It is one ideology which has deluded us since we learnt about freedom. Most of our beliefs, decisions, actions have had one main objective: to uphold freedom to a higher goal. May that be moving from a rented accommodation to an owned house, small salary to big increments, smaller car to a bigger vehicle, national travel to international vacations. But do you still feel free? Being in a lockdown for many months, has it challenged your belief of freedom?
Freedom finds its origin in old English; Free + Dom= Free comes from ‘Freo’ which means to not be in bondage and acting out of one’s will. ‘Dom’ signifies, the domain. What it implies is that freedom is about not being a slave and exercising free will. Free will is a gift given to the human kingdom, when compared with the mineral, plant and animal kingdom. It is something unique to us, given as a tool for evolution. Furthermore, we have the ability to choose and change easily. Which, other kingdoms can’t do. Let’s reflect, are we using these gifts or powers judiciously.
The physical form of this concept we have grown up with was the gallant freedom movement or also referred to as the freedom struggle. How did we finally achieve it? Through the ideology of ‘Satyagrah’. What was Satyagrah truly? A brand name for the movement? Or does it mean something? ‘Satya’- means Truth, ‘Agrah’ means to insist on or hold firmly. Wherever there is struggle, there have to be two opposing forces. The truth was a virtue of ‘non-violence’ disseminated by many religions. And that was how the kingdom won by not cooperating with the lowly values and holding on to the ideal of ‘non-violence’.
Religion after religion after religion has stressed on freedom or liberation. Moksha, Nirvana, Salvation, Kaivalya all goals from different religions leading to one ideal. The causes of human suffering are explained. We have been brought up with these values yet we are in darkness, longing to be free.
The Bhagavad Gita to the Bible that offer commentary on suffering, moral dilemmas, lost values, and so on; sum up two main causes: Maya and Avidya. To break it down, Maya implies all desires and Avidya is ignorance or simply unawareness, unwillingness to know deeper.
Desires per say are not at all wrong. If we did not have aspirations we would not explore, gain experiences, be happy, aim at larger things, aim for success. However, the excessive attachment with the end result or the desires makes us want them again and again. We get successful, we want more of that. Getting attached to the experience of happiness or love or expectations. “He should have done that but didn’t do”, “I want a bigger car that’s why I have taken a loan, now I work late nights and that’s the cause of stress and high bp. The attachment with the outcome, which is not anyway in our control makes us go round and round. Chasing something and when we don’t get it or is taken away we feel cheated, belittled, emotional. The desires run the show and the intellect sleeps.
Avidya has been injected into our system. We are not trained to think for ourselves. Since childhood, the razor sharp tool of enquiry, experimentation with experiences or simple independence is not inculcated. May that be in education, family or society. Our brains are programmed to look for readymade answers available off the shelf in the big book of failed collective experiences of society. That is the reason why we haven’t progressed in tasting freedom.
The lifecycle of a caterpillar is an iconic metaphor of Freedom. A caterpillar spins a web around itself and starves till some hormones are naturally released to transform it into a butterfly. It is not just a transformation but evolution. The caterpillar comes from a dark cocoon and lets itself disintegrate. The desire to become a butterfly in inbuilt but there is no attachment with itself. Caterpillars and butterflies are completely different. One eats leaves and the other nectar. One lives on plants and the other can fly.
This is nature’s way of reminding us that if we wish to fly, a lot needs to be left behind. We have to be willing and choose to break away from the chain of desire and attachment. Till when will we remain the same, burdened by maya, chained by ignorance, with the weights of desires on our bodies and yet wish to fly?