THE CONCEPT OF FREEDOM AND IMMORTALITY

UPADESA SARAM SLOKA 3 - FREEDOM AND IMMORTALITY

THE CONCEPT OF FREEDOM
This month ,on August 15, we in India celebrate the 64th anniversary of the attainment of freedom and the formation of the sovereign democratic nation called India. Prior to this date this sub-continent belonged to a variety of sovereign countries, big and small. The largest part of the sub-continent was ruled by the Government of Great Britain. Most of this part accrued to them as a result of military conquest. Some parts came to them through various forms of accession, some voluntary and some under political pressure. There were small parts ruled by France and Portugal. The rest comprised nearly 850 independent monarchies of different sizes and all with separate treaties with Great Britain.
The nationalistic movement originated largely in the British ruled areas which were called Presidencies. The overall administration was carried out by the office of the Viceroy or Governor-General who derived his authority from the British Crown and was accountable to the British Parliament. The Governor-General had his own staff and an Imperial Council to advise him. Originally the offices of the Governor-General were located in Calcutta ( now renamed Kolkatta). However in the early years of the 20th century the capital was transferred to New Delhi which was the traditional capital of earlier empires.



Mahatma Gandhi was largely responsible for creating and inspiring the nationalistic movement. He transformed the Indian National Congress, a creation of the British, to become a political entity to represent Indian national interests. He conceived of the idea of Swaraj or Self – Rule. Today he is considered to be a political figure who challenged the British and made them transfer their possessions to an Indian political entity. However his concept of Swaraj was intrinsically based on the Indian scriptures. The term ‘Swa’ in the Vedic terminology stands for the ‘Self’ or ‘Atma’ which is another term for God or Brahman. The term ‘Rajya’ stands for ‘rule’ or ‘management’ or ‘administration’. So his concept of Swaraj meant ‘Rule of God’.
He was an intensely spiritual person and a catholic admirer of everything spiritual. He admired the teachings of Jesus as given in the Holy Bible. He also studied and practiced the precepts taught by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavat Gita. He was perfectly comfortable with Islam and its precepts. He refused to wear his beliefs on his sleeve, as it were. He simply put the ideas into practice in the form of his ‘Satyagraha’ movement, his emphasis on Truth, Love and Compassion, his agitation for the freedom of any devotee from any class of society to enter and worship in a temple, his emphasis on simple living and high thinking, his demand for equal rights for women, his emphasis on the upliftment and education of the socially depressed classes, his simplicity and austerity.


Jawaharlal Nehru - the Visionary to whom I owe my education in the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur in West Bengal and who laid the foundation for the industrial infrastructure of India which carved out my career-
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom." - the beginning of the speech that Nehru made at midnight on August 15, 1947.

Inspired by him and guided by him, stalwarts such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and countless others, evolved the concept of a unified country to be called ‘India’ or ‘Bharat’. The British did not understand this concept because they had experienced only the divisiveness of Indians during their rule and had probably exploited this divisiveness to their political advantage. The division of the sub-continent into two sovereign nations called India and Pakistan was the result. Notwithstanding this difficult situation the Indian leaders proceeded to create systematically a Constituent Assembly representing the whole polity from both the British ruled and the non-British ruled territories and evolved a written Constitution of India and the concept of a sovereign, democratic, secular republic with full adult franchise and with a federal structure where the territories were ruled by local governments called ‘States’ which were accountable to a Central Federal Government in New Delhi which in turn was accountable to a freely elected Parliament. The saga of the creation of India is a wonderful story by itself.
Many families in India were involved in one way or another in this saga. My own family, particularly on my father’s side, were deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and the freedom struggle. My paternal grandfather, Sri Vangal Muthuswamy Iyer, was a great admirer of Gandhi and the elder brothers of my father were Congressmen who gave up lucrative careers and education during the Civil Disobedience movement in 1929. My father was denied entry into the ICS ( Indian Civil Service) when the authorities discovered that the brilliant young man who had performed outstandingly in the written examinations was related to people who were currently in jail. I was named ‘Mohan’ after Gandhiji. I was born in 1939 on the eve of the Second World War and in the midst of the tumult of the final phase of the freedom struggle. Ironically my father finally found employment under the British in a gold mining company in Kolar Gold Fields, about 100 km north east of Bangalore and my earliest education was almost entirely in English and my earliest friends were all English kids. I am still most comfortable in the English language, my pretensions to knowledge of Tamil and Sanskrit notwithstanding.


Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel - The Man of Steel -On truth
"I cannot speak anything but the truth. I cannot turn back on my duty, just to please some one."

I was blessed with a student of history as my wife and her father was deeply interested in world developments in history, constitutional law and sociology. I discovered a lot about the world and about Great Britain and India as a result and understanding the roots of present day civilizations is a topic of abiding interest.
All this is of interest because there is so much confusion in the world at large and in Indian polity and society in particular today. There are many critics and some cynics. What we are observing the world over is the cost of freedom. Whether in the US or in the UK or in India we notice that people seem to have taken the freedom that they enjoy to extremes of selfishness and self aggrandizement. One even hears of the misuse of the freedom of speech and of the press itself. The actual truth is hidden behind layers of untruth, half truths and confabulations and confusion.
The Sadhana that is taught by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi deals with this very aspect of human personality in the Upadesa Saram. All the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Sri Sathya Sai Baba are similar and point in the same direction.
Indian thought says that the very reason for human birth is to attain ‘freedom’ which is called ‘ Moksha’ or ‘Mukti’. Some people may consider that it is perfectly acceptable to attain something great by dubious means and that one may seem to get away with it for some time, often for a lifetime. However this way of living is fraught with danger. Bhagavan calls it an ocean of misery. One day or the other one is bound to be found out and then follows only misery for oneself and for one’s family.
So although we attained political freedom as a result of the efforts of stalwarts such as Mahatma Gandhi we have not individually understood that he was only setting the stage, preparing us , giving us an opportunity to discover true ‘freedom’ , the ‘freedom of the spirit’. That was what he meant by ‘Swarajya’. We are still bound by our lusts, our desires, our wants and we take all sorts of dubious steps to attain the fulfillment of those desires. We lose touch with the ‘Swa’ in us and are attracted by the lure of wealth, possessions and money. Today countries are facing problems because their overall objective became ‘money at any cost’. Eminent professionals are behind bars facing legal problems.
Society comprises individuals. Families comprise individuals. It is of utmost importance today for every individual to understand what Bhagavan Sri Ramana is saying and work on himself or herself. He/she has to willingly, voluntarily, give up such desires and opt to sacrifice such comforts for the common good. We need to come to terms with the concept of God, with the law of nature and karma, with the methodology of morality and ethics and the greater good, with simplicity , austerity, with cleanliness of everything we touch and experience, with the concept of purity, of unity and divinity. Such is the significance of ‘Independence Day’ which falls on August 15 and the Independence Days of all nations as and when they occur. Our leaders need to understand the precepts of the Vedas, of the teachings of saints and realized souls like Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi. We need to find that little time to read, think over, contemplate and understand these concepts. Above all, we need to start, in howsoever small a way to put these ideas into practice. I urge you all to think over this, give up your cynicism and make a start to practise yourselves. Because when individuals transform, then families transform. When families transform, then society transforms. When society transforms then nations transform.
So make a beginning on this Independence Day!!!!

Let us see what Bhagavan has to say in Sloka 3…….

THE ATTAINMENT OF FREEDOM - Sloka 3 -

Iswara Arpitam Nechchaya Krutham
Chitta Shodakam Mukti Sadhakam

Iswara - The Supreme God
Arpitam - (arpanam) - Giving, offering, giving back (dedicating , sacrificing )
Na - without
Ichchaya - (ichcha) - wish, desire, will - at will
Krutam - (kruti) - action, deed
Chitta - the mind, reasoning faculty- also the heart considered as the seat of the intellect
Shodaka - Purificatory, cleansing, corrective
Mukti -release, liberation, deliverance, freedom, emancipation, salvation
SAdh - complete, finish, accomplish, achieve, gain, secure, obtain, (sadhaka - accomplishing, fulfilling, completing)

Action ( or work) offered ( dedicated) ( as worship) to God ( or the Supreme Spirit) without any desire ( or wish) ( for results or fruits) cleanses ( or purifies) the mind ( or memory or consciousness) ( thus eliminating the effects or impressions of past actions and countless lives) and the achievement ( or fulfillment or accomplishing ) of freedom ( or liberation or emancipation or deliverance) ( from future births).

God or the Divine Principle manifests Itself in multitudinous forms, both living and non-living. Each manifest form is thus a particle or part or aspect of God. The manifested form then proceeds to evolve Itself through a series of further manifestation.

The non-living manifestation appears to remain unchanged for extremely long periods of time. As the manifested form evolves into other forms, the period of such manifestation or the life tenure, as it may be called, appears to become shorter. In the ultimate crowning manifestation called the human being the life span currently averages about a hundred years.

From the instant of first manifestation, that part of God, appears to be given a unique identity or identification, in the Divine system. This identity is often called the JIVA or JIVATMA especially when it reaches the stage of manifestation as a living being. Thus right from plants to bacteria to animals and birds, each manifestation can be said to be a unique specific recognizable Jiva. The Jiva is the repository of all impressions or effects collected during several births.

The Jiva is considered to be the subtlest innermost essence of any particular form and it carries with it the imprints or impressions of every birth. These imprints are collected in what is called the innermost unconscious or unknown recesses of its consciousness. This container of its identity and impressions is often called the Soul.

Each soul or Jiva, which is a minute part of God, thus progresses through the long and convoluted process or cycle of innumerable births in gradually evolving forms until it reaches the zenith of the evolutionary process and reaches birth as a human being.

By this time, the Soul or Jiva is completely encased, so to speak, in layers and layers of impressions collected in its evolutionary births. The human manifestation is significant for several reasons, foremost of them being the endowment of MIND, comprising THOUGHTS, INTELLIGENCE and CONSCIOUSNESS. This faculty in the human gives it a power of choice of orientation of its consciousness, outward in the world of Nature for its survival as a living entity, and inward into its own consciousness and towards the Soul.

As Man progresses through countless births as humans, he may many times progress and regress. Progress is defined as his evolving awareness that he is a part of God who encased within himself. Regression is defined as his continued involvement in the processes of survival in the world.

Ignorance is the characteristic of all forms of Nature, whether living or non-living. These forms expend their life times living according to their ‘nature’ that is, according to the programming of their system. This programming is called INSTINCT. Living by instinct is living in ignorance of one’s true nature which is Godliness or Divinity. All of Nature lives its life tenures in this ignorance. But Man is endowed with the power of choice to Illuminate himself with the knowledge or awareness of the Truth about himself, that his innermost core , his Soul or Jivatma, is a particle of Divinity.

All of Nature is actually Divine but is ignorant of this Truth. Man alone has the capability to become aware of this Truth that he and all Nature is Divine.

This awareness of the Truth of his own Divinity calls for his effort to remove the thick coverings of past impressions called Karma. The process of this struggle to remove the coverings is called SADHANA.

The opportunity to live and work is the opportunity provided to him for Sadhana. Work or action is the means to remove the coverings of past impressions or Karma.

Karma (action) removes Karma (impressions). As the coverings get loosened and fall away, Man’s innate Divinity stands revealed. This revelation of Divinity is called REALIZATION. When man realizes his true innermost nature or Divinity, he at once becomes free of all impressions, both past and in the future. In that pristine condition of purity, he becomes innately automatically and forever free of the possibility of ever absorbing any fresh impressions.

Thus the removal of these coverings of impressions is considered similar to the process of cleansing or purification.

Because past impressions cloud man’s awareness of his true state of pristine purity, they are called dirt or MALA. The condition of purity is called NIRMALA. The process of removal of the impurities is called PURIFICATION or CLEANSING.

But is the process of purification very simply just understanding this Truth? Is awareness of this Truth enough to ensure realization? Is awareness the same as realization?

When I am made aware of something do I automatically realize it?

Because man has to survive in the world he has to work or perform actions. Is all work capable of purifying man? Did we not say earlier that work or action creates effects or impressions? If, therefore, man is obliged to work or perform action for survival, then does he not collect more impressions and hence cover the Truth within himself even more? Then how can work liberate him from the coverings?

Liberation comes to man provided he works with a particular ATTITUDE OF MIND. That attitude is called a DIVINE or SPIRITUAL or GOD-ORIENTED Attitude. The Divine Attitude in man is that frame or condition of mind whereby he ACCEPTS that the entire manifest Universe is a manifestation of God; that he has evolved through countless births and lives from gross non-living forms through immobile living forms through a variety of mobile living forms to this present manifestation as man; and every result that he experiences in his life, every experience he has in the world, every encounter, every relationship, every act that happens is an ACT OF GOD; and thus, in this state of acceptance of the above precepts, when man works or acts or performs, thinking continually of God, offering every action of his to that Divinity, experiencing the whole world as God, then the effects of such God -dedicated acts of his only cleanse his own mind and internal system.

Thus Bhagavan states that all action of man, dedicated to God, without any trace of desire for result, cleanses man’s innermost consciousness, loosens and removes all coverings and helps him attain freedom from future births. The secret is ‘No desire for results’ and ‘everything is for God’.

May this awareness help each and every one of you to reach the goal of human life, which is MOKSHA or FREEDOM!!

Om Namo Bhagavathaye Ramanaya!!
OM SRI SAI RAM!!!