Liberty

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By P.R. Sarkar

Since the beginning of history there has been an incessant fight for
freedom from natural, social, economic and political bondages. This
fight is inherent in human nature. Human beings want freedom both as
individuals and as members of society, and to achieve this freedom they
must fight against all types of oppression. Yet we find that when any
oppressed group or class gained some measure of freedom it in turn
oppressed others. Whatever liberty exists in society today is the
result of prolonged struggle by many individuals and groups. At the
root of this struggle is the innate human desire for happiness -- the
longing to establish oneself in the supreme flow of bliss. To fulfil
this longing in individual life, human beings have to attain the
absolute state and break all shackles of relativity. It is a natural
human tendency to liberate the mind from the bondages of time, space
and person, but only the attainment of the absolute can fulfil the
innate desire for happiness.

Society will have to encourage the individual search for absolute

freedom because the psychic and spiritual realms are unlimited, and
possession in these spheres does not hinder the progress of others. But
unrestricted freedom to acquire wealth in the physical sphere has every
possibility of permitting a few people to roll in luxury while
hampering the all-round growth of the majority, because physical
resources are limited. Individual liberty in the physical sphere must
not be allowed to hamper the development of the complete human
personality, and at the same time it must not be so drastically
curtailed that the all-round growth of society is impeded. Freedom is a
right of every human being. To encourage comprehensive, unbarred human
expression in the different spheres of social life a congenial
socio-economic environment has to be created, because such an
environment does not exist today.

October, 1979, Calcutta

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