KNOWLEDGE, LIBERTY AND FREEDOM: MOST CHERISHED IDEALS

We are always in search of something to fulfil our mental desire thrust upon us. We may be doing it knowingly or unknowingly. However, the ultimate goal is knowledge in a state of freedom. This has been beautifully elucidated by Swami Vivekananda: “The goal of mankind is knowledge. ....Pleasure is not the goal of man, but knowledge. Pleasure and happiness come to an end. It is a mistake to suppose that pleasure is the goal. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that men foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal to strive for. After a time man finds that it is not happiness, but knowledge, towards which he is going, and that both pleasure and pain are great teachers, and that he learns as much from evil as from good...All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your mind. The external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind, but the object of your study is always your own mind” (Swami Vivekananda: Karma Yoga, Chapter-I).

1. Outline

We are experiencing a tendency to give primacy to accumulation and aggrandisement. The result we had witnessed in our recent history the collapse of the totalitarian regimes in former USSR and the Eastern Europe. That needs no explanation  again. When accumulation and the arrangement of power are too high, it gets overburdened and remains vulnerable to a crash. The gravitational mechanism works out to get into the automatic download mode. The coagulation of interest mechanisms at a certain point in time provides the groundwork for the upward movement of power dynamism. It may be due to a sort of reaction to the prevailing system that bottlenecks their aspiration and access to the avenues of freedom, initiative and share in their own created resources and of society at large.Power dynamism evolves from coagulation of various and diverse interest structures and processes and that coagulation is not a homogenous entity but with diverse and competing entities subject to inherent contradictions as and when some form of deprivation comes in its interplay process. Deprivation and access restrictions coupled with ceiling imposition are fundamental drawbacks of over centralised power structures, be it political, economic or social in a society. It is natural for any living being to remain out of artificially imposed bondage or chain. The famous French philosopher Rousseau said,“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.” (The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right, by Jean Jacques Rousseau, translation by G. D. H. Cole, p-1,). Man was naturally free in a state of nature but subjected to bondage of oppression in a superimpose artificial society created through a mechanism of contractual necessity. It is natural that superimposed restraints and restrictions put limits on the exercise of his free will, choice and initiative.

When liberty is trampled, everything else goes by. Human being cherish knowledge, liberty and freedom. All actions and reactions are manifestation of his natural instinct to flourish.Exercise of free will is interwoven with creativity, initiative and enterprise to move ahead as much as possible. Recognition or no recognition is not an issue but issue is whether the immediate environment he encounters is conducive to his free will or not. Free will be not anathema to the surrounding world rather will towards betterment and advancement.

2. Ancient Scriptures and Sages

Our ancient scriptures, Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Upanishadas, give due emphasis to the tripod of knowledge, liberty and freedom intrinsically ingrained in our inner self, which may be called the soul or the spirit that underly our natural propensity to search for our true being. It energises our propensity to engage in activities leading towards the right path for enlightenment. Free will and one's own duties are interlinked which have already been hugely emphasised in ancient scriptures of India (Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter-2 Karma Yoga,). In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna says that “It is far better to perform one’s natural prescribed duty, though tinged with faults than to perform another’s prescribed duty, though perfectly. In fact, it is preferable to die in the discharge of one’s duty than to follow the path of another, which is fraught with danger.” It is human’s natural instinct to be his own self than to follow somebodyelse in performing his duties. You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction, tersely says the Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

That right to perform the duties are intrinsic to liberty and freedom, the values that our ancient sages cherished the most. Vedas and Upanishadas also highlight the same. Man is not free as long as he is in ignorance (Avidyā) and becomes free once he is conscious of knowledge (Vidyā). “All manifestation proceeds by the two terms, Vidya and Avidyā, the consciousness of Unity and the consciousness of Multiplicity. They are the two aspects of the Māyā, the formative self-conception of the Eternal. Unity is the eternal and fundamental fact, without which all multiplicity would be unreal and an impossible illusion. The consciousness of Unity is therefore called Vidyā, the Knowledge” (Isha Upanishad).

3. Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism

No authority and no power can suppress the inner drive of self to flourish. Inner self of human kind cherish vaues of freedom to flourish and no human power can ever thwart its growth. History is replete with instances where regimes collapse for its over-zealous drive to subordinate others. The collapse of totalitarian regimes in eastern Europe (Poland, Bulgaria, former USSR, et. al).

Recent an ongoing protest movements in our neighbouring country is a case in point where for years basic human rights and free will are being trampled upon. The so-called free expressions, within certain perimeters, are being allowed only through party-state controlled fora. Thousands of people from major cities and universities are on the streets to protest against the authorities demanding freedom from incessant Covid tests and lockdowns, strict censorship. The demands among others included from against strict covid restrictions to political demands. The slogans and demands by huge protetsers across cities and universities were vociforous in the forms of “Give me liberty or give me death! Step down, Xi Jinping! Step down, Communist Party! Opposition to dictatorship!”. The younger generation being continuously subjected to restrictions no longer want to remain dormant and if not handled delicately may burst into an active volcano.

4. Remarks

But the point is who decides to put restrictions on his search for knowledge, liberty and freedom.
Is it some form of a collective will or will of a limited few? That is the crux that needs to be identified.

-Asutosh Satpathy 

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