When will we break free?

Are we free?

What is freedom?

What counts as important in our life?

Mufaazaa laments the death of emotion in modern India. How can we be indifferent to a massacre of 2000 persons in a span of a few days? I do not deny our current self-serving attitude, but I always like to put things in the larger perspective. & I began to dissect Mufaazaa's essay for the same inherent explanations.

Punjab burned in 1984 for two people who killed our Prime Minister. There was no logical connection between the killer & the responsibility of his community for the death of Prime Minister. The backlash was politically engineered to distract & gain sympathy. The revolt to the backlash was even greater, making a CAUSE of injustice to the community. 

The same thing happened in Kashmir (& still happens today). In Eastern India, the states have separate laws which give the military sweeping powers. I doubt if they can even be called as democratic.

In the middle of this all, 2000 Indians in a progressive state may just be lost in the crowd, if the media gave equal coverage to each problem. I agree with Mufaazaa when he says they have a fish-eye view of the world. What is served to us, is only our own imagination?

Even if I don't touch philosophy, does one expect the rich to give up all his / her hard earned or inherited money to feed the poor? There is no such obligation, & yet we have Bill Gates & Andrew Carnegie vouching all their wealth for development.

There is an interesting folk tale:

A devout poor person used to circumambulate  & pray to God Shankara everyday. Goddess Parvati asked Shankara one day:"Poor fellow prays to you everyday, why dont you make him rich?" 

Shankara replies:"It is not in his destiny to be rich."

Says Parvati:"i do not believe you"

So Shankara decides to put a bag of gold on the poor guys prayer path. But the very same day, the poor guy thinks:" Shankara does not seem to be pleased with my prayers. From today onwards I should make ambulations with closed eyes."

& hence, the guy goes about his prayers with his eyes closed, not noticing the bag of gold kept for him.

My point is not that destiny exists. That would be a joke!

We see what we think is true. Shankara was pleased with the poor guy, but the guy thought he was not. This thinking & cross thinking only leads us to negative results, which have been adequately highlighted by Mufaazaa.

I wonder if we are free to think what we want, what we like? If we feel strongly about something, are we free to do more than just voice it? not free as in allowed to do it, that we are?

But do we have the guts to stand up for our viewpoint & prove to everybody by our acts that this is the right view. 

Which brings me to my next question? Should every individual think about everything? I used to belive that one should be proactive everywhere. On the surface it may be true. But its more like being jack of all trades & master of none. 

Dont you think it would be better to master one issue, one complication on the earth & go about solving it with so much energy, anger & resolve; that we cannot find a good night's sleep until we have achieved the solution to our satisfaction?

The other side of this is that there are too many events happening around us, that are beyond our understanding, not because we are dumb, but because we do not have the time to investigate the truth. In absence of availability of truth, does a second hand opinion of so called experts, or anybody else matter? More importantly, even if we knew the truth, what good would it be unless we are able to do something about it?

At no point am I saying that ignorance is bliss. I revolt at the sign of ignorance in people. I mean to say that each person is capable of taking only one load, & if he or she does it to the best extent, there could be a slight chance of perfection!

The third question asks us our priorities? Are we responsible enough earthlings, forget even citizens of any particular country, to behold our ideals & live in harmony with everyone else?

Or does our daily toil take out our energy reserves to a level where we are too helpless to even think of the state of the world & what our contribution or actions may be doing to it?