Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunjji feels that the only way to achieve the vision of our ancestors, who fought for India’s independence, is by overcoming our vices
India gained freedom from British raj, 75 years ago on August 15, as a result of sacrifices made by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Pandit Nehru, Maulana Azad and thousands of others who suffered grievously at the hands of Britishers. Many sons and daughters of India even lost their lives in India’s freedom movement. All those who took part in this struggle, which devoured innumerable lives and enormous wealth, made their sacrifices because they thought that India, after independence, would regain peace and prosperity. Our forefathers had a beautiful vision of a united India which was free from poverty, communal hatred, slavery to foreign habits and goods and had the complete liberty to build the future, styled by Mahatma Gandhi as the ‘Ram Rajya’. With a dream in their eyes and zest in their heart, they fought for our freedom till their very last breath to ensure that we do not have to face what they had to. But today, when we look at the present state of our beloved country, we are unable to match it with the vision they had envisaged.
Today we proudly say that we are a free country, but our behaviour suggests that we are still not free. How? Because we are full of bitterness towards other religions, traditions and always try to suppress the growth of others. We are tied in shackles of terrorism, false ideologies, corruption, communal violence, caste distinctions and so on. We tend to forget that independence is not only living freely but also allowing others to live freely. All this makes one wonder if are we really independent? Are we worthy of any praise? Most of us would agree that at this point what we have is not ‘Ram Rajya’, which is described as a place or a period where everyone — right from the king down to the most ordinary subject — is righteous and pure, which is the essence of true religion, is visible everywhere. But in present India one finds, corruption not character, poverty not purity, and violence and vandalism rather than virtues that are thriving visibly. With such a scenario, if we want to have real freedom, we will have to liberate ourselves from the chains of five vices of lust, anger, greed, ego and attachment. As long as we have not secured a release from these five well-known enemies, we cannot call ourselves truly independent.