Religion and Social Values :22.

3: The Reason for Birth and Death : 1.



Moksha is the great goal of life. This is the ringing message of every genius in any field who has gone to the depths of things. This is to say, freedom is the birthright of man. There is a struggle in and out for liberation, freedom, and shaking off every kind of bondage. There is nothing anyone needs in this world except freedom to the largest extent possible, and for the longest duration conceivable—freedom in society, freedom in political relationships, freedom from illness, freedom from ignorance and unknowing of every kind, and freedom from the fear of death.


Some of us may be under the notion that we are enjoying some sort of a freedom in life, such as the freedom of a rich man, the freedom of a powerful man, and the freedom of a healthy man. They are freedoms, no doubt, in some way. But just as a beautiful, rotund fruit looking healthy and delicious from the outside may have a secret worm eating it from inside, an outwardly robust individual may have a vital illness within the core of his system eating him from within gradually, slowly, though outwardly its presence is not even felt.

So, this freedom of a millionaire or an autocrat that we are enjoying is an apparent illusion of freedom. No despot, dictator or tyrannical ruler can imagine that he is really free. He is in danger. No strong, physically built individual can be confirmed in his opinion that he will not fall ill. And we know the fate of the rich man. He is most insecure. Restlessly he passes his nights.
Let us set aside all these visible difficulties. There is an invisible, secret problem before us: the unaccountability of death, which can snatch and which must snatch everyone. What a pitiable state of affairs in which we are living in this world!


There are two great mysteries before us. No one can say when he will have to leave this world, and no one can say where he will go after he leaves this world. What can be worse for anyone than this ignorance in which a person is thrust into a concentration camp, as it were, in this world? Even a concentration camp is better than a world of this type, where we do not know what will happen to us the next moment or where we will be destined in the future.

To be continued  ....