As confusing as it may sound, but that's what I felt after reading few verses from GITA on this Independence Day and then trying to make contemporary sense out of it.
One thing that I realized is that there are multitudes of dimensions, and I got a different message from the same verses than what I got two years back while reading them.
That was about 'fear' and 'strength'. We are taught since the childhood to be strong, so that we can be fearless; and fearlessness is close enough to freedom, if not the same; and things like that.
But can one be truly fearless?
For instance, a great stuntman might appear fearless to the world, but he fears that he doesn't break his bones or suffer any injury which could potentially render him jobless. What is his greatest strength (i.e. ability to do stunts), is his greatest fear as well.
Movie-stars who sound vivaciously independent to everyone, also fear the fading of beauty, fame, and money - all of which are their greatest strengths.
Let alone the stuntmen and movie-stars, what could be the greatest fear of us commoners?
[Side note: 'Commoner' is indeed a funny term to me. It truly represents the person who is so 'common', that he/she is regarded with its comparative adjective form!!]
Being loved, accepted, and acknowledged by the world. And guess what - failing at that, is our greatest fear too.
So can we be truly fearless? Can we let go of the layers of that fear like a snake lets go of its skin? Probably not so easily, because unlike the skin to the snake, the fear is not superficial to us. It is much more internalized - so much so that we don't ever dare to think of letting go of that fear of not being loved.
We behave well because we have a great need to be accepted by others. We pray because we feel that God will bless us. We believe in Law of Karma because we fear for the outputs of our misdeeds. And so on.
What if we free ourselves from these fears? What if we determine that our physical, mental, or intellectual beauty is not bound to the number of 'likes' we get on social media? What if we decide to pray without making a wish? What if we choose to look at the Law of Karma from a different perspective?
Theist or not, let us assume for a moment that God (or Law of Karma) exists, but is dysfunctional at the moment; and things are happening randomly. We (may but let's assume for a moment that we) are not gonna get love in kind for the love that we give out. We are not gonna get accepted as such by the world, even if we are true gems in absolute sense. And even if God is functioning properly, he somehow doesn't seem to like us; what if so? Are we okay with it?
Do we still have the grit to face the life head on?
What if there's no freaking hope out there? Are we still up for doing our bit in the best way we can?
Rather than a religion (read: fear of God), can we learn to make our conscience as our only guide?
After losing the skin of all the fears (disguised as hopes), if at all we get what we desired to achieve at the outset, then it would be a jackpot.
But are we also willing to let go of hoping for that jackpot?
The day we become consistently-ruthlessly-hopeless-yet-motivated, will mark the Independence Day of our souls.
#FindYourFreedom
