{"id":3223,"date":"2013-07-13T01:46:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3223"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:46:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:46:45","slug":"32-the-true-meaning-of-freedom-vol-writings-in-bengali-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/writings-in-bengali-translation\/32-the-true-meaning-of-freedom-vol-writings-in-bengali-translation","title":{"rendered":"-32_The True Meaning of Freedom.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n
\nThe True Meaning of Freedom <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nFreedom is the goal of our political struggle, but there is a
\ndifference of opinion regarding the true meaning of freedom.
\nSome say it is full autonomy, some say it is colonial self-
\ngovernment (Dominion Status), and yet others mention that
\nit is ‘Swaraj’, full political independence. The Aryan Rishis
\nused to designate the practical and spiritual freedom and its
\nfruit, the inviolable Ananda, as ‘Swarajya’, self-empire.
\nPolitical freedom is but a limb of Swarajya, self-empire. It
\nhas two aspects\u2014external freedom and internal freedom.
\nComplete liberty from foreign domination is the external freedom, and democracy
\nis the highest expression of the 
\ninternal freedom. As long as there is an alien government or
\nruler, no nation can be called a free nation possessing self-
\nempire. As long as democracy is not established, no individual belonging to a nation can be deemed a tree man.^We
\nwant complete independence, free from the servitude to
\nforeigners, complete authority of the individual in his own
\nhome. This is our political aim. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI shall describe briefly the cause of this yearning for
\nfreedom. For all people, subjection is a messenger and
\nservitor of death. Only freedom can protect life and make
\nany progress possible. Swadharma (self-law) or work and
\nendeavour fixed by one’s own nature is the only path of
\nprogress. The foreigner in occupation of the country, even if
\nhe is very kind, and our well-wisher, will not think twice
\nabout putting the load of an alien dharma on our heads.
\nRegardless of whether his intention is noble or wicked, this
\ncan never do us anything but harm. We have neither the
\nstrength nor the inclination to advance on the path suitable <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-227<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nto the nature of an alien people; if we follow it, we may be
\nable to imitate them well enough, ingeniously covering up
\nour own degradation with the symbols and robes of progress
\nof the foreigner, but during an ordeal our weakness and
\nsterility, resulting from the pursuit of a foreign dharma, will
\nbecome evident. We too shall die out because of that
\nsterility. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe ancient European nations that were governed by
\nRome and that adopted her civilisation lived happily for a
\nlong time but their eventual plight was dreadful. The abject
\nstate to which they were reduced accounted for the loss of
\ntheir manhood. Such a miserable condition and forfeiture of
\nmanhood are the inevitable outcome of a people who adore
\nsubjection. Death of the self-law of a people and adoption of
\nan alien law provide the principal basis for the continuation
\nof foreign rule; if even in our bondage we can protect or
\nresurrect the self-law of our being, then the chains of slavery
\nwill automatically fall away from us. Therefore, if any nation
\nloses its freedom by its own fault, an untruncated and full
\nindependence should be its first aim and political ideal.
\nColonial self-government is not independence. However, if
\nfull power is unconditionally given with it and the nation
\ndoes not have to abandon its ideal and self-law of being, then
\nit can be a helpful condition prior to full independence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNow it is being said that to entertain any hope of independence outside the British Empire is a mark of arrogance,
\nan incitement to treason; those who are not satisfied with
\ncolonial self-government must be guilty of treason and
\nrebellion against the State and as such must be excluded
\nfrom all political activity. But a hope or ideal of this nature
\nhas nothing to do with treason. From the inception of the
\nBritish rule, many great English politicians have been saying
\nthat an independence of this kind is also the aim of the
\nBritish officials and even now British judges openly proclaim <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-228<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthat propagation of the ideal of freedom and lawful endeavour to attain it do not constitute a violation of the law, nor
\nare they a crime. The solution to the question whether we
\nshould be independent outside the British Empire or within
\nit, does not seem to interest the National Party. We want full
\nindependence. If the British were to organise such a united
\nempire that the Indians, while remaining within it, could
\nrealise their full independence, why should we have any
\nobjection to it? We are struggling for independence, not out
\nof spite against the British, but in order to save our country.
\nHowever we are not prepared to show our countrymen the
\nwrong path of false politics, the wrong way to protect the
\ncountry by admitting an ideal other than that of full independence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-229<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The True Meaning of Freedom   Freedom is the goal of our political struggle, but there is a difference of opinion regarding the true meaning…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings-in-bengali-translation","wpcat-64-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}