Columnist S. Gurumurthy on Tuesday urged Indians to empty their minds and start thinking afresh.
Speaking at the Rotary Club of Madras on the topic, “Is India really independent?” he said Indians must begin to edit their thoughts.
He illustrated his argument with an incident from the life of Sri Aurobindo during the 1900s after the revolution had been crushed by the British.
“Aurobindo came to Puducherry and a few months passed. When his associates were looking to Sri Aurobindo to show the way Aurobindo was looking to a siddha Kullachami about whom poet Subramania Bharati has written poems. Kullachami was seen as a mad man. But Aurobindo was looking for his lead. One day, Aurobindo was having tea with friends when Kullachami came and emptied the cup of tea. Then, Aurobindo said he knew what to do and said that he (Kullachami) has asked him (Aurobindo) to empty his mind and start thinking afresh," Mr. Gurumurthy said.
Quoting the late Kanchi Mutt pontiff Chandrasekarendra Saraswati, he said that there was a difference between freedom and independence.
“Freedom is a pre-condition for independence. It is the release from constraints to which a person has been subjected to. If we understand ourselves fully, we may consider ourselves independent. Independence is knowing about ourselves. This nation has been denied knowledge of itself. Its past has been screened off. Our system of education has made us completely ignorant about ourselves,” he said, adding that “we need to start editing our thoughts.”
Club president S.N. Srikanth spoke on the occasion.
*The report has been edited for a factual error.
