact, better than many other countries. Still we are not happy. Why? We generally tend to westernise ourselves and try to find happiness in the materialistic world with which we have got brainwashed during colonialism. But we need to amalgamate the concept or the ideas and put them together with self-consciousness and forbearance, collating the technological advancements with indigenous divinity. Instead of just selfishly grabbing, we must selflessly give first. We need to start from now. Independence is not only the freedom from the oppressions by the British Raj. It is to develop oneself from within, further following ‘Satyameva Jayate’; that is to walk on the path of truth. We need to remember ourselves first, accept our own presence with maturity, purity and ‘Shraddha’ (respect for oneself and for everyone). Then only we can be at peace and be happy with the power from within. We must wisely choose what is right or wrong and train our minds with the consciousness. We must focus on building one’s character first. A good character is the pathway to be unique and different, further, to achieve greater heights in life. We can make India the ultimate ‘Punya Bhumi’, one of the most ancient, living and largest civilisations on the planet.

India does not hide its poverty. The nation is transparent, we see what we want to see or have been portrayed to us. We can see corruption and poverty, but we also need to see the good things. India is the second fastest and the largest growing economy in the world and the long list of the ranks go on. Indian media enjoys the maximum freedom of speech than any other country. It is high time to realise that we should not be subdued by the oppression of the western civilisations and let them justify their unethical stay in the nation during colonialism.

We are searching for eternal happiness out there like the rest of the world. We need to discover the supreme power from within ourselves. Vedanta talks about ‘SattSat’ (truth), ‘Chitt’ (consciousness) and ‘Anand’ (happiness) – This means if we walk on the path of truth incurring consciousness which is infinite, then only imbibing both we can acquire eternal bliss. It also talks about ‘Karma’- ‘you get what you do’. So, if we all stand together guiding and helping each other with divinity be it in any form or any name, we can make the largest democracy and the 7th largest country India, a supreme divine power, further, eliminating the discriminations and respecting humanity. We are already united even with all the diversities, which is a strong message for all other countries. We shall become the supreme and the unique nation with the powerful human mind, purified thoughts, character to enhance and enrich awareness and will be the flag bearers forever of true independence, free from the bondage of selfish minds and march towards the journey of excellence with this supreme power which is never diluted. Educate, arise and awake and we will be responsibly independent.