Independence versus freedom
Baba Gyani Triviani said :
"It has been so many years since we got our freedom from the British. But, are we truly independent?"
There is a difference between freedom and independence. And those of you who don't know the difference should quickly check out the dictionary. Freedom is something great - something, which you won't be able to appreciate till you don't have it. Often, freedom is a word that is mistaken for a lot of things. People have used blogs for freedom of speech and expression. You need to understand that freedom of speech and expression doesn't mean that you can go around maligning people, or spreading slander. One must understand this difference. Freedom doesn't mean you wear revealing clothes or behave obscenely. There is a fine line of difference. This doesn't mean that I am orthodox in thoughts or behaviour - most definitely not. I strongly support freedom, in the truest sense of it. Try going to a country like China or Korea. And then come to India or go to the USA. You will realise what freedom is...
However, in India, freedom is a great thing that is because of two reasons - One, you are in a great country with vibrant democracy and freedom to do what you want, because the law permits it. And two, because you can do anything and get away with it, because the law is very very very slow... (You can add a couple more verys to suit you :P) However, like I said before, people do a lot of things that they shouldn't be doing, and then take cover under freedom of something, that protects them - Or so they think. I hope you bloggers know that you cannot post anything that you want on your blog, and then get away with it, citing freedom of expression, or even by posting disclaimers. Thus, I would like to request all of you to avoid misusing freedom, lest it be taken away, and then you realise the value of it.
The next section deals about independence. Independence basically should be saying that you can sustain by yourself, without support from anyone. This is the surest sign of a superpower. In reality, you can say to a certain extent that no country can be fully independent, for resources are not equally distributed and so on. But when I am talking about independence, I am mostly referring to the financial aspect. No country should be able to dictate terms to India, by saying that, if you don't yeild to our views, then we are not going to give you money/arms/oil/things you need... The only way one can truly be independent is if one is in a position where one doesn't need to succumb to any kind of foreign pressure.
India needs this the most. Especially with the impending threat from China, we need to be ready. An aggressive growth is required. Our economy should be self sustaining, and shouldn't be dependent on economies of other countries. We shouldn't be waiting for other countries to be supplying arms, weapons and technology during times of war. It is easy to hold us at ransom at that point. Being indigenous is what is most important. For two reasons, we get to save a lot of money, and secondly, we are self reliant. There is not much difference between India and any other developed countries in terms of intellect. More often that not, I think we are far superior in terms of "Brain Power". However, it is not getting utilised for unknown reasons - Either a major move should be made towards making the system transparent, or those fearing skeletons dropping out of closets should open their eyes and view reality. Today you make some money, agreed, but on the longer run, you and your kin won't even be alive to use it - What is the point?
I therefore urge each of you to learn the importance of freedom and independence (self reliance) and spread the message around. Dependency is the worst crutch that you can carry around. Jai Hind!
"It has been so many years since we got our freedom from the British. But, are we truly independent?"
There is a difference between freedom and independence. And those of you who don't know the difference should quickly check out the dictionary. Freedom is something great - something, which you won't be able to appreciate till you don't have it. Often, freedom is a word that is mistaken for a lot of things. People have used blogs for freedom of speech and expression. You need to understand that freedom of speech and expression doesn't mean that you can go around maligning people, or spreading slander. One must understand this difference. Freedom doesn't mean you wear revealing clothes or behave obscenely. There is a fine line of difference. This doesn't mean that I am orthodox in thoughts or behaviour - most definitely not. I strongly support freedom, in the truest sense of it. Try going to a country like China or Korea. And then come to India or go to the USA. You will realise what freedom is...
However, in India, freedom is a great thing that is because of two reasons - One, you are in a great country with vibrant democracy and freedom to do what you want, because the law permits it. And two, because you can do anything and get away with it, because the law is very very very slow... (You can add a couple more verys to suit you :P) However, like I said before, people do a lot of things that they shouldn't be doing, and then take cover under freedom of something, that protects them - Or so they think. I hope you bloggers know that you cannot post anything that you want on your blog, and then get away with it, citing freedom of expression, or even by posting disclaimers. Thus, I would like to request all of you to avoid misusing freedom, lest it be taken away, and then you realise the value of it.
The next section deals about independence. Independence basically should be saying that you can sustain by yourself, without support from anyone. This is the surest sign of a superpower. In reality, you can say to a certain extent that no country can be fully independent, for resources are not equally distributed and so on. But when I am talking about independence, I am mostly referring to the financial aspect. No country should be able to dictate terms to India, by saying that, if you don't yeild to our views, then we are not going to give you money/arms/oil/things you need... The only way one can truly be independent is if one is in a position where one doesn't need to succumb to any kind of foreign pressure.
India needs this the most. Especially with the impending threat from China, we need to be ready. An aggressive growth is required. Our economy should be self sustaining, and shouldn't be dependent on economies of other countries. We shouldn't be waiting for other countries to be supplying arms, weapons and technology during times of war. It is easy to hold us at ransom at that point. Being indigenous is what is most important. For two reasons, we get to save a lot of money, and secondly, we are self reliant. There is not much difference between India and any other developed countries in terms of intellect. More often that not, I think we are far superior in terms of "Brain Power". However, it is not getting utilised for unknown reasons - Either a major move should be made towards making the system transparent, or those fearing skeletons dropping out of closets should open their eyes and view reality. Today you make some money, agreed, but on the longer run, you and your kin won't even be alive to use it - What is the point?
I therefore urge each of you to learn the importance of freedom and independence (self reliance) and spread the message around. Dependency is the worst crutch that you can carry around. Jai Hind!
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